From the name alone, The Pub Chip Shop might not sound like anything other than a greasy fish and chips place for those who have imbibed a bit too much (after all, the restaurant is located in South Side).
However, the menu is rather extensive and offers some tasty surprises that are delicious even when perfectly sober, as we were on our recent visit.
In August 2025, Maggie’s announced the closure of their South Hills location. The Strip District location appears to have re-opened in late September.
We are spoiled to have many great distilleries in Pittsburgh. Pick a spirit, and odds are good you can find it being made locally.
Some of our local distillers are highly specialized, and focus on one (or a small handful of products). One such distillery is Maggie’s Farm Rum, producing all things, you guessed it, rum!
This one is proof that you don’t have to fly to the Caribbean or Indian Ocean to find amazing rum, and their accolades speak for themselves. Maggie’s has won numerous national awards including Pennsylvania Distillery of the Year at the NY International Spirits Competition and America’s Best Rum by the American Craft Spirits Association to name a few.
Thirsty yet? You know we are, which is why we find ourselves returning to the distillery’s two locations again and again.
Sometime in the last few years, Squirrel Hill has turned into the Little Asia of Pittsburgh. Korean, Thai, Chinese, ramen, teppanyaki, sushi, and even Asian style baked goods- all of these foods can be found in this bustling neighborhood.
At first glance this seems a little it odd- how many different Asian restaurants do you need in just a few blocks? But we’ve been visiting these restaurants one by one, and the cool thing is that each one has a pretty specialized menu with a distinct type of cuisine that they focus on.
Everyday Noodle is one such restaurant, where the emphasis is on, you guessed it: noodles.
After a somewhat disappointing visit to Spak Brothers in Garfield, we’ve been taking pizza recommendations in Pittsburgh with a grain of salt. It wasn’t until we met up with a group of acquaintances who shared our opinion of Spak Brothers (and Pittsburgh pizza as a whole) that we started to get excited about another option they were raving about.
That pizza joint was Slice on Broadway in Beechview, and it wasn’t but an hour later that we were in our car driving out to give it a shot.
The craft brewing scene is currently taking Pittsburgh by storm. Not a month goes by where you don’t hear about a brewery opening up in the region or a staple making news nationally for their products.
It is our lofty goal to visit all of the southwest Pennsylvania breweries popping up, and in this guide we’ll be sharing our thoughts on all the breweries we’ve visited to date.
So if there is a brewery out there producing something unique that you need to check out, you can be certain we will feature it here!
I’m going to guess that you’ve never had food from Uzbekistan. I know I hadn’t until our visit to Kavsar on Mount Washington, and I consider myself to be quite well traveled.
In fact, if you would have asked me what Uzbeki food was prior to our visit, I probably would’ve fumbled in an attempt to make something up. Now that I have tried it for myself, I can try and give describing it a shot.
I am a staunch critic of the pizza scene in Pittsburgh.
It seems like there is a standard recipe that every pizzeria in the city uses when making their pies. The crusts are all the same, the sauce is the same, and the preparation style is virtually all the same.
The pizzas are all good enough when you want a quick meal, but when you go to different shops you really can’t say much to distinguish them from each other.
Sure, there are places to get a good pizza at a restaurant that isn’t a pizzeria (La Tavola, anyone?), but when it comes to takeaway from a dedicated pizza shop the options for something astounding are few and far between.
It is because of this reason that we don’t write about most of the pizzas we order in Pittsburgh on this site as most all of them would have the same exact summary.
For us to talk about pizza it needs to be something special, and we thought Spak Brothers in Garfield would be just that.
After living in Pittsburgh for five years and eating our way through neighborhood after neighborhood, Kaya is definitively one of our favorite restaurants in the city.
The laid back yet classy Caribbean vibe, awesome bar and happy hour, one of the best burgers we’ve ever had (just about anywhere), and a creative menu with Latin American and Caribbean influences combine to make this an all-around standout restaurant.
But to truly get the best out of this great restaurant in the Strip District, you’ll have to visit at least three times.
tako closed for refurbishment in 2026. At this time we are not sure when it will re-open.
Tako in downtown Pittsburgh is a modern taco restaurant with elevated and unique takes on this classic food. We hadn’t been to tako (Japanese for octopus) in several years, so we thought we were long overdue for another meal at this hot spot.
It only took one word to get me into Piccolo Forno’s annexed bar, and that word is grappa.
For those who do not know this spirit, grappa is made by distilling the waste products from the wine-making process (think skins, pulp, seeds, etc). The result of the distillation process is an extremely concentrated, very flavorful, and incredibly high-proof alcohol that quickly became one of my favorites during our travels around Europe.
For reasons unknown to me, this spirit has not taken off as much in the USA, and grappa has been something I’ve only enjoyed while abroad- until now.
Congratulations Pittsburgh, you’re now officially a European city.