Ate here yesterday for the first time. Definitely a fan of the vibe - we sat up on the roof patio and it was like a garden oasis in the middle of the Baum/Center eyesore. The decor managed to almost completely block out the view of Ritters and the UPMC parking lot next door - a major plus. The inside was, as others have already commented, very pastel and outdated, reminding me of my grandmother's 80th birthday party. Definitely could use an overhaul in my opinion, but then again there were quite a few old ladies there, so maybe they just know their crowd. I'll cut to the chase: the food was GREAT. For not super expensive, there were large quantities, many options, a very helpful waitress who helped us make some very difficult choices, and a clear willingness to tailor anything on the menu to suit our needs. One last thing about the service, which is what earns Cafe Sam its 5th star -- we were running late to see a play after dinner, which was our own poor planning. But as soon as we alerted the waitress to the situation, she bent over backwards to get us our food as quickly as possible, take-out containers so we could finish on the road, and the check paid without delay. It was definitely above and beyond the call of duty, and we wouldn't have made it on time without her help. Great food, great service, weird but nice decor. I'll definitely be back.
OPTIONS:
- negative
- positive

positive

Authentic Mexican food at a decent price. I had the street tacos and the serving was more than enough for me. It tasted good and the price was decent. I will come back this place for the food and the service. :)
OPTIONS:
- negative
- positive

positive

This was the worst experience of ever had a Jimmy John's I went through the drive-through and got an unwhich the lettuce was oldit was wrapped in properly I know it's hard to wrap the sandwich in lettuce but the one in Scottsdale's that's a perfect every time the sandwich was disgusting and it fell apart right when I opened it it was such a bad experience I immediately logged on to yelp The tomatoes were tiny and two of them were the end pieces The lettuce was old and super wet (0crunch) Not much avocado spread all the taste my Unwhich usually has did not exist on this sandwich everything was so old I felt I had been robbed And I usually love to treat my self to an Unwhich Clearly this isn't a good location and wasn't the quality I've come to expect from being spoiled from the one in Scottsdale
OPTIONS:
- negative
- positive

negative

If you were given a blind taste test and told to identify the food that you ate, no one would guess that they had eaten a waffle. I tried the lumberjack waffle which comes with maple butter and bacon crumbles on top. First the waffle. It is a dense black hole of dough. I understand why so many reviewers thought that it was only partially cooked. This is not your fluffy waffle with pockets of air bubbles inside. Rather, it's exactly like a hunk of half-cooked cookie dough. Solid through and through. It doesn't come with syrup. There are 2 reasons that Cast Iron Waffles doesn't offer syrup. 1) This kind of dense doughy waffle wouldn't absorb any syrup. The syrup would bounce right off this thing, and 2) syrup costs money. Now lets talk about the toppings. The "maple butter" is really extremely sweet maple icing, like the stuff you would decorate a cake with. There is a lot of it and it completely overpowers any other tastes on the plate. Can't taste the bacon and can't taste the waffle. The owners of Cast Iron are trying to run a restaurant as cheaply as possible. Everything screams CHEAP in this place. Plastic plates and forks for example. Did I mention there's no syrup? And, get this, self serve room temp tap water that you get from an urn at the end of the counter. You get up from your table and fetch yourself a small cup of luke warm water. For the diner's pleasure, a stack of small plastic cups sits in repose by the urn. I would be embarrassed to bring a guest to this place. I would suggest that the owners change the name of this small, badly executed restaurant to "Maple Frosted Cookie Dough"
OPTIONS:
- negative
- positive
negative