Carson City Saloon

The Carson City Saloon is a beautiful space. It has a nice long curved main bar with a couple of smaller side bars. It has a bunch of strategically placed seating areas, and is obviously designed to support massive amounts of people. An exposed ceiling 2+ stories above your head gives the space a very open and comfortable feeling.  There is a second story dining area, as well as a rooftop deck. Unfortunately it was raining buckets the night we were there, and we didn’t get to see it. The drink prices are average for the South Side.  Honestly, it is pretty much an average South Side bar, just what you would expect.

One of the treats of doing this project, besides getting to hang out with each other and having an excuse to drink on a weeknight, is that when we sit at a random bar on a random night, we get to interact with people that we would never talk to normally. That is one of the reasons we sit at the actual bar.  It makes us interact with the world of that bar. At this particular establishment, we met an ex-Marine, which was honestly the most notable thing about the whole place.  He had really interesting perspectives on a number of issues, and even if we did not agree with him, we managed to have a respectable dialogue and a couple of laughs.

At any rate, it's the Carson City Saloon.  If you live in Pittsburgh and are 21+, you know exactly what this place is about, but if you go there on a random night when it is pouring down rain, and there is no one around, you might just get to hear a couple of good stories, and share a laugh with a stranger.

Address:	1401 E Carson St, 15203 http://www.carsoncitysaloon.com/	Games:	None
Façade:	Inviting	Scene:	South Side
Parking:	South Side	Patio/Outdoor:	Rooftop Deck
Kitchen:	Bar Food	Cleanliness:	Very Clean
Smoking:	None	Jukebox:	Internet Crap
Hours:	M-Sat: 11:30-1:45 Sun: 12-12	Cig Machine:	No
Drink Prices:	Average	# taps:	22
Bathrooms:	Sit	Specials:	Happy Hour
Live music:	Nope	Riley Factor:	$10
ATM:	Yes	Cash Only	No
TVs:	10	Size:	Friggin' Huge

Industry Public House

Ugh, this place. Industry should be a really great place. It’s huge, has a gorgeous open floor plan, exposed brick walls, great lighting. It has an impressive draft list and an even more impressive whiskey list. They do this thing where they smoke wood into your whiskey at the bar, imbuing the whiskey with a lovely smoke flavor. Their food is all very good, not the best in the world, but certainly tasty and filling.


So, why do we hate it there so very much? 

For one thing, it's got a very "rich people invading Lawrenceville" vibe. This seems like something that we're going to have to get used to and to be the direction Lawrenceville is going, but that doesn't mean we have to like it. It's also extraordinarily loud in Industry. All the time. Friday night, Tuesday night, it doesn't matter. Sound just bounces off of those brick walls and makes it almost impossible to have a conversation. Most importantly though, the service is downright terrible.

The first time J was there, she left without ever getting a drink. When we went for this review, it almost happened again. We literally discussed leaving. The bar was only half full and we waited over ten minutes before someone took our drink order. Are they understaffed? Are they staffed with people who just don't give a shit? We don't really care; it's just ridiculous no matter what the reason.

This bar really should work for us. We love whiskey, we love smoke-infused whiskey, we love beer, and we love french fries covered in gorgonzola and truffle oil. It just shouldn't take us an hour and a half to get these things.

Address:	4305 Butler St, 15201 http://www.industrypgh.com/	Games:	None
Façade:	Not Scary	Scene:	Yuppies in Lawrenceville
Parking:	Pretty Easy	Patio/Outdoor:	No
Kitchen:	Come Hungry	Cleanliness:	Very Clean
Smoking:	None	Jukebox:	Internet Crap
Hours:	11am-2am	Cig Machine:	No
Drink Prices:	Richie Rich	# taps:	40
Bathrooms:	Sit	Specials:	None
Live music:	Nope	Riley Factor:	$12.84
ATM:	No	Cash Only	No
TVs:	10	Size:	Friggin' Huge

Winghart's Southside

Alright, so if you want to know about the food at Winghart's, read our review of the Market Square location from February. We struggled with whether or not we should review both locations, but we sure are glad we did. What a great bar! While the Market Square Winghart's is a hole-in-the-wall narrow little bar, this place is perfect. 

It has great lighting and a cool bar. It has a wide bar area with tables at the back for larger groups. There is awesome artwork, and exposed brick, and it is just a really cool space overall. Plus we bumped into an old friend there! That was the second time in a row we ran into someone during our secret outings. Maybe we need disguises or something. 

Overall it has a cool punk rock feel without the dirtiness of a punk rock bar. It has a great whiskey selection and the food is amazing. It is a bit pricey ($10.50 Riley), but if you find yourself wandering around South Side looking for a place to go, we would recommend you go check out Winghart's. Heck, we'd go so far as to say make a plan to check it out for dinner and a drink. Just do it on like a Wednesday. No matter how great it is, it is still in the South Side.

Address:	1505 E Carson St, 15203 http://winghartburgers.com/	Games:	None
Façade:	Not Scary	Scene:	South Side Indie
Parking:	South Side	Patio/Outdoor:	No
Kitchen:	Come Hungry	Cleanliness:	Nice
Smoking:	None	Jukebox:	Internet Crap
Hours:	M-F: 11am-2am (kitch-11pm) Sat: 12-2am (kitch-12am) Sun12-1am (kitch-10pm)	Cig Machine:	No
Drink Prices:	Average	# taps:	30
Bathrooms:	Sit	Specials:	Happy Hour
Live music:	Never	Riley Factor:	$10.50
ATM:	No	Cash Only	No
TVs:	2	Size:	Normal

1311

The giant Captain Morgan statue is the most interesting thing about this place and it's not that interesting.

The stools are ripped to shreds. Everything is black lit for an unknown reason. It's not that clean and it's not that cheap. The beer is shitty and the wide array of Pucker is within easy reach of the bartender. This is the kind of shitty bar for which the Southside is known. It certainly fills a niche for people who wear their baseball caps backwards and want to get shitfaced.

There are a hundred better bars out there, even in the South Side.  We really can’t recommend anything about this one. Go ahead and leave it off of your South Side bar crawl list, you won’t miss it.

Address:	1311 E Carson St, 15203 http://1311carson.com/	Games:	None
Façade:	Not Scary	Scene:	SouthSide/Captain Morgan's Domain
Parking:	South Side	Patio/Outdoor:	No
Kitchen:	None	Cleanliness:	Normal
Smoking:	Some	Jukebox:	Internet Crap
Hours:	11am-2am	Cig Machine:	No
Drink Prices:	Average	# taps:	6
Bathrooms:	Hover	Specials:	Daily
Live music:	No	Riley Factor:	$10.50
ATM:	Yes	Cash Only	No
TVs:	8	Size:	Normal

The Smiling Moose

If you had told us a few years ago that we would be enjoying delicious sandwiches inside the Smiling Moose, we would have assumed you were a crazy person who had mixed up the Smiling Moose with some other non-punk rock dive bar. Yet eating delicious sandwiches at the Smiling Moose is exactly what we found ourselves doing on a recent evening.

The Smiling Moose is definitely still a punk and metal bar. There are at least three versions of Pinhead behind the bar and you're still watched over by countless other horror movie posters. It’s just that now it’s a much nicer and cleaner version of a punk and metal bar; one that we are not terrified to eat in.

The downstairs bar is now non-smoking, which is great for eating food. It's had a nice paint job, new lighting, and there are new tables in the back. They've also really ramped up their beer selection. They have 24 beers on tap and a huge bottle selection. As far as the food goes it's a limited menu, but our sandwiches were, as mentioned above, delicious.

The upstairs bar opens at 9pm and has a pool table and arcade games. Most nights there are shows by bands that we are too old to know. Actually, we noticed that a lot of the shows are early in the evening and all ages, which is great. Hardcore music is a young person’s game, so it's nice of them to let the kids in.  

We always liked the Smiling Moose, it was one of our favorite happy hour stops for years. But we have to admit, it's nice that it's nicer. If you're down at that end of the Southside, you can enjoy a good beer and a delicious sandwich while Ministry blares on the jukebox and there's nothing wrong with that.

Address:	1306 E Carson, 15203 http://www.smiling-moose.com/	Games:	Arcade, pool
Façade:	Scary	Scene:	Heavy Metal Beer Snob
Parking:	Wear Walking Shoes	Patio/Outdoor:	No
Kitchen:	Bar Food	Cleanliness:	Normal
Smoking:	None	Jukebox:	Internet Crap
Hours:	11am-2am	Cig Machine:	No
Drink Prices:	Average	# taps:	24
Bathrooms:	Sit	Specials:	Happy hour and 9-11
Live music:	Upstairs	Riley Factor:	$9.65
ATM:	Yes	Cash Only	No
TVs:	4	Size:	Normal