Brillobox

Oh, Brillo. How the mighty have fallen.
I remember a time — and not all that long ago, actually — when the question ‘where do you want to go tonight?’ would often be answered with an enthusiastic, ‘BRILLO!‘
And now… it’s just like… the thing we want to see is being hosted here; let’s hope we don’t have to use the bathroom all night.
Do not despair — I will tell you, in time, why it is still worth it to come out to this relic of our yester-​Lville.
I haven’t eaten there in a good while, and last I did, the food was yummy. We haven’t seemed to make it during kitchen hours lately, but I do remember the food fondly.
The drinks? Eh, not so much. I would say, stick to wine or beer if you’re drinking here. Single-​spirit mixed drinks — like a vodka-​soda, etc — are a pretty safe bet as well. But anything past that? Not impressed.
Now, on to the *real* reason you want to come here: DANCE NIGHTS.
Title Town has moved here after the closing of the Shadow Lounge (:tears:). This is hosted the second Saturday of every month, and is $ 3 before 10pm, $ 6 after, but worth every penny, no matter what time you arrive. The DJs are fantastic (J Malls & Gordy & maybe another guest DJ or two), the music is all old funk, soul, & R&B, and you will dance until you fall over.
The second, also fantastic dance night is Second Skin, which is generally hosted every other month, although the days of the week appear to change. (Your best bet here is to like Second Skin on Facebook so you can get notifications of when the dance nights are.)
Second Skin is a gothy dancefest. You don’t have to be goth to love it; believe me, there are plenty of hipsters out there shaking it on the dance floor as well. But it’s all really, REALLY well-​curated goth dance music. Post-​punk, new wave, little bits of industrial. Basically, if you could dance to it dressed in all black, you will hear it from the wonderful Erica Scary & crew. Now that Eclipse has closed and we’ve lost our other goth night in the city, this is the event to look out for every other month.
The negatives of Brillo: the upstairs bathroom. A bathroom so heinous that the Trainspotting bathroom told it to maybe clean its act up. The floor will be wet (it’s real slippy, yinz watch aht!). There will probably not be any toilet paper. Someone may have used paper towels in place of the toilet paper, so you may have a scary situation. Be warned. Hold it as best you can, or make your way downstairs to the less-​nightmare-​inducing bathrooms.
On the subject of wet floors: the dance floor at Brillo ALWAYS seems to be wet. Spilled drinks I guess? Or sweaty humans? Perhaps some combination of the two? Regardless, just be careful when you are dancing your brains out that you don’t slip, bump your head, and actually knock some brains out.
And it *will* be crowded. Always. It will always be crowded at some point of the evening. Be ready for it. And try your hardest to watch that your elbows don’t go into someone else’s dancing real estate (looking at you, my flaily hipster friends). We can all get along in this smelly, sticky, slippery space.
And all the negatives will be worth it, because you will dance so hard you forget they all exist.

I really like the atmosphere of this place and the food was good. However I felt like the bar tender put zero effort into any of our drinks. We all had trouble sucking them back because they were so bad. It wouldn’t of been an issue if she actually checked on us, but she didn’t and that’s disappointing for a slow Thursday night.
I would definitely still recommend to friends just because it’s such a cool small place. Maybe next time will be better

I really like this place. Went here in the middle of the week to check out a band I discovered while I was living in Austin. Loved the hipster vibe. There is a small stage above the bar which is where I went on my first visit. The place was pretty cool, the bartenders quick and there were small built in tables on the side to rest your beer while enjoying the show. Def a great place for an intimate concert.
On my second visit, I checked out their bar. Loved the décor, there are tvs and some random movie was playing on their larger TV. They have a decent selection of beer, which I enjoyed. There are a variety of high tops and also some really nice comfy booths. Definetely plan on returning. Love the hipster vibe this joint has and apparently they have some good happy hour deals.

Brillo is a nearly weekly occurrence for me and I absolutely love it. A pro tip: go early –between 5 and 7 – to get a table (and don’t go on Monday, because you will be sad that they are closed). Otherwise resign yourself to the bar; people tend to park it in the relatively small number of tables.
Brillo is cozy, has fun décor and a great draft list, and the food is pretty insanely tasty. I like the Sunday Night Veg dinners, which rotate every week and vary in quality from Meh to Delicious, but for $ 7, it is a deal. They removed a few favorites from the menu (bring back the seitan French dip pleeeeze!), but the banh mi, the fried cauliflower, seitan wing appetizer, the veggie «meatball» sandwich, and the frites with a variety of dipping sauces are all the jam.
My only picayune complaint is that they could be even better by offering a discounted draft or other beer special from time to time. Your bar tab will likely rack up quickly.
The wait staff is always friendly, approachable, and attentive– never had a bad experience. I also avoid going when they are slammed after 9 pm like the plague, which may have something to do with it.

I visited Brillobox with a friend the Fri. before last. Given that we were both looking for somewhere where we could get some HH food and grub, and that I had a City Dining Card, it seemed like a good opportunity to hit up Brillobox, so we did.
We started out by taking advantage of the HH special of $ 3 cocktails. These cocktails consisted of frozen drinks, so I went with a cranberry margarita, and my friend had a frozen bourbon cider. They weren’t particularly strong, but at $ 3, I can’t complain too much.
For food, we took advantage of the HH special for half price selected apps by ordering the fried and breaded cauliflower, which came with a maple mustard dipping sauce ($ 3.50). While the concept seemed interesting, the seasoning didn’t strike me as very Cajun, and the dip was just okay. In addition, I ordered the shells and cheese with chicken ($ 12 + $ 2 upcharge), and my friend ordered the Brilloburger ($ 12). The cheese sauce with the shells was nice and creamy, and the dish was topped with bread crumbs to add some crunch, both of which I appreciated. However, the portion of chicken was meager, and the dish wasn’t particularly flavorful. While I can’t speak directly about the burger, I suspect my friend felt similarly about it.
During our visit to Brillobox, we sat at one of the tables in the back corner of the first floor. The decorations above the bar were quite interesting and festive, and made for a cool ambiance. As others have mentioned, this bar definitely attracts a hipster crowd due to its location, so consider yourself forewarned if this is a turn-​off.
Overall, while our visit to the Brillobox wasn’t particularly remarkable, it served the purpose of a HH hangout nicely. Between the HH and City Dining Card discounts, which they let me combine, the price was pretty reasonable. While I wouldn’t go out of my way to return, I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to spending another Fri. HH here, by any means. 3.5 stars.

Raspberry beer and the door guy is reading Game of Thrones? Sold! Plus they were playing Prince and had the Pirates game on. Huge plus! Love the Japanese cherry blossoms over the bar! Love it!

Ate dinner at Brillobox last Tuesday and was extremely pleased with my overall dining experience. This summer (2015) they released a new menu with tons of great additions-​new apps, salads and sandwiches, most of which are vegetarian/​vegan and all are very different so options are endless. My boyfriend and I sat at the bar and for 9:00 PM on a Tuesday the place was very lively.
Ambiance: unique eclectic décor inside. Several different paintings, artwork, and lights strung around the restaurant. Retractable side wall opens up entirely on warmer days to the fresh air. Aside from the bar and tables around the restaurant they have a few couches & comfortable chairs in front of the retractable wall as well. Very cozy spot.
Staff: friendly staff. Not only was our particular waiter so welcoming but the rest of the staff was eager to offer refills or ask if we needed anything. Our waiter was very knowledgeable of the different menu items and the beers on draft, offering us his honest opinion of the food as well as beer samples.
Food: Delicious! For an appetizer we had the creole cauliflower — flash fried exactly as the description reads, with the perfect amount of spice and a delicious tangy maple mustard dipping sauce. I ordered the veggie burger and it was actually a burger with substance and flavor that didn’t crumble upon biting into it. Served on a very fresh Kaiser bun with fresh topping and a side salad –one of the best veggie burgers I’ve had in Pittsburgh! I will definitely be back to order that again. My boyfriend ordered the «b.r.b.» roast beef sandwich on baguette — he too loved his meal. It was packed with flavor and tons of toppings. Overall food was delicious, ingredients were exotic, everything was so fresh, portions were large, and the large draft menu topped it off. We will certainly be back for more and to try the new menu items soon.

I have always enjoyed this bar. I’ve had a lot of fun at the upstairs party too. Friendly bartenders, good beer selection, hip atmosphere. My only complaint is that I have had a couple bad cocktails there, so I stick to beer.

I had the seitan bites with a bourbon BBQ sauce — absolutely amazing. I hear the Banh Mi’s are very, very good. There are many different beers on tap. Even on a Sunday evening, it was still pretty lively and loud.

We went to the Brillobox for the «Title Town Soul & Funk Night»…well…let me just say, if you are expecting it to be the songs you remember from the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s…don’t waste your time. The music was a hard mix of songs you never heard of but they sounded like a song that you might recognize; played entirely too fast for the original beat. I was disappointed the DJ didn’t have the basic Motown funk and groove that I came up with; he didn’t even recognize the names of some of the groups from the era of funk & soul; his mixing was at times pieced together poorly… he needs to work on his skills. But if you don’t care about real funk and soul music and you just want to dance like no one is watching or just want something different to do on a Saturday night, go early it’s a cheap cover charge and leave when you’ve had enough.

My 2^nd time at Brillo Box was better than the first. The bartender was super friendly and my food was good. The service was actually better than average. The sound in this place is awesome when bands play. I’m upgrading my opinion and adding another 2 stars.

Let me start with the fact that I’ve always wanted to check this bar out. Went last weekend with a large group for a friends birthday.
We arrived around 11 so I didn’t have a chance to eat but the menu seemed decent. We had no problem with the service however I could see the potential attitude they had if anyone got out of line, understandable.
I wasn’t too happy with the beer selection, I know ipa’s are «in» but there’s other types of beer out there! Bottled beer was miller high life, miller lite, yuengling, IC light, and corona. I don’t want a hipster beer OR a bro beer so I’m stuck with liquor. To add to this displeasure, medium sized mixed drinks with bottom shelf liquor were $ 5. Even upstairs (where they charged a $ 5 cover) the drinks stayed the same price. I’ve never heard of a place that charges cover and still expects you to pay $ 5 for bankers club whiskey, other bars around this place would charge half and hook it up!
The crowd was a bit cliquey. You’d be looked down upon if you weren’t trendy, fashionable, or the like. A few people in my group felt a little out of place and unwelcome because of this. It was ‘hits from the 2000’s’ night and the dj was pretty good.
All in all, I’d go back but stick to first floor bar. The atmosphere was much more relaxed and best part, no cover!

I wanted to give 3 stars because of cleanliness but I guess that’s what adds to the atmosphere. I was invited here for after work drinks with coworkers. It was reasonably quiet and relaxing. The drinks were fantastic and the music was perfect. A good mix of electro house/​indie, and acoustic.
A few months went by before I was invited here by another group of people. The atmosphere went from ultra chill to electric and energetic. The band was great and everyone danced.
I invited a pretentious vegetarian friend of mine here for a Sunday diner and to my surprise she was very impressed. I enjoyed the Israeli «Breakfast» Sandwich. I like this spot, don’t expect the same each time you visit.

First of all I must say that I have completely grown to like Brillo from the first couple of times that I have been here.
My girlfriend and I have been frequenting Brillo every Tuesday after our weekly Salsa lessons. So let me tell you about Tuesdays.
The space is intimate and confined with a mixed expression of hipster and a cool kids lounge. We sit at the corner bar with our regular barkeep Brian who promptly tell us what new dark beers he has on draft. [I am a huge dark beer fan and with the winter season I cannot get enough of my chocolate stouts :)] If we are unsure or have not found an immediate favorite there he happily gives us small samples.
This week — Southern Tier Brewing Company — Choklat was the clear winner. Warning — quite heavy and rich in flavor but be careful when you drink it at 10% ABV.
Tuesday nights we are informed — is locals night. You get a delightful sample of the neighborhood mid 20 and 30 years olds who have a taste for a rotating craft assortment advertised meekly by a large chalk board. Around us, a couple of friends were enjoying a heaping of garlic fries served in a triangular stand with a sampling of ketchups and aioli. I’ve had them — they totally hit the spot.
The lighting is dimmer and there are tree branches hanging from the ceiling as décor. The space itself is mostly booths and one of two free standing tables, so towards the weekend or when you come with groups it can get quite packed. So tuesday are nice for that reason also.
On occasion I have visited Brillo for other reasons. Wednesday night there is a trivia DJ which isn’t overly crowded, however do make it a point to come before the 9:00 pm start-​time. I have been told there is an upstairs where the bar hosts bands and events; some day I will make it to one of those.
All together it’s great week after week and I will frequent the bar often just to keep unlocking badges on my untappd-​app.

This place is different most other bars in Pittsburgh and definitely fun to try on a weekend night. I went here with some of my lady friends, and we split the fries as well as some sort of fried kale appetizer and got a round of beers and a hard cider for me. The kale was crispy and unlike anything I’d ever had before. I really enjoyed it. The fries came with three dipping sauces and were fine… the presentation (in a tall wire cone with a paper liner and three little cups for the sauces) was by far the best part. I prefer my fries thick-​cut, so these were a little on the small size for my taste. The service was also fine. Nothing to write home about but nothing to keep me from coming back again either. In short I enjoyed the fried kale and loved the dark red interior. Everything else was rather unmemorable.

I like Brillobox simply for the wide range of experiences that it offers. I have been here for many, many dance parties upstairs. But I’ve also had a quiet dinner, or casual drinks on a weeknight with friends. I don’t know of too many other places that offer this kind of dichotomy.
The upstairs gets very crowded on busy nights, but as someone who really enjoys a good night of dive bar dancing, I don’t mind. It also gets REALLY hot, even in the winter, so dress accordingly. The themed PGH Bro Club parties are fun (e.g. last week was Rihanna vs. Beyonce — YES PLEASE). I also enjoy Pandemic, which features a wide range of international dance music. The covers for these types of events are pretty reasonable. I like going late but you have to be careful; admission to the upstairs has been cut off early due to reaching capacity in the past.
I haven’t had a meal here in a long time, and I can’t remember a whole lot about it… I do know it was tasty, though. I recently moved to a new place in Lawrenceville and can walk here, so I plan to stop in for dinner in the near future.
I have been here on «quieter» nights too and have also had good experiences in the downstairs bar. The bartenders have been really friendly, and the crowd is pretty chill (gah – I hate that word).
Overall a great place, and one that I am happy to now call my neighbor!

Although the service here was top notch, the signature burger was not. The «Brilloburger» was not in a category of best burgers, in my opinion. I believe that the mix of meat was indeed correct, but the seasoning killed the whole thing. They sprinkle (heavily) coarse salt on the burger, then put the cheese and toppings on. The salt took over, and as I actually crunched down on salt, I wondered what the burger would taste like without. No one will know until that element is changed.
They also serve the burger with a mayo topping. Personally, this is not something that should be needed if the meat, cheese, and veggies are all fab.
On the other side of the table, my hubby ordered the pitadilla and Mac and cheese. The «quesadilla-​like» app was fine. All I can say is that I have had comparable at a Phish concert.
Perhaps the finest creation of the meal was the Mac n Cheese. Right on. Right on.
Like I said, the service was impeccable. Food, eh.

My friends and I ate at Noodlehead in Shadyside and started walking westbound down Penn towards Lawrenceville. One friend was sore from running a half marathon earlier that day and would not stop complaining. We saw several people enjoying themselves in this bar and decided to stop in for a couple drinks. I liked the tree behind the bar and the red, circular vinyl booths. There were some intriguing women inside which only added to my appreciation of the place. The bartender was a really friendly guy and the beer selection was good. Those booths captured my attention more than the beautiful women sitting in them. Tom Waits lyrics have been stuck in my head since.
«Warm Beer And Cold Women»
One of those nights.
It’s warm beer, cold women, no I just don’t fit in.
‘Cause every joint I stumbled into tonight is just how it’s been.
All these double knit strangers with gin and vermouth.
And recycled stories in the Naugahyde booths.
And the platinum blonds, tobacco brunettes.
I’ll be drinkin’ to forget you, I’ll light another cigarette.
And the band’s playin’ something by Tammy Wynette
And the drinks are on me tonight.
All my conversations now I’ll just be talkin’ about you babe.
Borin’ some sailor as I try to get through.
I just want him to listen now, I said that’s all you have to do.
He said, «I’m better off without you» until I showed him my tattoo.
And now the moon’s rising ain’t no time to lose.
Time to get down to drinking tell the band to play the blues.
And the drinks are on me, I’ll back up a round.
At the last ditch attempt saloon.
Warm beer, cold women, no I just don’t fit in.
Every joint I stumbled into tonight that’s just how it’s been.
All these double knit strangers with gin and Vermouth.
Receeding hairlines in the Naugahyde booths.
With the platinum blonds, tobacco brunettes.
I’ll just be drinking to forget you baby, I’ll light a menthol cigarette.
And the band’s playing somethin’ by Johnnie Barnett
And the last ditch attempt saloon.

Great bar staff and good beer selection, food wasn’t too bad either.
It’s a different, I’m not sure if trendy is the word, place as far as décor goes. Feels like the same 30 people are there every time I go.
Not bad though if you are looking for something different

Great parties with good dance music once a month. If only they like… Gave you oxygen to breathe while you dance.
Sundays (downstairs) they have an amazing vegetarian dinner special. I quite like it.