Brillobox

So I finally made it here for dinner and it was just what I needed: a hardy sandwich, fries, and saucy cauliflower bites. The star of the show was the seitan rheuban--oh man was it good. The cauliflower bites were soggier than I remember. They used to be flash fried and lightly seasoned, but this time they had a thick batter and were saturated in a sweet and tangy sauce. I like the old recipe better. The downer for me was the fries, which were cold, even though the sandwich was super hot. The fries had been sitting awhile before they made it to the table. They still tasted ok but would have been better fresh out of the fryer. Brillobox still gets 4 stars, though, for their ambiance and plentiful vegan options!

Brillobox is one of my fav spots! Upstairs has a dance floor with a small bar and great events. Downstairs is a chill vibe with a bigger bar and great decor. We went on Wednesday for trivia and it was great!!! Not too crowded and the trivia host was easy to hear but not too loud. And the burger was great!!! Small menu but fast, even with bar service only

Amazing bar and awesome Christmas decor!! Just the right size beer list and delish bar food. Will def be back.

This place was amazing. I thought it was closed. We went here when we first went vegan and the food was wonderful and the drinks as well. I think I might be a bit older than the clientele now so I'd be less likely to go. I remember it being a bit noisy, but for young people with good ears, this place is great.

We came here for a DJ set on a Friday night. We started in the downstairs part of Brillobox. I liked the old school booths and eccentric decor in this area. It was pretty crowded but we were able to get drinks pretty easily. We found a booth to slip into to enjoy our drinks! The air flow is great downstairs. The issue now is with the upstairs area. It's just an empty space with a stage in the front and a bar and bathrooms in the back. But there was no air at all. Not even a fan up there. It was super hot and the air was thick up there. It's unfortunate because the DJs we're doing a great job but it was entirely too hot to dance for a length of time. I think I would only go to the downstairs part if I came back here in the future!

Yay they're open again!But more so, I should have updated this long ago.Service improved by leaps and bounds since my initial review.It's a great neighborhood spot and you can't go wrong with Prosecco on tap!

On a scale of romance novels to documentaries, Brillobox is a legend.I've never been to the Brillobox in the "before times," but I loved experiencing it for the first time a week or so ago. It's clear that this is a beloved establishment because it was absolutely packed out. The bartenders were whirling dervishes of drink creators, and the kitchen staff rolled out the food rapidly. What I adored most was the whimsical decor of the space with a giant shark suspended on one wall while cherry blossoms sprouted above the bar top. If you love to dine or drink in the midst of gorgeousness, Brillobox should be your haunt.Parking can be a headache, but the side roads offer random, available spaces. Just come prepared to loop around the side streets a bit.

So many vegan options. The drinks are good but come for a mound of fries and really nice booth seats.

Super hipster vibe, pretty good vegetarian food! We stopped in on a Sunday evening, and I was surprised at how busy it is. We were lucky to snag two seats at the bar. The space is very limited so I would find it hard to picture a band, or live music here. The beer was a little overpriced, but I felt as though the menu selection was priced very fairly. We ended up getting the bahn mi (tofu) and it was surprisingly good. The french fries that came with it were also cooked perfectly - I would really look to come back here if I were in the neighborhood. Great for vegetarians!

I've been here often enough by now that this place definitely warrants a review. Like many Pittsburgh bars, Brillobox - named after the soap pads immortalized by locally-born artist Andy Warhol - follows the "mullet" approach.What do I mean by the "mullet" approach? Business in the front, party, party, p-p-partayyyy!!!! in the back. And by the back, I mean the bar's upstairs section. Let's start the review with the front part of the bar. This is an intentionally quirky bar that gets packed very quickly very early on and is frequented and staffed by people who are somewhere along the journey of the punk rocker-to-hipster pipeline. As in somewhere in that transitional stage between being a PBR-guzzling, three-chord playing, cuffed jeans type who loves a good scrap, and being a bicycle-owning straight-edge vegan with a tasteful tattoo sleeve committed to a lifestyle of yoga and meditation. As mentioned earlier, this part of the bar is usually crowded up and it is sometimes next to impossible to find a decent seat without being incredibly clever about it. That said when you do there is a more than decent albeit somewhat spendy menu that includes kimchi fries, a Mediterranean Platter, and other edible goodies. The front bar can be a little underwhelming depending on what you're looking for and if you and/or the group you're with can't find table space you might sigh and say "you know what, let's go to Tina's, it has the same vibe, right?" Which brings me to the back bar. This is the difference between a three-star and four-star review. The back bar is a divey, genuinely artsy venue for performers and DJs with a small, checkerboard-floor pattern overseen by a photo of (of course) Andy Warhol and some of his buddies from back in the 20th century. There is one bar counter staffed by a lone drink-slinger serving up cheap beers and quick cocktails, and if you are at all like me *this* part of the bar is exactly what you are looking for. Brillo's upstairs/back bar is an excellent intimate, small venue for live shows by touring bands and artists, including up-and-coming locals and moderately-well-known names. I also have to recommend the Goth/Industrial/Alternative Synthpop night Second Skin (DJ'd by the masterful Erica Scary, a locally renowned champion of all that is dark and alternative), which tends to focus on a mix of the classics and the new, with a through-line of the more punk-y and less pop-adjacent sides of those genres: I am happy to say this is one of the nights in town where you are most likely to hear back to back Cold Cave, Gary Numan, High Functioning Flesh, etc. and I am definitely there for it. Whether you are more about the longer or shorter side of the mullet, Brillobox likely has something going on that you will appreciate.