The capital of western PA and one of the most sneaky beautiful cities on the East Coast, Pittsburgh is one of the premier weekend cities in the US. I arrived for a Thursday night Titans game and stayed through the weekend. My expectations were sound—I expected copious amounts of drinking with some heavy food and Pittsburgh hit its mark.

Know before you go:

• Every major credit card is accepted
• Online sports betting is legal in Pennsylvania. 
• I’m not much of an app person but if you are going to use that route to meet people, Hinge and Tinder seem to be working there. Although the talent pool is nothing like a bigger city with more options. As always, practice safety. If something feels off, it probably is. 
• Lots of bars and restaurants that you could walk up and snag a table. The fancier or high dining spots need a reservation.
• Every Pittsburgher speaks English with their Yinzer accent so don’t worry about the language barrier. 
• Pittsburgh has a crime rate higher than cities similar in size.  
• Drinking age is 21; recreational marijuana is illegal in Pennsylvania.

My two favorite areas in Pittsburgh were the Strip District and Mt. Washington. We’ll start with the Strip District.

The Strip District was warehouse district that was once home to many mills and factories, today the Strip District is a destination for groceries, restaurants, bars, and art. In its heyday, it was the economic center of Pittsburgh with US Steel, Alcoa, and Heinz, amongst others with huge factories there along the Allegheny River. With so many workers present, many restaurants and shops popped around there to cater to the clientele. Deluca’s Diner is one of those diners still rocking today. Their plates were huge and filling like their Signature Breakfast Burrito. It was a Soft Tortilla Filled w/Choice of Meat, Eggs, Cheese & Homefries or Refried Beans, Covered in Our Famous Spanish Sauce. I ate as much as I could and it was great. Definitely weighed me down but a good first meal in Pittsburgh.

The next morning I enjoyed Pamela’s Diner. Their chocolate chip hotcakes (basically a pancake) with their “Morning After Breakfast Scramble” made my hangover go away. The hotcakes were awesome and could be eaten without butter or syrup. The hotcakes come with the Scramble but to substitute for the speciality chocolate chip was $2. My total was $20 overall with juice and a coffee included and well worth it. 

Plenty of Steeler shops were in the Strip that you could walk up to and shop for anything and everything Steelers related including some Ohio hatred. After walking around and taking in the Strip, I grabbed some food on the go from a few spots. Most were mediocre but there two were standouts: Sunseri on the Strip and Sam Bok Specialty Asian Store. At Sunseri, their Pepperoni Rolls are the stuff of legends. I got the Atomic Rolls (Pepperoni rolls with peppers) for $10 and they were excellent. They also serve sandwiches as they are a deli as well. I can’t vouch for those as I didn’t try one but a lot of customers were coming in for them. 

And at the Sam Bok Store they had a Food cart in front cooking food. I snagged some homemade chicken dumplings that were ACES and a chicken teriyaki on the stick. These two spots were awesome and supplied perfect walking around food for a pretty affordable cost. 

As for the Acrisure Stadium…

Getting there is relatively easy. There were an abundance of Ubers for the game. The tailgating that I saw/experienced didn’t particularly blow me away. And Steeler fans were fun and had some good trash talk. The area around the stadium is awesome. You definitely feel like you’re in a football city. 

Tickets were tricky. Stubhub is a solid resource but the mark-ups are insane sometimes. There were plenty of scalpers and people hucking tickets pre-game. You should be able to find one at a reasonable price. I will note that I went on a Thursday Night Game. Not sure if that made a difference or not. 

Atmosphere was great. I sat third level and had a great view of the field. They had normal beer options but beers were expensive at $12-14/pop. I also had some Papa John’s pizza in the stadium and it was not good. I’m pretty confident the concessions gave me a shitty pizza because I wore Titans gear. 

If you wanted souvenirs, there were a bunch of spots inside and outside the stadium. 

Lastly,

Going out in Pittsburgh was alright. There are plenty of bars where you can find debauchery and a limited amount of clubs. I went to a few of them and they all seemed relatively the same.

Is it worth going? Short answer, Yes. Pittsburgh is a beautiful city with rich American history. But after 2 days you should have gotten what you need out of it. Acrisure Stadium is a solid outdoor NFL stadium to catch a game for sure. If you love heavy beers and food, Pittsburgh is a great weekend town.

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