text: The Pittsburgh Improv is unfortunately another great idea hamstrung by the details of mediocre execution some specific examples at the endnnThe setup is nice a delightfulif a bit sterilereproduction of what you would think a comedy club should like if you watch enough TV The interior is clean the seats are comfortable and it is an OK atmosphere to see a show and laughnnIts too small however to attract many of the best acts which limits its ability to ever become the central hub for Pittsburgh comedy Most of the big names that have recently come through PittsburghJim Gaffigan Louis CK Second Cityall perform elsewhere though they managed to get Bob Saget to their creditnnBut the biggest problem is the food and drink They are very up front about their mandatory two item minimum but the forced service requires that you spend extra money and get interrupted by waitstaff at least several times during the show The prices are well above what I would consider reasonable given the quality and I would begrudginglyor even happilyjust shrug off the cost the same way I would a stadium concession stand markupbut the food is bad You are forced to either a buy extremely overpriced drinks for a soda for example with no refillsor ten dollars for one with refills or b buy moderately overpriced food which you would not want in the first place I thought the ten dollar chicken sandwich looked reasonable until a few bites in I decided I would rather just throw away the money than keep eating itnnStill I think this place has a lot of potential the core idea is very workable and they do attract some really good comedians Two stars for now with high hopes for improvementsnnA few specific drawbacks which could be VERY easily fixedn A lot of the drinks did not have prices on them I know this is not uncommon but at a venue where every question you ask interrupts not only your own showviewing experience as well as the experiences of your neighbors it is an incredibly poor decision here Make everything on the menu exceptionally clear It is not that hardn Put the drink prices on the website too An Improv representative has personally responded to many of these Yelp reviews and she once said Our menus and pricing are listed on our website which makes for easy planning I am calling shenanigans Not all the prices are on the website which makes for difficult planningn Reminding me to tip my server during the show AND adding an automatic gratuity to the check makes me feel like you are trying to trick me It is kind of an unprofessional way to say goodbye to ones customersn Since the soft drinks do not come with free refills the servers should not ask would you like a refill on that or anything of the sort They should ask would you like another one instead They should also respond to requests for refills by saying we do not offer refills but I would be happy to get you another one Just because there is a dollar refillable soda option on the menu does not mean people all figure it out Most patrons do not even bother reading the beverage section of the menu if all they want is a standard beverage offered almost everywhere like a cola or diet cola and the reading difficulties imposed by the darkness make them even less likely to browse the offerings