Caliente Pizza and Draft House — Restaurant in Monroeville

I travel to Monroeville frequently and noticed Caliente just opened on Mosside. I eat lunch once a week out this way, and was pretty excited to see a new restaurant open. Especially a place with "pizza" in the name as I am an absolute pizza freak. The location isn't that great on the very busy intersection of Mosside, but no matter. First impression; the inside of the restaurant is beautiful. They have a very large, vintage bar set, with antique looking edison bulbs hanging from the ceiling, and the ceiling is tiled in beautiful black paneling. The walls have flat screen TV's (which in my opinion, kind of kill the vintage vibe). Starting with my first negative, they have music playing kind of loud, and I overheard a patron even asking them to turn it off.

Upon seating, I was greeted by not the most enthusiastic bartender in the world. she offered a list of craft craft beers as well as two menus (a regular & lunch menu). The prices of the craft beers are astoundingly high, all upwards of $7. I ordered a craft beer which they served in a very small snifter glass. The glass was ridiculously small for an $8 drink I ordered, and is the most I've ever paid for a single glass of beer. Whatsomore, something else that bothers me. Other restaurants in the vicinity (like Anthony's Pizza), they offer free, small samples of their craft beers. They didn't offer me to try anything here at Caliente's and with such a big list, you're really taking a shot in the dark. For $8 for a tiny glass, you should be allowed to sample a couple beers. That's pretty commonplace with restaurants that have craft beers. My next complaint... the lunch menu. Their lunch menu is till 3PM. I arrived here at 10~ minutes after 3. I took notice of this. When the bartender asked for my order, I politely said "if you're still having lunch, I would like the pizza and breadsticks combo". She took my order and then comes back, saying I can't order the lunch after 3PM. Why did she even take my order then? Furthermore, why even give me a lunch menu if you don't want to serve me lunch? And would it have killed them to serve lunch 10-15 minutes after 3PM? The staff shouldn't give menus to customers after a cutoff time if they're going to have such a strict policy on them. Furthermore, other restaurants in the vicinity (Again, Anthony's...), I've ordered food there sometimes 20-30 minutes later and they would give me lunch menu pricing still without me even noticing or asking. Lastly, this inconvenience to me could have been avoided, had they just not handed out a lunch menu. You shouldn't give your customers a menu and then say "you can't have this".

Nonetheless, I ordered a small pizza. "Pizza" is in the name, afterall. The pizza was perfectly cooked and the crust is very good. It wasn't too greasy, and they also used fresh mushrooms, which is a huge plus for me. That all being said, I found the pizza very sub-par. It just wasn't very exciting. Something is really missing.... I think it could stand for a better sauce and some seasoning. Great pizza places, they usually have a secret ingredient, something to give it a distinct taste. This is missing that. And this place is competing with the likes of Anthony's, Blaze, and Primanti's 10~ minutes down the road. I sadly have to say that I prefer all of the competition. Overall, this place has a few kinks to work out being new. The beers are too small and expensive with no samples. The pizza failed to win me over. Where it stand now, there's better restaurants with better prices and better food down the road. That's not to say, I didn't try the other items on the menu obviously (like wings or calzones, they have a fairly big menu). But based off the experience, I probably won't be returning to this place. Not for a very long time. I have to recommend passing on this place for now. Or at least waiting a few more months, maybe they'll make some changes to how...

UPDATE: it has been a few years since my first (and only) experience here so I figured I'd give it another shot. My experience here was positive this time. The food and the customer service were exponentially better. It was a bit pricy though, $42 for a 2 topping pizza and an order of breadsticks. While the food was good I don't personally think that it was $42 good.

I figured that I would give this place a shot because I'm always looking for good pizza places. Honestly, If I could give this place ZERO Stars, I would. I called at 6:05 pm to place a delivery order for one New York style pizza. I asked if it was possible for a quarter pepperoni instead of half. I also stressed that if it can't be done that was fine. No big deal. The woman said that that would be fine but I would be charged as if it were half pepperoni and I was MORE than fine with that. I placed the order and the pizza was $27.99 and it would be forty five minutes to an hour. Cool, that works out very well. At 7:18 pm I hadn't seen the pizza so I called to inquire. The (same?) woman answered the phone and before even looking up my order she tells me that current delivery wait time is one hour and fifteen minutes. First of all, that's NOT what I was told when I placed the order or I would have picked it up or went somewhere else. Second, why am I being told the about the CURRENT wait time when I placed my order over an hour ago? She finally looked up my order and said it's out for delivery. I said that's ridiculous her response "oh, I'm sorry hun". Didn't offer to make it right in ANY way, shape or form. About 10 minutes after I hang up the pizza arrived. It is ICE COLD and wrong. I asked for a quarter pepperoni....yea, I had only two slices of pizza WITHOUT pepperoni. Also, I'm not exaggerating here, one piece had pepperoni and no cheese.

TL;DR ordered pizza for delivery. Was told forty five mins to an hour. Called when it was about 20ish mins late. I Was told that the wait time was now longer. The pizza was ice cold and wrong. The dog had a hard...

The place to be!

This was our first time visiting this location, actually any of the Caliente Pizza and Draft House locations. We were seated immediately. What a cool restaurant!

Design wise, it just really look like the happening place! The bar is set in the center of the restaurant on the left with really cool lighting above it. A mirror behind and on the sides of the restaurant make the restaurant appear to be much larger which give you a feel of not being cramped. We sat on a stool table just out from the bar. Everything you need is located on the table including their own hot sauce that definitely has a kick!

The server was for the most part attentive, but it was very busy that night. My only complaint was that I had ordered fries and was asked if I wanted cheese or ranch to which I responded ranch, but then got charged on the bill for it. I feel if your offered something as though it automatically comes on it, one of the other, that it should be covered. In a brighter note, I will say the ranch was absolutely amazing!

We found out that this pizza is the official pizza of the Pittsburgh Penguins! We also found out that these pizzas have one numerous awards, which is very impressive!

I love that they named the pizzas after movie titles and other more personal things. We ordered the “Big Fat Greek Wedding” this time. They even have a Pizza called Meemaw Pizza, which is my mother’s name that her grandchildren call her 😊

The restrooms are located in a box in the center of the restaurant . I thought there was some kind of significance, but there wasn’t. Might have been from the restaurant housed there before this one.

This was definitely a great addition to my husband and my date night. We are very excited to come back and try some of the other pizzas!

Wheelchair accessible parking, entrance and seating.

Good for kids with high chairs and kids menus.

Offers dine in, delivery...