G's on Liberty in Bloomfield has a classic, upscale-leaning menu with an extensive wine list. Although this is a newer restaurant with modern decor, it has the vibe of a restaurant that has been around for decades. It's comfortable with incredibly friendly service and a menu full of favorites with hints of international twists.
So while we went to this one for a light dinner, we ended up staying for a feast.
Spork is a unique fine dining restaurant that is not just fancy, it's creative and delicious, too.
We recently celebrated our anniversary at Spork, and while the meal was certainly a splurge (our second most expensive in Pittsburgh), we thought the complexity and intrigue of each dish, along with the complimentary small plates interspersed throughout the meal, made this an unforgettable dining experience that we would happily repeat.
If you've spent any amount of time on this site, specifically on our Pittsburgh restaurant reviews database, you would know that the Eastern European vegan joint Apteka is one of our favorites. While we are not vegans ourselves, we absolutely adore the intense and often rich flavor profiles this restaurant can get out of their dishes (they also have what could possibly be the best pierogi in the city, but we'll leave you to decide that one).
One thing Apteka does that we think is pretty awesome is having a periodic special menu of “junk food” (burgers and fries) that they aptly named Crapteka.
We should reiterate- their name, not ours.
This limited popup takes over the Apteka menu from time to time, but for several years we never made it in for any number of reasons. But in January 2021 the restaurant changed their entire menu over to the Crapteka theme for the month and we got an order on the first day before they inevitably sold out (in 30 minutes).
All we have to say is these vegan burgers are fantastic- if you can't get your hands on one at least.
In general, we don't like to say that something is a complete miss, because odds are good if a business, experience, or event is not for us there may be reasons that others like it. So even in our most negative of reviews, we can often preface things as to why they're not for us.
We're going to try to do this for Little Italy Days in Bloomfield (which occurs each August), but we have to say, this one falls about as flat as it can get.
Why? This one misses out on both the Italy and Bloomfield connections that we hoped for.
Every so often we'll open our mouths and say that we need more wine bars in Pittsburgh, and whenever we do one seems to open the following week.
This was the case for Spill, a wine bar that opened in Pittsburgh's Bloomfield neighborhood in early 2019. Naturally, I rushed over to it during their soft opening to try it out as quickly as possible- and I was hooked.
We heard many positive reviews of Bloomfield's YinzBurgh BBQ, and were pretty excited to check this spot out. But with a fairly high price point and only decent meats, I left this one a bit underwhelmed.
Chantal's Cheese Shop is a specialty store located in Bloomfield run by Anaïs Loughran and her husband, Chris (the shop is named after Anaïs' mother).
While on the smaller end, Chantal's is home to an impressive collection of curated cheeses that has us coming back for more time and time again.
Tina's Bar in Bloomfield is not your typical Pittsburgh bar. It isn't quite a dive, but it isn't an upscale craft cocktail bar either.
In fact, it is a bit of both, and if you're wondering how that would work out well together you're not alone. We wondered the same thing.
But we're happy to report that this one walks a fine line in a modern retro theme, and while that may not make much sense right now, we're going to do our best to highlight why this is truly the case!
Caffe Mona La Bistro is a breakfast, lunch, and brunch spot in Bloomfield serving up cafe style food like crepes, omelets, sandwiches, and salads. There's nothing too out of the ordinary on the menu here, but if you're looking for a casual BYOB brunch spot, Caffe Mona La Bistro might just be it.
However, if you have food allergies like I do, I wouldn't recommend it as we had a misunderstanding during our visit that made for a less than ideal situation.
Baby Loves Tacos is a popular taco joint that opened its first brick and mortar store in Bloomfield in early 2018.
The restaurant opening was eagerly anticipated as this one hosted frequent pop-ups around Pittsburgh and gained a legion of die-hard fans along the way. The popularity is worth it, as Baby Loves Tacos makes what we believe are some of the best all-around tacos we've had in the city.
Since then, Baby Loves Tacos has expanded with locations in Oakland, breakfast pop-ups at KLVN Coffee Lab in the East End, and a (unfortunately) now-closed location in Millvale.