Industry Public House - Lawrenceville

 

 

 

 

 

Feels like a NYC or Boston bar. The hostess we dealt with was ____. Our server was ok luckily. The food was nothing special but no real complaints. Probably wouldn't go back unless coaxed.

 

 

 

The wife and I were back in Pittsburgh (again). This time we decided to explore a new neighborhood- Lawrenceville! I had read that Lawrenceville is like the Williamsburg of Pittsburgh, and I wanted to check it out.

The reviews are not too far off... only Lawrenceville is fancier and preppier than Billyburg-Brooklyn. There are a bunch of cool, speakeasy-like bars around Lawrenceville, but Industry is more Suburban Dallas than Hipster Pittsburgh. The atmosphere is blah, including a bouncer, loud music, lots of young college kids and hot chicks drinking BMC. Not a bar for the beer lover, that's for sure, although they do have 40 taps including good stuff like Double Simcoe, Thirsty Dog, Yards (four handles, no less) and more. But! Nothing terribly crazy or exciting.

Industry was quite busy on a Thursday night, but not enough to justify the crappy service we got. The bartenders were running around and the manager was too busy talking to the hot chick next to me. I confronted him, he apologized and I stormed out of the place leaving my beer half finished.

This joint ain't for me.

 

Visited the IPH this past Saturday.

The IPH is a fairly impressive looking place as you come in from Butler Street, with high ceilings, lots of exposed brick and roughly 10 large flat screen TV's adorning the walls (and over the bar). It has something of an upscale look to it (the staff are nicely and rather formally attired), with a food menu to match (something of a gastropub vibe I would say). There's a good size wrap around bar in the center of the restaurant, with a goodly number of tables and chairs along the walls on either side of the bar. That being said, the vibe here was pretty relaxed, and I thought this a good place to hang out and watch the various college football games this day.

In terms of the beer selection, the drink menu lists (on this day at least) 33 or 34 beers on tap, and then another 40 or so beers by the bottle (the menu just lists craft and import options - I assume you can order your favorite bottle of macro swill as well). While good size, I didn't see anything unusual, or anything that wowwed me on the beer list (Great Divided Yeti was probably the most interesting draft option). Nevertheless, I was content with my glass of East End Big Hop and the SN harvest ale.

In terms of food, I ordered the ceasar salad (called "the president" on the menu, for some reason). It was prepared well, was tasty and nicely presented. The impression I have is that they take their food here pretty seriously (everything I saw looked good and seemed well prepared).

Then we come to the service here.... everyone was very nice I thought, but for some reason the service here was quite slow. The waiter I spoke to mentioned that they had been slammed all day, as he apologized for the lengthy waits during my visit. While I appreciate that, I'm not sure I understand why the place was so "slammed." While there was a fair size crowd, there was never a time there weren't seats available at the bar (quite a lot of available seating at times), nor did I see anyone having to wait for a table. Also, when I inquired about the draft list (there seemed to be several tap handles that didn't correspond to anything on the draft list), the server mentioned that they had been quite busy the previous Friday night, and that they had blown through a number of kegs. However, he was unable to tell me about any new stuff recently tapped (and so not on the list), but mentioned several of the items that were no longer on the list - the yeti for instance. The final straw service-wise however, came when I ordered a glass of bourbon before heading out (they have a pretty extensive selection of high end bourbon here). I paid cash for it, and when I received my change, I clearly had been over charged (in my opinion). I waited 10 or 15 minutes more to get the server's attention, at which point she advised me that they always charge extra for a straight shot of bourbon, as customers receive an extra half shot when they order it straight. It was apparent that she was expecting my question, and her tone suggested she had concluded I was a "rube from the sticks," or clearly I would have been aware of this "normal," restaurant policy. Well, it wasn't normal to me, and frankly I thought it smacked of BS.

All and all, I'm not sure I need to come back here any time soon. The beer list is good, but is hardly mind boggling, and so I think I'll look elsewhere next time I'm in the mood for a venue with both a good draft list and good TV sports coverage.