Caffe Mona la bistro

My favorite brunch spot in Pittsburgh! Food is absolutely delicious and so reasonable priced. The best part is that there is never a wait (at least no time that I have been here!) and service is typically very quick. A must try in the spring/​summer too with the peaceful patio in the back.

My favorite brunch spot in Pittsburgh! Food is absolutely delicious and so reasonably priced. The best part is that there is never a wait (at least no time that I have been here!) and service is typically very quick. A must try in the spring/​summer too with the peaceful patio in the back.

Small, cozy storefront with some of the best breakfast entrées I’ve ever enjoyed. I had an omelette with goat cheese, spinach, and sun-​dried tomatoes; perfect proportions, lovely side salad included. My wife’s French Toast with fig jam and apples was exquisite — not too sweet at all. Great coffee, too.

Had crepes on the brain, and visited Caffe. Ordered the turkey blue and a coffee. The crêpe portion was huge. But just big cuts of deli turkey and ham that you’d find on a chef salad. And the dollop of jar Dijon mustard on top didn’t add anything. The side of tossed greens was sad too. The food was alright but I wouldn’t go out of my way again for this. Service was fast and nice.

This review is based on the combination of two visits.
The first was a weekday lunch: Walked over from Children’s and the place was empty. We were seated right away and the jerk chicken crêpe that I ordered arrived quick and was fairly tasty.
The second was a weekend brunch: The café was semi-​full but one table and the bar seating were available. We were seated quickly and ordered soon after — so far so good.
Then came the wait. We waited for over 45 minutes for two orders of French toast — one savory and one sweet. When they finally arrived, they were disappointing. The berry topping on mine was half frozen. My wife did not care for her spanakopita French toast.
In summary: Not a bad choice for a quick lunch, but I recommend looking elsewhere when it comes to brunch.

This place deserves more than its current 3.5 rating. The food was really good (I had the goat cheese omelette which came with a nice side salad and a thick, fresh piece of bread). The waiter and cook (chef?) were both very friendly. Affordable. Nice ambiance (although the frames without pictures creeped me out a bit. Must be a hipster thing). If the weather is nice, get some fresh air on their elevated patio out back. Would definitely return.

Very rude.
Last weekend we stopped by for breakfast. The place was full. The curly haired waiter didn’t even offer us a wait time when we walked in. Instead he said, We’re full right now. Sorry but… it’s not a good time. So we just left.
Despite the lack of care, we decided to try again today. We were standing next to another family who was waiting to be seated and looking at the advertisements on the wall. The curly haired waiter came over to tell them a table was ready. The woman, who was cleary older, did not hear him. So, the waiter decides to say «whatever» in such an annoyed tone, and walks away. I was so shocked at how rude he was to this family!
The food wasn’t anything special. We will not be returning.

This is my new favorite lunch/​brunch destination. Great discovery! Outdoor deck was terrific. The menu had so many great options that I had difficulty deciding what to get. I finally ordered the chicken sandwich (not doing the actual menu name justice) with brie and a wonderful salad with home made dressing to die for came with it as the side. Seriously, I didn’t think that a chicken sandwich could taste this good. Can’t wait to go back to try the crepes! Heads up… they are not open for dinner.

From the outside, you’d think this café would be tiny, but they utilize their space pretty well and have an outdoor seating area too. We came for brunch on a Saturday and were seated right away indoors because there was no more space outside. The menu is plain and simple; they offer several omelettes, crepes, and French toast to choose from. We ordered the Spanikopita French toast (Baby Spinach, Feta, Asiago, Fresh Mozzarella, Balsamic Glaze), mocha French toast, and Swiss omelette. The Spanikopita French toast is the first savory French toast I’ve ever had and it was pretty good. The mocha French toast and Swiss omelette were unimpressive thoigh. The former was just bread soaked in chocolate with whipped cream on the side and the latter was just your typical omelette (a little dry though). Would recommend this place if you’re looking for a casual brunch spot and I can imagine the brick-​walled café being very cozy in the wintertime.
Taste | 3
Atmosphere | 3.5
Presentation | 3
Service | 3
OVERALL | 3

This is a hard one. On the one hand the food is always good. On the other, you must weigh which is more valuable… your time or your taste buds. This place takes forever. I mean FOREVER! Breakfast for 2 takes at least 1 hr from start to finish. If you’re gonna get lunch you might as well take a personal day. I appreciate a high quality culinary experience as much as the next guy, but there’s no excuse for a 45 minute omelette. Oh yea, and the coffee is haggard.

I wish I could give this place no stars, but unfortunately Unilocal forces you to give a star rating. This place is the worst. My fiancé and I just left. We unfortunately cannot rate the food, since we were not served any. Instead we were seated then any present waitstaff disappeared for 20 minutes. So, we left. It was barely busy. Will not be returning.

Incredible! Can’t say enough about this place. The food presentation is beautiful. The fruit dish was to die for. Overall absolutely freaking fantastic. Can’t wait to go back.

Lovely place for brunch! The outdoor patio is very quiet and peaceful. The Elvis crêpe, the Brentwood bagel sandwich, and the coffee drinks are all quite delicious. I have been twice, both were very pleasant experiences. Only complaint (if you could call it that) is that food can be a bit slow to arrive if the place is busy. Service is extremely friendly however, so they were attentive throughout the meal. One of my favorite quaint brunch spots in the city!

a very «Ben Folds Five» kinda vibe… I can’t stand BFF… but in this case… Perfect mellow Sunday morning Bistro. Food tasty and fresh.

Love love love this place for the cute little café atmosphere! The back patio is adorable and makes me feel European in Pittsburgh’s Little Italy. I’ve only even been for breakfast but everything I’ve gotten has been great. I’m a huge fan of the bagel sandwiches – not your average breakfast sammie! The ingredients are fresh and the flavors are so delicious. My favorite is the veggie sandwich, with balsamic and creamy cheese (on an everything bagel!) They also come with a tasty little side salad. Coffee is a great and the refills are plentiful! One drawback is that they’re not open very late (close at 3pm or 4pm). The service for me has also been hit or miss, which can hinder the experience but overall I think it’s a great hidden gem right on Penn Ave.

So we wanted to get brunch and my friend thought that this would be a good idea.
The service sucked so horrible that it made us lose our appetite. The waiter asked us if we were ready to order (we weren’t) and sighed. We had just gotten seated and already we were feeling unwanted. Once we ordered we waited for what seemed like ages, it was actually 40 minutes, and he never came over to tell us where our food was, if we wanted more water, to apologize for the wait, anything. The people who came after us (smaller party) got their food before us.
My friends and I were furious, we were going to just get up and leave and then he finally brought our food (no explanation either). We didn’t even order anything particularly extravagant. My friends both ordered savory crepes and I ordered the White Salad. It was good, but way too much chicken. My friends both said that the food was so creamy and rich that it made them sick.
TLDR: I would never go back, not even for big portions.

Good breakfast/​brunch spot. Had a veggie and egg breakfast bagel. Veggies were cooked to perfection and stayed nicely on the sandwich as you took a bite because the cheese was perfectly melted. My dining companion had one of the omelettes on the menu and deemed it very tasty. I liked that the items came with a side of greens dressed in a tangy dressing. The coffee was also to my liking, though I like a bitter cup of black coffee so take that with a grain of salt!
Overall atmosphere of the bistro was cozy and welcoming, would definitely go back!

I had such high hopes for this place. The online menu seems amazing with so many delicious brunch options ranging from sweet to savory. Despite some of the negative reviews given to this place, I thought maybe I’ll get luckier. However, my experience was a complete disaster.
The location is great, right on a main street. The café is spacious with plenty of lighting. However, they did not make very good use of the space. The décors were all over place with Christmas, spring and summer themes going on at the same time. The service was awful as well. The server was inattentive, rude when we asked for an extra minute to look over the menu and he mixed up our order when the food came out.
The food took exactly 40 minutes to arrive to our table. There were only two occupied tables in the entire café so there should be no excuse for taking that long. I ordered the Caffe Crêpe with chicken, apples, avocado and melted brie. The chicken was overcooked and super bland with no seasoning at all. There were no avocados in my crêpe. The only thing I could taste was the brie. The crêpe was so horrible and tasteless that I could not finish it. Each bite was a complete struggle and I had to fight to keep my food down.
The food was bad. The service was bad. The experience was overall bad. I am ashamed for bringing my dining companions here. Caffe Mona, never again.

So, first things first — four stars for the food. It’s great. I’m a native Pittsburgher and discovered this place on a visit this summer. They make a great quality brunch, and the mocha French toast is amazing.
But the service would get two stars — and even that might be generous.
Others have mentioned this, but the waitstaff at this restaurant is so profoundly unfriendly and unwelcoming that we began to wonder if we were on a hidden cam reality show. We walked in and the staff person (possibly the owner, based on comments — a middle aged man with glasses) literally stared and BLINKED at us until he finally said, «Breakfast?» Not, welcome… or hello… or anything like that.
Our waitress in the summer was the same way. No words, no pleasantries, nothing. I don’t need anyone to slop on fake pleasantries, but c’mon folks. A few basics, please!
Seriously, we felt as if we were imposing on them by being there. As a native, I know we Pittsburghers can be no-​nonsense, blunt, and to the point, but either this place is being run by a staff comprised solely of people who are living with Asperger’s, or they’re just plain rude and unfriendly.

Solid breakfast /​brunch spot. They have a decently priced 3 course prix fix menu ($ 14) that includes «bottomless coffee». My food was good; first course was a large fruit plate that included pear, apples, raspberries, banana, and black berries. 2^nd course consisted of a savory crêpe (mushroom and onion) was was large and tasty. Last course was a strawberry preserve crêpe which was my favorite of the dishes.
My only complaints are that is was quite hot inside, and it felt a bit smoky from the close proximity to the kitchen.
Give them a shot. No wait, and a lot of food for not too much money.

I’ve been wanting to return for the awesome Caffe Mona brunch for a while — in fact I can’t believe it’s been so long since we’ve been here. After reading some less than stellar reviews I felt compelled to jump in and send Caffe Mona some love!
This place is incredibly cute — very European inspired, brick walls, wooden tables & an awesome back patio. Reminds me very much of Birchwood Kitchen in Chicago, which I love! Plus they have a killer location literally right across the street from Children’s Hospital.
The $ 13.99 prix fixe brunch menu was an exciting thing to find. The only thing that could have made it better would have been knowing it was BYOB before we went. Nothing better with a tasty brunch than a good bottle of champagne, although their coffee was pretty darned delicious.
I started off brunch with a fresh fruit plate and everything served was in season, ripe & juicy. Great start. Then I was served a dish that made my eyes roll back in my head (even without the champs)! The savory French toast topped with house made fig jam, Brie that was super creamy & buttery and Granny Smith Apples was absolutely superb. The flavor combinations complemented each other perfectly and I only shared a couple of bites with hubby & devoured the rest.
I was totally stuffed when the final item, an apricot jam crêpe, was placed in front of me. Sad to say, they should have skipped this item. It was crunchy & pretty flavorless. I couldn’t have eaten it anyway, but based on the rest of the meal it just didn’t compare.
Next visit, I’ll have a hard time not ordering that French Toast again & you can bet there will be champagne!