How about we share some of our favorite breakfast or lunch diners?
Eatnpark is ok. Not great, but they are everywhere and are more or less standard fare. Sunday brunch, at the places they have it, is great.
Near Downtown
- Deluca's in the strip.. They are ok food, but are a little bit pricey and it feels cramped. In the summer this place gets really hot. It's good but if I were in the area I wouldn't want to go there.
- Pamela's in the strip.. Prices are about the same but I don't really fancy their breakfast or lunch food.
- Kelly O's, hands down my favorite. Good coffee, very generous portions at a good value. A 3 egg omelet is more like a 4 or 5 egg. Love it. Salads are good too, but haven't had any of their lunch fare I can remember
- Speckled Egg on Grant.. Really good food but pricey, for breakfast food. Bonus that it is near the T station though
Middle
- Ritters in Bloomfield.. It's not great. The bathrooms smell, but their food is homey and cheap and they were open 24 hours. I'd go back
- Barb's on Butler.. I had the pleasure of going here for a company lunch twice. Why they picked this... I have no idea. But the food wasn't great and they didn't use real butter. Won't go back.
- Frankie's in Lawrenceville.. not a breakfast place, not a lunch place either. They sell meatballs and footlong hotdogs. Higher price (reasonable for the area), but used to be a lot lower. Decent.
North
- Milvale Diner. Only been here once, for lunch, but they serve breakfast. Really good burger and their prices are reasonable too. This is one of those hole in the wall local owned things. Will go back
- Grant's Bar in Milvale... ok this is more of a bar, but they have a separate place inside to eat which was good. I don't think they do breakfast, but lunch is good
- There was another place nearby on Babcock I went for lunch but I don't remember where it was or what it was called... damnit..
- Valliant's on Babcock. They have good food for lunch and breakfast, and the atmosphere screams 50s-60s, but their prices are unreasonably high. A year or two ago two people could have breakfast for under $20 but now the same stuff is over 30. PASS!
- New York Hotdog, at Cumberland and Perry. AMAZING! Years ago before covid they had an old style menu with plastic lettering and low prices. You just told then what you ordered on the trust system. Now they have fancy new menus on the walls and it is still the trust menu. Super reasonable prices, you can very well have a meal for 2 for under 20 here.
- Totin's in Wexford... always hear about them on KDKA. Reasonable prices and reasonable food. I'd rank this higher if it were closer to me, but this isn't something I'd go solely to Wexford to eat at
West/South
- Rusty Nail in Bellevue. I'd rank this as fancy diner food. Moderately priced but delicious none the less, the only issue here is parking
- Hanlon's in Crafton. When I worked downtown they had a place on Penn which was great, but sadly they close (years before covid). Went out of my way to visit here and I wasn't unimpressed. It was every bit as good as I can remember. Would recommend if you were in the Crafton area.
And for something a little less relevant, I always loved King's. I have fond memories of going to the King's in the Waterworks mall, until they closed and became in EatnPark. Then we migrated up to the one in Harmar. Then that closed and became a Sheetz.
Then I decided 'you know lets try another direction' and I started to go to the one on Nevil Island and wouldn't you know it, they closed. So then I went to the one in New Ken and after a few months that one closed! So now when I get a craving for some nostalgic atmosphere, I
have the one in Monroeville and the one in Plum. Until they close.
That's all from me for now. As you can see I mostly stick to north of the city. Are there any other non-chain places that more people aught to know about?