Dirty Harry's Neighborhood Bar

We have no idea what is going on with this bar. It's the only non-chain bar in Station Square and it seems really out-of-place. The signage for the bar still has the name of the previous establishment, which never bodes well for long-term success. If you have never been to the “mall” at Station Square, it is an abandoned and desolate place after the fourteen Hometowne Sports stores close for the night. But this bar had a fair number of people in it. Where did they come from? What are they doing?

Dirty Harry’s is a smoke box, but it's a decent sized bar with cozy booths along the walls and a large central bar. It's got a great sports bar set-up with TVs in every booth and around the bar. They've got pool tables and a basketball hoop game. If it were in any other location, we would not be so confused.

Here's the other thing about it: it's not cheap. A Miller Lite was $4.50. What are these people doing here? It's not like anyone lives near Station Square. Are they all employees from Hometowne Sports? Maybe the staff from Hometowne Sports Kids challenge the staff from Hometowne Sports Women to pool games at the end of the day. We just don’t know, and we really don’t care.

Address:	4 West Station Sq Dr, 15219	Games:	Pool, Magic Touch, Magic Tee, Basketball
Façade:	Scary	Scene:	Confusing
Parking:	Easy, but paid	Patio/Outdoor:	No
Kitchen:	Bar Food	Cleanliness:	Normal
Smoking:	Some	Jukebox:	Internet Crap
Hours:	12pm-2am	Cig Machine:	No
Drink Prices:	Richie Rich	# taps:	5
Bathrooms:	Sit	Specials:	10pm-12am
Live music:	Never	Riley Factor:	$12.00
ATM:	No	Cash Only	No
TVs:	>10	Size:	Normal

The Hut

What a sad little place. We drove right by it, even though we were looking for it. The bar is on the first floor of a very a nondescript house across the street from all of the fancy Mt. Washington restaurants and the Duquesne Incline. It has a “For Sale by Owner” sign on the door and we had the good fortune to meet the owner. He must have been 70+ years old and he has been tending that bar for 46 years.  We are pretty sure he served J's granddad many, many years ago.

We worried about making this place out to be too sad and forlorn, but then we figured he probably doesn't give a fuck. He is selling his place and will hopefully make a killing. 

It is run down. Actually, it is pretty dilapidated. It has just a few liquor bottles and a few beers. It

is a blue collar bar for sure and when the incline was full of steel workers, it was probably a really hot spot at quitting time. Times change. Sadly, A's single shot of Jack Daniels had something floating in it (see pictures), which in hindsight was probably asbestos.

There is not much to say beyond that. Hopefully someone will buy it and give it a lot of love. The space has a lot of potential; it just needs some new life. 

Address:	1225 Grandview Ave, 15211	Games:	Darts
Façade:	Scary	Scene:	Depressing
Parking:	Easy	Patio/Outdoor:	No
Kitchen:	None	Cleanliness:	Nice
Smoking:	Some	Jukebox:	Normal
Hours:	11am-2am	Cig Machine:	No
Drink Prices:	Dirt Cheap	# taps:	0
Bathrooms:	Sit	Specials:	None
Live music:	Never	Riley Factor:	$8.00
ATM:	No	Cash Only	Yes
TVs:	>10	Size:	Hole in the Wall

Bigham Tavern

Man, this place is popular. The first time we tried to go here it was Wing Night.  There was a 40 minute wait and the bar was packed three deep. This second outing was on a cold Tuesday night. We thought we would have better luck, but the bar was still really crowded. We did manage to find two seats at the very end of the bar and carried on.

The clientele at Bigham’s seemed to be a slightly older, solidly middle-class crowd. There was a private party in the back room, which is very large with a huge TV. The bar stayed pretty full the whole time we were there, and the tables in the adjoining room were well populated too.  This is obviously a hot spot with the locals.

So why is Bigham Tavern so popular? We're not quite sure. It’s a nice enough bar, but it's not somewhere to which we would rush. The food is pretty good bar food. J's Pittsburgh Salad was actually made with spinach and not just a thin layer of spinach covering up crappy iceberg lettuce. A’s wings were well constructed and tasty, even though he got them a bit spicier than he should have. There was an acoustic guitar guy playing, and normally we hate acoustic guitar guys, but he was actually pretty good and he had a very impressive beard. 

Maybe that's the take-away on Bigham: it's not exciting, but everything is actually pretty good.

Address:	321 Bigham St, 15211 http://bighamtavern.com/	Games:	Pool, darts, Magic Touch, Golden Tee
Façade:	Not Scary	Scene:	Neighborhood Sports
Parking:	Easy	Patio/Outdoor:	No
Kitchen:	Bar Food	Cleanliness:	Nice
Smoking:	None	Jukebox:	Internet Crap
Hours:	11am-2am	Cig Machine:	No
Drink Prices:	Average	# taps:	12
Bathrooms:	Sit	Specials:	Daily
Live music:	Sometimes	Riley Factor:	$8.00
ATM:	No	Cash Only	No
TVs:	>10	Size:	Normal

Acacia

One of the fancy new cocktails bars that have sprung up in Pittsburgh over the past couple of years, Acacia is fashioned on the concept of an old speakeasy. No signage, boarded up windows; it is a secret little place. It is where Zythos used to be if you are looking for instructions on how to get there in Pittsburghese.

However, don't go out of your way to get here. It is a nice concept in the wrong place. Few people want to go to the South Side for a swanky cocktail experience and we are pretty certain that few South Side regulars want to wait 8 minutes for one drink to be made. In an area where massive volumes of drunken college kids drive high real-estate prices, a cocktail joint seems off target.

Don't get us wrong, we had a nice visit here and the drinks were very good. J especially was thankful for her hot buttered rum, as it was very cold that night. The service was good, but most likely because there were only 6 of us in the bar.

If you are looking for an upscale cocktail experience, then you probably aren’t in the South Side. If you are looking to drink crazy amounts of booze on a weekend night in the South Side, don’t go to Acacia. If you are in the rare group of people looking for a great whiskey list and a fancy cocktail on the South Side, you are in luck!

Address:	2108 E Carson St, 15203 http://acaciacocktails.com/	Games:	None
Façade:	Scary	Scene:	Cocktail Hideaway
Parking:	Wear Walking Shoes	Patio/Outdoor:	No
Kitchen:	None	Cleanliness:	Nice
Smoking:	None	Jukebox:	Internet Crap
Hours:	5pm-2am closed Sun	Cig Machine:	No
Drink Prices:	Richie Rich	# taps:	20
Bathrooms:	Sit	Specials:	Featured Drinks
Live music:	Never	Riley Factor:	N/A
ATM:	No	Cash Only	No
TVs:	0	Size:	Hole in the Wall

Jaggerbush

There's nothing wrong with this bar, but I think maybe we were expecting something a little more. It had a surprisingly good beer selection and all of their drinks were very cute Pittsburgh variations on traditional drinks. For example, the Neville Island was a Long Island Iced Tea with Blue Curacao instead of triple sec to give it a greeny-blue hue. And yet, there was something not quite engaging about the place. Honestly, it might have been the diner-ish quality of the bar; it didn't feel warm or inviting, but rather perfunctory.

So this isn't a bad review, we were just underwhelmed. There was a trainee bartender working, which was pretty cute. Their daily specials were good. There were a few other people hanging around, but it was pretty quiet. It was trivia night, so we had to duck out of there before that got under way. 

It's tricky with the South Side: we don't want to go on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday because we know what kind of shit-show that is, but any other night seems to be completely dead and not representative. I guess that's what we've learned about the South Side this year. These are not bars that people go out to for a few drinks any old time, they are bars that people go to to get hammered on the weekends.

Address:	133 S 23rd St, 15203 http://thejaggerbush.com/	Games:	darts, Magic Touch, poker
Façade:	Not Scary	Scene:	Not Sure
Parking:	Easy	Patio/Outdoor:	No
Kitchen:	Bar Food	Cleanliness:	Normal
Smoking:	Some	Jukebox:	Internet Crap
Hours:	5pm-2am closed Sun-Mon	Cig Machine:	No
Drink Prices:	Average	# taps:	6
Bathrooms:	Sit	Specials:	Daily
Live music:	Never	Riley Factor:	$7.00
ATM:	Yes	Cash Only	No
TVs:	3	Size:	Normal

Red and Irene's

This is a tiny little hole-in-the-wall bar WAY off the beaten path that you will probably never ever go to, so we will be brief. It was cold inside, which is probably only a seasonal issue. It was cheap: $5 dollars for a Riley. And it was empty. When we walked in the bartender and her friend were hanging out watching some Law & Order: SVU, as you do when you are in an empty bar, and seemed genuinely shocked to have customers. The bartender promptly got up and took care of us and then went back to watching TV.

Then the paranoia seemed to start setting in. Did her boss send us? Why were we there? Is that girl taking notes? All of a sudden she got up, took off her jacket and started cleaning up behind the bar. Trying to put her at ease, we asked her, "Why did you take off your jacket? It is cold." She apologized for the cold and said she had asked her boss to turn up the heat before they left, but they hadn't. She seemed really embarrassed about the whole situation and kept telling us that they really do get more people in on the weekends. We got the feeling that the owners of the place, possibly named Red and Irene, were not the nicest folks.

At any rate, we felt bad for freaking out the nice bartender. We did get to catch up on some Law and Order and discuss the differences between Ice-T and Ice-Cube, so not all was lost.

Address:	136 S 20th St, 15203	Games:	darts, pinball
Façade:	Scary	Scene:	empty
Parking:	Easy	Patio/Outdoor:	No
Kitchen:	None	Cleanliness:	Normal
Smoking:	Some	Jukebox:	Actual Jukebox-classic rock and 90's pop
Hours:	2am-closed Sun-Mon	Cig Machine:	No
Drink Prices:	Dirt Cheap	# taps:	0
Bathrooms:	Sit	Specials:	$4 beer and a shot
Live music:	Never	Riley Factor:	$5.00
ATM:	No	Cash Only	Yes
TVs:	1	Size:	Hole in the Wall

Brewski's

Brewski's is way, way down East Carson Street, almost to Station Square. It's well off the beaten path and seems to do a business consisting of mostly regulars. We won't say neighborhood people because we are pretty sure almost no one lives right there. The bartender seemed to know everyone in the happy hour crowd quite well, some off-color remarks to several guests suggesting they were very friendly. Most likely the same people stop there every day.

It's definitely a dive, but you can sense that before you walk in the door. There was more graffiti in the bar than any place we have ever been, even Gooski's. Pretty much every surface was covered in scrawls: marker on top of marker on top of marker. Even the lid of the toilet was drawn on.


It's open 365 days of the year which is always important to know. Look, sometimes you need to go to a bar on Christmas, don't judge. There were lots of games and the drinks were cheap. The bartender was friendly but no nonsense. We can't really imagine going out of our way to go there, but we certainly wouldn't avoid it. It seemed like a good place to shoot some pool or play a rousing game of "Bags," as the cornhole video game is called. If this bar were in our neighborhood, we would probably end up there, but it's not.

Address:	801 E Carson St, 15203	Games:	foosball, "bags," boxing, pool
Façade:	Scary	Scene:	regular dive with extra graffiti
Parking:	Easy	Patio/Outdoor:	No
Kitchen:	None	Cleanliness:	Nasty
Smoking:	None	Jukebox:	Internet crap
Hours:	12pm-2am	Cig Machine:	Yes
Drink Prices:	Dirt Cheap	# taps:	8
Bathrooms:	Sit-unbelievably the bathrooms  were nasty, but the toilets  were pretty damn clean	Specials:	Late night
Live music:	Never	Riley Factor:	$7.00
ATM:	Yes	Cash Only	Yes
TVs:	4	Size:	Normal

Meat & Potatoes

Alright, we have to admit it: this place is pretty amazing. The space is beautiful, the service is well dressed and snappy, the lighting is ideal, the drinks are fantastic and the food is delicious. Is it expensive? Yes. Is it often super crowded? Yes. Is it worth it? Yes.

It is attached to the CLO Cabaret Theater, and when you enter you immediately get a sense that this is a special space. There is a huge round bar in the middle of the room surrounded by New York style tables on one side, and normal tables around the rest. There is also a great patio space outside for when it is warm, which it is definitely not at the moment. The bar is beautiful and well-tended.  They make amazing drinks and have one of the best Manhattans A has had in the entire city (A recommends a Buffalo Trace Manhattan Up.) We were pretty hungry when we got there and had some sort of magical poutine. It really hit the spot! The food is obviously heavy on the meat and the menu is full of fancied up comfort foods.

Make reservations if you’re planning on going during peak hours for dinner. This is an upscale place for special occasions or if you are seeing a show. Or if you are feeling like have a swanky night out. Or if you are just loaded, this is the kind of place you can blow through your huge pile of cash. We certainly recommend it. We also wish we had more cash to blow here, but alas, the life of a bar blogger is a simple and poor one.

Address:	649 Penn Ave, 15222 http://meatandpotatoespgh.com/	Games:	None
Façade:	Not Scary	Scene:	Hip rich people who like food
Parking:	Wear Walking Shoes	Patio/Outdoor:	Yes
Kitchen:	Come Hungry	Cleanliness:	Nice
Smoking:	None	Jukebox:	N/A
Hours:	M-T 5pm-11pm F-S 5pm-12am Sun 4pm-9pm	Cig Machine:	No
Drink Prices:	Richie Rich	# taps:	0
Bathrooms:	Sit	Specials:	Late night food specials
Live music:	DJs	Riley Factor:	$16.00
ATM:	No	Cash Only	No
TVs:	0	Size:	Normal