Pints On Penn

I saw a groupon for Pints on Penn and had kept forgetting that it existed. I figured if I bought the groupon, it would make it a point in my head to go. I ended up going that night and I definitely have a few opinions about the restaurant… or maybe I don’t.
We sat in the bar area. It seemed like the only person there was a bartender. I didn’t know there was an upstairs area until I saw people coming down from some stairs. The bar area was pretty empty. Although, I really liked the big, original bar.
I don’t remember my beer but I ordered salmon on a bed of wilted spinach with mashed red skin potatoes. The wilted spinach was just that… spinach on a plate with the fish put on top so that the heat wilts it slightly. No salt. No pepper. The salmon was done a little closer to well which is definitely my preference. it was the best thing about the dish, as it was blackened and that makes everything taste better. The mashed potatoes were good as well but overall, nothing was great. My boyfriend got a salad and didn’t like it. However, that is his problem because his complaint was that his SALAD «had too many vegetables.» I don’t really think I can factor that opinion into my review. I would come back and would like to try other items on the menu but I don’t know if I would go out of my way to do so.

Beautifully restored bar, intriguing mixed drink options, decent beer list, and tasty, ample portioned Pittsburgh-​centric food like city chicken and chipped ham stacker! Another worthy Lawrenceville pub. We will be back!

Love this place and our favorite bartender, Earl! My roommate and I love coming here because the drinks are great (I’m a huge wine drinker and I found a cab I loved here … Even happier when I got it at the store and realized its less then 10 a bottle!). The food is also pretty good… I wouldn’t call it 5 star worthy but it’s decent! The menu is also pretty expansive for a small place. Def worth checking out but keep in mind it’s a small place in the corner. It’s not meant to be a 5star restaurant. Fun spot!

So today called to ask if they take reservations and was told no. We arrive with our party of 7 for my husbands birthday. We arrive and there is a sign on the hostess stand «dining room closed for private reservation.» Didn’t get to try the beer or food but when I call on the day of why don’t you tell me you have a reservation that you «don’t take» tonight so we don’t plan on dining there. If you want to take a group here to celebrate, do yourself a favor and go somewhere else.

Truly, I’d give this place a solid 2.5 stars, but Unilocal isn’t about that life.
A friend of mine lives close and convinced me to try it out. Groupon was running a deal and I heard good things about the place, so I decided to venture out on a frigid Friday evening and try it out. I walked into the bar entrance that had a decent amount of patrons there watching some sort of game, and wandered looking lost past a bunch of employees who didn’t seem too interested in letting me know it was a seat yourself sort of situation. There was a hostess stand, but I’ve yet to determine what purpose it serves. Seriously, dudes… a sign would have been nice.
I liked the feel of the upstairs, as there was lots more room and plenty of tables. I sat and waited for my friend and was served water and menus by our friendly server. We saw that there was a cranberry ginger shandy on the menu for $ 3.50 and each decided to get one. It was delicious, and I noticed quite a few other diners enjoying various drafts as well. They definitely had an expansive beer menu full of things I’d never heard before which is always a good sign in my book.
After having read some reviews, I decided to order the turkey club. My my friend went with the blackened tuna that came with sautéed spinach and red skin mashed potatoes. Our food took awhile to be brought out, but it was okay because we gabbed and gabbed. When our food arrived, my turkey club was ginormous. It was so big I only could eat one fourth of it. I loved the thick carved roasted turkey, the house made bacon and the bread it was served on was delicious. It had some mayo on there too so it wasn’t dry. It was a solid turkey club and only $ 9, including fries. Unfortunately my fries were overcooked and lukewarm.
My friends dish was a total flop. She had me taste a piece and her piece of «blackened» tuna was completely cold. Cold as in, they made it and waited for someone to go slaughter the damn turkey for my sandwich and then served it to her cold. The tuna was not blackened but yet only slightly grilled. The mashed potatoes looked watery and my friend said they were the greasiest mashed she’s ever had. It legit had pools of grease around the sides. I’m not sure how one messes up mashed potatoes…
Luckily when we alerted the server he offered to either reheat it (yeah…like that’d be any good…) or get her something else. She went with a grilled chicken wrap that came with fries. She said it was «meh» and picked at half of it and then was just done altogether.
As if this visit couldn’t have gotten anymore odd, the check came. When my friend re-​ordered, the server mentioned it would be half off because of her troubles, but when the check came we were charged full price for her wrap, but $ 6.00 each for the shandy we had instead of the $ 3.50 that was quoted on the menu. Though our server was entirely friendly the whole time and did a great job refilling my water, he was slammed with other tables and we didn’t want to cause another ruckus about the incorrect check, especially since we were using the Groupon. We paid and left, giggling about the weird experience the whole walk home.
All in all, the service was nice but the food was a miss. I’d come back to this place for drinks only maybe sometime when the weather is nice, as the patio looked nice in other people’s reviews.

The service was awesome. The turkey club might be my favorite sandwich of all time! The delicious candied bacon absolutely makes it, and they roast the turkey too. The bartender was super friendly and gave us a cool history of the place. Will definitely be back and looking forward to the patio in the spring!

I recently purchased a groupon for this place, as I am always willing to try and explore new establishments. This place seemed more of a gastropub, which I am always excited about.
We came here on a Friday evening, and were promptly seated. The service was really fast and efficient. I got the seasonal sangria which was made from watermelon juice and apple cider. Totally loved it. My partner got the Guinness beer which he was very happy about.
We got the cauliflower buffalo for the appetizer. I loved the buffalo sauce and the bleu cheese. I got the fish taco for my entrée and was quite pleased with it. It came with generous amounts of guacamole, other fresh ingredients and a side of nachos.
Overall, as other reviewers mention this place lacks a cool factor associated with other establishments in Lawrenceville, but is a more calm place for a quiet friday evening dinner and drinks.

Love the old school feel, the place ia drafty and was chilly so we moved up stairs. Staff was great, and attentive, place was clean. Food was good, the bacon appetizers were burning my mouth but I just kept eating. .it was so good. My fish sandwich was good but a bit greasy. But the french fries are to die for. if in the area we definitely will go back. Would have liked to see more on tap, specifically more local brews, we have many around to choose from.

My dinner partner and I had a Blah experience here, but hopefully it was an off night. After reading in a newspaper review that the food here was tasty and a cut above typical bar fare, we were a bit disappointed that our experience at Pints on Penn came with some back-​of-​house issues (food came without a key ingredient) and front-​of-​house issues (super slow table service and waitress not offering to rectify other problems). Fortunately, the owner contacted me personally to rectify things, which was a lovely gesture. Now I’m looking forward to giving it another try. It’s encouraging that my boyfriend has been a few other times and has only had good experiences.
While Pints on Penn doesn’t seem to have the cool-​factor of some other Lville spots, it would be a welcome addition to the neighborhood to have a reasonably-​priced and unpretentious-​but-​in-​no-​way-​divey Lawrenceville option nearby. More updates soon!

We found ourselves here for the NL playoff game between the Pirates and the Cubs. We had a group of 10 and got a nice table in the bar downstairs right under a tv for the perfect viewing experience. My husband and I shared the chicken nacho appetizer and it was great! We will definitely be back for entrees and the good beer selection. Our dining companions all got entrees and everything looked appropriately portioned and delicious. The fish sandwich in particular looked really good.
Also, I really like the old bar that was salvaged from the previous establishment.

I MISSED THE BACON but stayed for the drinks.
Another couple joined us for drinks here after a night at the Improv. The place has easy street parking and is on the bus line. We came for the bacon but the kitchen had alreayd closed. We stayed for the drinks. That was the best decision of the night. The craft and specialty drinks here are well made and super tasty. I fell in love with the «Fig on the Rye». House made fig jam with Bullet rye? The best drink I have ever had. This is coming from a beer drinker.
Speaking of beer they also have a nice draft list and bottle selection. Not as many drafts as you would think with the name «Pints on Penn» though.
I was alerted to the groupon by our bartender and bought 2. The bartender was super nice and the owner actually helped my friend my giving her house made cherry syrup to add to her beer instead of grenadine.
After being so highly spoken of by the bar staff I can’t wait to go back to try the food. Update to come.

My friend saw this place on Groupon & we knew we had to check it out. Anything with «pints» in the title intrigues me, haha. They also are new– only open a couple months, so we were excited to go. We went on a Monday night– found parking easily on the street & it wasn’t very crowded inside. There were 5 of us & we found a spot easily on the second level of the restaurant. Our server was very nice & attentive to us the entire evening. Their draft list was decent in size– I went with a fruity IPA, it was delicious. They had beer cocktails, which was awesome. My friend ordered a beer that came with a smoked jalapeño inside (it was in the drink menu– the drink will be different depending on what porter they have on draft at the time). He loved it.
For appetizers we ordered the Spicy Sausage-​Stuffed Apple, Spicy Chicken Nachos & Fried Pickle Chips. The Spicy Sausage-​Stuffed Apple was our favorite. It was everything fall in a delicious appetizer. It wasn’t too spicy but it was very flavorful & delicious. The Spicy Chicken Nachos were also a hit– they weren’t super spicy but they were delicious. The fresh avocado on top was the perfect addition to the chips, chicken & cheese sauce with Pico. On their own, the chips were a little too salty, but overall we really liked this appetizer. The Fried Pickle Chips really weren’t anything special. They were good– but not really memorable. My boyfriend & I weren’t too crazy about the Guinness mustard that came with them– we enjoyed dipping them in ranch instead.
Monday night is wing night– so three of us ordered some wings. For 50 cents each we couldn’t pass up the chance to try some of their wing flavors! We ordered: 5 spicy dry rub, 5 hot pepper jam & 5 of the special that evening (honey spicy BBQ I believe?). The dry rub were good– definitely tasty. The hot pepper jam wings were a little disappointing. The jam didn’t stick to the wings & therefore they were a little tasteless. They also weren’t spicy at all– they were really sweet. The flavor that was on special that evening were the BEST. Super good.
For our sandwiches, our group ordered: the stuffed meatball burger, the city chicken sandwich, two grilled southwest chicken wraps and the roasted turkey club with house bacon.
My friend who ordered the stuff meatball burger LOVED it. Mozzarella cheese was literally dripping from the burger– it looked Awesome. I had the opportunity to try the city chicken sandwich (PORK for anyone who doesn’t know what city chicken is) — it was definitely really yummy. It was also huge and my friend couldn’t finish it. The two peeps that ordered the grilled southwest chicken wraps seemed to enjoy them as well.
But I have to say that I ordered the best sandwich… the roasted turkey club with house candied bacon was IN-​sane. It was HUGE. Thick slices of real turkey breast, thick slices of house candied delicious bacon LOADED high. This thing was a building basically. The flavor did not disappoint at all either. I was only able to eat ¹⁄₃ of it that evening. My boyfriend & I ended up splitting the remainder of the sandwich into two sandwiches & had that for dinner two days later. so this one sandwich literally was 3 meals. it’s that big.
One bummer about the sandwiches is that they all come with fries– they don’t have other sides available. My friend did ask to switch her fries out for a salad– which was a $ 2 upcharge (not bad). The fries weren’t super good– we ended up eating some for leftovers but then just throwing the rest out.
Overall this place was awesome– I would really like to return for the turkey club in the future, as well as a cold beer to go with it.
Check this place out asap!

This is a quite promising venue! I think it’s new enough that they’re still getting into the swing of things. I think there was a miscommunication between the hostess and server. After being seated, we waited about 15 minutes before flagging somebody down, as we hadn’t even been served water yet. Our server was very apologetic about the mix-​up, and took some off of the tab to make up for it, which was quite nice.
A few tips for the owner:
— The upstairs is pretty loud. There are a couple of small black sound-​absorbing blocks, but they need much more. Window treatments would do wonders to help, but I still think it’d need more.
— I got the city chicken sandwich, which was good. But was lacking in dimension a bit. I think mostly because it had no sauce. I think it was supposed to have a mustard sauce. I was thinking that something sour and/​or spicy would go great with the cutlet.
— My girlfriend got the pork chop, which was tasty. But she had mentioned that she’d have preferred a double-​cut chop as opposed to two singles. The apple brine was good, but not very noticeable. If the apple brine is intended to be a focus, then maybe some apple slices w/​cinnamon on top as a garnish would really bring it home.
It’s currently got some growing pains, it seems. But we’ll definitely be returning to see how it goes.

We went to Pints on Penn for the extraordinarily disappointing Wild Card game, but fortunately Pints on Penn did not disappoint. Their upstairs area would be a great place to keep an eye on a few games at once, and the food is a welcome departure from standard bar food. The bacon was great, the pierogies were fine (PGH Pierogie Truck sets a high standard), and the Wednesday special cheese and meat plate was quite tasty, with really nice sauce options. Wednesday special also includes wine, but the wine list leaves much to be desired. The real advantage (beyond the array of not completely deep-​fried food options) is the great (quality, not length) tap list, including Strongbow for $ 5. FIVE DOLLARS. I’ll be back.

Chicken Caesar was great. Very fresh, it’s more of a traditional salad made with romaine lettuce.
The stuffed meatball burger was huge and very tasty. It’s kind of like a giant meatball with cheese inside. The marinara tasted fresh and was spiced nicely. Had a little bite to it. The fries that came with the sandwich are truly great. On par or better than anything in the city including the Belgian establishments.
Nice draft selection and friendly staff. We will be back!

You should try Pints on Penn! You haven’t tried Pints on Penn because you didn’t know it existed but now you do… so try Pints on Penn!
They have a nice variety of beer, which is not for me but my eating partner was very satisfied. I thought the beer cocktails were really cool and I would have tried one if I didn’t get obsessed with the Watermelon Ginger drink! It had fresh watermelon and ginger beer. It was really great.
We order 3 apps that were really good!
Brown Sugar Bacon– 5 fat strips of bacon all covered in brown sugar with a mapley cayenne dipping sauce= win!
Stuffed zucchini– super fresh veggirs stuffed a home grown zuke. It was topped in cheese snd served with marinara. It was good but I wanted some sausage stuffed in there!
Stffed avocados– This was my fav! The avocado was grilled and stuffed with a corn salsa. The ingredients were supper fresh and the chips were homemade. I loved!
We didnt get a
try the entrees. During HH, the apps are $ 2 off and beer is $ 1 off!

After a visit for a happy hour and drinks with friends I finally got back for a second visit. This time we sat on the outdoor patio. It was really nice with a great view of birth the church and park across the street. We also got there pretty early on a Thursday afternoon so we had the deck to ourselves. Much like the previous visit the rotating beer selection was very good and the house specialty drinks were as well.
We ordered several appetizers for the table. Nothing spectacular. A stuffed avocado, zucchini and bacon. They were all very tasty though each seemed to be lacking that extra something to take it over the top. The avocado needed just a little extra salt, the zucchini could have used a fatty element like sausage and the bacon needed a little heat on the back end. These are all just nit picks though as they were very good. The most striking pay was they were made on premise with fresh ingredients. This to me makes all the difference. Speaking to the waitress who was very friendly and pleasant, she made it known that the chef is very much about fresh homemade plays and is working to remove all frozen/​pre-​packaged items from the menu. This is a very encouraging development indeed.
All said I really like this place and highly recommend it. It’s location is not conducive to walk up traffic so a concerted effort to go is necessary, but in my opinion worth it.

Up and coming local spot with very friendly and motivated staff. The owner Pat is great about making his guests feel welcome, even going so far as to share his closed WiFi with me when I posted up at his bar to run my fantasy draft — very cool of him to do so.
The staff … Earl, Nikki, Christina … are just great. Making small talk, drink suggestions and being generally good folks to meet that gives Pints the warmth you want to see in your local pub.
It’s that sort of personal attention, folksy-​ness and just plain coolness that made me say: «Hey self, we just moved to the block buddy. We’re new, they’re new … we’re going to make Pints our new local kid!»
*Should I be worried that I talk to myself in the third person? Hells no, mind yer own business! :-D

This was the Grand Opening weekend of this restaurant. We decided to check them out for lunch. When we arrived it was a tad confusing. We didn’t want to go into the bar but the dining area. We headed to the area that the sign out front was pointing to but half way up a waitstaff person opened a side doer and let us in. We were taken to the top floor and we were given the option to eat there, the patio/​deck or the bar. We decided on the bar. There were two tables to choose from there. Two of the waitstaff gave us the history of the place. It’s always interesting to hear. About an older building. There was a couple in there who had been in the building many times through the years so it was neat to hear what they had to say.
The menu has a lot of options but is not overwhelming. I’ve always preferred a place that does a few things really well rather than a poor performance on a menu that is enormous. For a place like this we thought their beer options were not that great. In fact we decided not to order any.
So back to the food menu we went. I ordered the Gouda and Cheddar Mac n Cheese with bacon. It looked good but had absolutely no flavor. None. I was very disappointed. I had them box it up for me and I took it home for one of my boys to eat. I’ll add something’s to it to give it flavor
My husband ordered the Piitsburgher Ham BBQ Stacker. It came with a side of fries. It was stacked all right. Almost to high to get a bite but we did. We ended up halving it since I didn’t like my food. There was a ton of Chipped Ham and the slaw on it was very tasty too. The fries ate house made and better than a lot of house made fries I’ve had in the ‘Burgh.
The building has been totally renovated and they did a nice job. I just wish they had a better selection of beer and that my food had some flavor. It was also a little awkward because music would play for a few minutes and then it would be silent for a long period of time and then a few more minutes of music.
If I ever go back, it would be to have the BBQ Stacker again.

Quite disappointing. Lots of potential to have a classic pub in the neighborhood, but this place is pretty much a South Side style bar with REALLY BRIGHT LIGHTS.
Upon entry the bartender handed us a menu and then told us the kitchen was closed. After that, we watched him flip bottles around like he was Tom Cruise in the movie «Cocktail».
I am sure there are folks out there who will dig the vibe at this place. I just don’t think it will be anyone from the neighborhood.