Blinky's Noble Grill & Bar — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

Food (Wings) = 5 STARS Beer = 3 STARS Service = 2 STARS Misc = 2 STARS

WINGS: Let me begin this Review by saying the wings are FANTASTIC! The wings are really the only reason that my group of friends come here on Thursdays. They don't have a massive selection of different flavors but nonetheless, they are all very tasty (no boneless option). Spicy Hot Garlic, Thai BBQ and Parmesan Garlic are the flavors that I usually stick to, but I have tried them all (besides suicide); and they are all very good. On Thursdays, this place has 40 cent wing night ($1 for Ranch Dressing!!!) that goes along with draft Yengling beer for $2.50, which brings me to my next point.

BEER: The beer special of $2.50 for a 16 oz draft isn't in itself bad, but the fact that Yuengling is the only option on special is why I gave their beer a 3-star rating. Personally, I enjoy Yuengling because it is not what I typically buy so it's a nice change from what I normally drink. If you are not a Yuengling drinker, than you will pay extra for your beer.

SERVICE: The service here is pretty bad every single time I go. When I go I usually start off with a beer that takes 15-20 minutes to get to my table. I have actually started to order my next beer as I am being delivered my first one, in anticipation of the long wait. It is actually faster to order directly from the bar but they don't usually allow us to do it that way. There is a waitress by the name of Jesse who is very good, friendly and very pleasant (She is the reason I gave Service 2-stars rather than 1-star). All of the other servers, waitresses and bartenders are mediocre or bad; some it seems have zero people skills at all and don't really care about their job. Wings take a solid 30 minutes to get delivered to us but as I said above, they are so good it makes up for everything else.

MISC: There is a dart board that is mildly entertaining but in order to shoot at it, you have to stand right at the entrance to the restaurant. Every time someone comes inside, you have to move out of the way. There is no pool table and really no room to put one if they had one (It would be nice). They only have basic cable (so you are restricted to watching whatever is on TV). I was actually in there once and they had some kind of TV show on that nobody was watching instead of the Pirates game or another sporting event (It's supposed to be a sports bar... I think). They do have a JukeBox and it is fun but most songs are $1 per song, which is what you can BUY a song on Itunes for. They do charge an additional fee for Ranch dressing, which is silly, but I have to have it with my wings. Also, you are not allowed to take home any wings you do not finish (on Thursdays), which is again, silly in my opinion. The crowd is usually older on the bar side, not many young people. If you're seated at a table you likely won't meet anyone new here (besides the server). There are maybe 20-30 people in here during the peak hours (On Thursdays). I do appreciate the fact that they DO NOT allow smoking inside, which is a big positive.

BOTTOM LINE: The wings bring us back here nearly every Thursday, trust me, they are THAT good. The service is very bad (besides the one girl) but you just kind of get used to it being bad. Order your beers 10-15 minutes in advance, bring an appetite and order as many wings as you can eat because you cannot take them home in a box, play darts and get run-over, listen to an overpriced jukebox with a bunch of older people who won't like what you put on anyways and watch whatever they decide to put on TV. I (actually) DO recommend this place for anyone that likes...

This bar has excellent wings and beer specials every night. It has soOO much potential! It's such a shame!!! Unfortunately, the majority of the staff are terrible, lazy, employees that are related in some way to the owner, so that they have no fear of of losing their jobs for lack of doing their jobs properly. And it's been this way for MANY MANY, years.

Most of the regular customers are locals who are there EVERY NIGHT ad nauseam. Which leads to a kind of "Cheers" vibe. They are for the most part nice people. But the dynamic of this place leads to an atmosphere where the bar staff fawns over the locals and basically gives the finger, and sub-par service to anyone that isn't in their "inner circle"!

This is played out over, and over again where the bartenders regularly leave the bar understaffed every 20 minutes or so to go outside to smoke with their "regular" buddies. Sometimes they try to make sure the customers that need a drink are taken care of. Most times NOT!!

The epitome of this trainwreck in customer service is a "bartender" named Angel. Now as I said, Angel has been grandfathered in this business as an employee by nepotism for probably 20 years. She CAN"T BE FIRED! So if you like short, curt, condescending banter, accompanied by a sourpuss stare, well then Angel is your girl. After you wait 5 to 10 minutes after you arrive and sit down. If your lucky, she might decide to saunter over and ask you what you want to drink. Unless, she is outside smoking at the time that is.

So, if you like being treated like a pariah, then I highly recommend Angel and the whole Noble Lounge experience! It's like going to France without...

Food is okay but customer service is a joke. My friends and I had been regulars for years and suddenly management became irritated that we would come in 2 hours prior to close, we would get nasty looks, and have the TVs turned off on us prior to close. We now go elsewhere with much better customer service. We would tip 25%+ and our server, Chris, was always amazing and we had nothing but excellent experiences with her. We actually followed her to her other job right next door because she is so fantastic and this place is trash. Dontspend a dollar here. If you're there within the past hour of closing time (midnight, when most bars are open until 2 am), they'll serve your beer in a plastic cup so that they dont have to do dishes. You're better off getting Taco Bell and sitting behind a dumpster to eat it -- a homeless person would treat you with more respect in their home than management will...