Revel — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

My friend and I had tickets to a comedy show in Pittsburgh tonight and decided to try Revel for dinner beforehand for the first time. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite the experience we were hoping for.

When we arrived and ordered drinks, they took quite a while to be delivered. I had also asked if it would be possible to request a mocktail as I was DD, but specified not something with muddled/chunky fruit if possible and that’s exactly what I was brought. Ended up asking for a Diet Coke with lime instead. I was brought the Diet Coke, but no lime.

We then ordered an appetizer and entries. The wait for food was substantial, and the table beside us who arrived and ordered after we did, received their entrees while we still waited for our appetizer. This unfortunately never came and we were served just our entrees. Not a big deal. It happens. But felt sloppy and like our waitress wasn’t keeping tabs on our table or paying attention to our orders.

I ordered the $49 filet mignon medium rare. When the food came out and I cut into the steak it was medium at best (erring more well on the sides). But there was no sign of our waitress to mention this to her. As we were on a time limit before our show and absolutely starving, I decided to eat some anyway, getting about 1/3 - 1/2 way through before the waitress made an appearance. At which point I politely let her know that unfortunately the steak was a bit overcooked and we hadn’t received our appetizer at all. She apologized and said she’d let the manager know. We heard nothing from this manager, so whether they were told or not I do not know. In the end, I did not finish my entree leaving a good bit of the pricy steak behind. Which our waitress took away without further comment. I did order dessert as I wasn’t quite satisfied from entree and hoped this might redeem the meal a little. The crème brûlée was alright.

I truly hate complaining at restaurants. I really do, but also understand when you’re unsatisfied with a meal and don’t say anything to your waitress and give them a chance to make it right, it’s on you. I wasn’t offered any opportunities to rectify this meal in any way, which ended up being a huge disappointment.

As someone who previously worked in the service industry for years, I have a lot of compassion for restaurant staff and typically a high tolerance when things go wrong if appropriate measures are taken to make things right. But when you order one of the most expensive things on the menu and it’s poorly done, I can’t let that slide. I just felt like our entire experience from start to finish was a disappointment, and wouldn’t be inclined to come back unfortunately.

From an atmosphere perspective, because that’s one of the star ratings on here, we felt the restaurant was nice but could have benefitted from lowering the lights to create more of an intimate evening meal environment the felt more fitting with how their website...

I had high expectations for Revel and Roost because it was recommended by so many friends. I chose it for my birthday and we visited on a Saturday night. Perhaps they were having an off night but here was our experience. Upon arrival, we were seated courteously and promptly by the hostess in a half empty dining room and we were given water. While I realized the restaurants were connected, what I didn’t know is that 1. It was a game night and 2. There was no speration between levels. This resulted in what I thought would be a nice relaxing atmosphere into what felt like an expensive dinner in a sports bar with loud cheering interrupting conversation. After we were given water, we sat probably another 10 minutes before our server asked us if we would like drinks. We ordered drinks and looked over the menu and I had a hard time choosing because the flavor profiles all sounded amazing. My partner chose the fixed menu for restaurant week and I went off of it and got the scallops, beets, and petite filet. They delivered some bread with spreads to snack on while we waited for our food. Our appetizers arrived and the server who delivered them aimed the plate, not kidding, right into my face (it actually startled me) and I had to take it out of his hand instead of him placing them on the table. My partner enjoyed her salad and while my scallops were tasty, they did come burnt. The second course came and one of the reasons I ordered the beets was because of my love of beets and cilantro. No cilantro to be found, I had to ask for it. Right when I was asking our server for the cilantro, our main dishes arrived. She was obviously flustered and told the other server that she didn’t want them served now because we weren’t ready for them but we assured her it was fine, no big deal. The steak was delicious but mine came nearly well done when it was ordered medium. I would have said something to the server but she never returned to ask how anything was. I ate it, it was good even though over cooked. Then, desserts came. One of them was the Crème brûlée, the flavor was excellent but the top was soft and mushy like it had been made and then stored in the fridge for a day or so, more like a thick pudding then a brûlée. I gave them three stars because I really feel like this could have been a great experience but everything fell short with both the service and lack of attention that went into the food. If I’m being honest, this meal wasn’t worth $180, it was lack luster in every sense of the word and not worth another try.

Dropped this to one star because a social media person said a manager would be in touch and no...

This was our first visit to Revel and Roost and overall we found it OK but not special. I think the restaurant has potential but definitely needs to get its feet under it first. The service was friendly and overall acceptable but had some disappointing moments such as the server disappearing for ten minutes after providing drinks. Our evening didn't get off to a good start when we realized that the two menus they offer are mutually exclusive to the first and second floors. It was never explained to us that by making a dinner reservation we were constrained to the sit down menu. This was apparently a problem they have encountered before. If the concept of the restaurant is not readily apparent to those considering your establishment then it is not working.

The food was average to good but with some mistakes that hint at the youth of the restaurant. The boston bibb salad was overdressed to the point of being drenched. The cheese plate was mostly tasty although there could have been more attention paid to balancing some of the more one note components such as the mostarda and the cayenne dust on the crostini. My wife had the shrimp and grits and as frequent visitors to the low country of South Carolina we are very familiar with the dish. The grits were very dry and not creamy, buttery or cheesy as you might expect. It was greatly appreciated that the server advised my wife of the option to have the shrimp heads removed before service as my wife would have hated that. However if, as the server stated, the majority of diners prefer the heads off, why is "head on" their standard configuration?

My petite filet was very "petite". I don't have a problem with this as the price reflected it. However the complete absence of any substantive sides on a huge plate made the dish look like a joke. A smaller plate would have made all the difference.

Overall the restaurant has potential but needs to resolve some issues and perhaps put some more creative items on the menu. As a hotel restaurant this is probably unlikely since they have to appeal to a wide range of guests. Improving the overall execution and possibly eliminating the mutual exclusion of the upstairs/downstairs menu would allow more diners to be...