Great location close to campus. More offerings than typical bar food. We shared a pizza - delicious - wings, and chicken teriyaki. All good! Try a pineapple sage margarita! Nice to hear live music from a guitar player. We'd come back here again.
The Porch is one of those places that consistently delivers a great experience, no matter when you go. As I work just across the street, I'm a frequent visitor and have gone multiple times for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. First of all, they offer $1 coffee in the mornings, which is a no-brainer, but their breakfast sandwiches are an incredibly satisfying way to start the morning. I was particularly inspired by their use of jam on a savory breakfast sandwich, a delicious idea which I now use in my own cooking.
Lunchtime can be crowded, but as long as you go just before or after the rush there usually isn't an issue. Soups and sandwiches are the way to go, along with fresh bread, and be sure to try their house-made soda of the day -- it's always refreshing and different.
For dinner, the Porch has a casual feel mixed with the quality of a finer-dining establishment. I've always had top-notch service and felt that the staff was always willing to accommodate any needs mentioned, to the extent of bringing me a cute little pot of chocolate for my decaf latte when I felt it needed a bit of extra pizzazz. Bottom line: The Porch is an underrated but amazing place to enjoy a meal any time of day!
Tried to go there on a Monday night at 5:30pm - all I could explain to my 2 kids was that the restaurant is broken, and that s why you didn t get any food. It s a bad sign when you can tell they aren t bussing messy tables just so they don t have to try to fill them again.
The hostess was unprepared/untrained, our 10 minute table wait was 45 minutes. Once we got our table, we never received water and no waiter ever came by after 30 minutes, so we left. It was so nice outside that we weren t too bothered, but I am glad we did not order; I noticed every other table complaining they didn t get service, chasing someone down to pay their check, and others were just getting their food in boxes so they could finally leave.
Also, we have 2 small children but they placed us at a high top on really high stools on the concrete. We were ok with it because our kids were behaving well and I wasn t going to try to ask anyone at the restaurant to do anything else because I knew they wouldn t be able to handle any other requests.
We ended up walking over to the small Mexican burrito/taco spot, Tres Amigos, right down the sidewalk. Food took 10 minutes and we had the same nice outside dining views without the hassle.
Next time we will bring our own food and drinks with a blanket for the grass and avoid the Porch entirely.
Second time here, fun atmosphere with delicious food and exceptionally good service. Terrific spot to drop in after Phipps Conservatory or the Cathedral of Learning. Breads are home made and prices reasonable.
Great, local (farm to table) food in a casual atmosphere.
Great location, nice to eat outside and extremely friendly staff. I love their hand sanitizer that they have made just for them. It smells like Andes chocolate mints but wasn t too strong. It was refreshing. I had the salmon salad and it was delicious. The fish was so tender and tasty. Will definitely visit here again.
Great location, and the staff are nice, but the food is mediocre at best. They should stop trying to be something they're not, and focus on doing basic food well (they've got some of the worse fish and chips I've ever tried). Or, if they want to live up to what people expect when they go into such a nice venue in such a great location, revamp their recipes. The only good things I've tried are their brussel sprouts and their bread pudding.
This couldn t have been a better find. Great friendly service tremendous food and a wonderful salad. We had salmon and sea bass, both of which were done perfectly and as described. I ll come back from Montana just for this.
I have passed by this place so many times with intentions to stop by and decided to visit for lunch today. I got the grilled chicken and taters and my SO got the burger. For both being semi-picky eaters, we enjoyed the different flavor combos and could taste the quality of the meals. Also, the strawberry lemon seasonal house-made soda tasted very fresh and wasn't overly sweet. Overall, I'm excited to eat here again! The pizzas I saw looked awesome, so I can't wait to try them next time.
Excellent brunch! Highly recommend the cinnamon pear mojito, it was heavenly.
Interesting menu items and vegetarian options- I got the salad topped with falafel and it was great. Also enjoyed the selection of local craft beers.
This place has the best breakfast sandwiches at their walk-up window! Also, $1 and homemade donuts. The lady who works the window is super nice. The best breakfast find in Oakland!
There's a ton of places to eat in Oakland and The Porch is a gem. A surprisingly large menu (except now during the pandemic) with both indoor and outdoor seating. Definitely recommend.
Not cheap but I ve never found the service or the food lacking.
It can get fairly loud but it s. Nice atmosphere.
Nice for a walk around Oakland before or after dinner.
Get in line wit Nowait and avoid the lines!
I tried this restaurant because of positive references. It was a Friday evening around 9 pm and about 75% of tables were empty. To start with, it took unusually long ~10 minutes for the waiter to come to my table. I communicated my order at the first contact with the waiter to speed up things a bit. After more than 30 minutes waiting for my order, I decided that I should try this restaurant at some other point in time.
Great food, our waiter Charlie was awesome! P.S. please don t feed the birds :)
Saw good reviews and stopped by for lunch before walking around the Cathedral of Learning and surrounding area. There was some wait on a Saturday late lunch time. We got mixed greens, crispy taters, vegan corn chowder and chicken and waffles. Everything was fresh and delicious. The corn chowder tasted like curry, it had a complex flavor. Not my favorite but it was different in a good way. The mixed green was decent, crispy taters was a bit underwhelming but it was still crispy nonetheless. The fried chicken and biscuits with gravy was really good. The seasoning on the chicken was good on it's own. Each components worked well individually but together the flavor was competing with each other. The staff was friendly but really busy. We found one of our jacket hanging on the chair had quite alot spill of corn soup right after we left the restaurant, we were a bit disappointed that the staff did not check or notify us of the spill. The restaurant was spacious and bright. It was a comfortable environment.
One of the few nice restaurants on Pitt's campus; reasonably priced, and the dishes are delicious. Portion size for dinner is below average in my opinion, which is why I deducted a star. Great beers on tap; they often have Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, which is a really unique tasting beer that I don't see on tap at other places in the area.
Server Carla was the most fabulous ever!! A wonderful 1st experience dining out post quarantine.
Solid food. Good place to take parents when they visit you.
Great selection of pizza. If you like cornbread, don't miss it!
Really nice service. Beautiful setting. Perfect spot to refresh and eat
Loved this scratch kitchen. Owner was working as hard as staff , great food, perfect location. Just all around perfection.
Nice laid back place with good portions! Service was great
Beautiful building and location.
Eat outside if you can. Everything we tried was delicious.
The ambience is great and the staff are friendly, but the food is unpleasantly salty and unappetizing.
The Porch at Schenley is a staple for the area. If you are there to visit friends, family in to see a student, or a worker in the area stop in at The Porch. In the morning you can grab coffee and a sandwich at the side window and have some oven fired pizza for dinner. The Porch offers upscale food in a casual atmosphere.
Wonderful food! So fresh and delicious! Fantastic server named Christopher! Very courteous, attentive and professional! Will go back a third time, when I'm back in Pittsburgh!
i love the pizza here! always creative and changing!
This place has so much potential, and I've been here countless times. The food is delicious and always interesting! However, the service is slow and they tend to mess up drinks or food orders every time I come. Last time I went, it took over ten minutes for my waiter to even come to take our drink orders.
This place is great! Food, service, atmosphere, it's all wonderful.
Brunch was fantastic. Service was excellent. Clean and cheerful, I highly recommend.
The weeknight 9-11 pizza and beer special is awesome. Generally inattentive staff.
You're paying for location here, kind servers, and not much else. I ordered the brunch burger and the bun was inedibly charred. A requested replacement was better, but still partially burnt. Bizarrely, they brought my food out first, 10 minutes before my wife and kids were served. If you offer a kids menu, you'd think you'd have the sense to bring their food early if anything is going to be early. Additionally, It's hard to screw up bacon, but they managed to do it. It was a grizzly, floppy affair.
Very cool atmosphere. Delicious charcuterie. Gorgeous location. Service was a little bit slow. I'd definitely give it another try.
Awesome Pizza! You can come here for a great meal and spend under $40 for two with drinks. Unique, local menu.
My wife and I were married recently at a small ceremony at Phipps and chose The Porch as our venue to treat our guests to dinner. The food was outstanding....all of our guests were blown away by the quality of the dishes and the excellent service provided by Devyn and the rest of the staff that took care of us. Fine food, great atmosphere, and very affordable! Absolutely worth your time and money....you won't be disappointed!
First of all, I had never ever written a review... however last night I decided this would be the first simply because of the poor experience. I had the displeasure of coming here last night with a large party. Upon entering they were not even set up for our party and didn't really seem to care about us waiting there for quite some time. The service was very slow but not on the servers it was the kitchen, they were extremely slow.... what seemed like an hour and fifteen minutes later we finally got our food. The restaurant was not even that busy for a friday night. I do not see the problem what had happened last night. I had the steak which cooked great but was able to see it had been sitting for quite some time before brought out. The steam was ultra fatty, tough to cut with a steak knife, and SLATHERED with oil. I had a chance to try 1/4 of the porch burger and it was the same thing ultra greasy and slathered with oil and fat. You cannot pour oil/fat on everything and call it great food then charge it 4-5 dollars more then what it should be. Hard metal chairs, trendy hip "scene", unable to properly set up to accommodate guests, ultra greasy oily fatty food, and a painfully crawling kitchen are some of the reasons I will not be coming back to this place. They need to up their ante a bit, they have small potential in some places but they need to improve it so it all flows nicely together.
Food was very good. Great presentation. Crispy Potatoes impressed my palate. The best part was Our Service Was top notch. A short walk from Phipps Conservatory in the cold was definitely worth it. Will be back.
Great outdoor seating. The chicken sandwich was juicy and full of flavor. The potatoes on the side was flavorful.
This was a really fun place, and is a memorable experience for both food and ambiance.
The Porch's ambiance is young and hip with tall ceilings, garage-door-type walls that open up to let in some air, and big visible pizza ovens. Sitting down, you're definitely in the middle of it all, but you also have some privacy.
The food was fun, too. The pizzas were creative but not zany. The Bianca, for example, had cheese, figs, and truffle oil. A tasty combination that I haven't seen elsewhere, but that immediately sounded delicious. And so I ordered--and loved--it.
The pizzas are individual-sized and are served on metal trays. You get your pizza and then up to a trio of sides--fresh parmesan, super spicy red pepper flakes, and some oregano. I say "up to" because the kitchen only gives you the sides that would taste good on your pizza. My Bianca did not come with oregano, for example.
The pizzas were all delicious! I tried the margarita, bianca, and piggy. The crust was some of the best crust I've ever had--soft and chewy and warm. I also heard good things about the burger.
The drinks were also creative and tasty. I had the pineapple sage margarita. While it was a little sweet (and this is coming from a dessert fanatic), I still enjoyed it. I also tasted the "almost" arnie and the porch pink lemonade and liked them both.
This is an excellent location to meet people. Food was unique in a good way. The pizza is great.
Good service, terrible food.experience. asked for a well done burger. Came out pouring blood from the middle, staff immediately remade the burger which then came back burnt, charcoal on outside and equally inedible.....
Service was excellent and the food was even better.
Literally repulsive. Worst lunch I have ever had. If I had the choice between eating a pigeon off of fifth ave while having to dodge traffic, and eating there again, I would choose the pigeon.
Walked here from Schenley Park with a friend on a Wednesday night. The walk was pleasant, and we were able to sit outside when we got here. The food was pricey, but the atmosphere was nice. We were served quickly and enjoyed our meals. She had a pizza, which was quite large for her, and I had a veggie burger. The veggie burger was great, and came with a side of delicious potatoes, which was a pleasant surprise because I don't remember it being listed on the menu. Everything was filling, and we had a great time. I also enjoyed the background music. Bathrooms were clean, beautiful view of the park outside. On the patio, there was a fireplace and heat from the ceiling, although neither were in operation when I visited. Also, there were fans on the ceiling. Birds were quite aggressive and funny to watch as a dirty table which had not been bussed yet got picked apart by a daring little gellow.
When it got chillier in the evening, the witness at the table next to our asked if the couple wanted to move inside, which I noted was very conscientious.
Unique location. The food is fine. It's a clean professionally run restaurant.
closes at 10 but kitchen closes at 8 why? and rude front desk waitress
Excellent Lunch and very friendly staff! Enjoyed every bite of my chicken blt and ceaser salad. My hot bourbon cider was tasty with every sip. Close walk to multiple activities and site seeing.
The Porch is a great place for brunch! The quiche is AMAZING and their potatoes on the side with curry ketchup is a must! You can't go wrong with a classic eggs benedict either. Their pizzas are yummy and good for sharing as well.
Stopped in here to eat after visiting the Carnegie Museum. Food was good and the staff was friendly. The menu is a bit limited, especially for kids. But we were all able to pick out something to eat. Decent beer selection as well as good mixed drinks. I'd stop in again.
Good pizza, good cheesecake and doughnuts. Great atmosphere
Upscale diner style restaurant with a full bar. The scallops were tasty and the cheesecake was murder.
A little slow, and a little pricey, but the food is good and the drinks are tasty. A good place for groups or for sitting outside.
Happy hour only exists if you sit at the bar or outside. In the middle of winter and only a few seats at the bar, it's impossible to find a seat there. At one point our waiter was in the middle of taking our order and literally walked away to the next table without saying a word. He came back a few minutes later like nothing happened.
Extremely slow service. Lazy college undergrads just sauntering around talking to each other and not paying attention to the customers. Food quality is very hit or miss. Got Eggs Benedict with crab and they arrived with one flake of crab.
The only redeeming factor of this place is its amazing location and view of Schenley plaza and the cathedral of learning. Otherwise it would be a 1 star.
Meh. The food, drinks and service are decent but the feel and ambiance is like a cross between a University cafeteria, Applebee's and Eat 'n Park. No thanks.
The service was good and the food also delicious!!! I ordered the mushroom pizza which didn't blow me away but was well done. Special soup was corn chowder- delicious! Fairly overpriced but portions and quality was good.
I visited Pittsburgh to see family for the Holidays and we (my mother and I) decided to come here for dinner. We had the best experience. Our waiter, Charlie, was so nice and even recommended some things for us to do in the city which we did! Seriously such a great atmosphere and great staff!
Great Oakland spot. Try to grab a patio seat on a sunny day.
I just like going here and sitting from time to time. Busy in the day, peaceful at night
I like the location: for the view on Schenley park, the cathedral of learning and the proximity to the campus, museums, ... The food is good and y. Diverse crowd. Good beer on tap. Cold water with lime or orange. We had a good soup, vegetarian burger, grilled cheese. The crisp potatoes side was awesome.
Lunch is pretty good but not too exciting...more seating than a lot of places in the area though, and the $1 coffee and breakfast sandwiches are great in the morning
Not COVID friendly. Their supposedly outdoor area is 100% sealed with no ventilation. False advertising at best.
Food was delicious. I highly recommend the Buffalo chicken pizza and the grilled chicken BLT. Service could have been a little more attentive but was still satisfactory.
Last time, it was good. This time not so good. This is the sunnyside burger. The potatoes were over cooked.
Creative food offerings that are extremely well-made. Friendly and relaxed staff. Fantastic outdoor seating area right by the open green space at Schenley Park. Dynamic drink menu.
We shared the pickles and hummus and miso cod last night and absolutely loved both. The cod fillets were surprisingly flavorful. The hummus and pickles were a curious pairing that worked phenomenal together.
The location is good, but the quality of food or staff service is not good.
Near U of
Pitt
This place has the best margarita pizza around, great beer, and great atmosphere. The servers are generally nice too, just hope you're not served by Fred, he's the worst and rudest.
They have great grilled meats; I was a bit disappointed in salads, but overall it's nice with wonderful view.
I tried few pizzas here. We're so so. This place is really popular among students but not my favorite one.
dineattheporch.com
