Killians Hardwood Grill — Restaurant in East Deer Township

High hopes based on multiple personal recommendations. We were not impressed. 2 stars and that’s generous.

Several of us decided to take the plunge and try Killian’s after what seems like decades. We started by ordering drinks.

The beer list seems like it was etched in time since around 1991. There was not a single worthy craft beer, and primary offerings included Budweiser, Miller, Yuengling, & Iron City. There was no draft beer. Strangely they had Killian’s Irish Red which was in style in the 90’s. The wine list was also sub-par. There were a few box wines, but styles were limited. They also charged $7 per glass. By contrast, Phillippi’s, only a few miles away, charges $4.50 for a better selection.

On to the food. We tried the steak salad. It was Pittsburgh-style with roasted or grilled potatoes rather than fries. Although the steak was tender, it was awful. Let me preface this by stating that I have an electric smoker and know a thing or two about smoking meats. The steak and potatoes tasted like creosote, and had a bitter, harsh oily flavor from over-smoking. In addition to being unhealthy, it was terrible. Later upon reading some of the reviews, we saw photos of charred meat, which tells us this is par for the course. Just WOW! Dear friends, this is NOT good smoked food, or how it is supposed to taste. Contrast this to Gaucho in Pittsburgh, or even a hardwood smoked pizza. Utterly disgusting.

Next we had the potato salad. I expected something traditional. What I got was something that was overwhelmed by an odd flavor of cloves!?! Not sure why, but cloves does not enhance potato salad. Very bad.

We had the spaghetti dinner with a side salad. I can’t say it was bad, but it was mediocre at best. The salad was similar to the Burrell Inn with the MSG-laden Ciciarelli Bros. dressing. Not my style.

This review is not going to change anyone’s mind, nor is it the intention. The goal is to be objective and show that these reviews are incredibly wrong, yet still overwhelmingly positive. Our acquaintances were also wrong and will no longer be trusted. I also should mention that it was very pricey. This is obviously a popular establishment, but so is McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s to name a few. To each his...

My soon to be wife and I have been taking our families there for spaghetti dinners on Sundays for years (5 I believe). Never had a bad experience. Good food and good service. This time however it was not that at all. It took 45 minutes after sitting down at our reserved table for 10 to get our drinks. They sat in plain sight at the bar, melting for 20 minutes before we got them. Everything was watered down and my beer was almost warm. After sitting for just over an hour we were served our salads. No dressing. That came ten minutes later. While waiting I observed two different couple's come in, wait at the bar for a table and then got served their spaghetti dinners a full 20 minutes before we got our salads. Our dinners finally came after a whopping 1 hr and twenty minutes. The only thing our waitress was fast about was collecting our checks, which we had to ask repeatedly for and eventually went to the bar and retrieved. I understand today was a holiday and a Sunday, but it wasn't that busy. This isn't just the worst service I've received here but anywhere I've eaten in recent history. I don't believe we will be back anytime soon. Too bad too, pretty...

I'm not a foodie, so writing a review of a restaurant isn't one of the things I usually do. However, this place deserves a review. I've been there twice, and both times the food and the service were great. We ate there last summer, and the items in the portabello salad tasted like they had just been bought at the farmer's market. Yum. The fried potatoes were incredible. Crispy, fresh tasting and no sign of oil. How they did that I do not know. The hamburgers are huge and don't taste like they are made from frozen meat. We just had another meal there and the food was just as good. This time, being December, the food obviously didn't just come from a farmer's market, but it still was very good. Also, on Sundays they have a spaghetti or ravioli special for only $7. We didn't order that, but plenty of customers who appeared to be regulars did and it looked like they enjoyed their meals. The restaurant is in an old bar which I'm sure the steel workers hung out after their shift was over back in the day. It's clean and fresh inside, but it retains the look of the steel mill era. There is ample free parking and its only ten minutes away from Pittsburgh Mills...