Pittsburgh is an amazing city in Pennsylvania, filled with rich history, eclectic museums, and most notably, a surging food scene. Pittsburgh has some of the best restaurants and bars in the state, each with diverse cuisine, personality, and ambiance. If you are a foodie looking for an exclusive culinary experience in Steel City, you’ll want to check out a Chef’s Table in Pittsburgh. See how the best food in Pittsburgh is made, right before your eyes!
The Best Chef’s Table Experiences in Pittsburgh, PA
Here are the top four best Pittsburgh restaurants that offer chefs table or wine paired multi-coursed meal experiences. I have a full review of Pittsburgh’s best chef’s table experience at the end of this post.
What is a Chef’s Table?
A Chef’s Table Experience can be as extravagant as the chef preparing a specialized menu for you in a private setting or as simple as a wine-paired, multi-course menu. There are only a handful of restaurants with chefs tables in Pittsburgh. If you are a foodie in Pittsburgh for the weekend, a reservation at one is a must!
1. Foundry Table and Tap
Foundry Table and Tap is located in the North Shore area of Pittsburgh. This gastropub is one of the best restaurants in Pittsburgh for American fare with bold flavors and pristine execution. What takes Foundry Table and Tap to the next level is their incredible Chef’s Table experience.
Foundry Table and Tap’s Chef’s Table includes a 6 course menu, expertly curated by the Chef for you and your tastes. Pricing starts at $100 for the 6 course meal. You can add a wine or cocktail pairing for an additional $40 or a craft beer pairing for $30.
Seating is inside the kitchen! You’ll watch the chef cook your meal right in front of you. Reserve this experience online and choose a date and time that works for you. There is a maximum of 4 guests per reservation making this super exclusive! This would be an incredible date night out in Pittsburgh for foodie couples.
We recently attended this experience and it was amazing. Jump to the full review here!
2. Bar Marco
View this post on Instagram
Located on Penn Avenue in the vibrant Strip district, Bar Marco is one of the best Italian restaurants in Pittsburgh, offering an exclusive culinary experience in their wine room.
The Chef’s Table at Bar Marco is held at a 10 seat communal table. Come with a group or go alone – you’re sure to make friends! The experience is $130 per person and includes 5 courses and a wine pairing.
If you love modern Italian fare, wine, and making new friends, this experience is perfect for you! Email info@barmarcopgh.com to secure your seat at the table at one of the best spots in the cultural district.
3. Christian James at the Joinery Hotel
View this post on Instagram
Inside the Joinery Hotel you’ll find Christian James, one of the best restaurants Downtown Pittsburgh offers. Christian James focuses his menu on “internationally-inspired comfort food”, a style all his own in Steel City!
James invites you to celebrate all cultures with his innovative menu and unique chef’s table experience. You’ll have to inquire about a private tasting event in the wine room in order to get the details. A maximum of 8 guests is permitted and reservations are required. Email christian@thechristianjames.com to learn how to secure your exclusive seat at the table.
4. UMI – Japanese Omakase
Umi is an upscale Japanese Restaurant located in Shady Side. Known for fresh fish, house made sushi, and traditional cuisine, Umi is one of the best restaurants in Pittsburgh PA for Japanese fine dining.
Umi’s “Chef’s Table” is known as Omakase, a traditional Japanese chef-curated dining experience. Omakase translates to “I leave it up to you”, meaning the chef is making all the calls when it comes to the menu!
Umi offers an 11 course option with dessert for $145, or a 7 course option with dessert for $105. If you love Japanese food and sushi, Umi is the best place to eat and enjoy an Omakase experience.
Omakase can be enjoyed at any time, at any table! Be sure to make a reservation.
Review of the Foundry Table and Tap’s Chef’s Table Experience
My fiancé and I recently had the pleasure of attending the Chef’s Table experience at Foundry Table and Tap and it was one of the best evenings we ever had! I highly recommend booking this experience, even if you don’t consider yourself a “foodie”.
The experience was not uppity and the food was not over complicated. The flavors were fantastic and the company of the chef was just as wonderful. Here’s a detailed breakdown of my review of the Foundry’s chef’s table in Pittsburgh, PA.
Booking the Chef’s Table
It may seem like I’m going WAY too in-depth, but the booking process is an important part of the experience! My fiancé Jonnie purchased this experience as a Christmas present for us and (he says) it was very easy!
Head over to the “Chef’s Table” tab on the Foundry’s website and simply complete the questionnaire form online. You’ll provide general information but you’ll also include what kind of music you like, what type of drinks you’d like paired with your meal, any dietary restrictions, foods you don’t like, and foods you love!
We are adventurous eaters so we didn’t request any type of food. We wanted the chef to express himself! In terms of drinks, we said we liked wine and cocktails, which the chef absolutely took into account.
For music, I’m not sure what Jonnie wrote but we didn’t end up having any played during the experience. We enjoyed talking too much!
We set up a date and time and they promptly responded with a confirmation. Simple as that! I’ve done a LOT of research on chef’s tables in Pittsburgh and there isn’t one quite as easy to set up as this one.
Atmosphere
The Foundry is located on North Shore Drive, nearby inviting breweries, restaurants, and museums. It’s a great location for a date night out in Pittsburgh. It felt very safe and we had no problem arriving here from our hotel (The Priory Hotel) using Uber.
When we walked into the Foundry, we were met with a classic bar area. It was traditional, clean, nothing fancy but perfect for a couple of drinks. We were greeted by the friendly general manager, Nick Mitterder. He was our main contact for booking the experience.
He showed us the cozy main dining room, a private event space, and then took us to our seats in the kitchen. Yes you read that right! We were seated in the kitchen, next to racks of spices, meats, and cooks buzzing around!
If you’re looking for a dimly lit room, candles, and a quiet ambiance, then this isn’t for you. We sat in an area that was very clean, not too loud, facing the cooktop where Chef Eli Decko would be cooking our entire meal. It was so unique and felt very special!
Service
From the beginning of the booking process to when said our goodbyes, the service at Foundry’s Chef’s Table was 5 star!
The correspondence in the emails prior to the experience was prompt, the chef’s assistant Mary was extremely attentive with our drinks and dishes, and Chef Eli Decko was fantastic.
Chef Eli cooked and prepped our courses with ease, while also making great conversation the whole time. The courses came out promptly, but not too fast. We were able to enjoy each one fully. It felt like we were at a dinner party with an old friend who happened to be an amazing chef.
At the end of the night, we hugged, took a selfie and said our goodbyes. It was truly an intimate and fun experience.
Cuisine
First off, all of the food was amazing. It was classic and refined American cuisine, with an emphasis on seafood. The meal was curated just for us. He never makes the same menu twice! The presentation of each course was professional but the serving sizes were plentiful. Here’s the full menu we enjoyed:
Course 1: Cucumber Salad, paired with Fragile 66 Rosé – so fresh and delicious, the perfect way to start out the meal!
Course 2: Seafood Chowder, paired with a Bourbon Martini – a giant piece of salmon and pork belly with chowder on top… what more could you want?
Course 3: Scallops with Polenta and Pork Belly, paired with Ocean Road Sauvignon Blanc – Chef Eli was generous and served us each 3 scallops!
Course 4: Crab Cake with Trumpet Mushrooms, paired with a Winter Old Fashioned – my favorite course, the crab cakes were absolutely amazing.
Course 5: Pork Tenderloin with Fennel and Parsnip Chips, paired with Malbec Wine – Chef Eli admitted that the pork was a tad overcooked but it was still so delicious. The crispy parsnip chips were innovative and unique!
Course 6: Mint and Lime Italian Ice, paired with a Whiskey Honey Ginger Fizz Cocktail – the Italian ice was so refreshing. Considering we were approaching drink number 6, I had to bow out of the last cocktail (lol)
Overall Impression
The Chef’s Table at Foundry Tap and Table is the best culinary experience Pittsburgh offers and so worth the price tag. We were absolutely stuffed by the end and he even sent us home with leftovers and 2 extra crab cakes!
As I’m sure you’ve noticed, we had more than our fair share of drinks. The drinks alone would have cost us $90+ each if we were out!
After 6 courses (and 6 drinks!), we were feeling full and may have stumbled out to our Uber at the end of the night. Did I have a headache the next day? You bet! But it was totally worth it. I’d travel back to the city to do this again.