Belvedere's Ultra-Dive

We've avoided Belvedere's for a long, long time. Back in the day, we would occasionally go to the dance nights or shows when things first started moving there from Oakland, but we never really got comfortable in the new home of 80's night. The back room at Belvedere's is a little like hanging out in your parents' basement or at an Elks Lodge; with the wood paneling, drop ceilings, and old nasty couches thrown all over its huge back room. In this instance, though, your parents or lodge members are the worst junkies in the world and you shouldn't touch anything that they own.  However, as we settled in during our recent visit, we realized that we had never hung out at the actual bar at Belvedere's on a random night, and you know what? It’s not so bad.

The one really bad thing (and we'll get this out of the way before we say what is good) is you get hit in the face with a cloud of smoke when you walk into Belevedere's. It is 1970’s Pittsburgh in there. They need some sort of airflow, any sort of airflow. If you can adjust to the haze, it is not so bad. The bar is nice. The whole place is HUGE. The bar area has lots of room, but if you needed much, much more space, the back room is enormous.  

There is a whole other bar in the back room and a stage for bands (which sadly was the last hurrah for A's whiskey-driven rock-and-roll band, The Sporting Life...brought down by a wandering bass drum, who would have thunk).  The couches and chairs arranged in seating groups are still totally disgusting, though. Don't sit on them. There are pool tables and pinball machines, which are less disgusting and can be touched without feeling like you need a booster shot. It is big enough that they do a roller skating night called Down and Derby there. So, pretty big. 

They have all kinds of crazy shots: Canadian Breakfast, Chocolate Covered Pretzels, Rainbow Shot, and of course, the ever popular Pickle Back (which is a shot of Jameson followed by a shot of pickle juice; try it). In addition, they have a good selection of reasonably priced beers, and what seemed to be a friendly bartender.  The bar area was also much cleaner than we remembered. Like, a lot cleaner than we remembered. It is possible that they aren't really living up to the name "Ultra-Dive."

Now, will we go to the next 80's night there as a result of our visit? No. The idea of being packed into that space on a Friday or Saturday night is just not that appealing to us anymore. BUT, I think we might stop making fun of it so much, and maybe stop by for another drink one day.

Address:	4016 Butler Street, 15201  http://belvederesultradive.com/	Games:	Pool, Darts, Pinball
Façade:	Shady	Scene:	Dive Bar / Parents Basement Dance Club
Parking:	Wear walking shoes	Patio/Outdoor:	No
Kitchen:	None	Cleanliness:	Normal - Covered in layer of smoke
Smoking:	1970's Pittsburgh at a Steel Mill	Jukebox:	broken internet crap
Hours:	Monday thru Sunday 11am - 2am	Cig Machine:	Did not see one.
Drink Prices:	Cheapish	# taps:	7
Bathrooms:	Hover	Specials:	Daily Specials
Live music:	Yes	Riley Factor:	$7.50
ATM:	Yes	Cash Only	No
TVs:	1	Size:	Friggin' Huge!