The Pub Chip Shop — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

*update Nov2023 (8 months since last post)

The food quality has gone steeply downhill🫤🫤🫤, hence a downgrade from 4 to 2 stars.

As in my original post, THIS IS NOT A PUB. THERE IS NOTHING BRITISH ABOUT THIS PLACE. Pub implies beer, which is not served here. Fish and chips, and meat pies in the menu DO NOT MAKE THIS PLACE BRITISH.

Whether British or American, this place is NEITHER a bar NOR a pub, NOT EVEN a cafe as is described in Maps. There’s hardly any place to sit and eat (only 6 seats available!)

In our most recent visit and 3 other occasions before, the FISH BATTER IS OVERCOOKED, though still edible. The beer flavor is not as prominent as before 😡😡😡.

The FRIES, yes French fries NOT CHIPS BY BRITISH STANDARD, ARE VERY BLAND TASTELESS. British chips are rough thicker cuts of potatoes, not the factory perfect slender cuts, and are pre-seasoned before frying.

The SCOTCH EGG IS OVERCOOKED as is evident by the very dark rim of the yolk that is dry hard. Real Scotch Eggs has a soft yolk.

🥵🥵🥵My Brit companions wept.

Meat pies, which were distinctive and attracted us to this place originally, seems to be very scarcely available. In the last visit, it very peculiar that they “have only one pie available” at opening time!!! Really??? —- that was the same excuse as the 3 earlier visits.

The place seems more of a donut specialist now (Nov 2023). Of course donuts, again, are NOT BRITISH.

So, is this a Donut Store or a Fish/Chips store.

——

Lots of potential to be great take away store; BUT this is absolutely NOT a pub, and certainly NOT a British cafe. It’s principally an order counter with a 3-seat eating bench at the front of the store.

Donuts (aka doughnuts in GB) are never a pub grub. A British cafe implies a variety of baked items: from biscuits (cookies in America) to scones, tea cakes, pastries, puddings, mince pies and meat pies. Breakfast sandwiches do NOT exist in the GB gustatory world.

What this joint does very well are:

1. Fish and Chips, very flavorful well-seasoned fish and beer batter, and the chips (french fries in America) 😎😎😎 BUT please discard the tartar sauce, which is not Brit and dampens the flavor. Ask for malt vinegar.

2.Scotch egg is good: crispy exterior and cooked egg center. However, the egg core should have been soft, the yolk flowing instead of hard boiled.

Meat pies are the stars here🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩. Thick meat filling, well cooked pastry coat.

Anyone of them is great, but I am most partial to the Chicken Tikka pie, a Brit’s take on a classic Indian chicken curry dish tucked inside a flaky pastry crust.

Then there’s the Mushy Peas, BUT it is a tad sweet and so very green, indicating use of horrible sweet peas variety and an artificial food coloring.

Authentic Brit mushy peas has an earthy and hearty flavor with a grayish dull green (to brown) color consistent with natural real English peas.

The staff are...

Came here for fish and chips. Enjoyed so much more! Fish was golden brown, crispy and delicious. The fries were actually worth eating (which IMHO they so rarely are). Also sampled the Thai Chili Chicken Tots. They were amazing! Big chunks of chicken; nice, slightly spicy sauce (and not an overabundance of it); the most delicious tater tots (a misnomer as they were more like deliciously fried potato pancake nuggets) ever! Would have ordered the delicious sounding ice cream sandwiches but were too full. It was a little hot eating eating on-site in the summer, but I understand some of the menu is also available nextdoor in a more sit-down environment, presumably with more vigorous A/C. There is a step to enter the building. When we arrived, a patron using a wheelchair was working with restaurant staff to place and pick up an order. So while the space may not have been accessible to him, the people operating the restaurant at least were. Casual environment with a small amount of seating and disposable utensils, etc. Eager to return AND to try the restaurant next door. When you want a fried food indulgence, do not pass up The...

I went there for lunch and was glad to see they serve breakfast until at least 2. I got a sausage, egg, & cheese biscuit and it was amazing. The sausage was country fried, which I've never had country fried sausage before, but now I don't understand why southerners aren't constantly doing this. Why? Why should a British themed restaurant out fry the American South?

Also had a vanilla donut. And it was STELLAR.

My gf was with me and had the fried chicken, biscuit, and gravy and she reports that was very delicious and very filling.

Both meals were about $10 and had decent sized portions, very great deal.

Note: there appears to be no dining in. You can take out or have it delivered.

The staff member we spoke to seemed very enthusiastic and passionate.

This was a fantastic experience, I highly...