Al's Cafe — Restaurant in Bethel Park

It's alright. It's a bit expensive but you do get a lot of food on your plate. Could be enough for 2 meals if you want to pay $10 a meal. There calzones are HUGE - like enough for 4-5 people. I've been there about 4-5 times and twice had this waitress who just wanted to keep taking to me - and it almost felt like she was trying to be a comedian lurking around my table trying to throw many bad jokes until one landed. All in good fun yea but I really just wanted to enjoy my meal and talk to the person(s) I went with. The food is OK. Plenty of regular, familiar, and/or typical American foods. Great fries, onion rings, burgers, wraps. Some fancy stuff like lobster dishes (a friend had this and he wasn't impressed at all. I think it was like $40 for 3-4 bites of lobster and some sauce).Not much option in terms of vegetarian dishes - and the ones that were there seemed really expensive for the way they were prepared. Ei: stir-fried vegetables with rice $25. I'm not a vegetarian by any means, but I do appreciate when a place offers a really interesting, enjoyable way to make me want to eat more vegetables. I ate it, enjoyed it, paid with good tip. Wasn't bad, it just wasn't a good option to pay restaurant prices for. If I could make it at home and get it done faster than the restaurant with even better ingredients, I'm not feeling compelled to pay a restaurant a high price for the same meal (ei: salad with iceberg lettuce and strips of chicken and grated parm $20)

Once wanted to try something new, asked about an item, waitress (the comedian one again) tells me a bit about it - chicken with a sauce on it and mushrooms on the side, she says other people have liked it, and when it comes out to me..it looks disgusting. It was a breaded chicken with a really poorly made mushroom sauce (nauseating taste, I've had good mushroom sauce and this was not that), no mushrooms on the side. I tell the waitress That this sauce is not great and I don't think I could eat this. Had the person next to me try it and they gagged. We both enjoy mushrooms. Told her the menu said something else, but I didn't point out that she mentioned something else as well, she apologized and in a round about way blamed me for choosing it, then she took the plate back for me. They did not remove it from my bill. I will not be going back if I will be mislead like that.

Tldr; good if you aren't tired of fried foods. Burger, fries, calzones, salads, wraps. My experience got worse as I kept going there. Will no longer go there after they didn't remove a bad meal from my bill. Learned my lesson of...

I’ve been to Als plenty of times and it’s always been average, average food, average prices. The best thing about them was that they were convenient for me. Typically this garners 3 stars but there’s one other problem.

2020 was apparently the year Als decided to fully incorporate politics into their business. They’re outspoken supporters of President Trump and disagree with coronavirus safety guidelines implemented by the state, so much so that they’ve threatened to ignore them completely (you can find news articles regarding this).

The outside of the establishment is garnered in Trump and conservative political signs. Safe to say, if you have even somewhat conflicting views, you’ll feel uncomfortable visiting or even supporting this local establishment.

I’ll be taking my business elsewhere as I’d rather not support a business so blatantly against my views and as well as state health and safety guidance. Not to mention the practice of involving politics in your business and dividing your patrons seems silly, but that’s purely my own opinion.

I’m leaving this review for any unsuspecting patrons who may want to support this local business but aren’t aware of its heavily politicized...

Clutch in a squeeze! We are from out of state. Planned a gathering for some clients in the Pittsburgh area, knowing nothing of the area. Originally booked at a Mexican restaurant 3 weeks out. Called Monday before the Saturday dinner to place the food order, when we were told they couldn’t accommodate us (after I sent invitations out!!) we were screwed!! We scrambled Tuesday to find an alternative. Found Al’s Cafe , called explained everything to them, fully expecting them to tell us no because of the amount of people, the time frame(less than 7 days away)… they said they could ABSOLUTELY accommodate our party of potentially 25-30 ppl!! I was floored but very happy. Called in the food order by Wednesday. Arrived Saturday to a white linen, place set room! We had a buffet and Hors d’oeurvres. The food was plentiful and delicious! Everyone loved the crispy fried chicken and stuffed cabbage rolls. Dawn, our server was on point. Did an excellent job for us. Special shout out to Shaney who was instrumental in organizing our accommodations! Al’s rocks, and when we are back in town you’ll...