Giovanni’s Pizza Review – Pizza and Delicious Garlic Rolls in Dormont

When it comes to Giovanni's Pizza in Pittsburgh, we have to take a step back and make an important distinction: there are actually several Giovanni's in the region.

In fact, there are three very close by- two in downtown proper and one in Dormont, and they all appear to be independent of each other.

So it should be no surprise that when we ordered our pizza from Giovanni's, we assumed we were getting it from one when it in fact came from another. Oops.

As it turns out, we ordered from the Dormont Giovanni's which boasts that it is home to a winner of “Pittsburgh's best pizza” and “famous” bread twists- two claims we wanted to find out about first hand.

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Barb’s Corner Kitchen Review – Massive Breakfasts in Lawrenceville

Barb's Corner Kitchen has been around for years in Lawrenceville, serving up a mix of homestyle and diner food like grilled sandwiches, pastas, and wings.

But given their early morning to mid afternoon hours (and limited late night hours on weekends), perhaps what they're most known for is their breakfast food- consisting of omelettes, eggs benedicts, waffles, pancakes, and more, all served up in a very eclectic diner-style atmosphere.

We heard many good things about Barb's from friends, and most had fond memories of eating there back when there really weren't that many other dining options in Lawrenceville. So we visited this one with a fair bit of excitement as we continue our quest to find Pittsburgh's best breakfast spots.

Maybe we were just there on an off day, or maybe we had one truly awful waiter, but we felt the quality and service was lacking a fair bit and we cannot let it go unsaid.

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The Quest for the Best Tacos in Pittsburgh

If we made a list of all of the foods we could eat day in, day out and not get sick of, tacos would be high on our list. In fact, when we spent about four weeks in Mexico I ate well over 100 Mexican tacos on my own in addition to a plethora of other delicious and local foods- much to my stomach's delight.

If I saw a street cart serving tacos I would order at least one, if not three, even if I had just ate a meal. It was kind of like that.

In Pittsburgh, the topic of authentic Mexican fare is a hotly contested debate. Some will tell you our Mexican cuisine is terrible. Others will argue we have great Mexican but will pull out many examples that are, sadly, not Mexican. We have mixed thoughts on the topic, but generally think that you can find good Mexican fare in the city if you look hard enough.

Our quest for the best tacos in Pittsburgh is not that. While we will say that most all of the best tacos are authentic Mexican, we do recognize that you can make a stellar taco without it being traditional in the slightest.

In this quest, we want to find some of the city's best. Are they good because they're authentic? Are they good because they're unusual? Are they so cheap they command attention? Or are they simply good and we need not say anything else? All of these are on our radar and can be called a “good taco.”

Note: In the past, our quest style articles organized tacos in various categories from below average to excellent. Since then, we have decided to remove any category style tier. That said, tacos in this article loosely ordered by increasing preference in this article. So if you want to see our very favorites, scroll to the end!

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Royal Myanmar Review – Burmese Cuisine in West View

Royal Myanmar in West View is one of the only places we know of in the city to get traditional Burmese food. As we had never had Burmese food before eating here, we can say that this place is a great introduction to the cuisine.

The restaurant itself is a tiny hole-in-the-wall type place where service is friendly and everyone knows the regulars – it's almost like what I would imagine a Burmese diner to be like.

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Huszar Bacon Roast – A New Tradition in the North Side

Close your eyes and imagine the perfect camp fire. If you're like us, and everyone in the United States without an Eastern European heritage, you are probably thinking of marshmallows roasting on a stick.

But if you are fortunate enough to have Eastern European family, especially those from Hungary, you may be envisioning something a bit different- a bacon roast.

The premise is exactly the same as making S'mores over a fire, but swaps the marshmallows for pork belly, and the graham crackers and chocolate for bread and vegetables, to make what could be the ultimate sandwich.

It wasn't until we were invited out to the North Side Hungarian bar and restaurant Huszar for their annual roast that we knew this was a thing, and we'll never look at camp fires the same way again.

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Altius Pittsburgh Review – Fine Dining With a View

Altius on Grandview Ave in Mt Washington is a relative newcomer to the fine dining scene in Pittsburgh set among establishments such as Le Mont and Monterey Bay Fish Grotto.

With all of these restaurants, you're understandably paying a premium for the Pittsburgh city views, so we recently dined at Altius to see if the food and experience was worth the cost.

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Taiwanese Bistro Cafe 33 Review – Holding Its Own in Squirrel Hill

We're slowly working our way through the plethora of Asian restaurants in Squirrel Hill, and on our most recent trip we found ourselves at Taiwanese Bistro Cafe 33.

This spot on Shady Ave. right next to Starbucks is housed in what used to be the neighborhood laundromat, and it serves up a huge menu that's a mix of Taiwanese food as well as Americanized Chinese food.

With stiff competition just steps away, we wanted to find out how this one stacks up.

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