Jingle Bar Review – A Festive Christmas Ambiance in Pittsburgh

Published by Jeremy. Last Updated on November 16, 2023.

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At this time, we do not know if Jingle Bar will be returning for the 2023 holiday season.

Pop-up bars are becoming a trend now for seemingly every major holiday, and the Christmas season features several around Pittsburgh

One of these bars is Jingle Bar, a pop-up located just east of Market Square (now in South Side Works for 2022). We visited this one during its 2018 run and share our thoughts on if it is worth your time for a festive libation!

*Note: As we visited during a previous season, some of the below may have changed.

Jingle Bar is A Large Christmas Bar Downtown

Jingle Bar Pittsburgh

Within moments of walking into Jingle Bar you'll know you're in a festive space.

Most of the the bar is covered with decorations ranging from wrapping paper on the walls to conventional Christmas items just about everywhere else. And, unlike other pop-up bars in Pittsburgh, the space is quite large!

As you approach the bar, you'll then begin to hear the festive Christmas music that is played which, if it is anything like our visit, features gems from artists such as Weird Al or Jimmy Buffett- our kind of Christmas music indeed.

Jingle Bar Pittsburgh

During our visit the bar was fairly busy, but also not too packed such that we were able to order drinks (with great service) and grab a high-top table without a wait.

While this was on a Saturday night during prime drinking hours, it was also on opening weekend likely before word got out about the new space- so we expect this to not always be the case despite the bar being fairly large.

Unfortunately for Jingle Bar, while the space and ambiance is wonderful, the cocktails left us underwhelmed.

Disappointing Cocktails at Jingle Bar

Cocktails at Jingle Bar

The bar itself features a number of libations including a fairly robust cocktail menu with 10 unique options to choose from, with all cocktails ranging from $10-$12. During our first visit we were able to try two- Santa Side Piece and the Silent Night.

The Santa Side Piece is a cider-based cocktail that is spiked with Hennessy, Cointreau, lemon, orange, and served hot. While you can get some of the citrus flavor, the drink more or less fell flat as it did not taste like it contained any alcohol. To add insult to injury, it was also served in a plain paper cup.

The Silent Night cocktail was a moderate improvement and contained Tanqueray gin, honey grappa, lemon, and violette. While more balanced, the cocktail was heavy on the lemon which overpowered the subtle flavor of the honey grappa to a degree.

We were fairly disappointed with the cocktails we tried here, but the ambiance of the bar is much more uplifting and could be a good option for those wanting a domestic beer or more conventional libation in a festive environment.

Overall, Jingle Bar in downtown Pittsburgh feels a bit like a rushed cocktail bar created in order to capitalize on the holiday pop-up trend.

While they did a good job on the ambiance and being located in a fabulous space, the miss on the cocktails we tried is something we have a hard time ignoring- Christmas or otherwise.

The Jingle Bar location we visited for this review was previously found at 268 Forbes Avenue, just next to Millie's Ice Cream near Market Square. In 2022, Jingle Bar will be at 2526 East Carson Street in South Side.

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