Slow service is the norm here. Expect to wait at least 40 minutes for breakfast or lunch from the time you are seated, even if the place is deserted! ( I used my Apple Watch stopwatch to time this, its an accurate number) Hard to understand why this is, the menu could not possibly have fewer selections, and food is average at best. A far better choice would be one of the established eateries in and around Pitt or CMU. read more

Such a nice addition to Oakland. We had ordered the grilled octopus, braised beef cheek and horseradish gnocchi. All were really good,not great but very good. I was surprised my wife enjoyed the octopus as much as she did but that kind of food is always up my alley. The gnocchi was enjoyable. It was tasty, buttery and we like it very much. Ok, was how I would describe the braised beef cheek. At the end I was still hungry so I ordered a dozen oysters(east and west coast) and those were delicious. We would definitely come here again. read more

I had lunch here a few days ago, and I'm not normally one to write reviews but this has to be said. pros: 1. nice view of Oakland 2. decor although mismatched somehow works 3. terrace is nice, but too small. cons: 1. service. The food took almost 2 hours to come out. This is not an exaggeration. If I had anything important to do that morning, I would have left without eating, which several tables did. The manager was not helpful at all. 2. food. The oysters were still dirty, whoever shucked them did not clean them properly, the burger was overcooked and freezing cold. As I looked around, others had sent food back after waiting even longer than us. Overall, the food was mediocre at best. 3. menu. The lunch menu is confusing, you can only order from one side, and the options are basic and unoriginal. I honestly expected more from an Autograph Collection restaurant, and was very disappointed. I will not return. read more

Disappointing. Let me just say that the food was very good! However, between the poor service and the fact that the bar could not even manage to make a standard gin and tonic - I'm not sure that I will be prioritizing a return to this beautiful setting. We were there on a weekday evening and there were very few tables. Nonetheless, service was painfully slow and no servers were particularly caring, helpful or understanding. In summation, as I began, disappointing. read more

Pretty average dining experience. The food was only ok. I had the duck, which was fine (not amazing). Colleagues also had the duck and another the fish special (salmon) with similar remarks. My recommendation would be to go for the view of Oakland and have a drink. Dinner was only an average experience and the service was borderline average. read more

I understand that we're all trying to do our best in this world, and I don't know if this was just an off night for this restaurant or it's always like this, but this was a pretty aggressively bad experience. I'm less mad about it than I am impressed! Specifically, we waited well over an hour for the waiter to take our order and had to actively solicit his attention when he did; the food took a long time to be delivered, but when it eventually was, one person in our group was served half an hour after everyone else because they seemed to have forgotten to place his order (though the waiter denied this). Regardless, when his food was eventually delivered, he was offered no apology. Lastly, then the bill situation was a nightmare when they claimed they couldn't split the bill, but eventually figured out a way to make it possible, and ended up charging me double for what I ordered. I think they did end up giving us our drinks for free, which was a nice gesture, though the interactions with the waiter -- and eventually manager -- were all accompanied with an unpleasant attitude. On the plus side, the food was fine, but The Porch is another perfectly mediocre -- and cheaper -- option a block away. The view isn't as nice, but you can't win em all. read more

Visited for drinks and (planned) dinner in 6/2019. Decor is nice, beautiful view of Oakland. Drinks were delicious, with a creative cocktail list with good variety. Service, however, did not meet expectations for a place of this stature. Sat in lounge area for drinks with ~8 people and were not served. Had to go to bar, order drinks, and shuttle one by one back to our party. Beers were flat, so we had to choose different ones. We ended up choosing to not stay for dinner, as friends who were also there alerted us to the fact that food takes well over an hour to arrive. Overall, a big letdown for a restaurant in a beautiful location. read more

I arrived at the gorgeous new Oaklander Hotel on a beautiful Sunday with high hopes. Spirts & Tales resides on the hotel's 10th floor and it is STUNNING. The views, the décor, the restrooms - all of it, beautiful. I had plenty of time to take in the sights since I stood at the host stand for a solid 10 minutes before anyone approached me. From my view, there were three seated tables in the entire place, so the busy-factor was non-existent. Finally, the hostess greeted me with a meek "sorry." She said I needed to wait for the reminder of my party to be seated, which I understand, but found it amusing considering the empty restaurant. Still, I was looking forward to the experience. My party arrived shortly thereafter and we were seated promptly. Our friendly server arrived to fill our waters and coffees were ordered. From water to coffee, coffee to food, food to check, the meal took nearly two hours. The good news is, my Avocado Toast was incredible. Truly, the best I've had. Reviews on the rest of the meals were mixed, but at $9 a pop, I'd eat that toast all day. The other meals were clearly overpriced, but you sort of expect that in a hotel restaurant. The strangest part of the experience was the revelation that the "saucer liners" consisted of torn out Bible verses. BIBLE VERSES. Are you kidding me?! I'm not religious, but was offended on behalf of humanity. The sheets didn't appear to be from an actual Bible, but WHY would you do that? We actually asked the server, who agreed that it was strange but explained that, as part of the "tales" vibe, they cut up books to use as liners. Honestly, they lost me there. I get that books can't live forever and that they are, at times, turned into art and the like. But to cut them up to line a saucer, and to use a Bible verse - I do NOT get that. With so many extraordinary restaurants in Pittsburgh, I can't say I'll be back to this one. All things considered, I always recommend everyone try a place for themselves and this is no exception. read more

I have visited this restaurant several times since it is very close to my work. The venue is gorgeous, and the food is not bad. The big problem is the service, which is universally atrocious. Last time we visited, we asked the bartender for a Manhattan, and he asked what was in that. Really? The Autograph hotels are a higher-end chain for the Marriott Corporation. It seems they could invest more time and effort in training the staff of this restaurant. Until they get the service down, which may be never, I can't recommend the place. read more

Restaurant and view itself are very nice. However, we sat down at 6:30 and didn't leave until 9. There were maybe 6 other people in the restaurant and our food took well over an hour. When it did come out, a portion of my meal was cold and had to ask for it to be replaced. Food was nothing special and the service other than being slow lacked engagement. Had to ask for water 3 times. Not the experience I wanted or expected upon arrival read more

Excellent views. Very good food. Decent service. There is something I really like about this place for midday lunch that has made me come back several times. For that area in Oakland probably my favorite or second favorite for that read more

We waited for 25 minutes and were greeted only once for water. There were empty tables, so being too busy isn't a great excuse. There appeared to be one server for the restaurant during prime time on a Thursday. Won't go back. read more

The service was extremely slow. There were not enough servers. The host and hostess at the restaurant check-in station we're unfriendly. Not welcoming at all. Not enough California wines. My $42 ribeye was very tough. Such a disappointment !! read more

I stopped in unplanned. There was available seating at the bar. The menu was a bit on the small side. The clams & mussels were Really good! They were out of the French onion soup so i settled on the baked ricotta . It was just ok. I would still come back to try the entrees. read more

I love all the people who are attached to this hotel and restaurant. Lovely, kind, sweet Pittsburgh people. Unfortunately, the service at the restaurant is super slow. I know it is not the wait staff; the problem is definitely in the kitchen. They really need training. The food choices are good to very bad and even the good stuff is often prepared poorly or they do not have the equipment to prepare (juicer is broken and has not been replaced after 2 weeks). I stay here often because it is a good place with good people and close to my work. They need a new chef and training for the kitchen staff. I always tip the wait staff because they honestly do their best. The service is slow even when the restaurant has only a few customers. I still have hope that service and food preparation will improve because I believe in the excellent staff. read more

Pleasantly surprised: the room was quiet enough for conversation, the service was attentive and the small dishes we shared at the table were generous and delicious. We plan to repeat the experience. read more

The place is very nice. Nice to have a boutique hotel in Pittsburgh, nice ambience. The food was very good so were the cocktails. The butterfly effect was my favorite. I wish I could say the same for the service. The 1st server we had was fine. But after cocktails, we moved indoors for dinner and the 2nd server was rude to say the least! While eating dinner we asked for the dessert menu, to which he said the kitchen is closed. We asked him why he didn't tell us the kitchen was closing, we would just order earlier and he says, 'you should have asked for it earlier!' He could have been nice about it. He continued with similar remarks rest of the dinner too. They are in the service business. This is unacceptable! But food and cocktails were great. Didn't want to give lower stars because of 1 server! And we were a group of 6. read more

AH-MAZ-ING! Wow - my husband and I are still talking about the food -- soooooo good! We started with the crab mac and cheese. We have had this dish in many restaurants, but this was so good with nice pieces of crab throughout. The star of the show was the roasted truffle chicken my husband ordered. OMG! It was the best roasted chicken we ever ate, EVER! We have talked about that chicken for the past 3 days and can't wait to go back and BOTH order it! I had the Pumpkin Spaetzle and it hit the mark for this pumpkin lover. Our server, Aurora, suggested the Apple Cider Mule which was sublime. We finished our meal with the Almond Cake and could really taste the orange. It really made this dessert sing. Chef even popped out to see how we enjoyed the meal - so cool! Everyone was socially distanced and the staff wore gloves and masks. Our server was very attentive and helped us make great selections. We cannot wait to return for dinner and we hear that their brunch is a treat. This is now our new go-to spot! read more

My fiancé and I came here on Valentine's Day. Often going out on mass holidays can lower the quality of food or reduce a menu but S&T managed to maintain both. I had the horseradish gnocchi and my fiancé had the steak and frites and both were absolutely amazing. (The gnocchi was actually out of this world good-like the best I have ever had.) I will say our server was something to be desired and I was tempted to give lower stars however I didn't want to take away from the food and overall atmosphere. read more

This is the restaurant atop the brand new Marriott Autograph Collection Hotel, the Oaklander, on Pitt's campus. Take the elevator to the 10th floor where hotel check-in is located and you will see the restaurant which has gorgeous views of Oakland. I went once for happy hour (they did not have specials) and the service as the bar was so slow even for my simple Shirley Temple. I wanted to give this place one more chance and went back a few weeks later for Sunday brunch and the service was just as bad. It took a very long time for anyone to even acknowledge we were there and take us to our table. The brunch menu has a good number of options and I went with the French toast. For $15 and two pieces of French toast topped with nuts, whipped ricotta and a marmalade sauce, I was not impressed. It took over an hour for us to order and have our food served with no one in the group really loving their meals. You can skip this restaurant for a meal as there are plenty of other places to dine in Oakland however it is worth stopping by for a drink and to see the views. read more

My friends and I decided to come here for a Valentine's Day dinner! We were super excited to try it and to get a good meal after a long day of work. Drinks were great, we were having a good time, laughing, talking about life, then we decided to order the steak... boom! HUGE MISTAKE! Super salty, ordered medium rare and it was well done and tasted like charcoal... super disappointing! For a person that deals with high blood pressure this was basically uneatable. Paid $32 for a simple plate of steak and fries... & that was the worst steak ever. Won't come back here not even if you pay me. read more

Really great cocktails and food and really awful service. There was hardly anyone in the place and we had to physically go looking for someone to take our order. We later moved outside and told a group of wait staff who were standing there that we were going out to the patio and wanted to order drinks. 30 minutes later and nobody had come out. We again had to physically go and look for someone. I'm surprised they weren't more eager to take the money that we were clearly ready to spend. read more

Went for lunch. Really good sandwich and salad. It beats most options in the Oakland area (except perhaps Carnegie Cafe, though right now I'd put them above). Service was fast. I don't know if it's because they overcame their earlier challenges (based on other reviews) or because Pitt and CMU are both done with the semester, but there was no problem there. read more

My partner and I were very excited to have Sunday brunch here. We made reservations and arrived about five minutes early. We had to wait in a line that crowded the hotel front desk, in which two parties left angrily from the restaurant after being seated. One of the guests in front of us was arguing with one of the workers, and the worker did not exhibit a calm tone (not judging, I'm proud of them for sticking their ground, but it did cause a scene). That worker left, and the hotel manager sat us, gave us water, and a QR code. We waited thirty minutes without being waited on. As tables kept being seated and we all aimlessly looked around wanting service, my partner and I decided to leave. The friendly hotel desk worker offered us a discount card, but being from out of the city, we could not accept coming back again. Overall, impeccable customer service from the hotel staff, horrible service from the restaurant staff. Reservation or not, this place does not live up to its hype. Hopefully they will get better. read more