Iron Born Pizza & Pasta | Strip District — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

Iron Born’s this new location in the Strip combines the best of craveable carbs: their pizza that Pittsburgh has come to love, with new handmade pasta options.

This new Iron Born is different than what we saw in Smallman, or in their takeout location in Millvale that opened in 2018. The team's new space has a full bar and an expanded menu with more pizza options, appetizers, handmade pastas, salads, desserts and hot sandwiches during lunch.

And yes for us Instagramers there is a fun pizza themed wall mural. After enjoying a crisp glass of delicious Lambrusco (red, served chilled), I got to the matter of what drove me here at 6pm on a Friday, 2 weeks after their opening. I was there for the pasta. I've been drooling over the Instagram posts for weeks and had to try it. I was not disappointed. The pasta lived up to the hype, and then some.

I ordered the fettuccine, bolognese, meatballs and ricotta with lemon oil & herbs. It was obviously freshly handmade pasta cooked to perfection, paired with a savory, hearty bolognese sauce. It was incredible! Full of flavor. I loved the addition of the ricotta. All pasta needs extra cheese in my opinion. I’m headed back ASAP to try the alfredo & orecchiette next.

Iron Born Pizza may have a Yinzer name, but their pizza is a classic Detroit style pizza. The pie is set on a spongy, thick crust baked in a cast-iron square pan. The cheese that runs over the edges of the crust meets the high pan walls, gets bubbly in the oven, and creates a truly delicious crispy caramelized crust.

The forager pie is my favorite (of the ones I've tried so far) as it’s savory and lightly sweet. The pizza full of umami from the roasted mushrooms with the garlic cream and fluffy whipped ricotta cheese, is kept light with a drizzle of local honey. It is really tasty. Their pizzas are rectangular with 6 slices each. Because it's thick dough style, the pizza is on the heavier side. You most likely will end up with leftovers. I’d suggest sharing a pizza and a pasta so you can get a taste of both 😄

We also enjoyed a caesar salad. The salad featured romaine, torn croutons that tasted like their pizza crust, lots of parmesan and white anchovies.

One thing to just be aware of is that there are less seats that we would all hope there to be. I think there are about 5 booths and 14 bar seats. The booths are seated by the hostess according to the waitlist only. I don't think they take reservations. Based on how popular Iron Born is, you should expect to have to wait with other avid customers. When I visited, their location had only been open for about 2 and half weeks. The wait was over an hour, but once seated the food arrived quickly. Service was extremely attentive and  friendly. Hopefully they can expand outdoors when the weather is nice and the strip district is buzzing.

I wouldn't let the space situation stop you from visiting the new Strip District location as soon as you can. You have options. Check-in in person to leave your phone number and then go explore the Strip. Snag a bar seat and order light (there isn't a lot of space to lay out your food order at the bar). Or place an order to go. Iron Born is also on the popular food ordering delivery apps. Additionally theres the takeout location in Millvale.

I didn't even talk about their brunch. I need to get to try their brunch only creamy...

I like to support small or local businesses and hate to complain, but wanted to write an honest review. Giving 3 stars because while the food was ok tasting, it was way (WAY) overpriced and overhyped.

-Pizza was very small -Barely any toppings or cheese -Sauce is just plopped in the middle of the pizza so the flavor is just all kinds of inconsistent.

If the pizza were larger, or had more toppings, I wouldnt complain. But geesh, where did my $22 go? 😅 One pizza can not fill 2 adults. My partner had 4 pieces, I had 2. Realistically, he could have eaten it all by himself and I could have eaten a solid 3/4 pieces on my own. But who wants to pay $20 a person for pizza?

We got the two-sauce pizza, which had red sauce on half and garlic sauce on the other half. It comes with sausage as a topping. I added pepperoni as a topping for $2 extra. I used to work at a pizza shop so I know pepperoni shrinks but there was barely any sausage OR pepperoni. When a pizza has thick crust, the amount of toppings sauce and cheese are important. Otherwise, it will taste like a lot of dough. Which is exactly what it tasted like. The garlic sauce was my favorite of the two. The red sauce was very thick and robust - and because it was all in the center, I wasnt a fan. I didnt even taste the cheese… pretty sure they gave just the tiniest sprinkle. I know its under the sauce but honestly they could have forgotten it and wouldnt have made a difference. Usually cheese is my favorite part of small-business type pizzas because its distinct and fresh. Dont expect much flavor cheese-wise from here. The dough, however, I will say was yummy. It was very airy and buttery. Tasted like pizza huts pan pizza dough (which is my favorite pizza dough of all the chain pizzas) so I did enjoy that bit.

The size does not seem like 8x10 as they say on their menu. Two slices on the end felt very small….. My hand for comparison of size (my hands are so small i have to shop for winter gloves in the children's section, as a reference)

Ive gone to a few Detroit-style pizza places in a couple other cities. Never had truly authentic, but this one was my least favorite amongst the places I have tried.

Honestly, I think I like Jets pizza better. Flavor and crust is similar, Jets gives you WAY more toppings. And youll get a larger pizza for the price. Sorry Iron Born, everyone hyped you up but I just cant...

Overall the pizza was fantastic, and very tasty. The reason for the poor rating was the service we received from the staff behind one of the bars. This woman was beyond rude, and honestly just completely disrespectful. When entering the restaurant we asked for a table of 3. We were told by the very nice hostess that we would have to wait and that we can wait in the area with the barstools. As soon as we sat for a moment a table left so we went back to the hostess and asked if we could have that table, as NO ONE was in like at the restaurant or coming in. Next thing we know, this extremely rude and disrespectful young lady began barking that it cannot happen and we sat already at the bar (even though that’s what we were instructed to do as we waited). Because of her level of disrespect we opted to leave and walk further down the strip. I refuse to engage with a young lady that acts childish and disrespectful in a service industry, especially when it was unnecessary and we did nothing wrong. This young lady had blonde hair. We ultimately ate somewhere else. After a couple hours I was still craving pizza and really wanted to try it so we ordered it for takeout to bring back to the hotel. The pizza was great and I would definitely try it again. However the nastiness and unprofessional ism behind the counter is something no business owner should condone in their...