Scratch & Co. — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

I was excited to try Scratch. The premise is just that - everything local, everything made from scratch. In a cozy but relaxed atmosphere that isn't trying to be too pretentious / stuffy.

The execution of the concept was reasonable, but not remarkable. And my opinion of the night was tainted by our waiter, who seemed much more concerned with getting us to order than with our actual experience.

The menu apparently changes frequently, making use of what's in season. We had a party of six, so we were able to try a number of the appetizers and small plates. For me, these were the highlight of the evening. There was a chicken liver pate that was really nicely executed (though smaller than any serving of pate I've ever ordered.) Another standout for me was soft-boiled local duck eggs. They were nicely cooked and served with a bit of crispy shallots that added a bit of crunch and seasoning. Very simple, and very good.

The main courses were less remarkable. A few of our party ordered the cauliflower "steak." Instead of some sort of flat slice of cauliflower, as you might expect, it was basically half a head of cauliflower. Great for quantity, I guess, but there were complaints that it was undercooked / tough in the middle. We also tried the Southern friend Cornish hen (in the picture). As promised, it was breaded and deep-fried. It was tasty, but in retrospect I felt like the breading and the frying overwhelmed what's a pretty delicate base ingredient. The watermelon and pickled vegetable salad served with the Cornish hen was a real standout, however. If they offered that alone, I'd definitely order that again.

As I mentioned above, our waiter was very concerned with getting our orders in ASAP, and made a point of mentioning how if we don't order everything together, it will back up the kitchen. OK, understood, but I didn't really like how he was transferring his scheduling stress on to us to solve.

In all, a nice night, and if someone recommended Scratch for dinner I'd be happy to attend, but I probably won't be going out of my way to make it a...

I made a reservation for my birthday to come to this hip restaurant that came highly recommended by several friends. When we arrived at the time of the reservation, the restaurant was quiet and we saw the hostess iPad by the front door. While there was no hostess or sign stating that we should wait to be seated, but the existence of the iPad + reservation system indicated to us that we should wait. We waited, quite obviously I should add - both my partner and I are over 6 feet tall, while 4 different members of the staff looked at us and continued to ignore us. After 5 minutes of waiting, we actively asked the bartender if we were supposed to seat ourselves and she aggressively asked if we had a reservation. When we confirmed that we did, she sat us in what was the darkest corner of the restaurant. We saw this same awkward interaction occur with another couple after we had been seated, so the occurrence was not a fluke that just happened to us. As it was my birthday, I was hoping that this strange start to the meal would not be indicative of the rest of the experience, but unfortunately, it didn't get better. We ordered 5 dishes - 2 small plates, 1 soup, 1 large plate, and 1 from the snacks option. The snack dish - the marinated mushrooms - was the best thing we order and was truly delicious. The large plate, the Lamb Ragu, and the soup, the Gazpacho, were so salty that it was distracting and the Gazpacho was inedible. The remaining 2 small plates, Ful Medames + Moussaka, were palatable but did not provide us with anything to write home about. The service of the 3 of the staff members that we interacted with once seated was highly underwhelming for a restaurant that touts themselves as "service oriented", missing basic table service items such as neglecting to fill our empty water cups. Finally, not that I expect a banner or free dessert when visiting a restaurant for a birthday, it would have been nice for them to mention it when it is listed in the...

Went there for brunch today (11/10/24). Food was good but service was lacking. Started out fine, waiter took our coffee order. Came back shortly after to say that person making coffee drinks just got slammed so it would be a few minutes for our drinks. Thanks for the update we will just put our food order in right. Nope waiter left the table without offering take food order or giving us a chance to say excuse me we are ready to order. Didn’t see the waiter again until he came to drop our coffees about 20 minutes after we initially order them. I’ll give him some credit he apologized for the delay but to not take our food orders while we waited was certainly a choice. So we get the order in and ask for the bagels and apple focaccia to be brought as soon as ready. Shortly after the waiter comes over to apologize that now the kitchen is slammed and our food will be a while. Unfortunate but I get it, he has no control over the kitchen and we appreciate him letting us know. Except now about 30 minutes passed and no sign of the waiter. Finally a food runner brings out the bagels my wife and daughter ordered. Still no sign of the waiter. Finally flag him down to see what’s going on with the rest of the order and says food should be out shortly. Now 40 minutes after we placed the food order the rest of the food comes out. Not sure what temp the apple focaccia was supposed to be served but came out cold as did my bacon (only reason food rated 3/5). Again I get that the waiter can’t control how the kitchen operates but have dinned at other places when slammed and had far better communication from wait staff. A couple of check ins here and there would have gone a long way. To top it off when my wife went to the restroom after we had finished she overheard our waiter saying something along the lines of “I don’t understand, they ONLY waited 40 minutes for their food.” Not certain it was about our table but highly...