Tessaro's American Bar & Hardwood Grill — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

So maybe it was just that day/time of day but I ordered a BBQ Burger Med-Rare I had been going around testing burger places around Pittsburgh when I lived there to see which ones deserve the hype and Tessaro's was next on the list. Last burger place on the list I visited before I moved actually. I had been pleased with other restaurants, and upon walking into this one I was ready to be satisfied again. Pretty homey look with the employees looking all professional and ish.

I get Med-Rare for juicy burgers, ones that are soft but crispy, flavorful and melt in the mouth. Medium would work too maybe, but that's the highest I'll go.

SIDE NOTE Ordering a burger brings an array of follow up questions in regards to the sides, cheese, toppings and sauce. The sides to my memory, if I'm wrong forgive me, weren't in the menu. [*Edit online it is but fries weren't an option and I don't know, should've asked, but chips being a another name for fries needs to stay in England.] Neither were the cheese options and there were like 8 of them. The bartender pointed to a random spot saying they're here and I looked at her finger like "I see EXACTLY what you're saying". The toppings are with the burger description I believe, if not then it follows the problem and for some reason the bartender asked the sauce, even though the burger was BBQ, AND the intensity. Nitpicky but why not just the intensity? Who says BBQ Burger but not BBQ sauce, please? And it was on the side....which is fine I guess but put it on the burger AND on side.

The burger did one of those things where the hand it to you with the burger dissected and the customer has to put it together themselves. The top bun, raw THICK onions (expected better than this), tomatoes (people should never use the end or direct center slices of tomatoes), pickles (I think) and lettuce, side sauce, and side item. I got home fries, bad mistake because home fries and a burger just don't make sense. I panicked because when originally asked sides, again if they're there my bad, weren't in the menu/weren't what I expected them to be. This burger was basically Rare as the first bite literally caused the patty to fall apart and the insides looked a little too pink. The bartender asked if everything was okay, and maybe I should've had the burger remade for an accurate review of the burger in case this was a mistake, but I couldn't give Tessaro's the benefit of a doubt as it'll be unfair to the other places I ate at. So the burger crumbled, and another reason why I probably didn't have it remade was because the bun wasn't even toasted. When the bartender asked if everything was okay, I referenced the soggy bun and as I expected she said they didn't toast buns there. What burger place doesn't toast buns? McDonald's even does that. If a place doesn't toast the bun it should at least be thick enough to maintain its integrity upon an onslaught of burger juices. I may have been able to overlook it if the burger had flavor...but it's like they didn't season it at all before grilling it. I was pretty annoyed I ate a tasteless burger that fell apart. The BBQ sauce tried to reinforce the patty with flavor, but it could only do so much. When I saw other people eating their burgers, they too were falling apart. Not to be mean or rude, but they were also older. I'm not saying their age means they don't have taste or now quality but age does take away taste in some sense and quality does become secondary over time once people stop worrying about trying to fit in. Maybe they didn't expected a guy in his early twenties to hit up a bar by himself to test out a burger. It may have been the B-team grilling that early afternoon. I wanted to find premo parking and knew later in the day would bring despair in the patking department. I'll go back most likely, but it'll have to be when I'm back in Pittsburgh. There's a big burger menu, many variables that could've contributed to a Two Star rating, but untoasted buns almost guarantees a max of Four Stars and that'll...

Let me start off by saying that when it comes to food-Tessaro's is hands down a 5 star restaurant. They literally have the BEST burgers in the city and I once considered Tessaro's to be one of my top ten places to go in the city. One of the most comfortable and welcoming atmospheres. That was until I visited with my son and realized that the staff is not welcoming whatsoever to babies. Tessaro's is absolutely not a family friendly restaurant and now that I have a child that means a lot to me.

I visited a few weeks ago and am just getting around to writing this review. When we arrived, Tessaro's was nearly empty. It was a weekday in the afternoon -past the lunch rush and well before the dinner rush or bar crowd would arrive. I was holding my son -who is clearly under one year old. Anyone with half a brain can see that he is a little baby who would need a high chair. Nowadays in 2017 I thought every restaurant was ADA compliant for handicapped customers and I also thought that every restaurant offered high chairs for little ones. Most restaurants are frequented by families at some point and a family with children tends to spend much more than an individual or just a couple. As a business owner I would imagine you would want to attract a variety of customers -especially in a family friendly neighborhood like Bloomfield.

The older woman who always sits in the back corner and is, I'm assuming, the owner sat us down with no acknowledgement of my son. At our table I asked for a high chair. The woman scoffed at me and said, "We don't have high chairs". So you let me walk all the way through the restaurant with a baby in my arms and then rudely tell me you don't offer high chairs. So I left my baby with his grandmother, walked outside and down the street to the parking lot, retrieved my stroller and then went back.

What upset me was the fact that she ignored my son and didn't inform me of the fact that they don't have high chairs until we were sitting down. Why didn't she say that when we were standing in the doorway and she greeted us.

Once before a few months back I visited Tessaro's with my husband and son. My son was much younger so he was in a carry along seat. We were seated and my son slept the whole time. However, I noticed several glances from employees and the owner lady that suggested they are not particularly fond of babies in Tessaro's. When my husband and I were getting up to leave an employee commented "he didn't even make noise". Like it was such a relief that I kept my baby quiet. I fluffed this first instance off, but now that I visited Tessaro's a second time and received the same discrimination I will not be going back.

People can be discriminated against for any reason and as a new mother I learned that families with small children is a group that is not welcome everywhere. I only want to spend my hard earned money at an establishment that welcomes families with children and sees the value in every paying customer no...

the worse experience ever!!!!! When I walked with my co worker, we waited 20 minutes to be seated. The waiters were just staring at us, but no one walked over to greet us. We were standing by the wait to be seated sign. I was walking to the bathroom, while my co worker was waiting to eat seated and was stopped by an older lady. She asked me where I was going and if I was a paying customer. I replied that my co worker and I were waiting to be seated, but we were there for lunch. She asked me what was I there for again and how many people did I come with. I pointed to my white coworker that was waiting by the "wait to be seated" sign. She stepped to the side and let me go to the bathroom. Once in the bathroom, I was greeted by another woman, who informed me that the bathrooms were for paying customers only. I explained to her that we were waiting to be seated. She made it very clear that she was allowing me to use the bathroom. I asked the same initial woman that asked about why I was there, where my co worker was seated. She informed that she was "over there somewhere" and pointed. So I walked over and I co worker told me that the waitress pointed to a table and threw the menus on the table. After sharing with her by bathroom, experience we decided to just leave. The resturant was not crowded at 2:30pm on a Thursday. I'm not sure if I treated badly because I'm black or their thought I was an black lesbian. Either way, it's not acceptable to treat ANY customer that way. I WILL NEVER EVER GO BACK. I hope anyone reading this thinks twice about the resturants...