Union Grill

Men’s Bathroom private stall has 3 locks! Not because one broke and they replaced it and then that broke and they replaced it. Because they care that I am safe while excreting. I appreciate this. I haven’t actually ate any food. I just came in to use the bathroom. I however feel extremely safe doing so. Good job Union restroom planners.

What happened? Been here about a dozen times over the past couple of years, always great food. Had lunch there recently, bread was hard and stale… Couldn’t even cut it with a knife. The inside was grilled vegetables, tasted ok, but lukewarm. My dining partner had the vegetable, broccolini, he said it was ‘al dente’ … Tried it, it was barely cooked … Service was fine, little slow but the waiters were having a great time chatting with each other … Didn’t want to bother them…, maybe just an off day?

I’ve been a fan for the past five years. Traditional American food, good quality, large portions (soft drinks/​water are disturbingly large), solid service.
+Fantastic burgers and turkey burgers. The beef burgers are made with good meat, and I look forward to eating them.
+Waffle fries are amazing.
+Has $ 10 bottle of wines if you order even a modicum of food. These are typically quite good.
+Beer selection isn’t very big, but is solid
–Not particularly vegetarian friendly. If you’re looking for a not meaty meal, don’t go here. There are some options, but in general, my veg friends haven’t been fans.
–No reservations, which makes it hard to go with large groups

As a CMU student, this is a place I frequent. I enjoy this restaurant because of of the homey vibe it gives. Also, it’s one of the few places near campus where I can get a dine-​in meal without breaking the bank. Today I dropped in for the Craig Street Chicken Strips. They were delicious! The batter was flaky and a golden brown. Service was great. We finished our meal and they told us to stick around as long as we liked since the Steelers game was on. $ 10 wine list is also a great perk of this place.

Amazing food at the right student price. We ordered fish taco and turkey devonshire. Both were equally good and enough for a filling dinner. The cod in the taco was tenderly baked and absolutely delicious. Turkey was a little bland but nothing to complain, taco was the better dish by itself. Service is quite prompt. The cost wasn’t high, a perfect student destination.

This place is a hidden gem in Oakland that I wish I would’ve known about during my undergrad. I would highly recommend the food and service. I got the grilled salmon and humus which was so tasty and flavorful. I will definitely be making a trip back.

Union Grill is conveniently located on South Craig, just a short walk from CMU. However, until a friend pointed this place out, I never noticed it.
My friends suggested we come here, but the restaurant was packed on our first attempt. However, at 6:00 on a Monday night, the place was mostly deserted. I ordered a crab cake sandwich ($ 12.99). The crab cake was OK, not the best and not the worst. However, they forgot the lemon sauce that was supposed to be included. This could have been an easy fix, but the waitress did not come back to check on the food. Otherwise, the waffle fries were fine. The meals are served on trays, which seemed a little low class for the price.
As already mentioned, the service was lackluster. The waitress we had was also negligent in that she did not offer to split the bill. Again, we made do. Additionally, I found that the language of the menu was off putting. Both the $ 10 wine list and dessert menu come with the requirement of ordering an entrée. I don’t mind this for the discounted wine, but it just felt a bit over the top for dessert.
I wouldn’t suggest Union Grill to anyone, but I wouldn’t be opposed to returning either.

Great casual place. The menu is consistent but changes to offer some variety. Service is great and friendly. You can’t beat the $ 10 bottle of wine selection. The only thing missing is the pie selection. They used to offer a great peanut butter pie. Now it’s just apple :(

I’ve been coming here for the past 4 or so years and it is without a doubt the best kept secret in the Pittsburgh area. Favorite meals are the fish tacos with either the cod or salmon, Ceaser Salad with chicken or Salmon also.
My only complaint is, and its a small one. I actually have two.
Why are you now charging for coleslaw ??? We’ve alway enjoyed this with our meal and just found out last night that it no longer comes with the meal. Come on, really? Sorry but I’ll not purchase it.
My second complaint is: Why are you serving alcohol out of plastic glasses? You started this with wine last year (who drinks wine from a plastic glass unless its a steeler tailgate party) and have just found out last night that beer will be served in plastic mugs!!!
A lot of people are trying to not use plastic anymore and here you are serving all your drinks in it now.
Go for the food and atmosphere, its unbeatable! Let managment know we want our glasses back!

I’ve come to Union Grill so many times over the past few years, so it’s about time I wrote a review. It’s close to campus so it’s my go-​to restaurant for American food. I used to always get their burgers (with guac and brie or provolone) and a side of waffle fries, which was always satisfying and way more than you need for a meal. Lately I’ve been ordering their fish tacos, which is also way more than you can eat in a one meal, and so tasty. And of course, I choose waffle fries for my side every time because they are amazing. If you go to Union Grill, you must get waffle fries! I’ve also tried their French onion soup (pretty thick but good), nachos (share with at least two others!), hummus (comes with a variety of vegetables), and s’mores (you might set your marshmallow on fire if you’re an amateur like me). The only thing I’ve ever really had a problem with here is that it can be a pretty long wait for food and the check sometimes. However, the yummy food and huge portions keep me coming back as a regular.
Taste | 4
Atmosphere | 3.5
Presentation | 3
Service | 3
OVERALL | 3.5

Not the most fancy or trendy spots in Oakland, but the food is excellent and the service is friendly and fast.
We stopped for lunch and it was packed, we only had to wait for 10 minutes and were waited on the second we sat down.
We both ordered the blackened salmon taco.
This «taco» is more like a giant burrito and the price of fish that came on it was as big as the plate.
The toppings were fresh and very good.
We were stuffed, but next time I’m saving room for dessert, the have a table side snores kit for 5 $ that I thought was a very cool idea, plus anyone I saw around me that had dessert was enjoying it!

CHRISTMAS!!! THIS is the place you should go to eat if you want to get in the Christmas spirit! (I work near here, so I go year round for lunch anyways) They decorate for all of the holidays, but their Christmas decorations and the atmosphere in December is just the best! It really reminds me of the little taverns in the UK where I’d eat while at university over there for a semester. It’s so cozy and welcoming and you can get table top make your own smores!!!
The food is well made american/​bar food. I really love the make your own grilled cheese where you can choose 3 different things to be on it (it used to be four, but they lowered it). They have surprisingly good fish tacos that are 1) gigantic and 2) have sriarcha mayo sauce thingy that’s delicious. Dear lord, the turkey devonshire is like a heart attack, but wowza is it good! Drinks wise, if you order a beer, be prepared for like 20 oz (not the standard 16) — it’s a nice surprise and well priced! They also have rotating taps, so they have a great seasonal selection of beer.
Keep in mind that if you go at lunch time, you WILL have to wait. We all love this place, so tons of people go for lunch there. I’ve found that going around 1:15 results in very little wait time. Just try to avoid the rush times and you’ll love it.

I really love this place. It’s an Oakland staple for me. Food is good, service is good, atmosphere is great. It’s especially nice in the winter time… it has this old romantic-​classic bar/​grill vibe that’s hard to find. I hope they never renovate the place.
Their sandwiches and burgers are what they’re know for but the last time I went I had their chicken fingers. Delicious.

Will not be returning. The wait is always super long. My water had a long blonde hair in it, which was incredibly disgusting, and the waiter cracked a joke that I did not appreciate.
If you’re a vegetarian you are stuck either getting pasta or pizza, and for both those things there is better in Pittsburgh. I thought maybe the $ 10 wine list could help me get to like this place more, but the wines they chose were not great. Maybe that list rotates, and wine is a highly subjective thing, but I was not a fan.

Good bar near UPitt’s campus. Big food portions. They sometimes give you fresh popped popcorn while you wait for your entrée (I’ve only sat at the bar, so not sure if this is true for tables, too). They also have some outside tables on the sidewalk, under a canopy.
Today, I stopped in on a hot Sunday afternoon and really enjoyed my ice cold beer in a chilled mug! Good prices and a nice, casual place.

I haven’t been back to the Union Grill in about 2 years after relatively mediocre experiences. Today’s visit was much more enjoyable. The french onion soup was very satisfying, although I ordered it with extra cheese. For my entrée I ordered the create your own grilled cheese. The bread was surprisingly soft and delicate and the cheese did not appear to have blended. The waffle fries were a bit cold. We ordered the s’mores dessert which was very typical. However this dessert required no cooking or preparation on their behalf aside from marsh mellows, Hershey bars, and graham crackers.

I like Union Grill. The food is fresh and tasty, the atmosphere is cute and the service is good. I have no complaints, but it did not impress me enough to warrant more than three stars. I liked the variety of the menu and the veggies tasted fresh. This isn’t the first place I would go looking for a healthy meal, but I was pleasantly surprised that the veggies were steamed without oil and the sweet potato that I had for my side was plain. As with most places, just order carefully to lighten up your meal. My table ordered a $ 10 bottle of Bordeaux and it was good! All in all, a good experience and I would go back if I happened to be in the area, but wouldn’t go out of my way to make a return trip.

Gigantic portions of food, even the cups were huge! I was excited to order the pick-​your-​own-​grilled cheese, but was slightly disappointed that there wasn’t a crisp to the bread, could have been a combo of my fillings or just needed grilled a little longer.
The waffle fries were awesome though.
I would eat here again, but would order something different.

Union Grill was the one of the places I somehow never ate at while I was a student, even though a good friend absolutely loved it (well, it and the $ 10 wine bottle list they offered — I didn’t catch if they still offer this or not now, but I hope they do!). Since graduation I’d honestly kind of forgotten about it. So when a group of people and I more or less stumbled in here after another place was too busy and had no room for us, I figured that I needed to do more than just enjoy a single drink while I was here.
So normally I think Union Grill is a no-​frills grub and drink sort of place, but when we came in it was pretty cutesy looking since it was decorated for V-​Day. Picture hearts and streamers everywhere, and you’ve got the décor they had going on here. I actually remember thinking to myself that the decorations combined with the dim (but not TOO dim) lighting will make for a decent date spot, at least for students.
Way more memorable and important than the decorations, however, was the service. Once we’d been seated an excellent waiter came right over to warn us that the place would no longer accept orders after 9:00pm, which was when they officially closed. Note that we came in and we were seated around 8:55pm. So we did have to order quickly before the kitchen closed, but at that point we were just happy that they were allowing us in given how late it was; they could have easily told us they were closing and no more people were welcome, and if they had we would have ended up walking back out into the cold looking for another place to grab a drink and a bite to eat.
After quickly skimming the menu three of us ordered grilled cheese sandwiches (Union Grill allows you to add 3 toppings to a grilled cheese sandwich here — I ordered guacamole, mushrooms and bacon) while one person ordered fish or chicken (I honestly forget which). We also all ordered a variety of ciders and beers to go with our meals; I personally ordered the smaller drink size, and the result was that my arsenal cider looked like a baby drink next to the bigger ones. But hey, it was arsenal cider and it was good and that’s really all that matters in my book.
As for the food? I have to say, the grilled cheese I was ordered was absolutely delicious — it wasn’t overly toasted so it didn’t crunch into pieces whenever I took a bite, and there was a great a balance of mushrooms and guacamole to boot. Also, the waffle fries the sandwiches game with? Just wonderful — not too crunchy, well seasoned, and honestly just what I’d expect in a good order of waffle fries. Everyone else looked as satisfied as I was as we chatted, ate and enjoyed our drinks until the place turned on the lights and we knew it was time to head out so they could clean and go home.
After the experience I had here I would totally return to make up for my never eating here as a student. Union Grill may not be the flashiest place in Oakland but the food is still wonderful for what it is, and the great staff that was working here during my visit elevate the place a lot in my mind. Next time I stop in I’ll definitely check to see if they still offer their «wine bottle for $ 10» deal — that would just be the cherry on top of this place if they did!

Decent! I’d always heard about this place or passed by it on my way to Lulu’s, so I was glad to have had the opportunity to eat here. It’s old fashioned home cooking, and the portions are HUGE. Plus, it’s BYOB, but if you didn’t know that, you can purchase a bottle there for $ 10! That’s right! $ 10!
I had the bacon cheeseburger with fries, and although this wouldn’t be in my top 5 for burger joints, it’s pretty close.
The service was good, and I’d go back for sure.