Review The Map Room Grill & Bar - Pittsburgh

This place might be Pittsburgh’s best kept secret. Everything is good but the burgers are criminally underrated. Burgers taste like something you’d get at a backyard cook out but in a very very good way. Nice quiet and quaint place.

I've only been in a few times, but the staff already remembers me. The owner often works the tables and is fun to talk to. I love the maps and the summer outdoor seating is pleasant. You can even bring your dog (outside)! I don't know why people complain about the menu, there are 6 different types burgers and a whole list of everything else. I especially enjoy the crispy fish and chips and salads. The chalkboard outside also has a list of daily specials. Any mussel dish or soup is worth it and Tuesday's is Taco Tuesday. Even late, when the kitchen is closed, the staff will be willing to throw in a batch of fries for you.

Local bar with a neighborhood crowd and vibe. They have several East End brews on tap, as well as Yuengling and Guinness. While they do have a fully stocked bar, don't expect a craft cocktail menu; it is just not that kind of place.

No-frills tavern with a decent environment (minus the bathroom) and good draft/bottle selection. In the heart of Regent Square. It doesn't excel in anyone area but does what it's supposed to: provides food, drink, and a decent gathering area.

Best bar in Pittsburgh and unpretentious (rare these day)drink and beer opitions are not written on a gaint chalkboard and no exposed brick which is a huge plus. The Map Room is not a Sports Bar (though a game is on t.v.) Rather it is a bar were you can actually have conversation in. An oasis in a city fillied either preteniuos yuppie\hipster (there is no difference but age between these groups) fake over priced bars or loud and dumb sports bars.

Great neighborhood pub. Irish music on Sunday afternoons when there is no Steeler game. Sporadic live concerts of incredible music - Celtic, Singer/Sonwriter, etc. (includes Andy M Stewart, Brendan Begley, Mirella Murray, Kevin O'Reilly)

Nice place. Nice patrons would be great to have some live music and some food open past 9

A reliable bar/restaurant in Regent Square, with a formidable scotch list and well above average food. Great bartenders

Good prices and good service. Homey atmosphere and a relaxed crowd. Good place to converse, conduct business, or destress from work.

Bar tender inviting makes you feel comfortable nice people not crowded peaceful no drama

Great neighborhood bar with great food. It's never very busy which is really suprising!

Great location, great atmosphere, and awesome bartenders!

The only positive thing I will say is that the owner was friendly. The food...HORRIBLE and expensive. My dining partner ordered the chicken taco special that was supposed to come with beans and rice. I ordered the fish and chips with a salad. THEN the food came. The "chef" slammed it on the table and walked away and I use this term lightly because the chef looked fresh out of rehab and clearly does not know how to run a kitchen. <br/><br/>The tacos were bare. A little dried up shredded chicken with half rotted lettuce. Nothing else. No cheese. No nothing. When we asked the owner said "oh it's his first day. He forgot. " she brought out a side of shredded cheese. Where are the beans abd rice ? Oh. He forgot to make it today. We were given pasta salad instead. <br/><br/>The fish was clearly from a frozen bag. Nothing special. The fries were mealy and soaked in grease. Disgusting. My salad literally had pieces of rotted lettuce. It had clearly sat in the fridge uncovered because what wasn't rotted was badly wilted. <br/><br/>I asked for a side of beer cheese to drown the sad fries in. Guess what. Chef forgot to make that too! <br/><br/>With tip our bill was 35 bucks for disgusting food! Never again. First and last time! I'm not sure where some of these positive reviews are from saying the food is delicious. You all need to get out more of you think this is good food !

Sue scanlon. I ordered take out for my son and I after I had worked a 10+ hour day. I ordered the special, aRueben, I love Ruebens, this however was NO rueben. When I got home I discovered it was a corned beef sandwich on a hamburger bun, which had been microwave thawed because I could not bite it, I took the 'sandwich' apart to at least eat the meat. I found 3 slices of corned beef 1 so tough I couldn't chew it, and American cheese. What the heck...for $10.00...disgusting. The Map Room should be ashamed. Never again...never

Irish Stew. I like the Map Room. I've been here a number of times and have ways been satisfied. The service is always good and the food quality has never disappointed. If you're looking for beer, the place next door, D's Six Pack and Dogs, is where you want to be. But it doesn't hurt that the Map Room has a full bar and a few quality beers on tap. This Irish inspired pub sports a limited menu of regular items and an ever changing variety of daily specials. This evening I had a choice of either chicken parm on angel hair pasta or marsala creamed pork chops. Since I had chicken for lunch I went with the pork chops. It came with a tasty bowl of Irish stew and the chops didn't take very long at all to follow. My dish had two chops coated with marsala cream, a baked potato with sour cream and real bacon bits and a grilled veggie meddly of tomatoe, zucchini and Brussels sprouts. Everything was delicious! Dinner and a beer set me back $23.80 plus tip... not bad at all for a relaxing monday evening.

Good option for good dining!. The Map Room has been around the Regent Square area forever, it seems. And it has always been considered by the regulars as a good local pub for beer, burgers, and your general bar food favorites. <br/><br/>But in the past few months, it has begun to make an interesting and nice change. Yes, it is still a Pub with the standard Pub fare. But, with the addition of Chef Tim, the menu has been enhanced to include more fresh and healthier soups, salads, and entrees' as well as some very innovative and tasty appetizers, entrees, and pasta specials most every night. <br/><br/>Chef Tim's mix of sauces and ingredients that one might not expect from the usual Pub food makes the menu more attractive to an audience that enjoys good tasting food with good portion servings at a quite reasonable price.<br/><br/>The idea that Chef Tim is developing is for the Map Room to continue to introduce new flavors and food items that will appeal to a wider variety of diners without losing or sacrificing the appeal of the Pub lovers' taste for the standard delicious tasting Pub fare.<br/><br/>Try the Map Room fries vs. the regular for a tasty alternative to the standard french fries as an example. Just a bit of special seasoning and preparation are done to make the classic fries into an unexpected flavor experience.<br/><br/>The pleasant dinging experience at the new Map Room is a good example of changing with the times so that more folks can enjoy a better variety of food and beverage suited to their individual tastes. And it will act as an indication that The Map Room will continue to be a permanent part of the emerging new appeal of the entire Regent Square dining experience.

If the owner tries to engage you in conversation. Do yourself a favor get a to go box. Better yet, since the food isn't that good. Save the styrofoam and leave. We've given this place several chances and each time has been worse than the other!

FABULOUS new menu!! This is the first time we went to the map room and were told they just changed their menu the week before. The food was shockingly fabulous with some very nice flavors. The service was also very fast and friendly. If you're in the area, you should definitely go here!

The Food is ehh. but that's not why I go. Like alot of the other reviewers have mentioned here there food is just ok. If you are hungry it will get you fed at a slightly higher rate for what you get then maybe I'd prefer. That being said, I find myself in the Map Room at the end of the night pretty much anytime I am hanging out in Regent Square. My nights normally start at D's most often or one of the other eating places nearby and finishes up at the Map Room with a few East End Brewery beers ( the Fat Gary Nut Brown Ale is my favorite) or some Scotch. I like the Mason jar beer mugs as well...classy!<br/><br/>On the later note above, if you are trying to get into Scoth like I did once upona time, the Map Room is a great place to go. They have many single malt aged Scotchs you can get by the glass.<br/><br/>As for the enviroment and ambiance. I guess it's kind of dark in there but its quaint, clean and very comfortable. I always feel like I am putting on an old pair of comfortable shoes when I go there. I can see how some might not care for it but I like it just fine.

The burgers and crab cake sandwich is very good. Fries are fresh cut. East End beers are good. Specials are usually good. Laid back atmosphere. Overall, it's pretty solid for pub fare.

Nasty. Ate here before seeing "It's a Wonderful Life" because other restaurants were full. Everything was greasy, prepared slapdash. Paper thin zucchini strips in heavy, soggy breading, for instance. Waitress kept coming over, happily whisking away mine and my kids sodas for refills. Nice attention, I thought, until I got the bill and saw numerous hash marks charging us for each refill. Seriously, after thet first round she didn't even ask if we wanted refills. Also, I like a lively neighborhood joint atmosphere, but there were some seriously grungy, unpleasant dudes making loud, crude remarks at the bar. Kind of fit in with the whole "shut up and eat your grub" ambiance.

Tasteless, over-priced and cold.. With so many terrific dining options in Regent Square, it's difficult to understand why anyone would ever go to the Map Room. The food is costly and bland. The ambiance is cold and uninviting. The ownership is flat-out , rude.

AWFUL service!. A friend and I used to eat at the Map Room quite often before heading to the movies at Regent Theater. NEVER AGAIN! The last time we were there the service was the absolute worst I have ever experienced. <br/><br/>We both ordered burgers. When they came I asked for mustard. Never got it. Never got refills on our water either. In fact, We never got the check!!!!!!!! We waited literally 45 minutes and the waitress never came over to even ask if we were okay. We ended up dropping cash on the table and leaving.<br/><br/>It was completely disappointing. While the service there has never been top notch, I have never had such a bad experience. At first they were very busy, but after 45 minutes we were pretty much the only people in the restaurant area.

Love the Map Room!. The Map Room is cozy and serves upscale bar food - like wings, pesto chicken sandwiches, sesame soy glazed salmon, and chicken marsala. The service is good, the atmosphere is low-key and relaxed. I usually order a special - their specials are always different, but it seems that they usually have a fish special, a chicken special, and a pasta special. I love the crab stuffed portobella. My fiancé always orders the crabcake sandwich. The portions are sizable and the food is always tasty. The prices are appropriate for portions and quality. The Map Room is a great spot in Regent Square, and I haven't been disappointed yet.

Not so awesome. Beer prices were reasonable, but the food was nothing special, from what I could tell. Kinda pricey for what it was, actually. Also, the menu was quite small, so I hope you have a broad taste and no diet restrictions. I dig the atmosphere, but not enough to go back. Maybe just for drinks, though it does kinda have a 'y'aint from 'round here' feel to it, so maybe not...

Try the Special. This place is quaint and warm inside. Seat yourself. The staff is attentive and the food is great. Bar food is available, but go w/ one of the nightly specials designed by the chef. Or have a beer and cup of Crab Corn Chowder. <br/>My only complaint is the price of the beer. I don't mind sending Scott Smith of EEBC my money, but $7 per pint is a bit much for me. Come here to eat!

Just bad. We tried the Map room twice this month and it is just bad. It's a shame because we like supporting local restauants.<br/><br/>Legume and the Green Mango are good...This place is not

Top notch bar food/midpriced American. The Map Room isn't fancy, but it's low key and comfortable. Clean and tidy atmosphere with music on the weekends. The Crab Corn Chowder is to DIE for - I asked about it, since the only soup that I've had that's better than it was $8 a bowl at Nemacolin Woodlands. Apparently the chef loves soup and loves concocting new soups in his spare time, so they often have soup specials on the weekends, in addition to daily specials. Anyways, the menu is hearty and reasonably priced - the steak salad is great, the burgers are lean and come with a good helping of veggies. The fries are good without being too greasy. This is my go-to restaurant for mid-priced but quality American food.<br/><br/>I once had the owner as my server - you could tell she was the owner because she kept bugging us with question "are you going to a movie here? do you live in the neighborhood" and because she was the WORST waitress ever - she acted as though us asking for stuff was this major imposition on her time. But that was one time out of five; the waitstaff is very good - not great - but very good.

Delicious!. I have only eaten one meal at the Map Room, but it was delicious. I ordered The salmon stuffed with shrimp and crab. It was served with risotto and asparagus. The salmon was cooked perfectly. The shrimp and crab stuffed inside the salmon were tender and very flavorful, but did not take overshadow the salmon. The risotto was very good. I cannot comment on the asparagus since I gave it to my friend that loves asparagus. I also tried the Map Room's macaroni and cheese. It was fantastic! It was so full of flavor and the cheese was perfectly coating the macaroni. It was not too thick, nor was it too runny. The selection of drinks offered at the Map Room is very nice. They have over 20 types of scotch. The atmosphere is cozy and very pleasant. The service and staff are wonderful. I am very excited to dine at the Map Room again very soon!

What the heck is up with these reviews?. Alright, so I understand that some people may have had bad experiences eating here. I'll just state my own opinion. The map room is one of my favorite places to eat. The only negatives I've experienced are the slow service and the meat and cheese platter, which is over priced and doesn't have much on it. I would recommend that a first timer, or an anytimer, get one of the specials. We've gotten the specials almost every time we've been there and it's always extremely tasty. I'm pretty picky about my eating experience, and I can't complain about the done-ness of the food or its seasoning. It's a very chill/homey atmosphere, especially on weeknights, and the staff is really nice. There is nothing else I can say, except that if you're considering going here you should just go and then judge the place for yourself.

Sitting down to a Belhaven and East End Snow Melt while listening to a mandolin/flute duo play jigs and watching Pitt's March Madness run, I can't help but feel this is a great beer bar for a Sunday night. Particularly if you don't want the Chuck-E-Cheeze that is D's on a Sunday afternoon.

Terrible food. I live in Regent Square and eat at every restaurant except for the map room. I've been there four times because I guess I thought it would change, but it hasn't at all. There is no taste to much of the food, and some of it is, usually, either overcooked or under. They need a new chef.

Negative.. This is not a place where you would, how you say, eat anything. First, we sat down at a table and acknowledged 15 minutes later. Drinks and cold soup (literally, cold) did not come much faster. The risotto was gummy enough to tile grout, and the chicken was dry and overcooked. Ask for a map to a better restaraunt.

After reading such divergent reviews of the Map Room, I decided that the only thing to do was to give the restaurant a fair test. Things did not begin well. Upon entering the nearly deserted restaurant, I noticed the garish maps that, presumably, give the place its name and I shuddered. Next I encountered a frantic, frizzly-haired little woman who, I would come to discover, owns the Map Room. She was dismissive, rude and abrasive. I ordered a draught beer. The little woman must have believed that I was not very thirsty because she filled the pimply, chunky mug only three quarters of the way. The Belhaven (what there was of it) was good but I did not order a second. I didn't think I wanted one and a half beers for the price of two. The menu was short and there was nothing special sounding about the specials so I ordered the Black Strap Stout Barbecue Bacon Burger, medium well. Unfortunately, the restaurant must of judged me to be both thirstless and in a hurry because the meat came to

We sat down and were greeted by our friendly waiter. While we continued to search for an entrée we ordered fried zucchini and crab cakes. We were also served some tasty local beers- delicious! Our appetizers came in 10 minutes, and we quickly dug in. The zucchini was perfectly fresh, and hand breaded. A tasty dipping sauce was a nice accompaniment for the crispy veggies. Homemade crab cakes were equally as good. Large chunks of sweet crab, breadcrumbs, and egg bound the sautéed cakes together. A mild tartar sauce complimented the pronounced flavor of the dish. Fried Zucchini Crab Cakes House salads came before our entrees. Fresh greens, ripe cherry tomatoes, larg