Casbah
is located on Highland Avenue in the Shadyside/East End neighborhood of
Pittsburgh. Shadyside is located approximately 5 miles (a 15-minute drive) from
Downtown Pittsburgh. The restaurant provides limited complimentary parking in
an adjacent small strip mall. Alternatively, metered street parking is also
available.
The
restaurant space for Casbah has several dining areas spaced throughout the
interior and exterior of the restaurant. The street-level interior space is
divided in half to form the dining room (with regular stand-alone tables and
tables that share a wall of banquette seating) and the bar / lounge area (which
has a traditional bar and lounge-type seating with low tables for two). The bar
is worth a closer look, because the outer edge (where the customers place their
elbows and drinks) is made of an interesting stained glass design. A wall near
the door contains another unique decorative element of colorful ceramic fish. A
dining room on the lower (basement) level provides a view into the wine cellar.
The
restaurant can open the doors / windows at the front of the building to join
the outdoor space. A terra cotta-colored concrete wall covered by a fabric
awning encloses the year-round exterior dining area. The ceiling is high,
decorated with hanging plants, ceiling fans, and heaters. The exterior space
has the feeling of a Mediterranean courtyard or bazaar, whereas the interior is
chic and dark.
Casbah
is part of the Big Burrito Restaurant Group, which owns Eleven (my favorite
restaurant in Downtown Pittsburgh), Kaya, Umi, Soba, Mad Mex, and Casbah. If
you sign up for the groups "fan club", they send you a postcard
(coupon) once per year around the time of your birthday that entitles you to a
free entree. Some stipulations exist. For example, you cannot use the coupon at
Soba and the coupon can only be used on a Sunday through a Friday (but not on a
Saturday night), but you can use it for any entree at lunch or dinner on the
specified days. It is a great deal, because you can use it for a $30+ dollar
entree at Eleven, for example.
For
an appetizer, we shared a trio of dips (hummus, baba ghanoush, and muhammara).
However, the restaurant described the menu item as a grilled flatbread, which
led us to believe that we were ordering a sort of flatbread pizza with
Mediterranean toppings. When our server delivered the dish, it contained three
separate portions of dips / spreads, accompanied by freshly grilled thick pita
pieces.
For
our entrees, we ordered an upscale yet rustic mac-and-cheese that had chewy
bites of lamb mixed in with large hollow noodles similar to large rigatoni and
then sprinkled with breadcrumbs. The second dish was short-rib ravioli accented
with mushrooms and Swiss chard, which was more refined in appearance but just
as delicious in taste. Our only comment on both dishes is that we would have
liked to have some bread or rolls served alongside so that we could have sopped
up the remaining sauces because they were that yummy!
For
dessert, we shared a deconstructed s'mores dessert, with chocolate cake,
toasted marshmallow, salted caramel ice cream, and graham cracker crumbs.
We
expected the food at Casbah to be primarily Mediterranean cuisine, but the number
of continental options far outnumbered the number of ethnic dishes.
Service
was attentive throughout the first part of our meal, but it slowed towards the
end. In fact, our server did not charge us for our dessert because it took so
long to arrive. A mistake can happen anywhere, but how a restaurant (or server)
handles it makes all the difference, and Casbah handled it perfectly, leaving
us with nothing but praise for our meal.
We loved our lunch at Casbah. As I mentioned previously in this review, Eleven is one of my favorite Pittsburgh restaurants, and I also enjoyed dining at Kaya. Now Casbah makes the list of another great Pittsburgh dining option! I look forward to trying the other restaurants in the Big Burrito Group
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