Sharp Edge

Sharp Edge has some redeeming qualities, which is mainly their beer selection. You would be hard pressed as a beer drinker not to find something here that would please your palate. However, this Sharp Edge also has some not so redeeming qualities such as inconsistent service, to downright rude service and, at least what I have tried, not so great food.
While working downtown I stopped in here a handful of times for lunch. Can’t recall much of what I ate but I do recall it being pricey for lunch. On a specific time I stopped after a Pirate game and ordered their mussels. I happen to adore mussels and I honestly couldn’t finish them. The broth was off putting and the bread was absolutely nothing special. I didn’t think much of it at the time.
Last time I came here to eat I again decided to try the mussels. This occasion was before a show. When my food came I went to take a picture, just to be scolded by the server for being «rude» at the dinner table! HA! He told me to put my phone away dinner is a time for talking with your partner not being on the phone. Thanks Dad, may I be excused please???
So it was official, it wasn’t just a onetime bad experience with the mussels, as these were as equally unpleasant as the first time I tried them here. I again, did not finish.
Last time we stopped here was after yet another Pirate game. The place was busy. We were waited on by who I guess may have been a manager? I am only guessing as he wore a tie. But then again the other bartender wore a bowtie so who’s to say. So Tie guy gets our first drink. We are enjoying them, and bowtie comes over to one of their many taps, which we and another couple were sitting in front of, to pour a pitcher when the tap kicked spraying booze on me and the other two people. Bowtie didn’t apologize, nor did he extend a rag to clean ourselves up. Luckily I had a towel in my bag and wiped myself off. The other lady that got sprayed was annoyed. So I guess bowtie went to change said keg and tries again just to spray more beer our way. At this point the lady said we should be given free drinks. I laughed and said good luck with that we can’t even get an apology! We wanted another but were being ignored for quite some time. Eventually getting our last drink I asked for the check and scooted.
I would come back for drinks, maybe. Though I am in no hurry.

While attending the Jazz Fest, I decided to try this place since it was the closest. I ordered the shrimp skewers and sweet potato fries. I was disappointed when I received only two skewers of shrimp for $ 12.50. Then, my sweet potatoes weren’t even fully cooked as they were externally borderline soggy, and the internal potato was still crunchy. Now granted, this was place was packed inside and out due to the Jazz Fest so I may try again for better tasting food. I will say that their drink selection is extensive so that’s another reason to return.

Come to the area for work every year. Used to be a go to place by the convention center. This year went 2x and was disappointed both times. Slow service. And poor service.
Good has gone down hill. For the first time in my life, I sent food back here on my 2^nd visit.
With more options opening up, I can’t see this lasting unless they make improvements.
Buffalo notes are still good, and I was told the burgers were good.
Still have good beer selection.
Maybe I’ll give it a try on my next visit.

Ate here with a group of friends on a recent Saturday night. Had an overall good experience and would definitely return.
First of all, this place is always busy, so make sure to make a reservation if you have a big group or have your heart set on eating at a specific time. There is a great bar with lots and lots of beers on tap and in bottles to keep you busy while you wait too.
Second, the food was very good — I would say ‘gastro-​pub’ good. We started with a margherita flatbread and an order of provolone wedges (battered cheese, deep friend — like mozzarella sticks, but with provolone and in wedges… served with a marinara sauce). Both were tasty, and split between 8 people, everyone had a taste, which for me was enough to whet my appetite but not fill me. I would say if you wanted more apps to eat, you should order two of each for a group of our size.
For mains, 4 of us had salads, 1 had the wild boar meatloaf, 1 had mac and cheese and 2 had burgers. I thought all the food was very good quality. My salad was the Shrimp and Avocado — it had a whole very fresh and perfectly ripe avocado cut into slices, and 8 grilled shrimp, served over the top of the salad on skewers. The greens were all fresh and it came with cherry tomatoes and a lemony dressing on the side. Awesome. My other friends had the Sesame Ginger Salmon salad and both thought it was delicious. The person who got the mac and cheese felt it was a good sized portion and very creamy, but not very complex — could have used something to amp up the flavor a little — she described it as ‘flat’ and ‘one dimensional’ even though it had both gouda and cheddar cheeses in the sauce.
For those with the burgers, one had a regular burger and thought it was great; the other had the Buffalo burger, which is a mix of buffalo and sirloin meats — very, very lean. She ordered it cooked medium and it was way over well — hard in fact. She only ate a couple bites then called the waitress over. The waitress admitted that the kitchen had been slammed and that the burger was not cooked as ordered and she offered to bring out another one. The second one, which unfortunately came out almost 20 min later when the rest of us had finished eating, was perfect, and my friend remarked it was very tasty.
The one who got the wild boar meatloaf loved it, but I was surprised to see her plate just had the meatloaf on it. She must have asked to substitute the fries with soup, because that came out with her meal; but it was odd just to see meat with no veg or side on the plate! She let me have a bite and it was really delicious — the meat was tender and moist and the mushroom gravy was rich and savory. I would get that myself next time.
In addition to our meals we all had drinks — wine and beer — some drafts some bottles — and our waitress was on it! She checked on us frequently and joked with us and was overall very attentive.
This is a fun place for a good solid meal.

I love this local chain. While the Creekhouse location is my fave, they are all wonderful. I like being able to pop in here after work for happy hour or to grab a six pack when going to a party. As with all of their locations the beer selection is out of this world.

I have had it with this place. I work in the Cultural District and love craft beer, so this seemed like a natural fit for me. The more time I spend here, the more I hate it.
Half of the time you need to light a signal fire to get the bartender’s attention.
The beers are grossly overpriced. If you expect me to pay $ 12 for a New Belgium draft that’s available year round, this better be PNC Park. Not to mention, there’s no point in advertising hundreds of different beers in your menu if you don’t ever have half of them!
The staff routinely cracks under pressure. A bar in the cultural district should be at its best when multiple events are happening at the different theaters, as well as major sporting events on TV. Instead, this staff makes me feel like I’m posing an imposition on them for trying to order drinks and food.
What really did it in though was having the kitchen close during the middle of last night’s Pens playoff game. I thought this was ridiculous, seeing as I was hungry and would’ve gladly spent money on some buffalo bites. I was further insulted when a waiter asked me if I wanted food; he didn’t know when the kitchen was open or not.
But the straw that broke the camel’s back was when I saw people who came in after I was told the kitchen was closed who sat down and ordered food.
I will not be giving this establishment any more of my business.

I’ve given this place a couple of tries. And I want to like it but I can’t. A large draft selection, absolutely. The food is very much lacking. I feel cheated every time I come here.
The menu says panini. On the plate was pre packaged roast beef that they didnt even bother to unroll, stuck between two pieces of toast. That type of misleading labeling will get you arrested in Italy.
Its not the point to trash a place just to trash a place. The cool hope for social media is that Management sees this and makes things better. I hope the place improves because downtown needs bars and restaurants.

This is a great downtown spot for lunch or happy hour/​dinner. I haven’t eaten here yet, although their menu looks great. Typical American bar fare, but a lot of good things to choose from! They have an extremely large variety of beers, with A LOT of draft options. They have a great happy hour special that runs until 6:30, which I appreciate as someone who typically works after 5.
Our server was Justice and he was extremely attentive and friendly. I loved the fact that he came to check on us just minutes before 6:30 to see if we wanted to grab another drink before the special ended. Not many servers would go out of their way to do that and it was greatly appreciated!

I came here hoping for a good meal but I was disappointed. The service was bad they either good your Order Wong or forget that you even order. The food wasn’t great my dad ordered a medium well burger and it was over cooked and was just bad just was not good. It also took a long time for our food to come out. The only good thing about it was the server Ethan.

There’s a huge sign out front that Sharp Edge is now serving breakfast on the weekends. The food they serve at night is okay, so I figured I’d give it a try. It is not good! There were three of us, and we each had a different one of the only four items on the menu. They were all bad. I hate to say this, but Sharp Edge needs to stick with what they do well. Breakfast is not one of those things.
Examples: The hash brown potatoes were cold and tasteless. The burger patty tasted like it came from an industrial package of frozen hamburger patties. The sausage gravy was bland and watery. The toast was plain old white bread toast. The orange juice was in a bottle and we had to remove the cap. Only the fried chicken tenders and the bacon were decent, out of the three breakfasts that we ordered. If you want to compete in the brunch arena in Pittsburgh, you need to come up with something a lot better than this.

Come here for the drinks, not the food. Wide beer selection but the food is overpriced garbage. The menu looks fancy but the execution is not there. For instance, the burgers. On paper, they sound amazing because there are a couple that are more exotic meats, not your typical ground beef. But the bun they put it on, ruins everything. The bun is a crumbly, dry Kaiser roll. The fries here are your typical diner wide steak fries, straight out of the freezer, with no salt or seasoning. And they serve them with an aioli which is ok, but a little rich after a while. Just skip the attempt to be fancy and serve it with ketchup, especially if the fries are anything but fancy. The buffalo bites here are just not worth the price; they are basically popcorn chicken drenched in wing sauce and they’re charging you about a dollar a piece. One saving grace for their food is the mussels. The individual size is perfect for $ 10. However, you might need a side to fill you up, but don’t get the frites (fries). You might be better off just getting the large order of mussels all to yourself. Like I said, come for the selection of beer. Save your money and get food at one of the places next door or down the street.

Came here for a private function upstairs. As such, the food was pre-​set. They had something akin to popcorn chicken bites but a little bigger with an assortment of sauces, spanakopita, some kind of nacho dish with semi soft pita chips instead of tortilla chips, a cheese and cracker plate with meatloaf. Food overall was fairly so-​so (but the spanakopita was great cause they were mini sized, so just meant more flaky pastry bits).
Redeeming factor was the beer selection though. Seems like they’ve got A LOT of different beers on tap, and it wasn’t just the typical stuff you see in every bar (well at least for me, I’m not from Pittsburgh). For our private event, they had a selection of about 20 beers to choose from, including 3 porters/​stouts. Tried them all, liked all of them.

Food is pretty good, at least in the burgers category. Good selection of beers also. But atmosphere is a bit dated. Could use a makeover. Location is nice though. Overall worth going to if you’re in the mood for burgers and beer.

So, I wanted a sixer and I inquired of the guy at the hostess stand if sixer purchasing was still in play — thinking it might not be the same hours as the bar — the fellow I spoke with responded with a condescending «yes» and informed me that it’d be more expensive than a six pack of Miller lite.
While I admit that I’m not out shopping for a new yacht every fortnight, I’m not exactly living in the gutter. I mean, I showered today, I brushed my teeth, put on clean clothes, and appear generally well kempt.
So, I turned around and left with no beer in hand. I’m not sure what the standards are for making a six pack purchase, but I recommend that at a MINIMUM you wear formal attire and have your driver pull the Bugatti directly into the entry way, just in case.
As for me, between this experience and an even more aggravating incident at the Friendship location, I don’t think I’ll be returning.

IMO this location is underrated and overrated at the same time — if that’s possible. On one hand, I dig the location, the menu and the beer list but on the other hand, the service is consistently some of the slowest downtown. Tuesday’s service was pretty solid this time around, but the food I ordered was… not. I ordered the Sriracha Mussels and a side salad. I’ve never walked away unhappy from a cluster of mussels before but these little things needed to hit the gym big-​time. I was so hungry from my ½ ounce total of mussel meat (a guess) that I ordered another [fresh-​baked] roll for a grand total of 3 eaten at that meal. The humanity. Next time it’s a liquid dinner of Belgian beer all the way.

The food here is simply not worth the price. I ordered the elk/​bison/​venison/​Angus combo burger for $ 16, and was underwhelmed. It was the requisite med– rare, so they got that right, but that’s about all. For that price I expect a hand formed beautiful burger, and I got a flat patty that reminded me of Wendy’s, topped with a slice of cheddar cheese. They’re putting zero effort and thought into the food here, and the people behind the line do not know how to cook. All of those exotic meats? I really didn’t taste them. The salad that I got with my meal was just ok, a little sad, really. I tried hubby’s fries and they sucked. Greasy and flabby. These were supposed the be «frites», as he ordered the mussels. They are not. I mean come on, at least have some shoe string fries as a stand in if you’re going to offer a Belgian classic. Like other reviewers, my guess is that folks come for the beer. I wish they were putting half the thought into the food as they do what’s on draft.

I went here for pretheater happy hour. Sharp Edge has a wall full of various beer and wine bottles and a great selection to choose from. The place was packed with people and I was there fighting a bad sore throat.
Instead of beer I opted for a glass of delicious moscato wine and had a bowl of French onion soup. As I was preparing to leave I met someone who was enjoying one of the most absolutely to die for chocolate mousse dessert.
Sharp Edge is a chain and there is one located near my house. I plan to go back when I feel better and will try the food next time as a meal.

This place does not pass as a restaurant. Fine if you want to say they know how to buy beer. Not much talent required there. This is an awful place to get a meal. They know nothing about food. I’ve tried 2 other locations. I didn’t choose to eat at any of them. I was a victim of peer choices. All pretty sub par to ridiculous.
I ordered the featured Bloody Mary. It came without a garnish. NOTHING. It was so spicy I couldn’t drink it so I sent it back for something they couldn’t ruin. A beer
It took an hour to get our food. I ordered mussels and frites. The mussels were good but were served with 2 pale, cold, sad, stale rolls. No sopping for me I guess. The frites were $ 3.50! Small dish, cold, soggy, greasy and definitely NOT frites. You should have seen my wife’s $ 16 burger. What a joke. I can’t believe people line up to give them money here. This is the last time I eat at one of their pathetic excuses for a restaurant. I feel completely violated and ripped off.

Unusual and tasty burgers — with a very good beer selection. The restaurant seems more Brooklyn than Pittsburgh. This is not a good thing or a bad thing, just an observation. If I only could have one or two meals in Pittsburgh, I would eat somewhere else. I enjoyed the meal.

Snooty beers at snootier prices, incredibly basic microwaved bar food, annoying and weird 20-​something guppy yuppies populating the bar.
Try and avoid.

Met a friend who was in town for business and staying down the street. I don’t often go downtown to eat because I hate paying for parking.
That aside, I loved the Sharp Edge. We were there at 6 and were seated quickly, still able to take advantage of Happy Hour and our servers (one training) were very attentive and helpful. I tried a fruit beer called Dingleberry, primarily because it was called Dingleberry. When I giggled about the name our server offered me a taste before ordering a full glass, I risked it and I enjoyed the Dingleberry. For my meal I had the shrimp & avocado salad which was delicious. Our helpful waitress did tell me to try the dressing first before dumping it all on because some people don’t like it, I’m glad I did because I ended up getting a different dressing.
Nice atmosphere and comparable pricing to similar restaurants. I definitely want to return.

Much like it’s counterparts in Friendship, Crafton and McMurray, the downtown Sharp Edge is a haven for Belgian beer lovers. This place has been a goto pub for me since the day it opened (I was lucky enough to get an invite to their soft opening). I’m a huge fan of Belgian beer so I make it a point to visit her at least one a week of not more. My favorite is the Chimay on draft but I’ve been known to sample the rest of the drafts, including a Wittekirk, Duvel or their own special brew Over the Edge. These beers are tremendous but I’d recommend calling an über after finishing, as most of the beers are high alcohol.
The food is also really good here. Whole nothing special, the Buffalo bites are a great boneless wing perfect for sharing over a few drafts. The mussels are also extraordinary. The burgers offer a unique offering with some meat not always readily available like Buffalo or Ostrich. The dick burger used to be the absolute best but had been off menu for awhile now. Perhaps a return is in order. For dessert, I highly recommend the leige waffles made to order right at the bar.
As far as the service, the bartenders have always gone above and beyond. They know the beers they pour and are always ready to make a suggestion if they don’t have your favorite on tap or bottle. They also take the time to get to know their regulars and take care of them.
All in all I love this place and all the sister pubs throughout the city.

Typically we drink wine, but thought it would be fun to try a beer with our lunch for a change. The Sharpe Edge was the perfect spot to do that.
A bit overwhelmed by the wide selection. Our bartender Scott (great service by Scott) graciously guided us along the way. based on what we liked Scott recommended the Petrus sour beer and the Wittekerke Belgium white. We loved both of the sections. As for the food we both ordered burgers to a specific temperature, and the burgers came out well done, not how they were ordered. The burgers are still very tasty but a bit upset they didn’t come out to our requested temperature. Well garlic herb aloi that comes with the french fries was quite delicious.
Based on this visit to the Sharpe Egde we would definitely come back the next time in Pittburgh.

I love Sharp Edge Bistro! They have a fantastic array of beers and good food too. If you like fruitier drinks, I would recommend the Pesca (peach) beer which is delicious. Sharpe Edge has many different types of IPAs, ciders, ales, and other American and Belgian brews so there is a beer that everyone will enjoy.
When my parents came to visit me from back home, we had a melted Brie cheese and apple slice appetIzer which was absolutely delicious. The Belgian burger (lamb burger) and the Belgian waffle fries are also fantastic as well. While the restaurant is a little on the pricey side, It is always such a worthwhile treat going to Sharp Edge Bistro!

I often go to Sharp Edge with my coworkers for their awesome Happy Hour. This location is only a block away from my office and is super convenient for any downtown worker. During happy hour craft and Belgian drafts are half off. They always have a great selection of draft beer and it’s always changing, so even if you go once a week, there’s always something new to try. They also have wing bites that are half off during happy hour. They are delicious. My favorite flavor is Buffalo Bleu. The bites are also available in tofu. I’m not really a big fan of tofu normally, but I actually enjoy these!
When I go to Sharp Edge, I usually always just get bites and beer, but I’ve had their other menu items a few times as well. Their burgers are very good.
As far as service goes, sometimes the bar area does get very busy and they only ever have had two people behind the bar max that also act as servers for tables in the bar area. When the bar is full, it sometimes does seem it takes a long time to put an order in. I’m guessing the bar is only SUPER busy during that happy hour time, so they wouldn’t want to have more people than necessary there for the whole night. But if you plan on going, it is something to keep in mind!
Overall, really great place! I completely recommend it if you’re looking for an affordable, craft beer happy hour experience.

*** Update ***
Came back 5 months later to see if my last five star rating of the Bison Burger was an anomaly. It was not… It could possibly be the best tasting burger in the Burgh. And the toasted Kaiser roll it’s served on holds up well to the juiciness of this burger. I highly recommend it.

Sharp Edge has about 5 satellites in the Pittsburgh area, each one differing in terms of menu items, décor, and general atmosphere. After having been to the more casual «Creekhouse» location in Crafton a number of years ago, I’ve been eager to try the «Bistro» that stands in the center of the city. When the lady didn’t feel much like cookin’ and got off work around the same time I did one afternoon last week, well, the Kaymobile was parked in her employer’s free, private lot only a few blocks away…
Whereas the Creekhouse is homier, resembling a cabin of sorts, The Bistro is much swankier. Walls of shelved, bottled liquor capture your attention as you enter. Leather couches surround a coffee table in the corner. This is where then suit-​and-​tie set comes to unwind once the day of bean-​counting, meetings, and negotiations is through, but that’s not to say that this Sharp Edge is formal. No, I was welcome in my carpenter jeans and pocket t-​shirt, and our hostess even gave us our own booth, secluding us from the drinkers in neckties and pencil skirts on what was a slow Wednesday.
Feeling indulgent, we began with the Brie en Croute et Prosciutto, a gooey magnum opus of an appetizer served with Granny Smith apples, the famous Italian ham, and toasted pita points. The titular cheese itself was encased in a phyllo-​like pastry and was melted ideally, oozing its seemingly alive, oleaginous decadence all over the plate and onto the fruit, bread, and meat once the flaky hide was broken with a butterknife. This is why we eat brie. This is what we want in it. Furthering this appetizer down the path of depravity was a raspberry honey glaze that almost reached the brink of treacliness, causing us to ask if this was just too obscene for us. Were we deserving of such delights? Yes, we most certainly were.
Despite the vague «Belgian» theme (even though everything from Jerk Chicken and quiche to mussels and Wild Boar Meatloaf is on the card), Sharp Edges across the county are known for their burgers more than anything, and when that’s the case, I lean towards the ground beef, chief.
As I just alluded to, exotic meats are something else Sharp Edges dabble in. I recall having an ostrich (!) burger at the Crafton restaurant. This time, however, I stayed within the confines of my home nation and chose a Buffalo Burger, one which I customized keenly with Asiago (in lieu of the Swiss it comes with), avocado, leaves of lettuce, and aiolis of the the «herb» and ancho chili varieties. I also kept the roasted garlic spread but eschewed the mushrooms. Sharp Edge lets ya get creative like that, which lead me to my next exercise in bizarre daring.
A quarter of that brie was still left on the plate. I didn’t want it to go to waste. So I shoved it under the unctuous, sweet, medium-​rare sirloin/​American bison patty and went beserk. The young, milky cheese and soft, perfectly ripe and fanned alligator pear brought a sense of comfort and lavishness as the mayonnaises clashed for pungent, condiment supremacy, the toasted Kaiser roll that held it all demonstrating the right synthesis of squish, chew, and absorbency. My (risky?) decisions had proved successful and were well-​executed by the kitchen.
I’ll be lenient and pretend the «frites» never reached my table as I am fairly certain they were flash-​frozen and dumped into the fryer straight from a bag. They were just a little too pristine looking and had that telltale shape and texture. I ate ‘em regardless. There are worse things to digest, I suppose, and the ancho chili mayo masked my disappointment. Hell, I was thinkin’ fresh-​cut, dunked in hot, liquified lard… yinz know of what I peck away about.
I came very close to ordering their tremendous Belgian Chocolate Pudding, and a few spoonfuls from Kay’s goblet almost filled me with regret. Ah, the smoky, quivering, mousse-​ish, bittersweet cocoa blob infused with tart raspberry couli had me pining for greener grass. There was also that fresh whipped cream, the toasted almonds, the chocolate syrup, the pirouette wafer jutting out…
Feeling like exploring «foreign» cuisine a bit more, I instead opted for the Liege Waffle and was not at all unimpressed with its crisp yet fluffy texture and its sugar-​laden flavors. I doubt this is «authentic» to a T (I seem to remember reading that a coarse product known as ‘nib sugar’ is used in Belgium), but once I started tearing off pieces of the golden gaufres de chasse and dunked them into the berry sauce and hot fudge, I was content with what would make for one fine state fair treat on a July evening, that checkerboard tissue serving as a quaint touch.
They may not be all that Edgy, but when it comes to their overall preparation of food, they sure are Sharp. And ya don’t have to look sharp to eat and drink here. Don’t neglect them when you’re Downtown.
P. S. The service was up to par.
P. P. S. I don’t drink alcohol, so I cannot comment on Sharp Edge’s beer selection, which is their specialty.

I stopped by Sharp Edge with CM for a drink after seeing the PGH Ballet Theater’s performance of Beauty and the Beast last Thurs. evening. I’m not really a beer drinker, but I’d been to the Friendship location for happy hour with my former lab two years ago and tried the raspberry Framboise and enjoyed it, so I figured I’d see what this location has to offer.
When I arrived (at around 10:00pm), it was pretty empty, with only one or two other tables occupied. I ordered the peche (peach) framboise ($ 8.50) and the Mediterranean nachos ($ 11.50) to share with my dining partner. CM didn’t order anything to drink himself due to having to drive afterward, but I can’t help but wonder if it may have also been due to the steep prices. (In a similar vein, I wonder if this is why it was so empty at the time that we came.)
Both the beer and the nachos were pretty good, if overpriced. If you’re a non-​beer drinker or don’t like hoppy beers, I’d recommend trying a Framboise, since they’re more similar to a cider than a beer, due to the fruitiness. The nachos were an interesting take on the dish, consisting of fried pita bread topped with hummus, asiago cheese, and tomatoes and back olives. I wish they had been a bit more flavorful, given the ingredients, however.
Although I enjoyed the drink and snacks, the sticker shock of the price will probably prevent me from returning again, except for during happy hour. I suspect the reviewer who said that they depend on conference attendees from the convention center across the street for revenue was on the money (literally). 3.5 stars.

Great Belgium selection!!! I left a bad review last time based on the individual server I got, and that’s not really cool. This place has a fantastic selection, and a knowledgeable staff.
FYI — they always keep Gulden Draak on tap!