Huszar — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

I hate to write this, because I had an amazing meal here with my wife and two kids the first time we went a year ago. But we didn’t interact with the owner. Just recently, my parents were in from out of town, and I really wanted to take them here. The first sign of trouble was when I tried to make a reservation for a Thursday, and the owner grilled me on how old my kids are. The subtext was clearly that she didn’t like kids in the restaurant, something I’ve seen confirmed from other reviews here. She also started grumbling when I mentioned it would be six people. She started giving me every reason why it wouldn’t work (there’s not enough people, the kitchen closes at 7 [even though I was asking for 5:30], etc). She then went into a bizarre tirade where she condescendingly told me that her place is not Applebee’s, basically assuming that I was going to be some overly demanding customer who doesn’t appreciate good food, even though I told her I had been there and loved her food. I said it sounded like Thursday wasn’t the best day, so maybe Friday would be better at 5:30. I was very polite and thanked her for working with us, and I expressed excitement. On Friday, traffic in the tunnel was particularly bad, and we were commuting from an hour away, and I had told her we were driving all the way there just to go to her place. I had to inflate one of our tires unexpectedly, and my parents said they’d be late because of the traffic. I thought it courteous to call the restaurant and let them know. When I told the owner, she got very confrontational, saying 5:30 is 5:30, and the kitchen closes at 7. I told her we’d be just a few minutes late. She said something like, what am I supposed to do, just go with the flow and you show up whenever? I was thinking, we’re just going to be a few minutes late, and it’s Pittsburgh, so this can’t be the only time a customer’s gotten stuck in traffic. And you’re a restaurant, so yeah, you do sometimes have to go with the flow. At any rate, the rudeness was a deal breaker for me, and I thought, why should we drive to Pittsburgh to patronize someone who not only doesn’t want us to be there but will likely treat us rudely the whole time? Other reviews here have validated my experience. I called her back and cancelled the reservation and told her she was incredibly rude and lost our business, and you don’t foster lasting customer relationships through hostility and resentment, no matter how good the food is. It was interesting to me that at the beginning of this final call, she said her restaurant was empty, but at the very end, she said she had 10 people waiting to be seated. At any rate, don’t go here, no matter how good the food is. No meal is worth the experience of being resented simply for existing and for things out of...

Go for the food, stay for the stories! Huszar is not your typical bar and kitchen restaurant experience. If you go with that expectation, then you will be sorely disappointed. However, if you enter this amazing place with the respect with which you would enter a friend's home, you will be delighted by the down to earth, if at times, salty sense of humor of the owner. Judi runs the front of the house while her husband's cooks everything to order in the kitchen. This means that your order may take a little longer to be served, but isn't an authentic, home cooked, Hungarian dinner worth the wait? As you wait, Judi will sit down with you (between customers) and answer any of your questions about Hungarian history, culture, the immigrant experience, and Pittsburgh's North side. She will even provide translation services should you be lucky enough to share a family letter or postcard written in her native tongue. On our recent visit, Judi stole our hearts as she shared what a gift it is to give a voice to words that may have stayed silent for generations. And then our dinner was served . . . There is only one word to sum up our meals . . . AMAZING! The chicken paprikas, beef stew, pork schnitzel, and freshly made dumplings (similar to German spaetzel) that accompanied each of our meals were hearty, generous and delicious! In spite of bulging bellies, we managed to top off our experience with their homemade cherry and apple strudel. And let me tell you, it was worth leaving our diets at the door! We left with our stomachs and hearts full! Thank you, Judi, for inviting us into your "home" and sharing your heritage with us. We...

When we arrived at around 4 on a Saturday, we were immediately asked if we had a reservation, which we didn't, and were told we may not be able to be seated. There were literally 2-3 tables seated in the whole joint. We were seated, as long as we could be done by 7. We would have sat at the bar if needed. Appetizers and main courses were very good. Our party had the kielbasa sandwich, bacon cheese stuffed chicken, mushroom paprika, fried cheese and potato cakes, all of which I'd definitely recommend. Prices were very reasonable! The desserts were different, honestly. We got 2 different Tortes. The sponge cake was very dry , which is not what we're used to. One person in our party told the waitress she couldn't eat it because it was dry. The waitress took it to an older woman (the owner?), who was also the one that questioned us about a reservation, who promptly came over and informed our party that , "this isn't Giant Eagle, honey". The lady did explain Hungarian sponge is dry, and she did comp the cake and replaced it with a different dessert, also comped, which wasn't necessary, but the exchange was a bit humiliating, honestly. Our waitress was also a bit off it seemed. She was running around like crazy, but it wasn't really all that busy. My hopes are it was just an off night. I would give it a second chance, but if the service was the same, again, I probably will go elsewhere which is sad because for the most part I really...