Reva is a casual restaurant in East Liberty serving up modern Indian cuisine. The communal tables and huge menu are perfectly suited for bringing a group of friends and ordering tons of dishes for family style dining.
On our visit it was just the two of us, but we still tried several appetizers and entrees and loved it. The dishes were customized with our spice preference, and everything was packed with flavor.
Ever since Whitfield closed at The Ace Hotel (now the Maverick Hotel), we've been looking forward to a new spot that would be a worthy successor.
In 2025, Hey Babe opened and had a menu that made us think this could be the place, and we went in as quickly as we could to check it out.
On the surface, Hey Babe feels like a proper hotel lounge, with a robust menu of craft cocktails, wine, and beer. This alone would put the bar in the running for one of the best hotel bars in the city. But throw on their robust food menu as well, and this is the kind of place you can go for drinks, food, or a little bit of everything and not feel out of place- for guests of the hotels and locals alike.
To put it bluntly, Hey Babe has just about everything we look for in a good cocktail bar.
Kyuramen is a fast-casual lunch and dinner spot in East Liberty, serving up ramen and other Japanese food like omurice and yakitori. Although the chain has dozens of locations around the US, the location in Pittsburgh was the first in Pennsylvania. With casual vibes, a great price point, and Instagram-worthy dishes and decor, it's easy to see why this is a popular spot that often has long waits.
So we put our name into the virtual queu, spent some time at Tous Les Jours, a French-Asian bakery chain located around the corner, and waited until our table was ready.
Duo's Taqueria in East Liberty is a fun and delicious concept restaurant by Duolingo, where you can eat delicious Mexican food and also learn and practice Spanish. This spot has a colorful, upbeat, casual vibe that serves up delicious tacos on homemade tortillas as well as other Mexican specialties.
Duo's Taqueria was just a walk-up taco stand at the Duolingo building. We visited many times and judging by the long lines, we knew this concept was going places. And rightfully so, with Chef Marcella Ogrodnik at the helm. Chef Marcella was the owner of Cafe Agnes, an El Salvadorian pop up that served amazing pupusas and tamales at farmers' markets around the city. We are so excited that she is now at Duo's, bringing her skills for making fresh masa for tortillas and her knack for creating amazing flavor combinations.
Duo's recently built out an interior space in the building to change the restaurant to a sit-down concept (the walk-up window is now, sadly, closed). We visited shortly after re-opening to check it out and practice our Spanish.
From the moment you arrive at Commerce Bar in East Liberty, you know you'll be getting the full speakeasy experience.
That is because to even access this one you need to make your way to a back alley behind a popular stretch of restaurants and seek out the door to the bar. We could tell you which door, but where is the fun in that? (The end of this article will have a hint.)
Once you enter, the fun of this bar begins.
East Liberty's recent growth always has made us wonder what will open in the neighborhood next. One thing East Liberty felt like it was lacking was a large, approachable coffee shop where you could both hang out for hours to work or stop by for a quick drink in a unique ambiance.
When Margaux opened, we knew it would be just that- this spacious cafe, bar, and restaurant space satisfies the need for a space to hang out as much as it is to drink and dine.
While we will need several visits to truly work our way through the menu here, on the first visit we visited for a light brunch and coffee.
Lorelei is another stellar bar concept operated by the team behind Independent Brewing Company and Hidden Harbor in Squirrel Hill.
But rather than adding into their collection of bars at the corner of Forbes and Shady Avenue, this one is located in the heart of East Liberty– bringing a much welcomed addition to the neighborhood's drinking scene.
We were recently invited out by the team at Lorelei to check out the new space, and share our thoughts in this full review! (Note that this review has been updated to reflect additional visits that we made on our own as well.)
Mola in East Liberty is a sushi-focused restaurant, although the Asian menu has much more than just sushi if that's not your thing. The menu also includes small plates, bao, and rice bowls. We recently tried takeout from Mola and were very impressed with the food and that they executed a wide variety of dishes so well.
Tana is an Ethiopian restaurant in East Liberty serving up lots of delicious traditional vegetarian and meat stews piled on top of injera, an Ethiopian flatbread. It's a great restaurant for groups as you can basically order a little of everything on the menu and share it all for a traditional feast.
If there is any neighborhood in Pittsburgh that has changed the most in the last few years, it would be East Liberty.
The neighborhood is the poster child for gentrification and is now home to luxury lofts, numerous restaurants, and easy access to the growing tech hub in Bakery Square in nearby Larimer (although tenants there like to call themselves part of East Liberty partly due to association-by-gentrification).
While we could spend a long time discussing the gentrification of neighborhoods like these (we encourage it in the comments!), in our neighborhood guide series we want to take a look at what East Liberty is now and highlight the history and some of the spots we visit when exploring the neighborhood- namely the restaurants and a few limited attractions.