Allentown: Pistachio Bar & Grille (March 2016)

My spouse and I dined at Pistachio Bar and Grill for a light dinner on a Sunday evening in early March 2016. We have dined at Pistachio many, many times since it opened 18+ years ago in 1998. Pistachios is open for lunch and dinner daily, with additional brunch selections offered on Sundays (such as omelets and benedicts). The restaurant accepts reservations via telephone, Yelp, or Facebook.
Pistachios is located in a strip mall shopping center near Dorney Park, at the intersections of Hamilton Boulevard (Route 222) and Cedar Crest Boulevard. Plenty of complimentary parking is available in the shopping center lot. The restaurant is large and cavernous, and as a result, it can be a bit loud during its most crowded times. Original (and unusual) art hangs on the walls. The ceilings are open to the industrial piping and wiring, and the kitchen is open to the dining area as well. The restaurant also features a large bar area with additional table seating alongside. Sidewalk dining (albeit with a view of the parking lot) is available in warmer weather.

The menu at Pistachios contains Italian, Mediterranean, and American cuisine, and it is re-printed (although not necessarily changed) frequently. Our favorite appetizers are the hummus (served with freshly-made pita bread, and sometimes drizzled with olive oil and roasted red peppers), the gorgonzola potato chips (house-made chips drizzled with cheese and sliced scallions), and the Mediterranean appetizer plate (with hummus, tabouli, peppers, feta cheese, olives, and stuffed grape leaves). The pizzas are good, although the quality can vary (we ordered a four cheese pizza on our last visit, and two of the cheeses used were yellow cheddar and blue cheese, which are not normally on other four cheese pizzas that we order elsewhere). Our “go-to” menu items are their delicious salads, with our favorites being the seafood chopped salad, regular chopped salad, chef salad, citrus chicken salad. Also, the chicken Oscar entrĂ©e (panko-breaded chicken breast topped with asparagus, crabmeat, and hollandaise sauce, and served with a side of amazing polenta) is a repeat order for us.
Service (like food quality) has been variable over the years. Even though we tend to order the same dishes, ingredients are sometimes excluded or substituted at whim, and presentation varies greatly (for example, on the chef salad, sometimes the cheese is cubed, and sometimes it is thinly sliced), perhaps depending on the chef on duty. Sometimes we receive bread service and sometimes a small amuse bouche (like hummus) from the chef, and other times we do not, even though we tend to order the same appetizers and main courses each time we visit. We used to have a terrific (and favorite!) Pistachio bartender/waitress, Colleen, but she has since moved on to work at Bell Hall in Allentown.

We enjoy the salads at Pistachios, and we also like to dine outdoors on their sidewalk when the weather is just right. We appreciate that they are open continuously from lunch through dinner every day of the week, and we like the fact that we can always easily secure a table when we dine at off-hours (which seem like normal hours to us). Pistachio has a casual vibe with upscale food, and we find ourselves returning often.









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