Spirits & Tales — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

We made a reservation (Open table app) a month out for Pitt parents weekend (Saturday) and the only times available were 6pm & 9pm. Fair enough. But the place was never more than half full for the 3 hours we sat. I'm guessing they hold back for Oaklander hotel guests? In any case we got a window table overlooking Soldier & Sailor field which was a very nice view as day faded into nighttime. For apps we ordered the Ricotta spread. Flavorless. I even stirred it hoping there were hidden ingredients. Had the mussel entree as an app. Large, tasty and fresh but full of sand. The accompanying frites were perfect and the butter garlic dip sauce was delicious. The main courses ordered were Branzino+ratatouile, mushroom ravioli, pork chop. Branzino was just half a fish. Past experience other places has been full fish fileted in half. Tasted fresh and good. Ratatouile was mostly carrots.Tortolini was substituted for ravioli as our server forewarned. So its obviously not made on site. Pretty flavorless, and the portion worked out to about two dollars per tortolini. Pork chop was double thick bone in. Crusting was very flavorful and cooked at medium was juicy inside. The harissa sauce was outragiously hot! Like wow! Couldnt use it. Charred broccolini was substituted by charred asparagus tips (surprise!) and pretty good. In summary I give them the benefit of the doubt that in these times the kitchen was facing challenges that night.We felt some portions were on the small side for the price, but inflation is here (Oct '21). Supply chain issues could also explain the substitutions but they were good alternatives. I got to thinking maybe the available dining times were an attempt to manage anticipated short staff? There were no issues with Wait staff and they were very good by the way! There is potential for an overall delicious dining experience. And the ambience with the cool view, high ceilings and good spacing between tables made a night of conversation catching up with our student enjoyable. My takeaway is that while pandemic/economic things are in flux you may be taking a chance, and not an...

First, yes, I asked permission for the photo of our excellent waiter, Lakeeba. My wife & I have stayed at the Oaklander numerous times over the years, starting with the first week it was open. Spirits & Tales can’t really be reviewed without mentioning the Oaklander. Since S&T is located on the top floor of the Oaklander (along with the lobby), it doesn’t have a street front and is unlikely to have any “accidental” foot traffic customers… it’s definitely a destination location. We have always enjoyed the food & service at S&T… even during the height of the pandemic, when the area manager (over 5[?] hotels in the Pittsburgh area) was helping serve food and busing tables. S&T has had its struggles, like virtually every hospitality business, and it’s good to see that they are fully staffed again… with top notch staff like our waiter, Lakeeba. Since we showed up before the dining room opened, my wife & I had drinks & “small plates” at the bar before dinner. She had the Whipped Ricotta & Baguette while I had the Roasted Olives; both were excellent. For drinks we both had Glenmorangie La Quinta (a 12 year single malt w/ a ruby port finish… now replaced by the 14 yr Quinta Ruban) on the “rock” (a single large ice cube, so they know how to mix/serve drinks). For dinner my wife had the Roasted Half Truffle Chicken ($29), one of her S&T favorites, and it didn’t disappoint… still excellent. I had the Double Cut Pork Chop (a Summer Entree, $34), which was prepared just perfectly. The menu indicated it would be accompanied by “charred broccolini” (what ever that is ???) which was substituted with grilled asparagus… with their apologies (not necessary, as given the choice, I would have picked that anyway). The total bill, including bar, small plates, salads, dinners, a dessert to go & (generous) tips was just approximately $250. So… visiting S&T isn’t like a trip to Denny’s, but if you truly enjoy good food & exceptional service, it’s definitely worth the trip to the top of...

I"ve been wanting to try Sprits & Tales since reading the 5/22/21 article in the Post-Gazette about how chef Jessica Lewis helped spearhead the effort to get Pittsburgh restaurants involved with recycling oyster shells to help the Chesapeake Bay. Dined with my wife, son, and mother-in-law and we thoroughly enjoyed our dinner at Spirits & Tales. We tried so many different things from the menu and sampled each other's food. Each of the 4 cocktails we tried, were delicious, but the Makers Mark orange thyme old fashioned was just so flavorful! Loved the homemade whipped ricotta with honey and the radish toast with cashew cheese! We were so glad we tried the roasted oysters which were better than any oysters we’ve had before. It was also fun for 2 of us, who've never tried raw oysters before, to sample both the east and west coast oysters. We tried each of the three salads. The salad with orange dressing with the dill was really an interesting combination andt the spinach Ceasar was really tasty, but I liked that one with the shaved asparagus and beets the best. I had to order the pork chop, because I never like how most menus pair pork with a sweet sauce. It was great with the harissa. My mother-in-law was intrigued by the halibut with the curry sauce and my wife had the Branzino. Our son wasn’t sure what to order, and although he’s always a big steak eater he wanted to try something different. I had a feeling the roast chicken would be delicious but we couldn’t get over how wonderful that truffle flavor was in the jus. We tried each of the desserts (well actually 2 orders of the beignets lol) and couldn’t believe how delicious the almond cake was!!! Although we ate too much, we enjoyed every single bite and we’re so glad we tried the restaurant! By the way, the views are spectacular and the plaid mosaic tile in the restroom makes it worth the visit! Looking forward to a...