The Baltimore House

This place was good many years ago. Now it's a dive. Smoky, grimy, slow service, mediocre food. Went to the mens room, and an employee was snorting a line of powder off the sink. He said, "Hey dude, care for some blow?" I passed. Avoid this dump, by all means.

Went here for a birthday dinner and while the food was good and service was spot on, it was kind of weird that it was so empty. I am just so curious why. We were there on a Saturday night in August, and every restaurant in the vicinity was packed with a waitlist, so it was great to get a table. (We had the place to ourselves, actually.)If you are looking for good seafood, nice service and seating right away, it's a good pick; but something just freaked me out about nobody being there.

Imagine how delighted I, a Baltimore girl, was to find The Baltimore House! The hours online (Google, Google Maps, their website) don't agree, but luckily someone answered the phone and took my to-go order, which was ready in 20 minutes. (They are also open for dining in.) The hoagie was large and delicious, and I liked the green beans in butter, but the menu promised me $25 of large sea scallops. I got $10 of mini scallops. Still, I'll give the restaurant a try during crab season. Hopefully the pandemic will be over and we can attack them with wooden mallets in the themed dining room.

Disappointed and soggyWent to the Baltimore House because they are really the only place in Pittsburgh that has whole crabs. This place is on the decline. Not packed, just 4 tables sat in dining room, but took 20 min to just get my drink. The had advertisements everywhere for a new Black Rock cooking experience but it was not yet available in spite of the menus for it placed on the tables. The crabs were mushy and overcooked. The drinks were weak and watery. The service was not great as they gave me a real hard time with my Groupon. Then the roof started leaking, water pouring down, in the middle of the dining room. It's never been a 5 star restaurant but I used to like this place. I really hope that the Black Rock cooking revitalizes this place if not I don't see them lasting much longer.

I got take out from the Baltimore House so I didn't get the complete horrid experience that some of the other reviews say. But for starters the outside of the building needs a major makeover. The creepy, outdated statues aren't not doing any favors for this place. There are still signs on the exterior that say sushi and hibachi bar and they haven't served either of these in over a year. The inside isn't bad though. I was actually surprised with the main level. It gave off the vibe of a nice steak & seafood restaurant. Main level is non smoking; downstairs smoking is allowed. It is a lot louder downstairs that upstairs. Like most of the reviews say, the place was pretty empty. I went a little after 5pm but for it being a weekend, you'd think there would be at least someone else in the building, but nope! Just 3 employees. Now to get to the food...I can't say it was so horrible I had to eat food from another restaurant instead, but also not over-the-top amazing. I ordered the clam chowder to start. I'm not a huge clam chowder eater but it tasted pretty good to me. I don't have much to compare it to though, but I'd go back to get it again. I also got the lobster Mac and cheese. It was basically pasta mixed with lobster bits and then a cheese sauce on top of it. It tasted like something I could just throw together by myself, but it didn't taste bad. Just average and nothing I'd be eager to try again. Then for the main dish I got the lobster roll. When I first saw it, I was a bit surprised. It was about the size of my fist. I started questioning if I had accidentally ordered off the kids menu. It tasted good but if I had not ordered the app, I would definitely have been very hungry afterwards.

A kitchy imitation of Baltimore food. I am from Baltimore. While Pittsburgh has a great restaurant scene, sometimes I miss the great Baltimore crab cakes, hard crabs and other seafood dishes. Baltimore House was a huge disappointment. First, the place they wanted to seat us smelled strongly of cigarette smoke. They allow smoking in their bar area and everyone there was smoking. The regular restaurant tables were right next to the bar area without separate ventilation. We were going to leave until they agreed to open another room so that we could breathe. The decor included kitchy imitations of the decor from some classic Baltimore seafood houses. However the decor had seen better days. The rolls, served first were warm and crispy. They were served with real butter. You had to use your steak knife to spread the butter on the rolls. We got the surf and turf special. The prime rib was fattier than most prime rib cuts. It was cooked rare as we had requested. The crab cake was more cake than crab. There were wisps of crab meat but no actual lumps of crab. The crab cake had an odd sour note. We asked about the ingredients and nothing in the list would have accounted for the sour note. The server said that the crab cake contained Old Bay but I could not taste any. I had to hunt to find the lady's room. When I eventually found it, on a darkened room on another floor, I could not find a light switch so I had to prop the door open so I could see. I could not find any toilet paper so I had to use paper towels.

Allegheny County Health Department Consumer ALERT:A Consumer Alert was posted at the subject facility for the following:  Cold Foods at unsafe temperatures; Coolers not maintaining safe food temperature; Certified Food Protection Manager not present; Unapproved food source/ unsound condition: vacuum packaging food without approved safety precautions; Ready-to-eat, potentially hazardous foods held past use-by date; Presence of fruit flies; Plumbing: backflow not prevented; Inadequate cleaning and sanitizing of food contact surfaces/Dish machine not sanitizing. 07/2017

Despite the building advertising of sushi and hibachi, the Baltimore House did not have either. The food was pretty good but service was wayyyy awful. Apparently there was a crab special happening but we wouldn't know because no one told us until we were about to leave. We were pretty disappointed overall: no sushi, no hibachi, no crab, no avocado on my chicken avocado sandwich... pretty lame.

Actually a 5 for service, hostess and waitress were both very friendly and helpful. Salads left a bit to be desired, but our entrees were delicious even if they were frozen. So maybe a 3 for the food.

Owner was at the bar hammered starting fights and bleeding everywhere.