kmb246 "The belly rules the mind."

I would give the brunch at Casbah 6 stars if I could. It was deliciously wonderful from start to finish.

Service: One word – excellent. Our waiter was attentive and when the food arrived it was delivered by a host of servers so that we were all served at once. Something done only in the finest of restaurants and certainly not expected at a $22 brunch. The glasses and bread baskets were attended to in a timely fashion and every menu question was answered in complete detail.

Food: Excellence redefined. This was by far one of the best brunches in Pittsburgh. The creamy tomato soup appetizer was plentiful and delicious and my eggs benedict were perfectly cooked with an enjoyable and light hollandaise sauce. It was served with fruit and breakfast potatoes. The assortment of rolls and muffins were wonderful and the accompanying honey butter seemed to have some citrus accents that complimented it nicely.

Price: Brunch is $22 a person and includes a drink (virgin or bellini, mimosa or bloddy mary) an appetizer (all full-sized and varied, including arugula salad, fruit and cheese, smoked salmon, soup, etc.) and an entree (again varied and including traditional breakfast fare, pasta, steak, lamb, etc.).

Overall wonderful experience that I would highly recommend.

Cafe Milano has great pizza. It is the primary place that I order lunch pizza from. Everyone in my office likes it and I can tell you they do very well with very large (over 10 pizzas early). I get the XL size and find most people eat 3-4 as they are long but skinny.

Bar at 2132 is everything a neighborhood bar should be. Relaxed atmosphere, lots of wood and unobtrusive flat screens, fireplace, etc. This is a great place to stop in to watch a Pens game or just to meet friends. Their food is beyond what you usually get or would ever expect from a South Side bar. The mozzarella appetizer is wonderful as is their flatbread pizza. Their salads are all excellent as well. The bartenders are friendly and attentive. Service is good even when it is busy. It is a little small which I think of as a plus but for those looking for a rowdy local bar it would not fit the bill.

Can’t say enough about this great place.

Since I work downtown I never go to Palomino for dinner. It is so close I just get my fill at lunch.

Their menu runs to pricey but average for the type of upscale restaurant that it is. For lunch they have great you pick two combos. I would highly recommend splitting a pizza and getting a salad or getting the you pick two with the skillet mac and cheese and a salad. The service is superb and they have a great eating bar for singles at lunchtime. Not really sure it is worth price or the parking hassle for dinner, but a great upscale choice for lunch downtown. Good place to take business associates for lunch.

I recently went to Buca for lunch with 19 other people on a Saturday afternoon. They sat us at their Pope table (which features a lazy susan) which accomodated us all nicely. The server was really great. He handled the large group with ease.

The food was good. Buca is a reliable chain when it comes to consistency in what you order. Also, their menu has progressed from solely family style to a mix of family – style and single portions. With a large group for lunch we mostly all ordered individual size items.

I had the Chicken with Lemon which comes with a side of fettucine alfredo. It was good and reasonably priced. I think it was $8. I also ordered a side sald (add’l $3) to round out my meal.

One critique would be that they still only have family – size desserts. A few of us picked a few to share but overall individual options would have been better.

Well I can’t tell you much about the regular menu, but happy hour truly is happy at this restaurant. Their drink specials max out at $5 and the pink martini/cosmo one is excellent. The food specials are ridiculously low priced. I had a personal size spinach artichoke dip that was $2 and a 1/2 lb. burger that was $3. There are also more upscale options with the same low-scale pricing.

The burger was good and the dip was great. Left having spent $12 which included tip and feeling very full. Above-average happy hour overall and will dine there again.

Little Oasis lives up to its name. Having moved on and downsized from the original Oasis restaurant in Heidelberg Little Oasis is just that…a hidden gem in a not – so – great area of Bridgeville. It is a little hard to find, but once you do you will be glad you are there.

This is an italian restaurant through and through. Their sauces are excellent. I like the homeade angel hair with the marinara sauce and meat balls. Their chicken romano is excellent. Their portions are large and all entrees come with a side salad (don’t get excited – just some head lettuce and a tomato but served with an excellent house viniagrette). The apps are also great especially the fried provolone. The fried zucchini is also really good but be warned – it is the disk variety no long thin strips. The bread is quality Cellone’s sliced italalian.

Great spot to hit for a quick, inexpensive bite before a movie. Great to take older people to as it is a little more old school. Nothing fancy here, but the food more than makes up for the simple atmosphere.

Point Brugges is a small neighborhood cafe in Point Breeze. The food is Belgium and is excellent. I recently went there for brunch with a group of friends after hearing my father and brother rave about their mussels and steak sandwiches.

We got there before it opened and waited in a small line to get in. Brunch was fairly priced with a price fix option or an ala carte menu to order from. I sampled the waffle which was delightful and sweet enough not to need syrup. I ordered the eggs benedict whose hollandaise sauce had an interesting kick – a tiny amount of pesto! Also it was served over a large slice of this homeade bread as opposed to an english muffin. Delicious twist. I recommend getting the potato gratin as well.

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their meal. The only drawback was slightly slow service by the waitstaff that was clearly overloaded despite just opening.

I would highly recommend for brunch and also a casual mid-week dinner.

Mallorca is a Pittsburgh staple and perhaps the only authentic spanish restaurant in the ’burgh. The atmosphere and waitstaff are all from Spain. The list of specials is always longer than the menu iteself. Do not be surprised to hear that they have all kinds of meats from all kinds of animals. The paella is fantastic as is the stuffed lobster tail. I recommend getting it with the crab meat on top. All meals are served with a house salad and sides of crisp potato chips, vegtables and spanish rice served family style for the whole table.

A great idea is to try this place for lunch where prices are easily half, if not a third of what they are at dinner. Same long list of specials at lunch too.

The house is beautiful; the linens are immaculate; the table setting is classic and gorgeous. The food, however, perfect. Simply perfect. The high tea started with a trio of fingers sandwiches one better than the next. The next tier was homemade scones with with fresh cream and homemade jam. Finally the bottom plate of desserts, too good to describe. Only drawback would be their use of bagged tea. I love the choice as I hate loose tea, however, I would say that some high tea afficionados might be put off by the choice to use bagged tea.

An excellent idea for an all girls outing. When you are there make sure to take a tour around all of the different rooms in the Inn. You will not be sorry.