Kelly's Bar & Lounge — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

I own a small business that recently moved into East Liberty, near Kelly's.

After an early dinner/business meeting we decided to walk across the street to Kelly's to wait out rush hour, as our one friend had to drive through it to get home.

The 3 of us are all educated middle aged professionals with families. We hung out at Kelly's for about 1.5 hours, during which time I had 2-3 very weak rum and cokes. The guy was pouring exactly one shot in tall glasses. I had no buzz whatsoever and was actually more hopped up on the caffeine. If it hadn't been freezing cold outside we would have gone somewhere else.

One of my colleagues, a male who is much larger than me, had about 4 very weak mixed drinks, and our other friend (the only one who was driving) had 3 beers. Remember, this was also after we had eaten an early dinner, and we were there for around an hour and a half.

This little stoner bartender with dreds down to his waist who looked to be about 24 cut us off and said "This will have to be your last round. You've had enough". Well it was going to be our last round because I had already asked for the check, but I have never in my life been cut off at a bar. It was insulting, embarrassing, and completely uncalled for.

None of us were drunk or talking loudly or misbehaving in any way. I have no idea why the stoner kid (we are all about twice his age) felt he needed to cut us off. It made absolutely no sense. There was hardly anyone in there and they clearly needed the business, so why insult your clientele unnecessarily??

I asked the kid if we had done anything to offend him or if he thought that were acting drunk and he said no, but that we had had a lot of drinks in a short time frame.We did have a few drinks, but there were 3 of us, we had just eaten dinner, and two of us were very large men.

We all have kids and get out about once a month if we're lucky, so we did have a few, but two of us were taking the bus home and were not a danger to anyone, nor were we drunk, and the other guy had 3 small beers on a full stomach over 1.5 hours.

My biz partner said the last time he took our employees there for happy hour that he received bad food and rude service from the same kid.

Kelly's lost a lot of money by alienating a person that owns a 20 person biz nearby. They are officially off of our company happy hour list - where we routinely drop a couple hundred for happy hour.

Lots of better choices in East Liberty. Better food, better drinks, better atmosphere, and nicer wait staff. As a former waitress...

Had a truly bizarre experience at a generally great neighborhood bar tonight. Things started off normal, we ordered beers, 2 Beyond Burgers, and tofu bites, all of which were pretty solid. But after we asked for a box and our check, our server didn't come by our table again for about 45 minutes. Her section was reasonably busy so I didn't want to be too harsh, but we saw another table ask for their check and get there's about 5-10 minutes later. After failing to get our server's attention, I flagged down a bar back and asked if he could bring it out.

Here's the weird part. The bar back talked to our server, and when she came over, she asked if we needed anything else or if we wanted the check. She genuinely seemed to have no recollection whatsoever of speaking to us about the check earlier. Like it would be understandable if she had forgotten, but there was absolutely no spark of recognition that we had already had that conversation. If she was just playing dumb, she deserves Oscar. Then about 5 minutes later she asked us if we needed anything AGAIN, before catching herself and saying "oh right, a box." At that point I'd been staring at my empty glass for nearly an hour and just wanted to get out of there so we told her that we don't even want the box anymore and would just like are check. She did eventually bring us a box with our check.

I'm still not sure if I was just pranked by a mastermind. I couldn't even leave less than a standard tip in good conscience because she seemed totally unaware that anything out of the ordinary had happened. The same server has also served us before and she's usually great. I partially felt I needed to type out this review because her unawareness was so convincing that I'm starting to doubt my own recollection of reality even though my partner was sat across the table and experienced it all as well.

Overall, 5 stars because the beers and food were good and I'm sure this was a one-off. But just in case, next time I go to Kelly's, I'm definitely bringing cash so I can just calculate my bill and pay without having to wait nearly an hour after my meal is done to be...

I WISH I COULD LEAVE AN AWESOME REVIEW… I MEAN I WISH I COULD HAVE A PHOTO OF DELICIOUS MAC N CHEESE but alas, all we were served in 15-20 minutes was a bottle of water..

THIS IS SAD BECAUSE I worked here many years ago; I have enjoyed the delicious Mac n cheese, their burgers and Pittsburgh Bites.. the ambiance, the diverse population... but on TODAY, I CANNOT say ANYTHING GOOD save that they did return the Ray Bans that my husband left at the table AFTER WE LEFT ABRUPTLY; AFTER waiting quite a while as the server walked past us back and forth and BACK AND FORTH, to check on her table.. and failed to even look in our direction. I know we’re a Beautiful Black Couple, but geez, no need to be intimated.. like most human beings, we are friendly, and we Tip well when we are served well!

I can’t tell you anything was good because I never tasted a thing! I’ve received better service on much busier nights.. and Yes! I empathize when the back is open but .. No. You never even greeted us - with your eyes - 👀 long after we were given menus and water (by an other). Disappointed.

*But I will say, this - TASTE OF INDIA ALWAYS COMES THROUGH AND THEY’RE JUST UP THE STREET. So if you sit down at Kelly’s and find yourself hunger 15-20 minutes later looking at room temperature water.. and you like Indian, you will not be disappointed.

Kelly’s, do better. And fix your seats.

SINCERELY, Dr....