Butcher and the Rye

My go to restaurant every year for my birthday…
It is my favorite restaurant in the city of Pittsburgh! Whenever I go– I HAVE to get the tartare. It is the best tartare I have ever had anywhere. Try it! You will not regret it! The pig candy is also a favorite! Food is delicious– I recommend getting a bunch of small plates so you can try as much as possible :) — If you truly like whiskey, this place is for you!!! Awesome décor and cool atmosphere too! If you haven’t been here yet, you’re seriously missing out!
Also, even if you are full, get a damn dessert! Seriously/​they’re that good!

Came here for dinner. This place is super for their ambiance, because… it’s dark, sexy, moody, and a little macabre.
We typically order one or two dishes to split when we’re in a new area. We split their signature dirty pasta and beet salad. Beet salad had a great presentation. Generous portions on the dirty pasta. Perhaps, I don’t really know how to appreciate pasta — but I thought this was ok — saltier than I liked. Duck was good but just overall didn’t leave a lasting impression.
I’d definitely recommend this place for a drink though.

Once you get past the initial hipster vibe, you’re actually in for quite the experience here. The staff is Pittsburgh friendly and super accommodating.
As for the food and drink, it lives up to the Unilocal rating — very high quality.
I found the drink selection to be very interesting and have a great variety — they even feature a couple of barrel aged cocktails.
I had 3 small dishes and all were of generous portion and amazing quality. Of particular note — their Dry Aged Tartare was superb, and ranks among the best beef tartare I have ever had.

One of my favorite restaurants in Pittsburgh! This places makes you feel as if you are in NYC not the burg. It’s 2 floors are tastefully decorated and there are small separate dining rooms that add a nice touch of intimacy to your dining experience. I have been here on 2 separate occasions. The drink menu is a old Rolodex type of phone book which is cute, but can be tough if it’s broken as mine was.
I LOVE BRUSSEL SPROUTS, and if you feel the same these are the BEST I have ever had. I have eating all over american Chicago, LA, NOLA, Portland, Seattle, NYC, Philly, Miami, and if they are on a menu I order them. This place hands down are the best ever. They are served roasted topped with Parm and a delicious dipping sauce.
I have eaten the following items here over my 2 visits:
1. Skirt Steak — delicious, my least fav, but not awful at all
2. Cheese plate — great cheese and accompaniments
3.Leek soup — Just awesome, the pork belly takes it to the next level
4. Scallops with blue crab risotto — one of the best entrees I have eaten in a long time. The portion, favor combo, presentation are perfection
5. Brussel Sprouts — See above, AMAZING!
The drinks are also delicious! I have had the old fashioned each time I have been. They also have my favorite champagne by the glass available, Veuve Clicquot Rose!!!
Make sure you make a reservation at least a week of 2 in advance, it fills up fast here.

Whoa, took us long enough to get here! I recommend making reservations as far in advance as you can for weekends if you want a decent shot at eating at normal dinner hour. Luckily I finally remember to do so!
Our reservations were at 7, we got their early anticipating that we would have to grab a drink at the bar but they were ready for us (sweet)! Our server was barely polite, he never did tell us his name. Lucky for him we were just excited to be there. We got cocktail beverages out of their extensive list, which were both very good. As an appetizer we ordered a cheese plate and the runner did explain all the cheeses in it, yum! Now, the wait…
About 45 min to an hour later, with no acknowledgment that our food was on its way from our not so pleasant server we were very hungry. Where was our food? Just as we were able to ask, it came.
I had the scallops and he had the hanger steak. We were both very satisfied with our meals. They were so delicious, thank goodness, after that wait! We opted out of dessert in fear we’d have to wait another hour.
The décor and ambiance is very cool and interesting with its wild game. It’s very intimate but is pretty dark! So make sure your phone is charged for the flash light.
After all the hype the service was pretty disappointing. We were there for 2 hours! They could’ve have another couple in and out in that time. Now I know why there is such a long wait. BUT the food will definitely bring us back!

I was looking forward to dining at Butcher and the Rye but left a little disappointed. I did like several of the veggie dishes, particularly the Brussel sprouts. However several were a bit greasy. My friend ordered the pig candy and had to send it back. She found it way to fatty and gelatinous. They do have some interesting cocktails and a good wine list. We drank the red wine that was on special ($ 8 vs $ 13) and were quite pleased with it. The space is beautiful and nicely decorated. It wasn’t overly noisy; we were able to hold a conversation and hear each other. Our server was helpful in explaining the menu.

One of the joints that are at the forefront of Pittsburgh’s rapid culinary boom, doing it right and making great experiences for people.
The food is absolutely amazing.
The cocktails are on point.
The atmosphere is amazing.
The service is phenomenal. My one request would be that our server doesn’t ask us if we want cocktails *every* time he visits. Sometimes it’s nice just to get checked up on. He was wonderful nonetheless, and it was great to know someone wanted to make sure we were getting delicious drinks when we wanted them!
I recommend requesting reservations upstairs at the Rye Bar.
Thanks for being so awesome, Butcher!

I came here in March of last year and have been dreaming of the bone marrow ever since. It was every bit as incredible as I remembered. The ambiance is really fun and their drink menu is killer.
Bone marrow is HIGHLY recommended, as well as the pig candy and tartare.
Definitely a must visit while in Pittsburgh!

One of my favorite places to eat and drink in the city. Great drinks and amazing food. Atmosphere is incredible

While in town for a Penns game, the manager at our hotel suggested this place for good cocktails. They were right! When we arrived the place was packed. The bar is rather small with stools being a premium. The back bar is shelves with fine whiskey’s and bourbon. In fact, they have wooden ladders on rails, like the ones you would see in an old library, to reach the upper shelves. I ask the bartender, Allyson for a «smokey» and she suggested their «Blood & Sand». It was outstanding.
I want to come back for a meal.

I was a bit nervous after our recent and disappointing experience at their sister establishment Meat & Potatos; however our experience prior to the Star Wars symphony performance was absolutley delightful! The restaurant seated us immediately upon checking in for our reservation and we received top notch service in spite of many holiday parties and overall full house of diners that evening. The restaurant itself was decorated whimsically and approiately for the seaon and I loved the various levels of dining and bar areas.
Our drink varied, but the Bowtie was a favorite. The appetizers were all tasty. My personal favorite was the brussel sprouts, contrary to my hubby and son’s review of sprouts in general… haha. They enjoyed the pig wing and potato and leek soup which were both quite good too.
For our entrees, we were all pleased with our selections. They were as ordered:
SEARED SCALLOPS $ 26
blue crab risotto /​asparagus /​chanterelles /​capers
Amazing!!! Cooked to perfection! Best Risotto I have had in a while!
CASSOULET $ 30
duck confit /​boudin noir /​pork belly /​5 minute egg /​cannellini beans /​brown butter crumbs /​pickled orange /​mustard
Cooked well with a variety of flavors in this dish. Duck was not greasy, but flavorful and boudin was delish!
DIRTY PASTA $ 18
ground duck /​strozzapretti /​sage /​brandy /​pecorino romano
Wonderful pasta dish! Ground duck and seasonings made this a must order for pasta lovers.
The restaurant could not have been more convenient to Heinz Hall located directly across the street. We will absolutely dine here again in the future and recommend it to our friends for sure. FINALLY a restaurant downtown I can put on my «go to» list!

***Horrifying customer service experience*** I’m a huge Meat and Potatoes, Tako and Butcher and the Rye customer, so I must warn you this will be unfiltered. I go to Meat and Potatoes more that I go to see my family (and they live nearby), and this was the absolute worst display of customer service that I have ever seen.
We booked a reservation for ten people over a month ago, for 9:45 PM, to celebrate a huge achievement for my sister. We wanted to make sure that we didn’t lose our spot and decided to arrive at 9:30. 9:45 rolls around and the horrible hosts let time pass without giving TEN of us an update. Instead 9:55, no update. The two hosts were absolutely terrible, made zero effort to talk to us at all about the delay or what would happen next. We had to proactively ask how long the delay would be. We were especially ready to eat since we had an 8 year old girl with us, who had not eaten dinner due to the graduation. The two hosts said well I guess we can look at the table upstairs but they are about to start dessert and we don’t ask people to leave. Now it’s after 10:00 and nothing has been said to a party of TEN, completely dressed up. So I started making calls to nearby restaurants to see who could accommodate our party. I guess they are too fancy to care about ten people, but I know other businesses/​servers would kill to wait on a group that is celebrating. Luckily, Six Penn Kitchen stepped up and we left immediately.
I get that this restaurant doesn’t have to have good customer service, because customers pour into these restaurants. But this is beyond disappointing and frustrating. As a downtowner, I’m here to tell you that there are restaurants down here that want and deserve your business. I’ll take a good experience at restaurant that isn’t well known, over a bad experience that disrespects their customers’ time.

So Butcher and the Rye is of course one of «those restaurants» that everyone always talks about and recommends as a «must» while in the Pittsburgh area. I have to admit I am always a bit skeptical on the hype that exists over any restaurants but even with this skepticism I was looking forward to the opportunity to dine at this joint. I made my way over on a Tuesday. The interior is broken up into two floors with tables and a bar on the first floor as well as the second floor. I opted to go to the second floor to grab a seat at the bar. The décor is a cool and has a hustle and bustle vibe to it. The first floor has a pretty impressive wall of drinks stacked up against it with a nice chandelier thing hanging.
The few times ive been here, I was always immediately greeted when sitting at the bar and pretty shortly thereafter provided a menu for perusal. They have a pretty solid array of food and drinks so the last few visits have been me asking the bartender for their recommendations for drinks/​food. These guys are executing solid cocktails and drinks and were able to meet my random requests for recommendations. After a bit of perusing of the menu, I immediately gravitated towards the pig candy and the dirty pasta based on all the rave reviews. Both were really solid and definitely let me feel I was enjoying the finer cuisine in life. The pig candy is delicious and has the perfect compliments of spices and sweetness to it and is perfectly married with the pork belly. The dirty pasta has the perfect amount of ingredients and is made perfectly as well. It is tossed with ground duck, sage, and pecorino romano making it just heavenly. The noodles were cooked to perfection and I think I literally had to stop myself from licking the plate clean. I have also had the opportunity to try the steak here which was cooked perfectly and delicious with the right amount of tenderness behind it.
All in all, my favorite joint in Pittsburgh so far and definitely a spot that I will try to hit as frequently as possible

Wanted to update after we had a fabulous time here last night!
Went here after seeing a Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder at the Benedum right around 10:15. I felt bad going to a restaurant so close to their closing time, but we didn’t really feel like fast food and we love Butcher’s offerings.
Our server Sara (h,?) was great! She never made us feel like we were infringing on her getting ready to go home and was really engaging and able to take the time to talk to us about our favorite dishes and even about some different apple pie recipes which was so fun!
We had the pig candy which is always delicious and luckily my husband only wanted a little bit so I got a great big portion! I ordered the chicken as I always do and my husband ordered one of the daily specials which was a duck and foie gras tortellini. I wish I could have tried this dish (but can’t right now due to the little one), but the small looking portion was very rich and heavy and according to my husband absolutely delicious. The chicken was absolute perfection as always and I am convinced the best chicken dish in all of Pittsburgh.
Sara was nice enough to let us know when there was about 10 minutes left before the kitchen was closing and tempted us with dessert. We ended up with the salted caramel apple pie and cream cheese ice cream which absolutely blew everything else that we ate out of the water! I can’t explain to you how good this dish was other than to say that as someone who constantly is working to perfect her own apple pie recipe that I am not sure mine could ever come close to the perfection that was this pie. It was absolutely delicious.
As always, I will be back!

Seriously? Most definitely the worst restaurant in Pittsburgh I’ve been to so far in 2 years. Made my birthday meal the worst experience.
I have NEVER left a restaurant hungry before in my life. I was STARVING and had to go another restaurant right afterwards. My entrée was $ 26 and included a strand of rabbit leg, 2 of the skinniest carrots I’ve ever seen and a scraping of what I supposed was mashed potato but only left the taste of mashed potato in my mouth. My husband’s entrée was $ 30 and he also managed to finish all my pancakes and his own pecan pie at Denny’s afterwards.
My husband called a few days before to make reservations. For my birthday. On the night of. The person on the phone said I would get a dessert for free and a candle (okay, w/​e about the candle). After we finished our paltry dishes in 3 minutes, the waitress informed us that we misheard and that Butcher and the Rye does not offer anything for free, even for birthdays. The candle is free but we would have to buy the dessert. Yeah, I’ll skip s’mores for $ 10, thanks. I was in such a hungry and bad mood by then, that we hightailed it outta there and ate like real people at Denny’s for my FREE birthday meal.
We were seated in this dingy, cramped, wobbly-​tableled bistro set right at the stairs. Oh, and it took us 20 minutes to find parking and paid another $ 8 for 45 minutes. I also regretted that my hubs ordered a $ 12 stupid cocktail that was of course, half the glass. I just hated that we threw all this money at this place for something that I could have whipped up for a child. I think only a 5 yr old might have been partially full eating what we both ate. I’m so done with uppity downtown restaurants. I’m going to a place where there is parking, comfortable seats, enough lighting to see my food, free bread or something and most importantly, a full sized entrée. Please be warned.

After hearing great things about Butcher and the Rye, my friend made a reservation for us a few Friday nights ago. We had reservations for 5 PM on a Friday night when there was a baseball game. So while parking was a problem, we got a day of reservation with no issues.
As I had sat through meetings at many coffee shops that day, I just couldn’t order a drink. This was a total bummer, but there are plenty of alcoholic options if you are interested in a drink.
To begin we started with the crispy Pig Wing ($ 9) and Sunday Gravy ($ 10). I loved both appetizers. The pig wing was surrounded with thai chili sauce, pickled mango salad, peanuts, and cilantro. The Sunday Gravy was heated tomatoes, lamb neck, olive oil, and ricotta served with grilled bread. The Sunday Gravy was a significantly larger portion, but I couldn’t pick a favorite appetizer if I had to!
For an entrée, I ordered the Dirty Pasta ($ 16), and my friend ordered the Shepherd’s pie ($ 20). The Dirty Pasta was SPECTACULAR, and it is strozzapretti tossed in ground duck, sage, brandy, and pecorino Romano. I would 100% recommend this dish. It is absolute perfection and beyond words. The Shepherd’s Pie was a bit strange. The braised beef was wonderful, but it was mostly vegetables and there was no crust. It wasn’t bad, just not what we expected.
I loved the atmosphere of the restaurant as well. The main level is a bit farm-​y, and the second level is very wildlife oriented. I really liked the atmosphere of the second level, and it would be great for a more intimate evening. Unfortunately, as others have pointed out, the bathrooms are awkward. Just awkward.
It is a rarity that I go anywhere without checking out Unilocal before I go so I didn’t realize this was the sister restaurant of Meat and Potatoes. This makes total sense.
I will absoltely come back to Butcher and the Rye.

Up until recently, I had only been to Butcher and the Rye twice for post-​workday cocktails. I have tried a few of them, and they have all been interesting and well-​crafted. I knew I needed to return here for dinner, and was very excited when I finally made plans to do so during restaurant week.
I’m usually all about the prix fixe restaurant week menus (since they are usually unique and only offered for a limited time), but the regular menu had so many appetizing options that we decided to go our own route.
We started with the focaccia. The bread was delicious and I’m not exaggerating when I say I could have probably eaten an entire loaf of it by myself. It was accompanied by three spreads: a white bean purée, olive tapenade, and whipped ricotta. All three were delicious, and the servings were generous with a good bread-​to-​spread ratio.
We followed this with the dry aged tartare. I loved that the tartare was served on very thin pieces of bread, garnished with capers, radish, black garlic aioli, greens, and of course an egg yolk. It was visually a very appealing dish, and the flavor did not disappoint. I will mirror what my dining partner Ashley L. said: this was the best tartare I’ve had so far by a long shot.
I enjoyed the seared scallops for my entrée. They were served on a blue crab risotto with chanterelles (and yet more capers – I clearly love them). The scallops were packed with flavor and perfectly succulent. Risotto is often hit or miss but this was delicious and the perfect texture. The portion was a good size and again looked just as good as it tasted.
The service has been great here, both at the bar and this time while dining. Everyone has been friendly and informative. The space itself is fantastic… the restaurant is divided into small areas (and an upstairs balcony), and with the low lighting and rustic finishes, has a very intimate yet comfortable atmosphere. I love the mismatched furniture and unique décor. They really did a great job at making the place feel and look upscale without being stuffy.
I’m already looking forward to my next trip here as there are a number of other items on the menu that sounded fantastic!

I have been on a roll lately with good food choices and Butcher was right up there. We initially made the reservation with the intentions of eating off of the restaurant menu but having never gone, there was too much on the regular menu to try!
We started with fresh focaccia that came with three spreads: ricotta, white bean, and an olive tapenade. All three were delicious and the bread was incredibly fresh.
Next up was Butcher’s steak tartare. Ugh. Insanely good. This appetizer has everything I could want in a tartare! Capers, radishes, crusty bread, a truffled egg and a really good garlic aioli! There are three dishes in this world that get me truly excited, eggs benedict, Cuban sandwiches and steak tartare. This was they best I have ever had as far as tartare goes.
For my entrée, I chose the dirty pasta. The pasta was made/​cooked perfectly and the portion was also perfect. The sauce was ground duck, carrot and pecorino romano. In its entirety, the dish was addictive. I could not have asked for a better meal.

The attention to detail here is insane… absolutely insane. Everything from the décor, to the food, to the cocktails, and dessert is a work of art. Every taste or sip is meticulously crafted to ensure your optimum enjoyment. In a town that is starting to get big into the food scene, Butcher and the Rye really has put itself above the rest.
We started with two cocktails: the Irishman and the punch. The beautiful wall of whiskeys was gorgeous, but since walking in and seeing the most Hipster guy in the world rigorously shaking cocktails, we opted for something with more flair than a plain shot. Both were fabulous and contained whiskey, but were easy to drink for light drinkers. Every detail was just so, from a latte-​like appearance on the Irishman to a perfect pink hue to the punch.
The food was also out of the world. My date and I shared the pig candy, lemon cake, and ordered two Waygu flank steaks. The pig candy I honestly can hardly describe; it was a euphoric mix of salty, vinegary, sweet, and (of course) bacony. The steak was delicious, tender, cooked exactly to my liking, and lasted probably a whole ten minutes on our table. The dessert was literally like a painting with the meringue splattered across the plate like paint. It tasted even better than it looked and was really unique.
The service is great, as well. Our server was patient with providing us recommendations and answering all of our questions. The food and drinks were timely, and we left incredibly full and happy. We are from Cleveland, but would driving all the way here for any birthdays or special occasions; I really can’t get the pig candy out of my mind.

Phenomenal experience! As soon as you walk in, the whiskey bar is beautiful. We were seated upstairs, which was nice because we had a great view of the entire restaurant. The staff was friendly and knowledgable.
Now about the food… We started with the bone marrow and tartare. Both were delicious. The marrow was prepared exactly the way I love my bone marrow. Savory. I also really enjoyed the tartare. All of the flavors came together very nicely. I had the scallops with blue crab risotto, asparagus, mushrooms, and capers for my entrée. Blew me away. Blue crab risotto = Genius. The scallops were cooked perfectly with a nice sear. I went with the lemon cream cake for dessert and really enjoyed the matcha sorbet that accompanied it.
I was only in Pittsburgh for the weekend and I am so happy that this was the restaurant I stumbled into. Rivals many of Chicago’s (my home town) high end restaurants. Bravo.