Enigma

Walking up to Enigma, a new bar in the cultural district, seemed like a terrible idea. It is purple. Really purple. There are purple-lit question marks on the walls. There was a band finishing up a set and the place was pretty dead. Then we found out that it’s owned by the Grille on Seventh people where we had such a weirdly bad experience. Can we hold all of this against them? Yes. What we can’t hold against them is their choice in bartenders.

Enigma is half bar, half lounge with a lot of tacky mismatched couches that no one was using, all awash in purple neon light. We decided on one quick drink; it didn’t seem like our kind of place. Then our bartender poured our Jameson shots in a waterfall and charmed the pants off us, figuratively. We have said it over and over: a bartender really makes the bar. He was charming and charismatic, making us feel much better about the place and its chance for success. It was the exact opposite of the bartender experience we had at Grille on Seventh. Also, their bar stools have hydraulics. Which, no lie, amused A for a good 5 minutes. He is unashamed.

Will we ever go here again? No. Should you ever go here? We wouldn’t make a spectacular effort. Do we want to hang out with that bartender? All the time.

Address:	130 Seventh St, 15222	Games:	None
Façade:	Scary	Scene:	?
Parking:	Wear Walking Shoes	Patio/Outdoor:	No
Kitchen:	Bar Food	Cleanliness:	Normal
Smoking:	None	Jukebox:	None
Hours:	4pm-2am Closed Sun-Mon	Cig Machine:	No
Drink Prices:	Richie Rich	# taps:	6
Bathrooms:	Sit	Specials:	Happy Hour and Late
Live music:	Sometimes	Riley Factor:	$14
ATM:	No	Cash Only	No
TVs:	0	Size:	Normal

Ten Penny

In our experience, everything downtown is a little more expensive than it should be. Nothing to be outraged about, but you’re likely to pay a dollar or two more than normal for your drinks. Ten Penny is no exception to this rule. Their cheapest beer is a $4.50 Yuengling. That’s right, $4.50 for one Yuengling.

They need to charge that much so they can pay for their fancy, expensive light bulbs. You know what we’re talking about, the ones with the pretty filaments. They look really cool but must cost a pretty penny (Get it? Penny?)

The bar is huge and it’s very pretty. There are gorgeous grey leather booths along the back wall, lots of high tops and a large rectangular bar with service on all sides.  They have a really nice assortment of beers on tap and their liquor selection covered all of our favorites. We didn’t eat anything, but the menu looked very appetizing. They have happy hour specials Monday through Friday and late night specials Wednesday through Saturday, but that only manages to bring their drinks down to a reasonable cost. When your happy hour special is $5 draft beers, you’ve effectively priced us out.

Don’t let our comparative cheapness deter you, though. If you have the money to throw around, this seems like an OK place to do it.

Address:	960 Penn Ave, 15222 http://www.tenpennypgh.com/	Games:	None
Façade:	Not Scary	Scene:	Pittsburgh Yuppies
Parking:	Wear Walking Shoes	Patio/Outdoor:	No
Kitchen:	Come hungry	Cleanliness:	Nice
Smoking:	None	Jukebox:	None
Hours:	11am-close	Cig Machine:	No
Drink Prices:	Richie Rich	# taps:	24
Bathrooms:	Sit	Specials:	Happy Hour and Late
Live music:	Never	Riley Factor:	Too Much
ATM:	No	Cash Only	No
TVs:	6	Size:	Friggin' Huge

Grit and Grace

We didn’t think there was a chance that we would be able to get into Grit and Grace, since it is one of the new hot-spots downtown. But, after realizing that Perle was closed due to fire and there were no other bars we hadn’t done in Market Square, we started heading towards the Cultural District and figured, eh, why not give it a try. If you don’t know where Grit and Grace is, let us give you instructions in Pittsburghese: it is where Taste of Dahntahn used to be.

There was no space at the bar, which is our preferred review spot. We desperately needed to eat before our night of bar blogging. As luck would have it, we got there right as some space opened up and we were quickly seated along with another group at a large high top in the front. We got our fancy cocktails, ordered some food and settled in.

At first we were not blown away. The little mouthfuls of “American dim sum” they come around with were mediocre. The atmosphere seemed stuffy and pretentious. The drinks were too expensive for what they are. Your cheapest drink option is $3.50 for a Miller High Life. That’s not too bad, until you realize that it’s for a 10 oz. baby bottle.

However, the longer we stayed there, the better we liked it. From the hostess who cared more about her job and her guests than anyone we have ever seen to the truly inspired entrees we enjoyed, by the time we left we were sold on this place.

A got a super fancy version of Ramen noodles, and they were amazing. J got a Crispy Pig Face Roulade that was so good she sang a song to it. The words to the song were “Mmmmm, mmmmm, mmmmm.” However, we digress; this is not a food blog.

It is worth checking out, but not for drinking. If you are not good at making reservations or hate very crowded spaces, we would wait till the buzz around this place dies down. It is definitely worth adding to your list of places to eat. We are looking forward to stopping in one day and sitting at the bar proper, maybe in autumn.

Address:	535 Liberty Ave, 15222 http://gritandgracepgh.com/	Games:	None
Façade:	Not Scary	Scene:	Fancy small foods
Parking:	Wear Walking Shoes	Patio/Outdoor:	Yes
Kitchen:	Come hungry	Cleanliness:	Normal
Smoking:	None	Jukebox:	None
Hours:	Mon-Thurs 11:30am-12am Fri 11:30am-1am Sat 4pm-1am Sun 4pm-10pm	Cig Machine:	No
Drink Prices:	Richie Rich	# taps:	8
Bathrooms:	Sit	Specials:	Happy Hour Mon-Thur 4-6pm
Live music:	Never	Riley Factor:	$14.00
ATM:	No	Cash Only	No
TVs:	0	Size:	Normal

Bobby Hendrix

This place is the nouveau riche of bars. It wants to look quite fancy and posh, but it’s actually kind of crappy and tacky. It’s all artifice, no substance. There’s our weird snobbery for the day out of the way.

Finding the bar is a chore to begin with; they’ve got almost no signage and no outside lighting. They’ve only been open a few months, so we’ll assume they’re working on that. When we asked the bartender about the goofy name she told us, “One of the owners is named ‘Bobby’ and the other…maybe likes Jimmi Hendrix?” So, there you go.

It’s quite dark in the bar with lots of shiny bits and purple accent lighting. There are some poor, sad fish in an aquarium above the bar. They have a fairly limited liquor selection and a list of cocktails that no sane person should want to drink. If you’re looking for an insane sugar rush, they’ve got it for you. They’ll also serve your Miller Lite in a frosted glass so cold that it gives your beer a slushy head. Fancy.

We’ll give them that their sliders were good. Their menu says that they won Best Burger in 2012 and 2013, but they’ve only been open a few months according to the bartender. Shenanigans! They were quite tasty, though, with buns slathered in delicious butter. Insert your own butter slathered buns joke here.

We are probably coming down harder on this bar than it deserves. If you want the pretense of being fancy and a super sweet cocktail, this is a great place. The bathrooms are a pretty great example of the place, though. When you walk in, they look really nice. Then you try to use them and find that the stall door doesn’t latch at all and the fancy glass vessel sink shoots water all over your crotch.

Address:	2019 East Carson St, 15203 http://www.bobbyhendrixpgh.com/	Games:	None
Façade:	Scary	Scene:	Upscale D-bag
Parking:	Wear Walking Shoes	Patio/Outdoor:	No
Kitchen:	Fancy Bar Food	Cleanliness:	Normal
Smoking:	None	Jukebox:	Internet Crap
Hours:	6pm-2am	Cig Machine:	No
Drink Prices:	Richie Rich	# taps:	6
Bathrooms:	Sit	Specials:	None
Live music:	Never	Riley Factor:	$14.00
ATM:	No	Cash Only	No
TVs:	5	Size:	Normal

Carmella's Plates and Pints

South Side is proving to be hard to “finish.” With so many bars closing and opening all the time, we need to keep going back over and over. We were so proud when we thought we had been to every bar on Carson Street. That lasted for about a week.

In that vein, Carmella’s is the new bar where Inn-Termission used to be. It’s still under development. They are redoing the back room and they are very serious about NOBODY entering it ever. If NOBODY can enter ever, then it is going to take them a long time to get that work done. They should rethink their plan. Once they let people in to finish the renovation, there will be a dining area in the back and they’ll be serving small plates.

The front space is largely unchanged from the previous bar aside from the massive amount of taps that have been added. The bar is very long and polished, and the stools are comfy. We liked the space before, but it has a much homier feeling to it now. 

We were lucky enough to have a long conversation with the owner while we were there. She is great and we enjoyed talking to her. We are optimistic about the renovation. She was really welcoming and warm, and we figure she will make her space feel the same way. We look forward to heading back there in a couple of months to see what she does with the place and try out some food.

Address:	1908 East Carson St, 15203	Games:	None
Façade:	Not Scary	Scene:	Undetermined
Parking:	Wear Walking Shoes	Patio/Outdoor:	No
Kitchen:	None-Coming Soon	Cleanliness:	Normal
Smoking:	Some	Jukebox:	Internet Crap
Hours:	1pm-2am	Cig Machine:	No
Drink Prices:	Average	# taps:	25
Bathrooms:	Sit	Specials:	Late Night 8pm-10pm specials
Live music:	Never	Riley Factor:	$10.00
ATM:	Yes	Cash Only	No
TVs:	2	Size:	Normal

Twelve

This place is completely unrecognizable as the former Rumshakers. That is a compliment. Neither we nor anyone else will miss the hellhole that was Rumshakers. They completely gutted the place and we can’t believe how much nicer it looks. We won’t bore you with a detailed list of what changed because the answer is pretty much everything.

A couple of things of note are the new wood floors and exposed brick walls which give the space a classy feel. The left side of the space has one very long bar with a shiny new bar top. The lighting is dim and makes us both look better than we really do. The tables are brand new and comfortable. There are several couches along the wall which, in our expert opinions, will be destroyed in months.

The liquor selection is selective upscale but overall decent. There are no drafts available yet, as they were working on getting the draft lines installed while we were there. They also just received approval for their kitchen, so there should be food in the coming months. The bartender also told us that they plan to replace the front windows with shutter doors this summer to make it more open and get some fresh air in.

It’s still being finished, obviously, but it’s such a huge change and vast improvement to the space already that they could just call it a day. It’s still not a place that we’d go out of our way for, but it’s no longer a place that we actively avoid. The biggest improvement of all might be small, but it’s the most telling: Jameson served in an actual glass and not a tiny plastic cup.

Address:	1224 East Carson St, 15203	Games:	Darts
Façade:	Not Scary	Scene:	Undetermined
Parking:	Wear Walking Shoes	Patio/Outdoor:	No
Kitchen:	None-Coming Soon	Cleanliness:	Normal
Smoking:	None	Jukebox:	Internet Crap
Hours:	5pm-2am	Cig Machine:	No
Drink Prices:	Average	# taps:	0-Coming Soon
Bathrooms:	Sit	Specials:	None
Live music:	Never	Riley Factor:	$9.50
ATM:	Yes	Cash Only	No
TVs:	3	Size:	Normal

McArdle's Pub

McArdle’s is an Irish dive bar on a side street in the Southside with surprisingly—no smoking. It still has that dank smoking feel to it. If we hadn’t known it was non-smoking now, we would not have guessed. In all honesty we could just leave it right there. The space is almost entirely occupied by a giant rectangular bar. There is a pool table in a back room. The lighting is very dim, which is nice. The drinks are cheap. They have a very small draft selection, two of which were plastic cupped when we were there.

Recently, A had a friend in town for a few days to put up a show at City Theater. He was in from Philly; yes, you can hold that against him. A was excited to show him the joys and wonders that a rejuvenated Pittsburgh has to offer. But where did A’s friend want to go? McArdle’s. Why? Because it was close. Out of all the bars in the entire Southside, he chose McArdle’s. So for two nights in a row, A went to McArdle’s with theater people. Of course that was not on official blog business. We had tried to go there to review it a couple of times only to find it closed, but we finally made it recently.

When A was there for unofficial business he saw some of the same faces that were there when he went in an official capacity. We are assuming there is a little community that exists there, which is nice. Probably some locals who don’t want to deal with Carson Street.

We love a good dive bar and this one is fine, but it is not somewhere you would go out of your way to go to. Or, you know, be the main bar you hang out in when you are visiting a different city.

Address:	1600 Bingham St, 15203	Games:	Pool, Darts
Façade:	Scary	Scene:	Irish Dive
Parking:	Wear Walking Shoes	Patio/Outdoor:	No
Kitchen:	None	Cleanliness:	Normal
Smoking:	None	Jukebox:	Internet Crap
Hours:	5pm-2am  (seem to be closed Sun-Mon)	Cig Machine:	Yes
Drink Prices:	Dirt Cheap	# taps:	10
Bathrooms:	Sit	Specials:	None
Live music:	Never	Riley Factor:	$6
ATM:	No	Cash Only	No
TVs:	2	Size:	Normal