Cafe Nikos

Love this bar. Bartenders are always outgoing and friendly. Cheap drinks and love that I can play pool and shoot darts.

Taco Tuesdays — woohoo! And these aren’t fast food tacos or the cafeteria style junk you get at a lot of other places. Big, with fresh ingredients stuffed into a grilled tortilla — 2 for $ 3!
Drinks are reasonably priced, too.
Nice, friendly people on both sides of the bar.

The drink prices are a decent deal, and the bartender is fairly attentive on the refills. Though, it can get very loud in there, so make sure that when you order your vodka-​soda and a water, the tender knows that those are supposed to be two separate beverages. (Ick.)
The food, I think, tops the drinks. At Niko’s I had probably the freshest side salad I’ve ever had at a dive bar, and I had a well prepared (though, thankfully, not well-​done) bunless burger that the cook did not even give me crap about when he came out to deliver it. (The cook, by the way, has a lot of pizzazz, and I like that he personally delivers your order.)
There is also a fun two-​nights-​a-​week karaōke (Wednesdays and Sundays) that, even though it shuts down at 1:30 instead of two, is always a raucous and fun affair.
Now for the minuses: it’s not necessarily a place you want to go after a Steelers loss, as evidenced by the fist-​fight that broke out about 10 feet from me and my friends one evening.
Second minus: the cash-​only deal. C’mon, even food trucks use Square now. This sort of thing is fine for the coffeeshop where you’re spending a buck-​ninety at a time, but when you’re ringing up a food-​and-​drinks tab, I’d really prefer to use a card.
Last minus: you may or may not have to defend your date from the sleazy middle-​aged clientele. Like, peel those grabby creeps away. (And this applies to both the males, who hit on my wife pretty rabidly, and some of the females, who get touchy with my other pal who joins us for karaōke.) If you’re not comfortable being assertive with strangers, you might not have a great night.
I really like this place, and I’ve never had a problem with the staff, or even most of the patrons — but I’ve had enough gross-​out encounters with a chosen few that I can’t give more than three stars. Go in a group.

I have a weird, maybe-​unhealthy love affair with Niko’s.
#1: the food is awesome, even if it’s bad for you. They’re one of only two places in the city that I know of who serve hot balls (that’s spicy fried cheese balls, to those who are unfamiliar). Their salads are awesome, fries are great, and they accommodate silly requests like, ‘can I have that chicken sandwich without a bun and just covered in cheese please.’ Love their chef.
#2: drinks are pretty reasonable. I’ve only been here on Wednesdays (and one overly-​dramatic, post-​Steeler-​loss Sunday that involved some bar fights and an early end to karaōke), and I know Jimmy gets a little feisty when we karaōke singers do a song that’s a little loud for him, but I love him anyway.
#3: karaōke on Wednesday nights. Same DJ as the one I rave about at St. James (spoiler alert: he’s the best karaōke DJ this karaōke-​junkie has ever had the pleasure singing with).
The crowd is what makes Niko’s so weird yet awesome. On any given karaōke night, there will be a mix of nerds (that’s us), bros, middle-​aged dudes, Steelworkers, Duquesne girls, punk kids, and weird old men (so, kind of think of what SNL’s Stefon would say about the crowd at a karaōke bar, except turn down the freaky and turn up the Yinzer). And on most karaōke nights, that mix somehow works. I can’t say I’ve ever been in a bar other than Niko’s where someone busted out Billy Ocean’s «Caribbean Queen» and everyone started dancing and singing along together. The crowd is generally really supportive of the karaōke singers, some nights in a way that makes you feel kind of like a Mt. Washington rock star.
The cons: it IS cash only (but there’s a PNC just down the block, and the prices are so cheap that you don’t need to take out a ton of money anyway), and it is smoking. And occasionally, some of the old dudes at the bar say a few inappropriate things at you.
All that said though, Niko’s has kind of sort of somehow weaseled its way into my top spot for local karaōke bars, and it’s now one of my favorite places to spend a Wednesday night in the ‘Burgh.

Came into this joint as I have passed it many times and thought I could use a mid-​afternoon cup of Joe. The middle aged Barista took my order and talked on the phone during the whole experience when I was there drinking my coffee even when other patrons came in over the course of the 20 minutes I was there. The coffee was okay, then I asked to use the bathroom, but it was locked and the guy said he had no key for it, huh, WTF are you kidding me… won’t stop back in because of this experience. Probably just banking on unsuspecting tourists.

Have been here twice for karaōke night. Beer could be a little cheaper. Plus I prefer to use my debit card so I can track my spending but they are cash only and I rarely carry cash. Also the bartender could use an extra hand it seems.

My girlfriend and I explored this place while out on Mount Washington one night. Overall, this is a nice place to hang out. Like the last review mentions the very middle of the road nature of the business and appeals to a broad variety of clientele.
They have a nice game room at the back of the business to play a variety of games. The bar area is relatively large.