One by Spork — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

When we arrived, we were presented the bites immediately one after another - to the point that they were stacking up in front of me while the chefs described each one. The bites were good - I just feel like they were heavily rushed which made me feel awkward.

We were then taken to the table for the dining experience. The décor was beautiful, and the ambience pleasant.

Ratatouille - nothing special. It was good, but not amazing.

Maine Scallop - super small scallop. Presented on a scallop shell on a folded napkin. While it was really tasty, the plate felt unsteady and wobbly, and really just too cumbersome to eat from happily.

Black cod - amazing, no notes. The dry age was sublime on the fish. Very smart.

Tomato salad - It was a salad with fresh ingredients.

Lamb agnolotti - 2 agnolotti atop a rich demi-glace. The demi was amazing, but too much. It was like soup. The lamb in the pasta seemed a little overcooked and mealy, and tasted very basic. This dish would have been amazing with some fresh bread to dip in the demi. (Also, no bread course was provided throughout the entire service)

Goat - one of the highlights of the experience. Everything on the plate was absolutely delicious.

Duck two-ways - The pizza was good, but very oily from the duck confit. Flavor was good. Advised to save the crust for the dry-aged duck course (which I did, but there wasn’t enough sauce for dipping the crust into). The dry-aged duck plate was good, though the duck still had a pretty thick fat cap on it.

Desserts:

Squash Semifreddo - this dish was foul. I don’t use this term lightly either. I will pretty much eat and finish anything that is given to me, but I haven’t had something this awful in so long. The best way to explain their semifreddo is like putting a nice dessert in a fridge full of onions and garlic, uncovered, overnight - then serving it. Why does the semifreddo taste like alliums? I did not finish it; it was that bad.

Basil Panna Cotta - delicious. I would have preferred 2 servings of that over the previous dessert.

Drinks:

This is also rare for me, but there was too much alcohol. The ‘One Experience’ alternates between glasses of wine and cocktails, and it’s just too much. By the end of service, I was uncomfortably tipsy. Not mildly tipsy, not drunk. Just the weird feeling in between. The wines were good though, and most of the cocktails were tasty. The Maree Noir though - it was strange. Not bad per se, but not really that good either.

Here are my concerns for this service: it is not worth the price at all. In addition to the above, there were other flaws that bring down the value. For example, the general manager wore shorts, while a lot of the other staff who were presenting the food were in casually stained outfits. I would expect this at any other restaurant - but for an experience like this, I would expect a little more detail in the attire. Additionally, Cecil sounded sick. While he stood behind us in the kitchen, he continued to sniff (mucous filled sniffs) through the entire service, which was so off-putting. The cutlery presented for some of the dishes made no sense to me. Sometimes I was longing for a knife to help push food onto my fork, another time I was trying to determine why we had a very small teaspoon for a pasta dish. The explanations of the courses were also incredibly too long. It was en explanation of the food, followed by a dissertation about the wine/cocktail, as well as the NA option. It was weird as everyone just sat and listened for so long, while we all had plates of food in front of us getting cold. No coffee/tea service was offered, the homemade chocolates were not good, and the back of the take-home menu is full of comments about the establishment, and a prompt to leave a review. It just doesn’t feel naturally classy - more like forced pretentiousness. Which is how I feel like the experience went.

I’m glad I came here to try One by Spork, but I would not return. The cost is just not worth it. Maybe if they refine the experience or reduce the price, but not as it...

While Spork on Penn Ave has been a favorite for many years, our latest meal was simply amazing! The new chef’s tasting menu, One at Spork, involves a carefully orchestrated progression of 16 dishes (multiple appetizer bites, entrées and desserts) paired with 10 alcoholic or nonalcoholic drinks crafted to reflect flavors in each dish. It was truly hard to pick favorites, as each dish was delicious. Even the sparkling water was exceptional. But we found ourselves talking about the smoked bass truffle tartellete, a hand-torched miso glazed halibut paired with a unique butternut squash, miso maple and apple beverage, fondant potato and chicharrones with NY sours topped with a red wine meringue, and the maple-Amazake ice cream with bourbon black apple butter. The Nebbiola wine and tomato sauces served with the elk pasta basket were so good, we were glad we had this amazing bread and koji butter to clean our plates. Check the Love2Chow blog & search "Spork" for a full description of each dish and drink. The service was impeccable, and the best part was the chance to learn about the creative process for each dish and to meet and talk to the people involved in making and serving this fantastic...

One by Spork is an absolutely amazing experience! Every dish was thoughtfully executed with a mix of whole foods prepared simply and concoctions you could barely recognize. Everything was like a scientific experiment, yet also had heart and story behind it - like the dehydrated ramen boiled tableside in bunsen burners. Great starters followed by many courses that’ll leave you full! The new seating arrangement gives you a front row seat to much of the food prep. The highlight dishes were the lamb tartare, the octopus with potatoes, and the dry-aged duck. While the price is high, the quality-price ratio is extremely good esp since it includes alcoholic or non-alcoholic drink pairings, which were all thoughtfully crafted. I recommend if you're going as a couple, getting 1 alcoholic and 1 N/A so you can appreciate the full range of their drink creativity - which includes both great wines and well-optimized cocktails! Service and ambience are obviously top notch with some callbacks to the previous iteration of Spork. Definitely recommend for a birthday, anniversary, or other...