Pittsburgh this Saturday...

You're welcome!

Please come back to this thread and tell us how we did!


And I know I said this above, but I have to say it again before you make the trip: the food at Rick's really is sub-par. It's still "greasy-bar-food", and as such, I still eat it. But Fathead's and Rivertowne also make "greasy-bar-food", and it's waaaay better IMO.

 

You're welcome man. Hopefully you have fun this weekend. Let us know what you think.

You know what's really crazy? I've probably passed Rick's a hundred times on the way up to PSU, and I never made the connection that this was the place you were talking about until now when I googled it. I always wondered how that place always had a packed house (from the looks of the parking lot), no matter what time of the day it is.

I'm going to stop there the next time I pass it. The beer selection there is incredible. Looks like it would be amazing for a Saturday Fall afternoon.

 

As someone mentioned above Headkeepers in Greensburg is top notch for beer and food (tapas style). They have 12 taps and an extended bottle selection that is on par with many good bottle shops in the city. The drive may be about the same or easier from Motown(depending on traffic/construction). Vibe is very confortable with sports usually on. Have spent many an hours there.
EDIT: website
http://www.theheadkeeper.com/index.html

 

The only places that I know of that can match Rick's, in terms of massive-amounts-of-football on TV, all conveniently in your view from virtually any seat in the house, is places like Fox & Hound and Buffalo Wild Wings. And Rick's will blow those places out of the water in terms of beer.

As a fellow Penn Stater, I would compare it to Champs. In fact, I would say there's MORE TV's/football to be had at Rick's then Champs. I like Champs better, though. The food, while not GREAT, is better than at Rick's (doesn't take much). And Rick's doesn't get great mileage out of those 66 taps. There's too much BMC (but as a sports bar of this size/magnitude, they're not just catering to the Craft Beer niche, so I get it), and when their are 66 options, some of those kegs don't drain as quick as they should. If you order 5 of their more interesting/crafty draft options, I'd say probably 1 of them will be noticeably/discernibly lacking in terms of quality/freshness.

But if you wanna just veg out with a couple of buds, and just watch ALL the games, this is a great option. Especially if you find the beer selection at your typical Buffalo Wild Wings to be wanting.

 

I feel like I'm almost monopolizing the conversation at this point, but The Headkeeper is the most underrated beer bar in Western PA. I'm almost reluctant to mention it in threads like this, for fear of creating long lines and waits for tables the next time I'm there. But that wouldn't be very "Beer Advocatey" of me, so I mention it anyway.


The only drawback for the OP to Headkeepers is that there's only a couple of TVs on the wall. If football is a priority, you'll see a couple games, but this isn't a "sports bar". It's a beer bar with a football game or two on over head.

 

I would agree, definitely beer centric.....I think they have a total of 3 flatscreen TV's so certainly not on par with Rick's.

 

For what it's worth, there should be a few BAs at the House on Saturday, & it's not too far from Rivertowne Inn.

 

The insinuation was that you come to the House. I'm pretty sure that the Inn *would* mind.

 

Truth.

If you're going to the Inn to watch some football, you'd only be 15 minutes tops from the best bottle shop in WPA (The "House of 1000 Beers").

Draft list ain't shabby, either: http://ho1kb.jonlitz.com/

 

If you're in that area, Beermuda may fit the bill. I believe they have forty some taps and good food. There's 2 large tv's upstairs, but it's smoking. Downstairs is nicer but only has a small tv and is non smoking. I think they may list their beers on facebook ( I am not a facebooker ).

 

I vote for the House of 1000 beers on Saturday. With the BA's that are going to be there, I'm sad I won't make it!

 

I would also put in there the Rivertown in Monroeville and if it isn't your thing, Mad Mex is very close by and D's Six Pack & Dog'z. If you're doing the South Side again, I would say the Double Wide would be decent for beer, food and football.

 

If you are going to be in Verona you might want to drive a couple minutes down the road to Carnivores in Oakmont. They have 30+ taps, 6 or 7 coolers full of bottles and the food is great. Plus the amount of TVs that they have there is impressive. They will have every game on.

 

I always mentally block Carnivore's out because the only time I was there was for that horrible 3-0 Pitt vs. Oregon State Sun Bowl game, but, yea, I recall the food / beer / atmosphere all being great there.

 

Sounds like you are getting your trip fairly well fleshed out, but I wanted to recommend Pipers Pub also. Pretty much across the street from Fatheads. Was just there Wednesday and they were getting ready to put a few fresh East Ends or Rivertownes/Helltowns on cask. Barkeep wasn't sure which at the time, and I forget which of the '-towns' he said it would be. Regardless, they're cask locals and that's always something worth trying.

As dtx00 stated, Saturday afternoon will have the wrong kind of football matches on the TVs for your liking, but go anyway--it is an absolute hoot even if you're unfamiliar with the game.

As another option, go on Sunday. They open early with the start of the first football match (this particular Sunday they will be open by 8:30am at the latest) and it is likely to be a big and lively crowd as there are two huge matches--Manchester City v Tottenham is the early one and then Chelsea v Liverpool at 11.

The food is always fantastic and is respectably English/Scottish in nature. The Sunday brunch will sort you well after your Saturday night.

Added bonus: when I was there Wednesday night they had Thornbridge Jaipur IPA on tap. That's one I do not see very often in this country.

Neat place. Try it. It's well worth it.