Ritter's Diner — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

I know this is an old-school family business and I feel a little bad writing this because I want family businesses here to thrive. Still, the truth is the truth.

The Good: -This is a super cute diner with the littler radios at the booths. Very retro feel and lots of seating. -We were seated quickly. -The lamb gyro was pretty solid with a really nice pita.

The Bad: -The booths are a bit tight if you're not skinny. -We waited about 40 minutes for our food. -Our server didn't come by with fresh coffee or for any other reason. We finally had to call out to her when she was trying to zoom by without making eye contact.

The Ugly: -The spaghetti with the veal parmesan was a bowl of mush. -The roast beef on the hot roast beef sandwich was the most disgusting roast beef I've ever had. It was dry. I had to saw through it. It tasted like the inside of a fridge. The sandwich and mashed potatoes and gravy were completely unseasoned and bland. The gravy had the watery texture of gravy mixed from a seasoning packet, but without any of the salt or flavour. The best part of the sandwich was the white bread it came on. -The liver from the liver and onions was edible. The onions were not. They were just starting to caramelize but hadn't quite gotten there yet. -The pepper shaker was empty, but was so dirty from years of pepper buildup that you couldn't see into it. I had call out to the server to ask for pepper. She didn't say a word, just handed me one from another table and walked away. -Nobody came back to check how our food was. I had no chance to let anyone make anything right, but I also didn't have another 40 minutes to wait even if I had. -The server avoided looking at the 4 of us and avoided coming to the table. When she did interact with us it was barely perfunctory. We felt really unwelcome, and all 4 of us had that vibe so I know it wasn't just me. I felt like I was an inconvenience just being there.

Summary: I love the vibe and had hoped to make this a regular stop-in, but this was hands down the worst dining experience I've had since moving to the area. I hate to say it, but my reviews are honest. I could maybe accept the food being less than good if the service had been great, or vice-versa, but having both go wrong made me disappointed that this was the place I brought my family while they were passing through town.

Next time we'll go...

I found the place because the girl I was with saw it and wanted to go in. Upon entering the place, it felt like I stepped back in time, but not in a bad way. Each table has quarter operated jukeboxes, the atmosphere is very clean, and homey.

Our waitress was extremely upbeat and made us feel like she cared about us. She explained the menu when my date had questions... And we each got burgers. My date wanted to substitute onion rings for the french fries with the burgers, but we were told they do not allow substitutions. If we wanted onion rings, we would have to pay extra for them. My beautiful date gets whatever she wants, so we ordered an extra side of onion rings. She was allowed to substitute her french fries for home fries. The home fries were a very generous portion, and she thoroughly enjoyed them. The onion rings, were fresh made, tempura dipped yellow onions. They were very tasty. I had fries with my burger.

Everything that was fried in a deep fryer, came out perfectly clean... It was very apparent that they take care of their deep fryers and use clean grease.

The burgers themselves were nothing to get excited about, although for $10 a piece, I feel like they should have been. The meat had no seasoning, so the burgers were rather bland. They use one slice of iceberg lettuce on a sandwich, and iceberg lettuce to me is rather unappetizing. So, after removing the iceberg lettuce, I was able to salt my burger and enjoy it relatively easily.

The food was nothing special, not a reason for me to go back... But if my date wants to go back, I will certainly take her, as she enjoyed our time here, since she felt like it was stepping...

It was an okay dining experience but as a visitor verses a local I don't see myself returning when we visit Pittsburgh again. The food was okay/passable but nothing like what I expected from the reviews. If you're a southerner you will not be blown away by the fried green tomatoes as the locals seem to be. The breadcrumbs used in lieu of the standard seasoned cornmeal/flour mix was tasteless (not even salt in it it seemed) but the dipping sauce was good even if I'm not one to expect or want a dipping sauce with my fried green tomatoes but to each it's own. I prefer to taste my tomatoes and feel the crunch not drown it in sauce to get flavor like you would douse a cheap steak in A-1 to choke it down. It was very crowded when we arrived on a Sunday at lunchtime so there was a bit of a wait which gave us high hopes for the food (because a big crowd usually means food worth waiting in a cold entryway for) but it fell a little flat for me. The gravy on my daughters meatloaf was good but the spaghetti I got was kinda bland, it needed a lot of salt and pepper. The waitress was nice but rushed and curt because of the crowd. My husband's fries were room temperature and a bit overdone when he got them. The butter for the rolls was still almost frozen, if you get their house dressing for the salad be prepared for the kind of tartness that makes your brows hit your hairline.... I could go on but I won't because I'm sure you get the picture at this point. But I will add that it's a cash only establishment and they do have an ATM on site. Not sure what fees it charges as we...