Bae Bae's — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

My wife and I have been going to BaeBae's since they opened, they have been consistently wonderful in both service and quality, but our most recent experience yesterday left us both extremely dissatisfied, not only from the quality of food and service we got, but also because of the harsh comparison with the wonderful food and service we've had in the past.

The new technology is a push too far in the wrong direction. During the pandemic they switched to an app-based menu with the option of ordering for take out, which was fine, but now they have gotten rid of full service waiting, and everyone has to place their order through the app. This completely changes the experience and ruins the in-person dining experience. I agree with a recent commenter that this mode of service makes dine-in awful.

Here's why: We were hosting some friends from out of town, and Bae Bae's is our usual go-to spot. Waiters are skilled workers, removing that means that one of our party had to do the work of taking the orders and checking in with everyone. This completely ruins the 'going out to eat' vibe, as your attention is split between managing everyone's drinks and food while also trying to hold conversation.

The App: There is no way to highlight when we'd like food to come out. We ordered appetizers and entrees, but everything came out all at once. There is no indication that a beer on tap was out, I ordered 2 beers and nothing came out, after we already got our food, I asked and they had to substitute it out for others because the one I ordered was gone, but there was no communication on it until I said something, the app didn't notify that the beer was unavailable, and we had no interaction from the staff after I ordered until the food arrived. There was a woman server who did a kind gesture, that we appreciated, by offering complementary shots, but the overall experience was bad. It is possible to put something in the cart that then runs out before you place the order, this resulted in 2 of us not getting our entrees. When I inquired about this, the response was a snarky, I guess you didn't see the message in the app. I went back and tried to order the item (teriyaki chicken) and did get a message that some parts of this item are not available, but that message did not appear the first time. There were also cases where some side dish items disappeared as we were adding to our cart. The cucumber kimchi was available for one dish, but then greyed out when someone else on the table wanted to order it, leaving them disappointed. The overall experience with the app was horrible, it lead to not being able to have a multi-course dining experience, and continuing disappointment as I would add things, only to have wait staff or the app inform us that the items are not available. I encourage management to take some friends out to the restaurant, use the app, and see if they have as good an experience as somewhere offering full service.

The food: This is the first time I noticed a big slip in the quality of the food. The biggest complaint is the rice. The rice was mushy with some crispy bits on the edge, indicating overcooking or old and sitting in a warming tray, and very bland/under-seasoned. Rice is one of those things where it's so easy that it indicates how much attention and care is being put into the food, which for our experience was minimal.

I hope Bae Bae's reverses course if they want to continue to be a dine-in destination. This is definitely being felt by customers, as Saturday night used to be packed with a wait time, but by 8pm, we were the only customers left, and it was only half full at 7. The new tech changes the vibe to a quick-service, takeout only location instead of a place to have a great meal with friends. I hope that the amazing quality I know they are capable of returns, but in the meantime I will not be taking our guests there anymore until we can see a return to quality they...

TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE - unsafe for people with allergies and was served rotten & wilted salad.

While the menu has great markings for entrees, there is no allergen info for the sides which come with a lot of the meals. I told my waiter that I was celiac and had a bad allergy and she just sort of stared at me like “…and? So what” and didn’t write anything down or acknowledge what I had said. I asked her what sides are available gluten free given my allergy and she went “well what are you ordering?” which what I wanted to order was contingent on whether or not I could eat any of the sides for entrees that come with them. I just went with the spicy chicken and asked again about which sides would be gluten free. The waiter was SO rude and just pointed to the menu I had up on my phone and said “all the sides are listed there” and I responded (at this point with obvious irritation myself) “I understand that but there is no allergen info for the sides like the rest of the menu”. She quickly responded with so much attitude “oh well then they’re all gluten free then”. If that had been true, she should and could have said that easily when I first asked her the question. I suspect she just said they were all gf to be done taking my order quickly, so I did not feel safe eating my food. Before she left I tried asking her “if you don’t mind, can you just give your kitchen a heads up about my allergy just in case” (because even if an item is gluten free, I have to worry about cross contamination when my food is prepared) but she grabbed a glass from our table and walked away in the middle of my sentence. I chalked that up to her not hearing me the first time, but she came back two mins later and was like “oh what were you trying to say to me before” and I was just absolutely shocked that she had left knowing full well that I had been trying to talk to her. I still asked her to mark my food as for someone with an allergy with her kitchen just to be safe and she just went “no you’re fine what you ordered is gluten free.” Clearly she did not understand the idea of cross contamination and was not willing to take any action to make me feel safe dining as someone with a severe allergy.

This was a waiter with ZERO allergy training and the worst attitude I’ve ever come across both as a customer and as someone who works in food service myself. I expected way more from a place that had gf marking on its menu, and I would never advise a gluten conscious person to eat there.

Beyond allergies the lettuce that arrived with my salad was also half rotten (pictured). HORRIBLE experience overall.

Note: I gave the place a 3/5 on atmosphere mainly because of my terrible experience with this hostile waitress/bartender. We actually waited a bit before being seated for the rest of our party and the host was super kind to us and some of the front of house workers smiled and checked up with us as we waited. I can’t speak to their allergen training, but the other staff seemed much nicer and knew how to interact...

We visited this cute little Korean place on our last visit to Pittsburgh downtown. My actual rating is 4.5/5 but I really liked the ambiance and the great service there.

Bae Bae Bae's cafe was right before the kitchen, and we initially entered there. They both are owned by the same company but their menus are different. Be sure to check which one you want to visit beforehand.

Here is the summary of our visit:

1. Ambiance 5/5: It has a cute cafe vibe with chic and delightful decor. Additionally, it also has cute flowery seating outside which would be great for an evening date or friends get together. The place has seating in front of the service desk or you can choose to go inside where they also have a bar and seating area. Also, they have QR codes for their menu

2. Service 6/5: This is where I would like to highlight Taylor Ann G's service. She was of amazing help to us. She helped us with all the suggestions and side options. I am allergic to fish and so was she. So she helped me choose a great spicy dish with great side options which I loved. I also do not eat beef. She let us know that chicken might be made on the same grill and helped us with informing the chef to make it separately in a pan. The service was quick too and we received our order within 10 minutes.

One additional thing for people to know is that they add a service fee for takeout orders which was promptly informed to us by Taylor and she said we don't have to tip since that takes care of it.

3. Food 4/5: This is what was a hit and a miss for us. We had to catch a flight and we took a take away so we are giving it the benefit of the doubt but here is the summary of what we ordered:

a) Yum Yum chicken: This was what my wife ordered and I tried it at the airport. The chicken was chewy and not good at all. It felt like frozen chicken which was baked in an oven and tossed in a sauce. The purple rice was good though. The portion was good too.

b) Spicy Fire chicken: I really loved it. This was like a bento box with chicken. purple rice with sesame seeds, tender green salad, and some radish side (which was amazing, and took it based on Taylor's suggestion). The portion was good for one. The dish was not really spicy and tasted more like buffalo sauce chicken.

4. Value for money 4/5: It was not the cheapest place and it would have been value for money if we ate it there since the place looks great. The price is good for the portion but it would be great if it was a tad less.

Overall, I am definitely going to visit this place when I am in town for the ambiance, service, and proximity to downtown and so much of Pittsburgh's history.

The great:

1. Taylor's friendliness and service
2. Spicy fire chicken
3. Ambiance

Not so good:

1)...