Gypsy Cafe

Oh damn, according to their blog, Gypsy Café closed its doors last weekend. A new restaurant called Slate will be taking its place.
It’s a real shame because GC was awesome based on my 2 visits. I wonder if Gogol Bordello ever got to eat here.

I wanted this review to be better, for sure, because I will support the idea of a rotating-​theme geek brunch to my dying day… but, my crêpe dish that was literally three dry dough shells folded around some nicely-​sauteed-​and-​slightly-​gooey walnuts with a teeny dollop of whipped cream to split between them… and cost me a price that suggested a bit more flair. The home fries it came with were nice and chunky and crispy. The mimosa was $ 6 and served in a tiny flute. I suggest: The Never-​Ending Story mimosa, which never ends. (Hey hey?) Really, super adorable space, though, with Ouija boards and symbolic imagery in pleasant excess.

Okay folks… I don’t know about this place being 4 stars? It is definitely good food but I can’t say I experienced anything that was out of the ball park excellent nor did I see anything on the limited menu that looked like it had the possibility of being fantastic.
So I came here with the wife on a Sunday night. I thought the décor was exactly what I expected but the menu was not very complex which I’m totally cool with. The menu had a total of 7 entrees which at least 3 of them where pasta dishes. I had the bolognese which yes, was good, didn’t feel that with the included salad was worth $ 17. The sausage in the sauce was nice and spicy. My wife had the eggplant caprese which I also tried and that was not a well executed dish and to the say the least was bland.
I don’t think I will come back to this place just because I don’t know what is going to be on the menu for the day and if it will be cooked to perfection. From the other reviews I have read it seems like this place is suffering from consistently being inconsistent.
My advice to someone else is go give it a try and let me know how it was…

Honestly, if you are looking for a comforting meal, served with style and warmth-​this is your place. The Gypsy is inviting, fun and delicious. It’s not fancy-​it doesn’t need to be. I swear the gnocchi has an addictive drug added-​I have to have it! The flaming cheese is also amazing. Go-​see for yourself. I bet you will find it as warm and charming as I do.

Gypsy Café is certainly an eclectic place. It’s menu advertises itself as a seasonal journey through Europe. My cousin and I stopped here for dinner because we were going to a concert at the nearby WYEP Community Broadcast Center. We needed to get there early in order to get good seats and we didn’t want the usual bar food so common around here. One good thing is if you tell ‘em you’re going to a nearby show, they’ll try and get you served ASAP.
It seems like this place is more concerned with the atmosphere than the actual food. Still the food here is very good. We started off our meal with some saganaki. I don’t get saganaki very often, but this was good. So feeling a little adventurous, I tried the Szekely Gulyas (and yeah, I had to look up on their website to spell that). Now what that is is a pork stew in hot and sweet paprika sauce with ‘kraut and sour cream over noodles. I’ve gotta tell ya, it’s not something you eat everyday!

Interesting and eclectic. I’ve made better moussaka and hummus at home but its a nice alternative to humdrum burgers and fries

This was a tough review to write.
We first tasted the Gypsy Café about 2 years ago and, it was pretty decent — we had liked it but never had a chance to go back. So when we got the chance to pick up a coupon through Groupon, we thought «why not». Better we shouldn’t have.
They insisted it was tough to fit us in at 5 pm on a Saturday night although the place was empty — and was mostly empty when we left at 6 pm. We got the worst table — if they want you to take the two-​top next to the pole, RUN!!! there is no leg room whatsoever. I am short and DH is tall — neither of us were comfortable… and we looked longingly at all those empty tables.
.
The menu is now a little more limited than we remember — but they still have the ala carte dinner menu and the prix fix menu, which is what DH and I ordered — an appetizer, a soup or salad, and an entrée. We ordered different items to ensure a variety of tastes.
I ordered the fresh avjar, which is a roasted red pepper spread. It wasn’t bad but, admittedly, I like the jarred stuff better — theirs was just okay, rather bland. DH ordered the pumpkin hummus — I am part Turkish and have made my own hummus so we love the stuff — but that was just awful. It had no spice, no taste — it tasted like pumpkin purée to me with nothing in it.
We both did have the beer cheese soup — it was not bad, but needed serious spicing, it was so bland. And not a strong cheese taste either — some cheese, like Gouda, do not have a strong taste in soup but usually the other flavors make up for it, but there was not enough of anything to make up for the blandness.
The entrees were both decent — I had the hunter’s stew and DH had the goulash. The stew was tasty and a nice portion, although it could have used more spatzel — it was more like eating a bowl of soup with huge chunks of sausage in it, it needed soemthing to thicken it up. The goulash was tasty — the pork in it was quite tender, the sauce tasty, athough the noodles could have been just a little less al dente.
Okay, here comes the tough part. After taking my first sip of my soda, I discovered a dead flea in the glass. Okay, crap happens, I understand that. I didn’t make a big deal — I called a different server over since our server was nowhere to be found — and quietly mentioned that there was a dead flea and could he bring me a fresh glass. He walked away without saying anything — no «geez, I’m sorry», no «hey, it’s extra protein, no charge» — he just walked away. DH watched him walking back to the kitchen looking into the glass — guess he didn’t believe me. He brought back a glass and set it down without a word. And our server never mentioned it. Guess I didn’t really think they handled it well.
So Gypsy gets a 2 for its uneven quality of food (sometimes good, sometimes not so much) and its not so great handling of the coke/​flea float.

I recently went into gypsy for a Sunday early afternoon brunch. I had a croissant with spinach couple scrambled eggs and three pieces of bacon, as well as a side of potato.
I liked the breakfast sandwich. hit all the important notes. fresh bread, good quality bacon. all in all it was tasty.
My issue with gypsy was three fold. The side of potato seemed like a boiled potato mashed down into smaller chunks. They were plain russett potato with no butter, oil, seasoning or anything on them. No onion or pepper or anything to add flavor. For that matter the sandwich was not seasoned either. it had a bit of herbs but they were not strong enough to be tasted. and lastly the service was very nice, but was a little slow. I like what the place does and they have a great reputation, but my food was bland and somewhat unimaginative. I would easily go back to try it again. my dish was simple and could have very easily been kicked up a notch to something amazing.

The meal I just had at Gypsy Café was the best dinner I’ve had in months. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I truly was blown away. The people who left mediocre reviews kept my expectations fairly low, but with each new consistently-​excellent dish I tried, I went from «pleasant surprise» all the way up to the sudden shock of realizing this might be my new favorite restaurant.
I went on a Thursday, early evening, and it was fairly dead inside– maybe 60% of tables empty. That meant that we got very attentive service, though. The waiter was very eloquent and knowledgeable– really top-​class.
I was with a party of 4, so I sampled a ton of different foods over the course of the evening. Literally everything– from appetizer to dessert– was made with fresh ingredients, creatively prepared and arranged, and all-​around excellent. I don’t know if we just happened to hit the restaurant on a good night or what, but I was stunned by the quality.
One particular highlight was the hummus platter. There were three varieties of hummus (black-​bean avocado, garlic, and tomato-​basil) and all were excellent– some of the best hummus I’ve ever had. They were served with both little pita triangles as well as with slices of fresh vegetables (cucumber, carrot, raddish, etc).
Another appetizer highlight was the ajvar (pronounced EYE-​var), which is a sort of spiced red-​pepper purée with feta cheese on top. It was fresh, mild, and delicious with the pita.
The menu was quite small (I understand it changes often, depending on what’s in season) but we all picked different entrees, including salmon, pasta, an eggplant dish, etc. I sampled all four at the table, and I would have been happy to have any of them as my meal. I can’t stress this enough– everything was very fresh, and the recipes were masterful.
I’ll have to go back a few times to see if every experience is always this good, but as for right now, I think I may have a new favorite Pittsburgh restaurant.

During the past Holiday season we enjoyed the dining experience at the Gypsy Café. Recommended by my son, just had to go. Great service, friendly and efficient and all enjoyed the foods and drinks.
I especially loved the Goulash???(sp) We all voted it was the best out of 4 entrees, but did enjoy all. In fact out daughter gave us a gift cert for a return visit. Can’t wait.

It is what it promises. a gypsy café. there is a fortune teller there occasionally. The waitstaff is great. The menu is always changing. The food, the prices, and the atmosphere are awesome. Similar to the Zenith vibe further down on carson st. Very quirky and interesting. the hours are strange, but if you can work around that, definately check it out!

This is such a neat restaurant, and the vibe is very informal and friendly. The menu is constantly changing, and that can lead to the occasional ‘not great’ experience. However, this place generally rocks, and I have to hand it to them for taking some pretty daring culinary risks, even if they aren’t all successful. The staff is always welcoming with special props to Mel the host. Sometimes has a live Hungarian band, a tarot reader on Fridays I believe, and has one of the BEST brunches on Sunday. (Get yourself some haloumi cheese if it’s available, and have a bloody mary!) The bar is also awesome and has some interesting options. The Gypsy martini is wonderful if you like em dirty.

Just got back from a dinner at Gypsy Café… Ok, one second. let me put down my Wendy’s burger… that tells you how bad the experience was. I had to stop and get fast food on the way home. I really wanted to like this place. I read the good reviews on here and the website had some good food on it… but alas, it was horrible.
The service while nice is very very very slow. They have no sense of urgency. We were in a party of four and the meal was so slowly paced that after about 35 minutes we still had not been asked what we wanted for main entrees.
The appetizers were ok, not wow, but not bad…
The salads were way over dressed with a watery dressing…
The entrees… here’s where it gets interesting. My meal was very very bland. I got the fall harvest farfalle pasta. It was tasteless. I was looking around on our table for salt and pepper, but there was none. At first I thought it was b/​c the dish was nuclear hot, but I let it cool off and it was still bland and mushy. I had all members of our party taste it and there was agreement that it was bland and had NO seasoning.
I must say that my dinning companions liked their meals, but no one was raving.
The slow pace of the service negated any positives I was willing to give this place based on my other diners’ meals.

Homestyle food with an interesting atmosphere, in the city proper.
Went for their special Halloween themed ghost stories, and was incredibly impressed by the storyteller. One person had something excellent, one person had something mediocre, mine felt somewhere in between; I got the post roast, and it was solid.
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Edit on this one, two years later. I’ve been back half a dozen times, and five star homestyle food every time. If I want a filling breakfast or a great place to go with friends or family, this is always on the list. Aces.

Gypsy Café is one of my favorite restaurants to go to in Pittsburgh. The food is fantastic, the décor and atmosphere are great, and I’m a big, big fan of their Sunday brunch. I’ve been there for countless brunches as well as a handful of dinners, and I’ve never been disappointed. The owners and wait staff are all very friendly and amenable as well. If you go for the Sunday brunch, I highly recommend you get a mimosa, split some pita and hummus with your friends, and order the biscuits and gravy.

I really want to like this place. It’s cute, has a full bar, and lovely people who work there. I also went on a particularly memorable and wonderful date there which leaves me with warm and fuzzy feelings. The food however, leaves me wishing I picked Café Du Jour instead every time. Please let me tell you about the last four times I went to Gypsy:
1) brunch on a weekend morning with friends. They were out of most of the brunch dishes and my eggs were rubbery. The worst was that when we ordered cappuccinos and lattes, they were out of milk, so they made them with HALF AND HALF. As hideous as it sounds.
2) Dinner with friends before a play. I went safe and ordered a pasta with chicken and veggies. It was a huge amount of pasta that was a bit oily and not flavorful. Eh. Mediocre.
3) Weekday dinner with two friends. I ordered the ribeye medium rare. When the steak arrived it was grey and so well done I couldn’t chew it easily. I NEVER EVER send food back but I just had to this time. The waiter was really apologetic and went into the back to solve the problem (for a good 20 minutes!) by this time my friends had mostly finished their food and I was going to just settle for eating the veggies and potatoes on the side and call it a day. Then our waiter came back and said they couldn’t make me another steak because that was the last steak in the house (yikes, kind of glad I didn’t eat it — Anthony Bourdain’s stories haunt me). He did nicely offer to make me something else but by this time, it was pointless since my friends were done with dinner. As a final blow they left the steak on the check and took forever to redo the check.
4) (you went BACK? I hear you — but it was for a birthday party!) All I had was drinks and I had a simply wonderful time in a great atmosphere with fun people.
Overall, since I love food, I can’t give this place a good rating but if you’re looking to rent out a place with fun bohemian style for drinks it might be worth a try.

I went to Gypsy Café on a Sunday night in July and it was almost entirely empty. I was a little apprehensive but ended up having a great meal there. The restaurant has a high ceiling and has a vintage feel to it, but I think that is the vibe they were going for. At another table, a woman was reading taro cards to another woman. It kinda reminded me of New Orleans for some reason. The food is imaginative and quite tasty. We tried the pineapple and red onion hummus, the spinach and beet dip, some meatballs, and goulash. Everything was great and the beet dip was really unique. The portions are on the large size so there was more than enough food.

Gypsy Café has a really different atmosphere for a restaurant. The tables seem out of place because you walk in and would expect this place to be something else. But, it does make the restaurant a little more homey with a cool personality. I think of it as a rich person’s huge living room with a bar along the back, lots of artwork around, and neat decorations to set the Mediterranean tone.
The food is ok. I’ve been twice and both times I’ve been satisfied but not blown away. It’s nothing I would remember and rave about a week later, but it’s enough for me to enjoy it at the time. I had the Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Gnocchi, which had a delicious, mushy texture. After a few bites, I could really taste the Pumpkin and Sweet Potato in each piece. I did enjoy it. The serving size is not very big, but enough for me. I tasted the other dishes on my table — the hummus platter was decent. The garlic hummus was my favorite, the pumpkin hummus was fun to try but not very tasty, and the lemon hummus was eh. The Ajvar was good too, kind of like an eggplant salsa.
All in all, I think their menu is promising, but the food itself leaves a lot to be desired. Still, it seems like a popular place for those people who have found it in its tucked-​away location.

Delicious starters. Went with 3 people and shared 4 generous appetizers for a wonderful evening. I especially enjoyed the Lebanese-​Style hummus and the meatballs.

I had the Sunday Brunch there today, sampling 6 dishes and not one bite was less than excellent.
The brunch menu is unique each week, so my party was inclined to taste as much of it as we could. As a party of 7, we decided to get 6 out of the 8 available main dishes, so it was a matter of choosing which we did not want. This, of course, was difficult but we persevered. We were too hungry to bicker.
Each menu has a theme and today’s was TV Fathers. As I said at that outset, all the dishes were great, but I was extra impressed by the biscuits and gravy and the bacon gruyre egg scramble. I wish I could remember the names of those. There was a Hank Hill salad that we all agree would have been more aptly named for Danny Tanner. Pomegranate vinaigrette and crostini? Totally San Francisco.
The service and atmosphere were fine and relaxed. I look forward to trying Gypsy Café again for dinner.