Coughlin's Law Kitchen and Ale House — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

If I could give this place a 0 stars I would…

TERRIBLE Customer Service. Let me just start by saying this, the place is cute and definitely has potential. However, that was not the case this past weekend. I was planning to have a small get together with my friends that live here in Pittsburgh, as well as some friends that travelled 3 hours to get here for my birthday party. I called ahead to this restaurant a week in advance to discuss what the options were after I had spoke to another restaurant in the area that was not willing to accommodate our party because we weren't paying "all on one check." So when I spoke to the lady on the phone she said that there wouldn't be an issue that we COULD all pay separately, and that they don't take reservations but she would write it on the board as "Tyler Party of 12, 7pm Saturday." I asked the question again just to reassure that there was no "one check policy." She proceeded to say, no you are good to go, we have you down for Saturday, but you may have to wait when you get here... which I said was perfectly fine! Saturday comes, one of friends goes to the hostess to ask about the party and the wait time, she tells her 45 mins and says we have you down and we will text you when your table is ready. 50 mins goes by, I now have 10 people waiting to be seated and I go back up to the host stand and say, I apologize in advance but I had 2 people not be able to come. We are down to a party of 10. She says "Okay! No worries, the table is almost ready." It was at this point, 50 mins LATER, the girl says "Did anyone talk to you about the one check policy?" I responded by saying, "No, that was double asked during the booking because we told another restaurant we wouldn't be booking with them for that reason." She stated, "okay, that won't be a problem I will just make sure my manager approves and we are good to go!" If this was going to be an issue, WHY did she wait 50 mins before telling me this.. we could have arranged other plans. The manager which I should have gotten her name, but I was already upset came out and was absolutely NASTY with me. For someone that is also a manager and works in customer service and knows what it's like to be on the other end of the conversation, she was completely ignorant and wrong about the situation. She basically called me a liar in front of my whole party and the other guests that were sitting on the patio. She wouldn't even budge, continuing to get louder and more defiant, and was still not willing to make an exception when our party was only 10 people AND we even called ahead and told them. She stood there arguing with me for 10 mins about what happened, and said "Well, unless we had a new hostess, they wouldn't have told you that it didn't exist." How is that my problem?! So, now I have 10 hungry people waiting to be sat and she's just yelling at us instead of apologizing like a normal manager would do and offer to help the situation. I told her I wanted the owner's contact information and she stated that she was "one of the partners," which had to be a lie because she was just mad and didn't want to give it to me. That's fine, we took our party down to the street to an adorable place and got treated with absolute respect and the food was delicious. Your business lost out on hundreds of dollars that night and clearly you don't care by allowing that woman to work there. ALSO, the website has nothing on it about the "one check policy" nor any ownership, which I highly suggest...

UPDATE: I spoke with their manager Tracy who went above and beyond to resolve the issues I had with my service there. 5 stars for the management team

5 starts for the atmosphere but our service was 0 stars. We got there on Friday evening around 7pm, we were told 30-40 minute wait. We ended up waiting over an hour which was no big deal bc we were able to get a drink at the bar. We finally were seated and greeted by our server. We placed our orders and got some appetizers. The apps were great. I had ordered the steak sandwich with fries and a side of jalepeno ranch dressing. However, when the food came, I was brought a grilled cheese. Again, no big deal, things get messed up in a busy restaurant. I waited around 25 minutes, and our server never came back to check on us. At this point, we all desperately needed water refills as well. When our server, Ashley J, finally came back to the table, my friends had already finished eating and asked for boxes for their leftovers. I told her that the sandwich in front of me was not the steak sandwich I ordered, she offered no apology and did not offer to correct it. I had to ask her if I could have the sandwich I ordered, and if she could just pack it To-Go. Again, no apology or any offer to correct it. (A simple I’m sorry about that goes a long way) She brought out checks immediately after. I paid for my steak sandwich, and then we sat waiting for another 25-30 minutes for them to bring out my To-Go sandwich. Once it came, I realized the jalepeno ranch I had asked for (they charged me $1.50 for it on the check) wasn’t in the box. I attempted to flag our waitress down to ask her if I could have it but was unsuccessful. After another 15 minutes of waiting to see her again, I decided to out take the loss and leave without it. It was a really nice place and I’m sure the sandwich would have been good, had I been able to eat it hot in the restaurant. But the service we had from Ashely was very unfortunate. Like I said, a simple “I’m sorry”...

Was bit in the face by a dog at this establishment 7 years ago when they didnt have a permit to have animals there. This was NOT a service animal but a regular dog that I asked the owner if I could pet. The owner said yes and upon doing so I was bitten in my eye. There is footage to prove this. As I was trying to get answers about their permits, and find the owner of the dogs name, the OWNER of the restaurant told me that “they know how MY people are (I am a black woman,23 years old at the time), and that MY people love going to court.” Fast forward to just yesterday (I figured enough time had passed/new owners etc)I met my friends at the bar minding my business (7 years later) a manager (dark hair, basic looking) decided she was going to stare at me and make comments from across the bar, so I asked her if she wanted to say something directly to me. She then proceeds to scream at me in front of a restaurant full of people, saying I havent been welcome there since the dog bit me, defaming me saying that the dog was service animal (LIE) and that I filed a law suit (LIE) and that she has “a file on me.” This all while I proceeded to pay my bill and leave because she was staring at me from across the bar TRYING to intimidate me. There was no law suit filed regardless of them being negligent in not having the permits 7 years ago and being racist towards me after the incident. I have never in my life been yelled at as a patron somewhere by someone who is running that business. The whole encounter was extremely unprofessional, and traumatizing. Its one thing to ask me to leave its another to stare at me from across the bar trying to intimidate me giving me dirty looks and running her mouth towards and at me. I would take caution going here. Take caution if youre a minority. It felt gross when the owner racially profiled me 7 years ago and it feels gross again being berated in front a crowd...