Grim Wizard Coffee — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

Metalhead safe space with good coffee, good music, good snacks, and good jokes. If you can't let loose and take in folks from a different walk of life, stick to Starbucks or their red headed step child, Coffee Tree Roasters, but I strongly encourage you to give this place a try if you're in the area.

First of all, the food supports a great cause. They sell Community Kitchen sandwiches and whatnot, and their mission Is really great. You can (and should) read about them. Long story short, they give underprivileged kids and ex-cons a chance at life. I think it's awesome.

Zeke's Coffee isn't the best around, but it is local, and it's good enough for the girls I go out with. My espresso was very well pulled. Slighly ristretto, and that's how I like it. As a former barista, espresso is my litmus test for every coffee shop. From my two visits here, Black Forge delivers my drugs deliciously.

Super friendly baristas, even when I'm wearing normie camouflage (take note 21st Street, Artisan, et al.). Just because I'm not wearing the garb of your tribe doesn't mean I'm going to order a skinny caramel macchiato... Baristas in other shops in the city either act like a cross between Jasper Johns and John Rockefeller or angsty teenagers stealing Grandma's Vicodin. I digress. These people are cool as hell. Hopefully they aren't put off my attempts at humor in my review....

The only drawback for me was the music. It's the only coffee shop in which I don't want to wear headphones. Air drumming to The Sword, Conan, and Red Fang makes it hard to concentrate on anything else. Needs more TSwift so I can get work done. \m/

TRIGGER WARNING FOR TRUMP SUPPORTERS:

The art and general sentiment does make light of our current whitehouse administration. If you're enough of a "snowflake" to be offended by this, simply do what libtard millenials do to gun shops: nothing. Let them exist. If you truly believe that they are destined to fail as a business because they disagree with your politics, have faith, and let them.

Honestly, the crux of the entire Trump campaign was "speaking your mind" and "first amendment rights" and ending "political correctness". How can you then whine like children when BFC has done just that (or perhaps simply allowed an employee to do so)? Are you people honestly surprised that a coffee house, the quintessential epicenter for leftism since the invention of berets and pencil mustaches, isn't on board with our beloved Cheetoh Kremlin? This one is more ironic pentagrams than ironic mustaches, but my point still stands.

While we're on the subject of the whining Republicans, Eric Petersen sums up the effects of your hate mail and smear campaign pretty well:

"For every time your gun goes off, a new rebel is born So when there's 41 bullets There's 41 thousand thorns in your side"

Thanks to the free advertising via Fox News and your collective tantrum, I go out of my to give BFC...

This is my favorite coffee shop I've ever been to, and it's not even close.

I don't live anywhere near Pittsburgh. I've visited twice. I stopped at Grim Wizard the first time on a friend's recommendation, and eagerly returned the second time.

First, it is an objectively great coffee shop, even if you don't care about the theme. The drinks are well-made and reasonably priced, the service is excellent, the seating is comfortable, and they have pinball.

But for me... look, sludge and doom metal are a couple of my favorite genres of music. I rarely even find friends who like this stuff, let alone a CAFE using it as a theme. There are special drinks called the Weedeater, the Electric Wizard, etc. There are posters all over the walls of some of my favorite bands. The bathrooms have some Easter eggs. On my first visit, I kept pausing my reading to open Shazam on my phone and figure out what cool band was playing on the speakers.

This place is pretty much ideal. I wish I could visit more often, or that there were anything like it near me. I certainly also wish it were open past 6 p.m., but I understand that a lot of locations can't support a coffee business staying open late.

Grim Wizard, please keep it up. And readers, check it out if you can.

P.S. I marked "plenty of parking." It's all street parking, but I have not had any trouble finding a...

I was a barista for years and visiting coffee shops I’ve never been to is one of my favorite things to do. This is now one of my top 5 coffee shops of all time. I wish I could give some higher praise than 5 stars and a text review.

The vibe was so fun and interesting. I could have stayed for an hour just looking at the decorations, posters, flyers, etc. This seems like a big community hub and appears to have lots of fun events. If you’re visiting Pittsburgh or simply never been here, it’s a must visit experience and I’ll now recommend it to everyone.

The staff were so friendly and nice! We were helping a friend whose car had broken down and in need of coffee. They guided us through their menu, joked and bantered with us, and all in all so pleasant to interact with!

And finally, and maybe most importantly, the coffee… 7 out of 5 stars. I ordered the behemoth and it might be the best caffeinated beverage I’ve ever had. Even if the shop had a bad vibe and the staff were awful (which thankfully is not the case), I would come back just to order this...