BZ’s Bar and Grill

This establishment was recommended by the staff at the hotel where I was lodging. The place was very nicely appointed with a excellent selection of beers. I sat at the bar, ordered a beer and some food; specifically the Duck Sliders. The sliders were fair. The confit was just right in one bite but dry in another. Perhaps due to being cooked ahead of time and not reheated properly. I wouldn’t necessarily take exception with a fair meal, but when the service falls short it adds insult to injury. Folks need to realize the two most important words in any customer facing business; Thank You. No matter how busy you may be, it takes no time at all to say thank you to you patrons when they pay their check. Those two words can cover a multitude of sins.

Well we like the new look here. The remodel is refreshing. Came in and we ordered drinks from the cocktail list. The two martinis were good. The kitchen was already closed at a very early hour so we never got a chance to eat. There was a good upbeat vibe until things came to a screeching halt. One of the bartenders stopped the music and put the tv sound on. It really shifted the mood. We were fine with that but when we were presented with a instruction sheet for a political debate drinking game that was on the tv we were shocked! We left drinking games back in college and even then we did not base them off of a presidential debate at a bar. What kind of place is this now? We could not do it. We just had to leave it drove us out.

You know, some things just shouldn’t be so hard. I came in for a late lunch and there weren’t many people around. It took a few minutes for someone to greet me. Friendly enough.
I ordered a salad. A loooong time later the waitress came back to tell me it should be up really soon and apologized for the delay. Even more time passed and it finally came out.
It was good, okay, but the service seems to be an issue based on the other comments. There are A LOT places to get sandwiches and burgers on the North Shore.

As a waiter I realize that I am particularly sensitive to service related issues. So after letting things settle and realizing maybe they were having an off day. I am over it. It’s a week later and I’m choosing to write this review. I hope it helps somebody.
I’ll start by saying just because BZ looks empty don’t expect quick service. If you’re lucky enough to get tyquie as your waiter be lucky to get a smile. It’s as if you’re inconveniencing him by eating at his restaraunt. Spoiler alert I still tipped 20 percent by the way.
We arrived with 6 at 6:30 hoping to beat the rush enjoy some drinks and eat all while watching the Steeler Bengals game. Mission accomplished. Well… beating the rush part. Tyquie was the host and asked how many we said 6 he walked us to a table and set the menus down and walked away. We thought wow what’s up his butt. 5 minutes later he returned for drinks still no smile but not terribly unpleasant this time. We ordered drinks and they came back within reason. This was the lone defensible thing he did the whole time. When he returned and we told him we’d be drinking and order food a bit later it’s as if we became ghosts to him. I can’t imagine a bar on the north shore this is an uncommon request and it’s not as if we planned on splitting one dinner and having a Miller lite each we were there to party. Fully expecting to spend 100 plus on a tab and leave a more than appropriate tip for taking up the table that long. We never got the chance.
As the bar got busier we essentially began waiting on ourselves and anytime we had to seek someone out to help it was as if we were the problem. 2 servers for that size building is appalling and wrong for any night. Let alone Steeler game night. They’ve been there long enough to know better. But slow service I can deal with. Rude, non existent service I can not. This post is already to long but I will NEVER be back to BZ. And that’s saying something considering they’re chicken and waffles is amazing. Food isn’t the issue there. Your staff is. Wel more specifically tyquie. Because the manager tho seemingly incompetent schedule wise was pleasant as was the lone bartender we interacted with.

Wandered in today to watch some of the Steelers game. We ordered some spinach and artichoke dip which came out with greasy tortilla chips and was cold to lukewarm. We asked if they could heat it up and after waiting another ten minutes we were given another batch of lukewarm dip. I was starving so we stayed for some Mac and cheese which again was… You guessed it… Lukewarm. Since no bartender felt compelled to check on us at any point, we let sleeping dogs lie, cashed out and left. Will. Never. Return.

Unilocal says they’re open until 2am on Wednesday mornings but just tried to go there and it was closed before 1am. Been there before and it was a blast. Disappointed about the early closing the night before the NL Wild Card game. Employees were all sitting around the bar like it was open.

Hard to rate this place. Food was good, menu was legit, service was a disaster. How do you not know that you’re going to be busy after a Steelers home game? How come your hostess is walking around either DRUNK off her ass or stoned? It appeared that there was only one waitress working. ATTN OWNER-​the season just started-​clean house quick!

From being in the service industry for 10 years, you pick up on certain qualities when you go out to eat or get drinks and yesterday was a front row seat on how a restaurant should NEVER be managed. I also never complain about anything from having this experience, but I couldn’t help myself.
We were trying to find a place to grab a quick bite to eat before the concert, but the North Shore was very busy because of the soccer game, beautiful weather and Counting Crows concert at Stage AE. Therefore, we ended up walking down to the PNC Park side to get away from the crowds. We decided to go here and try it out because there was only about 10 – 12 other people in the whole place. First, it took about 15 minutes to get a drink at the bar… I referred to the draft list provided and ordered a Blueberry Blue Point. When this was not on tap anymore, I was told that there was another blueberry beer in its place. I said that I would have that, but much to my surprise it was a dark, stout like beer. The complete opposite of what a Blue Point would have been. The bartender disappeared 3 – 4 times. Although, this was not her fault. She was the only bartender working, while there were 4 – 5 waitresses/​waiters working as well. There were multiple tables not cleaned off during the whole hour and a half we spent there. We watched 6 or 7 groups of people walk out of the restaurant because no on was greeting them at the door to seat them. I finally said something to the bartender that they were losing customers and she was then again prompted to run the whole show by herself and tell people walking in that they could sit anywhere. Which after they sat anywhere, they were never greeted by one of the 4 – 5 servers not doing anything and walked out anyway. At one point, a customer fell down the hidden step going down to bar and the waitress just laughed. Never went over to see if he was ok or offer anything to them. Our quick bite to eat turned into a wait for our food of almost 45 minutes when the ticket time should have been around 12 minutes max. I realized the bartender kept leaving because she had to run and get her own food for the bar, clean tables, change channels on the tv and deal with customers complaining about their service. If I was that bartender I would have been having a word with my manager and wait staff at the end of the night! We will definitely not be going back to that restaurant ever again. There was only a handful of people in the whole place and it was horrible service. I can only imagine what it would be like when it is packed for a Pirates Game…

Just went here for lunch with my husband and our friend and after being there for an hour, I have left without eating. Our friend and I both ordered portobello dishes, but they were completely out of portobellos – which we weren’t told about until after we had ordered. Common mistake. No problem, so we ordered new dishes.
I then ordered a breakfast pizza (brunch menu was available) without bacon because I am a vegetarian. My husband and our friend received their food and I was told mine would be out soon. They had both nearly finished their food by the time my breakfast pizza arrived… and it had bacon. Lots of bacon that I couldn’t even pick off if I tried.
Didn’t bother to order new food. Service was super slow and low quality. Very disappointed because I recently moved to Pittsburgh and am scouting out places I could enjoy in the future. Probably won’t be going back here again.

My friend and I dropped in here on Saturday for lunch. There was a game later that day, and the Pirates fans and tailgaters were already starting to descend upon the North Shore. I’m sure this place gets packed closer to game time!
We were primarily in search of a Bloody Mary, which BZ’s fortunately offered. It wasn’t the best Bloody I’ve ever had, but it wasn’t bad. It definitely could have used more spice – pepper or horseradish or really anything to give it some kick. We remedied this issue ourselves with a ton of black pepper.
I ordered the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich. I expected the typical fried chicken breast, coated in buffalo sauce – instead, BZ’s serves a grilled chicken breast with a thicker sauce slathered on top. The sauce did not taste like traditional wing sauce, but reminded me more of a spicy barbeque sauce. It wasn’t bad, but as a die hard lover of wings and all things coated in buffalo sauce, this wasn’t quite what I expected and I thought for a moment they had given me the wrong sandwich.
The fries were great, though! I love a good crispy french fry and these did not disappoint.
Not a bad spot to grab a bite before a game or if you’re just in the area and hungry – the location is prime (literally across the street from the stadium). I just wasn’t blown away by the food.

We were looking for a quick place to grab lunch while wandering around by the ballpark and the open terrace on a beautiful day called us to BZ.
Their draft and bottle lists both looked great. We started with truffle fries, which were crispy and delicious. My Atlas Salad with portabella mushroom was pretty good, although the Greek salad dressing was more oily than I would have liked.
Our server was super kind and was very attentive. If you’re down by PNC Park, I would definitely check out BZ again.

I am a turkey burger fan, but sometimes am not happy bc they can be hard to keep juicy. Well not at BZ’s! The Turducken is sooo good! Since I don’t live in Pittsburgh anymore, every time I visit, I have to have it! It’s a turkey burger with shredded duck confit, a fried egg, arugula, and a sage aioli. So perfect you don’t need to add mustard or anything.
The service is always great. Bc it’s located on the North Shore, naturally it’s busy during events and games. But in my opinion, it’s the best place down there to get food before a game or event. Great beer selection and also good prices.

I CANT EXPRESS THIS ENOUGH: the goat cheese crostini will change your life. So amazing. Like none other. Forreal! be on this. That’s really all.
Also, good drafts, good happy hour, fun place fore pirates. All around rad.

In town for a Pirates game and stopped in here. It was perfect for what we were looking for which was a light-​ish lunch (if you’re hungry the menu won’t let you down either.) The classic mac and cheese was amazing, as were the boneless wings in the piri-​piri sauce and the Brussel slaw (we split everything.) Service was incredible from the hostess to our waitress to other servers. I wish they had had more local beers, but they did have quite an extensive beer list. Kitchen was pretty quick. We would definitely come here again and recommend it!

I can see how this would be an amazing place to go to before a pirates or Steelers game. Beautiful location for that. Plenty of beers on tap big area and a clean bar. I had the turducken burger and it was really unique actually was pretty stoked on it. I also had the wings with hot sauce and I was disappointed. The sauce had no kick to it and they were bland. But all in all it’s not a bad place to go get some grub. If I lived here it would be one of the spots I’d hit up before a game just because of the location and the ambience

I know poutin — I’ve been to Montréal enough times to know that pile of gravy, cheesy sinful goodness. What they served at BZ’s was not poutin (it’s gotta come with cheese curds, not shredded mozzarella and the gravy tasted like it came out of a jar), but the fries were damn good.
I ordered the turducken and swapped out the turkey burger for beef (because medium rare beef tastes better with duck confit and a runny egg). I was nervous coming in, but lunch was quite serviceable, they had plenty of craft beers on tap, and every ESPN channel running on each TV.

After kayaking… all you want is water, food, and rest. With that kind of desperation, it’s not a tough order to fill. Right down the street from the North Shore rental place, BZ’s was our answer.
We were a group of 13 on a Saturday off-​rush hour afternoon, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. They let us push the tables together into one long one with the wall seats.
[ Service ]
Pretty friendly, but struggled with the size of our group. Food took around an hour to come out for all of us. There were some switch-​ups, where someone got the wrong drink (which cost $ 2 more, and she was charged for it) and another person got the wrong entrée (but we got the wrong one for free). I also asked about a Unilocal check-​in deal to get a free dessert with my meal, but the server never got back to me after asking his manager.
[ Food ]
This is where BZ’s does really well! I had the turducken burger, and it was tender, juicy, and well-​seasoned. There were plenty of fries that came with it, and they were also tasty and crisp. Someone next to me got a beautiful salad with blackberries, and I think everyone loved their food.
If you’re willing to wait, you’ll get pretty good food. I think the service would be suitable for two people, but 13 was definitely our unlucky number.

Arrived in the city late on a Sunday and I was starving. The staff was amazing and super helpful. The place was super clean and I look for that.
I had the hummus for an appetizer and it was awesome. I had the cucumbers and that was a good choice.
The chicken Marsla was delicious. Not sure why this place isn’t rated any higher.
Good work, BZ’s.

UPDATE — Tried BZ’s again, this time with my lovely wife. It was really good. Here are some real positives:
— Spinach Artichoke Dip: an excellent starter, served hot from the oven, with just enough bubbly cheese on top.
— Pear & Blue Salad: great, fresh, tasty, and big enough to be an entrée.
— Burger: just okay, nothing special. Served hot, cooked as requested.
— Mac & Cheese: AMAZING! We added bacon, and it is top shelf. It’s super rich and filling, so be careful. This is a must-​try dish here.
— Service was extremely friendly and easy going. But the kitchen is still slow…

Poor North Shore. I want so badly for it to be awesome… including this place. But I left feeling just okay about it. Actually totally loved the Turkey burger I ordered. After I fixed what I had noted to the server to leave off…
Wanted to make it even better with some extra BBQ sauce, but after asking, and waiting… and waiting some more, it finally came! I also waited a while for refills. Just not the best service.
The side salad was pretty boring. Iceberg lettuce with unripe tomatoes and a few pieces of onion. I’d opt to just not serve tomatoes this time of year and replace it with something else, but I’m being nitpicky.
We also ordered the s’mores cheesecake, as it was free from the Unilocal check-​in! I was super pumped, as I love both s’mores and cheesecake. The marshmallows on top were toasted perfection, and while the cake was good, it seemed like it was missing something. Not rich and cheesy enough, maybe? Crust was awesome though!
Much hipper inside than I imagined from the name. I definitely wouldn’t be opposed to stopping in here before a game.