Brian Nagele
Whether you’re meandering the streets of Pittsburgh as a tourist or enjoying a Sunday afternoon walk, what better way to power your urban jaunt than with a delicious brunch under your belt?
Whether you’re looking for a rowdy, boozy brunch with friends, a family-friendly local neighborhood diner, or a classy fine-dining special occasion brunch, Pittsburgh brunch spots fulfill every brunch desire and expectation.
Here, we will list our favorite restaurants to enjoy the best brunch in Pittsburgh.
There are so many options that you can enjoy a different weekend brunch for months.
The Yard
100 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Phone: 412-291-8182
Visit Website
The Yard is a local Pittsburgh culinary revelation started by three visionary bar buddies whose initial concept was a gourmet grilled cheese restaurant and bar.
They quickly expanded the concept to include gourmet versions of all the best bar food.
Their beignet pancakes with blueberry compote, raspberry drizzle, and mascarpone whipped cream is fruity, fluffy heaven.
They also use beignet pancakes as the bread of their heart-attack-inducing breakfast club sandwich filled with Swiss, cheddar, chorizo, bacon, and scrambled eggs and drizzled with maple syrup.
Geppetto Café
4121 Butler St., Pittsburgh, PA 15201
Phone: 412-709-6399
Visit Website
Geppetto Café is a quaint and rustic creperie in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood, a few blocks from Arsenal Park, the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University, and the 40th street bridge.
The ambiance is friendly, light, and airy, and the crepes are wonderful.
There is a sweet and savory crepe menu and the option to customize a crepe by choosing your favorite ingredients.
They also serve Challah French toast, paninis, and salads along with a full espresso menu, ice cream, milkshakes, smoothies, and a selection of teas.
Our favorite savory crepe is an ode to breakfast known as the bonjour that consists of bacon, scrambled eggs, and brie stuffed crepe with maple syrup drizzled on top.
Acorn
5528 Walnut Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15132
Phone: 412-530-5950
Visit Website
Acorn specializes in new American cuisine, putting a modern and exciting twist on the classic dishes we’re all familiar with.
Located on Walnut Street in the historical Shadyside neighborhood, Acorn offers fresh and locally sourced ingredients on a constantly rotating seasonal menu.
Brunch at Acorn is an eclectic array of breakfast cuisines from across the U.S., including Chilaquiles with guajillo salsa and short rib hash with bacon fried potato, caramelized onions, and an over-easy egg topper.
Acorn also makes their own bagels. We recommend trying one fresh out of the oven with smoked salmon schmear, tomato, cucumber, capers, and chives.
Grand Concourse
100 West Station Square Dr, Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Phone: 412-261-1717
Visit Website
Located in the iconic Mount Washington neighborhood, Grand Concourse faces the Monongahela River in a perfectly preserved old Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Station.
Grand Concourse offers an extravagant and decadent brunch buffet with over 20 breakfast and lunch dishes that you can help yourself to as many times as you’d like.
With everything from biscuits and gravy to bananas foster to shrimp cocktail, this buffet spares no expense.
Lola’s Eatery
3337 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15201
Visit Website
While you might think it’s named for a woman, LOLA is actually an acronym for “Lower Lawrenceville.”
It was created by Penn State college sweethearts who wanted to share their wonderful baking with fellow Pittsburghers.
Their delightful menu showcases both their cultural and confectionary backgrounds.
They are a bakery with custom cakes and pastries with a unique brunch menu that utilizes their freshly baked bread, pastries, and bagels. We recommend the breakfast eggrolls and avocado toast.
The Speckled Egg PGH
501 Grant St., Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Phone: 412-251-5248
Visit Website
You can have brunch every day of the week at The Speckled Egg, a Pittsburgh restaurant dedicated to everything breakfast and lunch.
They’re conveniently located in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh, close to all the major historical landmarks, museums, parks, and river trails so that you can make a day of it after a leisurely weekend brunch.
Their menu features classic American brunch items with a modern twist. We recommend the T.S.E breakfast sandwich with fried eggs, American cheese, special sauce, lettuce, and tomato on an onion and poppy bun.
The Zenith
86 South 26th Street Pittsburgh, PA 15203
Phone: 412-481-4833
Located in the South Side neighborhood just a few blocks from the famous Birmingham Bridge, The Zenith is Pittsburgh’s oldest vegetarian restaurant.
The Zenith is also an antique, second-hand clothing and jewelry shop. They create a new weekly menu, but their Sunday Brunch menu stays the same.
Vegans, vegetarians, and meat-eaters can all appreciate the tasty brunch offerings at The Zenith.
We recommend the vegan blueberry pancakes and the tofu salad sandwich with apples, celery, and red onions in dill veganaise.
Spirits & Tales
5130 Bigelow Boulevard, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Phone: 412-297-4074
Visit Website
Located on the 10th floor of the beautiful Oaklander Hotel, Spirits & Sales is an elegant restaurant surrounded by windows, giving you a 360-degree view of downtown Pittsburgh to take in as you savor your weekend brunch.
While you can order breakfast seven days a week at Spirits & Sales, they have a special brunch menu on the weekends with delicious and creative brunch cocktails and specialty brunch entrees.
Mimosas and Bloody Marys are go-to brunch cocktail staples, and Spirits & Tales offers both.
Their French Bloody Mary is incredibly delicious, using a mix of pickled fennel, horseradish, quatre spices, and orange. For a hearty brunch meal, try the steak and eggs with potato leek hash.
Bonfire Food and Drink
2100 East Carson Street, Southside | Pittsburgh
Phone: 412-481-3473
Visit Website
Bonfire Food and Drink is a two-story restaurant with different menus for each floor that encompass every type of dining experience, from casual snacks and cocktails to high-end dinners.
Their brunch menu is a sophisticated fusion of cross-cultural breakfast traditions, each item perfectly executed.
Bonfire’s brunch menu is one of our favorites, so it’s hard to choose only a few items to recommend.
We’d recommend the crispy brussels sprouts with smoked grapes, hazelnuts, and brown butter aioli as a starter and the roasted lamb eggs benedict for the main event.
Pear and Pickle
1800 Rialto Street | Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Phone: 412-322-0333
Visit Website
Married couple owners Alexis and Bobby opened up this cozy neighborhood café as an homage to the beloved Brooklyn neighborhood breakfast-with-friends culture they left when they moved from New York to Pennsylvania.
Their menu reflects the breakfast and lunch sandwiches they ordered in New York, freshly baked pastries, bagels, and cookies, and a full espresso and specialty coffee menu.
We recommend the corned beef Reuben or the favorite NY bodega-style egg and cheese sandwich on a fresh Kaiser roll.
Park Bruges
5801 Bryant St., Pittsburgh, PA 15206
Phone: 412-661-3334
Visit Website
Park Bruges is the family-friendly Highland Park sister restaurant to the original East End neighborhood bistro Pointe Bruges. Park Bruges offers weekend brunch with a French cuisine focus.
That said, the dish to try at Park Bruges is classic Canadian fare: poutine, made with house cut and fried Brugge Frites smothered in stock gravy and cheese curds with short ribs and a sunny side up egg and pickled pepper topping.
Bigham Tavern
321 Bigham Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15211
Phone: 412-431-9313
Visit Website
Bigham Tavern has been Mount Washington’s neighborhood bar since 1910, serving hearty meals, bar snacks, beer, and spirits to the locals with prideful adherence to their welcoming motto: “Where your friends gather to eat, drink and be family.”
Their menus and service have received several awards over the years – with over a century in business, they meet even the highest expectations.
We recommend their shrimp and cheesy grits topped with dippy eggs and pecan smoked bacon or the Black and Gold Rogie Bowl comprised of cheddar pierogies with pulled pork black and gold sauce and a dippy egg.
Double Wide Grill
2339 E Carson, Pittsburgh, PA 15203
Phone: 412-390-1111
Visit Website
With a name like Double Wide, you should come hungry to this South Side original bar and grill serving hearty American favorites with options for meat-eaters, vegetarians, and vegans.
Their weekend brunch menu has a variety of different takes on brunch classics like omelets and egg benedict.
Take, for example, the crab cake benedict with poached eggs and blood orange hollandaise sauce, or the pesto avocado omelet with tomatoes, spinach, green and red peppers, onions, and feta cheese.
Vegans can enjoy a seitan cheesesteak with a creamy white sauce and fries. No matter what your dietary preference, you’ll get generous portions.
Everyday’s A Sunday & Café
4919 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15224
Phone: 412-363-2233
You can get the most creative and delicious breakfast and lunch sandwiches at this cute Garfield neighborhood café.
The name says it all; brunch is a state of mind, and you can channel it through a luxuriously decadent meal at Everyday’s a Sunday & Café.
The two out-of-this-world good breakfast sandwiches are the Hot Honey Sandwich and the French Toast Dip Sandwich.
Both are a breakfast meal made into a sandwich with the perfect balance of sweet and savory.
Kaya
2000 Smallman Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Phone: 412-261-6565
Visit Website
You can embark on a tropical safari without leaving Pittsburgh’s urban jungle at Kaya, a restaurant specializing in Caribbean, South American, and Southern Pacific cuisine.
Kaya offers a Sunday brunch with a small yet colorful menu that includes tropical brunch cocktails and Latin-Caribbean breakfast fare.
We recommend the Brunch Cuban that consists of two over-easy eggs over thinly sliced beef, Chihuahua cheese, pickled peppers, crispy potatoes, and mojo rojo with spicy slaw on the side.
Ritter’s Diner
5221 Baum Blvd, Pittsburgh, PA 15224
Phone: 412-682-4852
Visit Website
Diners are a northeastern institution, and any self-respecting northeasterner is a frequent patron at their local diner.
For the Pittsburgh neighborhoods of Bloomfield and Friendship, Ritter’s Diner has been that pillar institution for the past 65 years.
Family-owned and operated, Ritter’s Diner is the epitome of comfort food.
Their menu encompasses breakfast, lunch, and dinner served daily from 7 am- 8 pm. They serve classic American comfort food at its best with a few Greek and Italian comfort food plates to boot.
We recommend the corned beef hash and eggs for a classic diner brunch or the cheesesteak omelet with home fries and toast.
Brick Shop
177 40th Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15202
Phone: 412-687-8797
Visit Website
Located in Lawrenceville, Brick Shop is a hip world-fare bar and restaurant with live music, exotic cocktails, and plenty of interactive events.
While Brick Shop is a happy-hour and dinner restaurant, they have a Brick Shop Coffee add-on open from 6:30 am to 1 pm.
The ambiance is modern, clean, and inviting. It’s a great coffee spot to sip an expertly brewed artisanal coffee drink or cocktail and savor one of their freshly baked pastries while you peruse the Sunday paper.
If you partied too hard on Saturday night, why not treat yourself to the tastiest hair of the dog coffee cocktail imaginable: Brick Shop’s Jameson Mint cold brew.
The Dor-Stop Restaurant
1430 Potomac Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15216
Phone: 412-561-9320
Visit Website
A diner-style family-owned breakfast joint opened in 1986, The Dor-Stop restaurant is named for its local and beloved Dormont neighborhood.
The Dor-Stop is famous for its plate-sized pancakes, which come in various flavors with fruit, nut, and chocolate add-ins.
Our favorites are the banana chocolate chip pancakes and the oatmeal apple cinnamon pancakes.
If you want a savory breakfast, they make a mean Reuben (corned beef) or Rachel (turkey) sandwich with melted Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and thousand island dressing on marble rye served with traditional potato pancakes. Yum!
Point Brugge Café
401 Hastings St., Pittsburgh, PA 15206
Phone: 412-441-3334
Visit Website
Point Brugge Café has a classic European café feel with streetside patio seating and a small, cozy, bustling interior that always smells amazing.
In contrast to their newer sister restaurant Park Brugge, which appeared earlier in our list, Point Brugge Café’s menu has a Belgian cuisine focus. Their brunch menu lends sophistication to classic breakfast items.
Their eggs benedict uses sous vide pork belly, jalapeno cornbread, and brown butter as a base for the traditional poached eggs and hollandaise topping.
Since they specialize in Belgian cuisine, you should try their light and crispy Liege Waffles with powdered sugar and seasonal fruit topping.
Bistro 19
711 Washington Road, Mt. Lebanon, PA 15228
Phone: 412-306-1919
Visit Website
If you’re looking for a one-of-a-kind, high-end dining experience, look no further than Bistro 19.
This intimate and home-grown bistro was meticulously planned, from the amazing multi-level architectural design of the restaurant’s interior to the entirely locally sourced menu hand-picked and curated by the owner and head chef.
Bistro 19 offers Sunday brunch with a world-class breakfast dish and cocktail line-up. Try the bananas foster pancakes with fresh bananas and caramelized whiskey sauce or the crème Brulee battered French toast for sugary bliss.
There’s also the sun-dried tomato flatbread sandwich with scrambled eggs, gruyere, bacon, and pesto if you’re a savory brunch fan.
The Abbey on Butler Street
4635 Butler St, Pittsburgh, PA 15201
Phone: 412-682-0200
Visit Website
The Abbey on Butler Street is the perfect venue for an outdoor family brunch with one of the largest outdoor patios in the city.
Don’t worry; their indoor dining rooms are classy, airy, and bright for those winter or rainy-day mornings.
The Abbey is a trifecta of a coffeehouse, brewpub, and bistro, catering to breakfast, lunch, and dinner crowds with decadent menus for every meal.
Their brunch menu is as hearty, including dishes like the Abbey Breakfast Chips, a veritable northeastern nacho plate with house-fried potato chips covered in queso, cheddar, bean salsa, scallions, and two sunny-side-up eggs on top.
If we had to choose the ultimate brunch sandwich, we’d have to go with the Late Breakfast Burger – an 8 oz coffee rubbed burger on a French-toasted brioche bun with sugar-cured bacon, aged cheddar, grilled onions, hashbrown, and maple sriracha ketchup.
City Works – Pittsburgh
2 PPG Place, Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Phone: 412-448-2900
Visit Website
Located at the southwest corner of Pittsburgh’s historic Market Square, City Works is a sports bar and family-friendly restaurant that is a fun and scrumptious dining experience for kids and adults alike.
All their menu items have silly play-on-words names that reference famous bands, songwriters, or lyrics.
Their brunch menu will have you singing your order aloud with clever names like Donut Stop Believin or Jon Bun Jovi.
We recommend the Sweet Child O’ Mine stuffed brioche French toast with bailey’s cream cheese, vanilla ice cream, and mixed berry compote for those with a sweet tooth.
For the most succulent savory brunch, try the Let IT BLTE, a breakfast BLT with thick-cut smoked bacon, arugula, beefsteak tomato, sunny side up egg, and roasted garlic aioli on toasted challah accompanied by cheesy potato casserole.
Kelly O’s Diner in the Strip
100 24th St., Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Phone: 412-232-3447
Visit Website
Kelly O’s is a classic breakfast and lunch diner with all your favorite American classics.
There are multiple options for each major breakfast dish, including continental breakfast combos, omelets, eggs benedicts, and sweet classics, not to mention a drool-worthy listing of every sandwich under the sun.
With so many amazing options, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, but you can always come back. And with food so comforting and wholesome, you’re likely to become a regular.
Our favorite sandwich is the family-recipe homemade meatloaf sandwich with gravy.
We also love the Pittsburgh eggs benedict featuring two poached eggs over sauteed onions, pierogies, and kielbasa on a thick slice of Italian toast.
