This place was such a pleasant surprise!!! We loved the dive bar vibes. We love a yinzer and classic style of dive bar with wood paneling and that timeless old school look. Reasonably priced for everything. Cold beer, great wings- I was surprised that the food was actually really good!! Removed 1 star because it was insanely loud and people around us had zero spatial awareness. It was a group of both women & men and there was probably about 12 of them. 1/3 of the place was empty but they decided to sit right next to me and my fiancé, half of them stood around and didn't even sit. Yelled, talked, and hooted and hollerd full volume, then proceeded to put some of their dirty cups and glassware on our table!!!! Horrible and gross manners We ended up getting up from our table and moving so that helped. So be cautious you may have to do the same if you're coming in to eat/have a casual drink read more

Nico's is a cozy, homey neighborhood restaurant in the heart of Bloomfield. It's clear that many of the patrons have been coming here for years...and for good reason, because the food is good and the vibes are laid back! I learned that they've even had the same chef for over 10 years, which says a lot. I was recently introduced to Nico's since my coworker is now one of the owners, and I'm so glad I finally got to try it. The cocktail menu was fun and creative, especially the apple ginger spritz. I had never heard of it before, but the combination of Pinot Grigio, ginger ale, and apple whiskey worked surprisingly well. The interior is spacious and inviting, a second room that has larger tables and booths. They also host trivia and karaoke nights, which adds to the neighborhood vibe. There were plenty of food options, and the appetizer sampler was a great way to try a variety of bites. I can't wait to come back to try more, especially their brunch menu, which I've heard is excellent!! read more

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Best brunch in all of Pittsburgh as long as the cornbread french toast doesn't sell out! Great bloody marys, too. read more

Nico's Recovery Room - McNICO burger with onion rings - American Near Me - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

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The Vegan selection is Awesome. Great dine in area and the service is great. Kind of a place to enjoy with family or friends. Even a business eat would be great too. read more

We've lived in Friendship for 40+ years and never tried Nico's...shame on us! What a local gem. The brunch menu is as huge as the portions and our party of four were so impressed we came back a week later for dinner! They open at 4pm weekdays (closed Tues) and the owner greeted us, gave us our menus, got our drinks and put in our orders within 10 minutes! Nico's, like Tessaro's, is one of those great old school Bloomfield bar and grills you just have to sample. I can see why some reviews mentioned the noise level, it's a fairly small dining room, but we were there early so I can't concur. Pay with cash and save a few bucks! My advice? Don't wait as long as we did. ;-) read more

Nico's is one of my favorite places to go out to! You can always count on a crazy and fun night there. You walk in through the bar where there are Bloomfield locals of all ages hanging out. The dining room on the other side gets transformed into a karaoke bar every Saturday night. Unfortunately karaoke hasn't started back up yet since 2020, but I can't wait for them to bring it back! Karaoke is so fun and the drinks are cheap. I love going here because there are so many different types of people! Warning - do not go here with fresh hair or a fur coat - you leave smelling like cigarette smoke. That is the only downfall about Nico's....it's SO smoky. It really does affect me, but we only go every once in a while. I had my birthday party here in February 2020 before everything shut down, and it was definitely my most memorable birthday. If you call ahead you can rent the "stage". It is the section that is a step up from the rest of the dining room. We all dressed in 80's outfits and sang only 80's songs! It was so fun and the rest of the people at Nico's were not even phased by our group of 30 people in costumes and mullets! Lol! A few months ago my friend suggested I meet her at Nico's for brunch. She has always raved about it. I agreed and expected to be in for a super greasy, hangover breakfast. The food was SO good! I got the "healthy omelette" that had veggies and egg whites in it. The potatoes were crunchy and a little greasy, and perfectly crisp. I also added a pancake on the side since she always gets them. It tasted like a mix between dense cake and a funnel cake. I never order pancakes so it was a treat. An omelette, homefries, toast, a huge pancake, and a bloody mary cost only about $20. I will definitely be back for brunch, and you can catch me singing Alanis Morissette as soon as karaoke returns! read more

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Fantastic Sunday brunch- great for grandkids too. Food well prepared excellent service.

If you are an old white man, this is the place for you. Not very diverse, inclusive, or POC friendly/accepting. Basic bar food, more for watching sports & local regulars. read more

Part dive bar, part family diner. Feels like a place you might find as the social anchor of a small town with very few other businesses to hang out in, your typical village corner pub. Reasonably eclectic food menu (including spinach-based breakfast plates, gyros, and pizzas), decent cocktail list including numerous variations on an Aperol Spritz. Green flags: Younger, punk-ish types and transplants are just as comfortable hanging out here as grumpy old-time yinzers. Red flags: Best avoided on football game days if you're not a huge sport-o. read more

Pretty decent Order came in about 45 minutes Paid $18 and some change for 12 garlic parm wings wings and fresh cut fries with a order of 6 potatoe skins. Skins were a bit too done for my taste but still really good. I will be ordering again read more

Nico's Recovery Room - Potatoe skins with sour cream - American Near Me - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Stopped by Nico's while out on the town. This is not a place for stopping while out on the town, especially if you want to do karaoke. The show is decent enough, the sound is great. The show isn't interested in catering people stopping in to sing a song, it is clear in that the wait to sing is literally an hour and a half for a new singer and there is absolutely no place to sit or stand without blocking the seated tables of regulars. I get it, they have s good regular crowd and it's a great show, obviously those regulars love it. The low star rating is purely because this is Yelp and I would assume someone coming here is looking for a good place to stop by. The bar seems fun and if you happened to move across the street and wanna get "in with the crowd" it seems like a great hangout. If you're out on the town save yourself and extra Lyft and plan your trip somewhere else. read more

Pretty good place for Karaoke and drinks! It's very noisy and with smoke in the air but if you don't mind it's a good place for beers, watch sports in the counter and have some fun. read more

Nico's is one of my favorite Yinzer bars. I've been going here off and on since I turned 21, even if it was just to stop in for fries at lunch, and it's one of the finest dives around. We typically stop in here for a fish sandwich and some drinks after the Unblurred gallery crawl in Garfield. Jason bartends on Friday nights, and he's the best. He's one of those bartenders that remembers you after your first visit, and remembers what you drink and keeps the refills coming. Their food is excellent. The fish sandwich is church-fish-fry good, and the coleslaw is crispy and mayonnaise-d to perfection. But the real treat of this place is the fries. There's something about these fries that I just love. I think they remind me of the homemade fries my grandpa used to make me in his deep fryer when I was a kid. They're kind of like a thinner, jucy-er version of Potato Patch fries. Seriously. Go get some now. And like other dive bars in Pittsburgh, the prices are cheap. This is the perfect place to sit around with your fellow Yinzers and watch the Buccos or the Pens (or both, if it's that glorious time of year when both seasons are going - they have multiple TVs). The only thing I don't like about Nico's is that it's one of the few smoking-permitted bars left in town (they, like Thunderbird and the Cage, keep the food prices low to skirt that smoking ban loophole). I've gotten kind of spoiled lately by smoke-free establishments, and I hate coming home stinking like cigarettes. But the dives in Pittsburgh are all pretty much maintaining the smoking thing, so I can't complain when comparing. All that said, there's no bar I'd rather hang out at than Nico's. :) read more

HOLY SMOKE ALERT! I am seriously still coughing from all of the chain smoking that was taking place in this bar. I guess I've been spoiled by all of the clean air in Columbus restaurants, pubs, and bars that I was just not prepared for all of the heavy smoke that would linger around me all night! I have a couple likes and dislikes for this place... Likes: - Awesome, awesome crowd! I've found that Pittsburgh locals are super fun! I absolutely loved how everyone cheered the singers on during karaoke and sang along making it extremely comfortable to get up front and center! - Healthy food choices! Instead of having to worry about adding a ridiculous amount of calories (in addition to the crazy amount I had already consumed for the day)...it was nice to snack on some hummus, fresh tomatoes, feta cheese, and pita bread. - Very friendly DJ! - Bartenders were simply wonderful and always made sure you were taken care even with the enormous bar crowd. - Prices were very reasonable. I think I had six or seven captain and cokes (blush) and the platter for only $20?! Dislikes: - POLLUTED AIR. I now have to take my jacket to the dry cleaner, thank you. - Location. There were no available taxis at any given time. We contacted two different taxi services and they never showed. We finally had a taxi pick us up after calling the hotel valet and asking them to send for us (I was a little desperate). - This place is very, very, very small. The karaoke room was closed off by 11 PM due to the room being so packed. If you were not in the karaoke room, you were smelling the person next to you's breath. Aside the heavy smoke and tight spaces, I would recommend Nico's for a fun night of karaoke and cheap drinks with friends! read more

I'm not going to lie - if a friend hadn't suggested this place for dinner and drinks, I never ever would have walked in. It's really easy to brush it off if you're walking by; from the outside it looks like a pretty standard bar. And when you walk in, it smells like a pretty typical bar - meaning that if this place ever closed, the next owner would have to rebuild the entire place to get the cigarette stench out. So yeah, I admit that my first impression was not a good one, and I actually thought to myself that if any more people showed up and started smoking I'd have to ask my friend to pick somewhere else for us to eat and talk. Fortunately, between it being a Thursday, the snow and the bitter cold temperatures, very few people showed up and the majority of the smokers stuck to the main bar area. So I picked a booth in the far corner of the seating room and met up with my friend; while I waited for them I took a peak at the menu - nothing super spectacular, but the prices were pretty cheap overall. So hey, at we know this bar has cheap sandwiches and cheap burgers. Once my friend arrived we both ordered some drinks, because of course you drink when you're in a place like Nico's. The beer and cider we ordered came in a glass and the original bottle respectively, and our water came out in plastic cups (something I'm admittedly not a big fan of - it's such a wasteful practice). We then split the fried zucchini and the recovery room pizza. The fried zucchini basket had four or five enormous stripes of zucchini and came with marinara sauce - it was quite tasty, although the sauce was pretty cold. Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather have warm marinara sauce than cold. The pizza, on the other hand, was absolutely delicious. The recovery room special is a specialty; it has gyro meat, feta cheese on top on regular cheese, mushrooms and green peppers. This was VERY good, and I'm sure the fact that they make the pizzas to-order was part of why I found it to be so yummy. And by the way, my friend and I both took some pizza home with us - it was an enormous meal and more than either of us needed. So don't let the prices on the pizza frighten you, they're worth it. The good news is that overall my experience definitely got better as the night went on. The bad news is that I honestly don't think I'll go back to Nico's, at least not for quite a while. As delicious as the pizza was, nothing can make up for the fact that this place is a smoker's haven. With lungs as sensitive as mine, this is a dealbreaker, and I'm pretty sure it was only by pure chance that I came in on a night where no one was smoking near me; if the place had been any busier I'd've had to leave just so I could breathe normally, I'm sure. I'll still give the place an "a-ok" rating since the food was delicious, the prices were good, and our waiter (who I think was bar-tending as well) was very nice and very attentive overall. But with such a strong smoke smell an "a-ok" is all I can honestly give. read more

Nico's Recovery Room - American Near Me - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

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At the higher end of the dive bar world you have Nico's. I say higher end because it's not as dank as most. It's older but has so much character (and I'm not just referring to the patrons). It's a neighborhood joint with stand up comedy and karaoke. Good food. The gyros are as good as any you'd get at a Greek restaurant. Nice little bar. The crowd ranges from millennials and hipsters to old timers and bikers. Eclectic mix of people. read more

Nico's Recovery Room - Festivus. - American Near Me - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

I'm a pretty hard core karaoke fan, so I was excited to visit Nico's on a Saturday night after hearing about their awesome karaoke. Sadly, I was disappointed. The place is rather small and was packed by the time we came (about 10pm). It took ages to get a drink and it's hard to get around the bar with so many people standing around. That said, my drink was nice and strong and the prices are reasonable. Now the karaoke crowd was pretty fun...mostly hipsters with a few good singers but mostly people trying to be funny with their song choice. The karaoke host was just lame. He was an older guy, and seemed rather cranky and jaded, which really kills the mood when you're a karaoke buff looking for a good time. And he had a CD setup -- seriously, CDs, in 2010. His song list was waaaaaay out of date. He had a tiny TV screen that was setup in such a way that if you needed to look at the words, you would be facing away from the crowd. It was just really lackluster in my opinion. read more

Nico's is probably my favorite neighborhood bar. The bar and wait staff here are all tremendously friendly. There is not much of a beer selection, but nothing is expensive. Generally in the late afternoon/early evening it is pretty quiet, with a handful or two of regulars. A reading group that I am in frequently meets here around happy hour, and there are always plenty of tables and we can talk easily without having to yell. Weekends it can get pretty crowded, although I've never seen it so packed that I had to wait more than a couple of minutes to grab a bartender's attention. Karaoke on Saturday nights is a blast, with a great mix of working class, hipster, and trendy all belting out cheesy tunes. The only food I've tried are the fries, but they always come out tasty and quickly. Friends have told me the wings are good. Would give it 5 stars, but for the smoking. If you're a non-smoker, you WILL come home smelling like an ashtray. read more

Stumbled upon this place during a weekend trip to Pittsburgh. We had a less than stellar experience with another bar down the road and yelped our way to Nico's Recovery Room. Super divey atmosphere, in a comforting and welcoming way. Ordered some IC lights and a Sam Octoberfest on draft. It was apparently karaoke night which was pretty entertaining. We ordered small fries with gravy which was only $3 (food menu was very decently priced). We were surprised when they came out with a large basket of handcut fries and delicious chunky gravy. Our bill came out to $19 for 4 beers and fries...can't beat that. Only downside was that we came out of there reeking of cigarette smoke. Otherwise, we had a great time at Nico's and would definitely recommend for a local feel. read more

This place was always nice and easy going, until out of nowhere, I was told vaping isn't allowed. Everyone in there is welcomed to blow cigarette smoke all over the entire building. But my JUUL, which evaporates nin seconds isn't permitted. Fuck you Nico's. Not vape friendly. read more

Nico's is what it is. It's your typical dive Pittsburgh bar. it's the Jacks of Bloomfield. I've never tried the food but the drinks are relatively cheap and it gets an awesome crowd that ranges from young hipsters to old yinzers. Rumor has it that it's the #1 karaoke bar in Pittsburgh so I recommend giving it a try one Saturday night. Whether your voice is terrific, mediocre or terrible, there is a great crowd more than happy to make you feel as though your voice really is terrific. It does get really crowded for Karaoke, so if you want to sing, make sure to sign up earlier in the evening (I believe karaoke starts at 9). The only thing that I really dislike is that you can smoke in the bar. read more

I am only familiar with Nico's when they have their Saturday night karaoke, but the merits of that alone solidify the place in my heart. It attracts a diverse crowd, from locals that primarily sit in the main bar area, to a quintessential hipster crowd. I was actually just there last night, and my friends and I noticed how the crowd has gotten more and more hipster as the months have progressed. Fair warning: the guy who runs karaoke is somewhat lame. After every song, he will say "all right!" or "good job!" in a cadence that demands to be imitated. Additionally, he seems to have some favorites amongst the regulars, particularly one woman who I have seen butcher "Me and Bobby McGee" every time I've been there. read more

Reasonably dope spot p. chill most times. Can't turn up here but can chill p hard. Classic. Food is p. dank and drinks are cheap but all around vibe isn't max dope but kinda dope. True head spot v. Pittsburgh. If you're looking for Pittsburgh (and not LITSBURGH) look here . I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse. -Florence Nightingale read more

Bloomfield has some hidden gems and Nico's is one of those kind of places that is getting less and less common around the 'burgh. It's not a gastropub, it's not bohemian, Nico's is just an old time bar/restaurant that makes me nostalgic for a time before I was even born. I always come here on Monday nights for the wing special. It's something like 24 wings for 8 bucks which is not a bad deal. There are definitely better wings around the city, but I still keep coming back to Nico's. Maybe it has to do with the friendly atmosphere (seems to be a family run place), and the divey feel. The location is great as it just pops up in the middle of a residential section in the heart of Bloomfield. The patrons are always friendly, and on more than one occasion I've had random people start chatting me up like we've known each other for years. If you are feeling adventurous try out karaoke night on Saturdays, its always good for some laughs and fun times. Long live the old school joints in Pittsburgh, I hope you last forever. read more

This was my favorite spot to grab wings. Monday night was wing night and you could find us there at some point in the evening. There are multiple sauces to choose from but celery and ranch are definitely extra. The bar tender usually doubled as the server which made for a looooong wait between refills and extra napkins. The crowd is neither friendly nor non friendly. Servers were just about the same. If it was a busy night, they never picked up the pace to match. All in all, good food and alright service. They have karaoke Saturday nights if you're into that sort of thing. read more

This has got to be one of my favorite bars in Pittsburgh. Yes, some nights it is smoky. And some nights it is crowded and filled with loud and somewhat annoying hipster types. But it's our little place. This is the bar where my friends and I gather to watch sporting events, sing karaoke (albeit badly), and generally hang out. The beer is decently-priced, not CHEAP CHEAP, but it won't cost you an arm and a leg. Wednesdays are pizza and a pitcher -- we LOVE the Chili Pie and pair it up with Yuengling or the similar. And the other food is pretty good too -- among our other favorites: the wings, Nico's Platter, and fried cheese. YUMMY! Jason and Nicole who both bartend and wait tables are both AWESOME, always friendly, always generous with the booze, and always quick with a smile. They're great! PS -- As a reply to reviews complaining about the guy who does karaoke: if they reviewed prior to early 2011, there is someone else there now and we think he's pretty great. :-) If he doesn't have a song that you want, let him know, as he's constantly adding new music and updating his collection. read more

The Good: Jason the bartender. Thanks for the Beautiful Widgets app tip. Jack and Coke. Smoking allowed. Friendly Phillies fans. Comedy Central Friendly. Locals Great horse shoe bar The Bad: Karaoke disciples mixed with fat guys singing 'Billie Jean' read more

I don't understand why people love this place. I've been here a dozen times. The beer selection is decent. The prices are good. The bar food is typical. It is just a standard bar to me. If you want no frills beer and bar food, they are no frills. read more

Atmosphere wise, this is pretty nice as far as a divey neighborhood bar goes. There's a ton of seating, or at least it seemed that way Monday night when things were pretty slow. Menu items were very reasonably priced. However, no beer menu. Weird. A friend and I each ordered a pumpkin beer, after the waiter told us what was on tap, and we got the special for Monday night: Two dozen wings for 9 bucks! We got a dozen BBQ and a dozen with Cajun dry rub. Unfortunately, the wings were deep fried for so long the meat was somewhat dry. The service was a little off too, maybe because it was a slow night but the bartender was playing double duty as the waiter. (Which I didn't realize until we were leaving.) He was really good, but he wasn't able to come by much. Hoping to get back here again sometime, since my friend lives a few blocks away, but might just bypass all things deep fried. read more

I want to start with my friend group and I all work/have worked in the service industry, Yelp is the bane of my existence, I only like to give positive reviews...BUT, this is truly an exception. Nico's is a place where they are blunt and rude in a fun way, you expect it from this kind of place and that's why you go there. But last evening, after frequenting this business and giving them our business, being kind to the staff always, and tipping well, one server, Dan, decided he needed to "have a talk with us about restaurant etiquette since it's obvious none of you have worked in the service industry." Six out of eight of us at the table had or do, but continue Dan. He sits at the head of our table, and in the most grandiose, performative, and demeaning way starts going off about how separate checks for a large group are rude. As a server, yeah they aren't ideal when you have a large table with a 3 course meal, rounds of drinks, etc....but this is a BAR. Separate checks are the norm. If restaurants don't want to do separate checks, they typically have a policy for it. Then he tells us how coming in 20 min before the kitchen closes is a "dick move" we called at 10:20 (40 min before it closes) to ask if the kitchen was open. The answer we got was "yes, it's open" not "yes, but we are closing soon" we called out of courtesy because if they indicated they weren't taking orders in the slightest, of course we wouldn't come. We also arrived within 5 minutes after the call, and ordered the food to go. We called him out on this and he goes "well yeah..." If I ever spoke like this to a customer at my job, I wouldn't have a job. I think instead of informing paying customers on etiquette, maybe decide if you are cut out for the service industry and know what the job entails. This was by far the rudest me or any of us have been treated in any establishment, but especially by an employee. We are bummed about it because we REALLY liked this place, and still do really like some of the servers and bartenders, but there is no way we will be going back after being berated by Dan. read more

No frills bar with good bar food. A Bloomfield staple!! It's a nice place to hang out with a friend or two or even alone.

My husband has been saying he wanted to try this place for months now. We finally went in for breakfast today and I was very pleased with the food and service! I got the breakfast turkey club and my husband got an omelette. Both were excellent!!! Their breakfast menu is great. We can't wait to go back to try some other items like cornbread French toast, strawberry lemonade pancakes, and the cinnamon roll pancakes. They also have excellent prices! Although I didn't have one I noticed Moscow mules were 5.50 and they use Tito's vodka!!! They are 10 dollars every where else! The staff was extremely nice and personable. We will definitely be back! read more

We used to go here a lot when I was younger, in the late 80's and early 90's. Nostalgically tried to go here today, Saturday, but the kitchen was closed when we got there, around 1:30 pm. We live an hour away. Just be sure the kitchen is open before you go. read more

Pay attention to the bill. Curly haired male bartender intentionally added $20 of drinks to my tab. When I confronted him he blamed the extra drinks on my friends who hadn't been drinking those things in the first place. read more

Nico's was a place I heard I should visit, but I was always a little scared to go inside. The outside is typical dive bar with block windows and no way to actually see inside. Once you're inside though, it is a different story. There is a huge bar area (filled with yinzers talking about the Steelers), and past that there is a decently sized sit down area with booths and tables. Nothing fancy here, but good and attentive wait staff, and nice cheap beer, sports tv, and quick yummy food. There was a large group of us, and we ordered the Greek Platter, and it was just right. Everything from fresh feta and olives to spanakopita and grape leaves. Nico's is on Friendship Ave and very close to the hospital (hence the 'recovery room'). I look forward to checking out the Saturday Karaoke to see what Pittsburgh local vocals will produce. read more

This is a friendly, hipsters-and-yinzers-living-in-harmony kind of joint. Sports on the TVs, Yeungling on tap--quintessential Pittsburgh. The fried fish (with fries and coleslaw) is Lenten-Catholic quality. If I minded cigarette smoke, this place would be a four; but since I don't, perfect score. Like Scorpion once intoned..."Get over here!" read more

Totally love this place!!! Great crowd! Great food! Great people! Great Karaoke! Will definitely be going back!!!

Bar none the best karoake in Pittsburgh (Saturday nights). This is one cool dive bar, which in one room has a full 360 bar and the other room a bunch of tables and booths for sittin' and singin'! I've been here more than a dozen times and have always had a blast. I know it's not everybody's cup of tea, but there is no funner night that grabbing some pitchers with a group of friends and making a fool out of yourself behind a mic. And this is the perfect place for it. By no means is this a place for upscale cocktails with the coworkers: we're talkin cheap beer, (really!) smokey, loud, and just a damn good time! One the many reasons I was excited to move to Friendship Park was to be within stumbling distance of Nico's. Whether it is after work or a late night hangout with peeps, this has become my neighborhood dive bar and it perfectly encapsulates the spirit of Pittsburgh. read more

This will be simple... The karaoke had a very limited selection. The DJ kept fiddling with the volume while you were singing. Was way over-crowded with wanna-be hipsters who were attempting to be ironic which just made them look pathetic, especially since they kept taking pictures to most likely show Facebook people how much fun they were having and how great they are. There was only one server for a bar packed with people and was hard to get a drink. Won't be going back. read more

Nico's is simply the BEST neighborhood bar. Great staff, amazing fries, good food overall, super friendly people. Smoking allowed. You go there three times, and the bartender remembers your name. Just awesome read more