Max & Erma’s

This was my second positive experience at Max and Erma’s this week. I ordered the pretzel appetizer both times, and I had a different sandwich each time: the stacked club and the California grilled chicken club. Both were delicious, but the chicken club stood out.
I absolutely love avocado on anything and this club sandwich had half an avocado sliced on the top! It also included grilled chicken, lettuce, tomato, bacon, and a drizzle of ranch dressing. All basic ingredients that combined to make a real winner in my opinion! To top it all off, the service was fast and friendly. Just what I needed at the end of a busy Saturday.

Ordered ribs, which came to the table cold. Refrigerator cold. Sent ‘em back for more fire, came back at room temperature. Gave up on that meal. No apology from the manager, who was politely informed of the issue.
I did get in touch with HQ and they offered free food which I declined. Just wanted them to know how awful that meal was and how far they’d fallen.
Used to eat at Max & Erma’s frequently after moving to PIT in 2006. Then the chain was bought, went bankrupt and changed hands again.

Eh. As an extended family, we’ve met up w the kids, parents, grandparents, & such twice this month in the mid afternoon after shopping. It’s extremely family friendly. Both times MY waitress was EXCEPTIONAL.
Both times management was abrasive and awkward; as was other staff.
During our first visit, upon being seated we asked the manager if we could change our seating due to where our high chair would be located. The manager loudly sighed and rolled their eyes! I was shocked. I know rotations are a pain but the place was empty so there was no need for the high chair to be where it was.
As our food arrived, only our waitress worked alone to bring it out. (Weird when so many people were doing nothing) Several waitstaff, a bartender, and the hostess were hanging out at the hostess stand chatting. I forgot to ask for a plastic spoon for my toddler. I approached the half dozen staff who were gossiping and asked for a set of plasticwear. I was told that I would have to wait for my waitress to return and to ask her to get it. The hostess, bartender, and other waitstaff (on the clock) continued to chat as I returned to my seat. Who does that?
Now as for our food. It was really good. We tried a bunch apps. Something to munch on but not dinner. Ordered the meatballs, nachos, quesadillas, buffalo tenders, black bean roll ups. Everybody ordered an appetizer. When food arrived, we realized that we ordered way too much. The food was nice in size. Kids loved it. Everyone was very satisfied w the food orders. We boxed up a lot to go home. The dogs were quite pleased with dinner later in the evening.
Chicken Fajita Quesadilla– 5 pieces of chicken quesadilla w peppers and onion, served w guacamole & Pico (yum)
Kids Burger– 2 mini cheeseburger– kids loved them. Quality beef. Gobbled down quickly
Cheese App– 4 skewers w 4 cheese cheese cubes on each. Serves w ranch and marinara. Like sophisticated mozzarella stickers.
Meatball– a gigantic meatball. Didn’t try it but was a hit amongst the family.
Nachos– really big. Good. Kind of expensive. Would order again for happy hour price but not full price. Could use more cheese.
Black bean roll ups– really likes these. Ordered steamed. MrToddler loved them when dipped in ranch dressing.
Because of the food & our server. We decided to try again. Bad idea.
Yesterday, we sat next to a dirty table throughout our entire meal. For over an hour.
Meanwhile, I could see the manager and other waitstaff chatting and resting at a wait stand in the next section and doorway to the kitchen.
My waitress and others in my section were clearly over their heads trying to run food, drinks, fill ice, and take orders; while other sections had standing around doing not a thing, leaning on stands and talking. Bizarre dynamic.
Looking at a dirty table for over an hour isn’t enjoyable but watching staff not give each other a hand is irritating.
As for managers. Could they be any more awkward? I doubt it. I give credit to the servers working there who are providing excellent service and going above and beyond. It’s pretty obvious that they’re doing it on their own. While I could write further in depth about the food at Max and Erma’s, I feel it’s a waste of time due to the low quality of management leadership & morale ruining the dining experience.

I got the boss burger for st. Patty day and was good. Everything is always good and never leave disappointed

I worked here for a few years when I was in high school and 10 years later I still love the food

Very good atmosphere! The wait service is excellent. The food is pretty good. The menu could add some things but over all i am excited for my next visit.

We used visit almost every Wednesday– free cookie Wednesday! We loved the menu, the food was consistently great, and the service was good. We had two bad visits with exceptionally slow service despite it not being busy and our orders being wrong. We took a break and came back. The menu had changed, but the yummy burgers were still there. Nonetheless, we had 3 bad visits again. The final straw was when the waitress put my boxed leftovers on the floor. I am still in disbelief. Fortunately, we have family in Cranberry and can get our Max & Erma fix there with good service.

Food was great.
Service was kind of slow. Waited 8 min for a beer. Just very sluggish.

Gross. We like the one in Scott Township so we tried the Robinson location while we were nearby. Service acted annoyed we were there. My pregnant wife asked for her steak (salad) medium/​well and it came out super rare, when we mentioned it to the waiter, he acted super annoyed (that THEY screwed up). And the wait staff were all fighting/​arguing with each-​other and the manager. They really need to get their act together if they want to stay in business. Anyways, I can tell you confidently that I will never go back here again and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone I liked.

Great burgers at a reasonable price. We’ll definitely be back, especially for the cookies!

Fantastic as usual. Great tortilla soup, great Santa Fe salad, fantastic service. The only negative I have is that he tables in the middle have poor lighting. They should have a light overhead just like the tables aligned against the wall.

Service is terrible. We waited forever for our waitress. She was friendly but we never saw her. Food was good.

This is a great place. Wife loves the tortilla soap, I love the tortilla burger (it’s awesome) and the daughter loves the fresh cookies and ice cream bar… I like that the cookies are FREE…(on Wednesday). The wait staff is always there for our wants and needs.

Max & Erma‘s tortilla Burger combo should be the 8^th wonder of the world. An amazing Burger with fries, tortilla soup and a fresh baked cookie to boot! Skip on the overpriced burger from across the road and really treat yourself for about half the cost. You will not regret it!

The boyfriend and I took a whirlwind trip to Pittsburgh to see the Steelers-​Ravens playoff game. We were trying to eat at places we’d never been to before (so, no Chipote or Five Guys or Don Pablo’s) and were intrigued by Max and Erma’s. We had never heard of it, so we thought we’d give it a try.
Our server was really nice and service was very prompt. She always checked on us to see if we needed any refills and how our food was. The service is really what makes this a 3-​star review instead of a 2-​star.
The food was probably more of a 2-​star. It was okay, but certainly nothing extraordinary. Bf and I decided to split two sandwiches for some variety. We chose the chicken-​tomato-​mozzarella and the cheesesteak. The chicken sandwich was pretty good: the chicken itself was cooked well and was moist, the mozzarella was tasty, and the tomatoes and basil were appropriately proportioned. The cheesesteak was underwhelming at best. Maybe I’m spoiled to a local cheesesteak place, but this was definitely not what I expected. It was very much a chain restaurant’s attempt at a cheesesteak.
I heard they had a sundae bar, but we didn’t partake. Maybe that would’ve made up for the underwhelming cheesesteak, but oh well.
Basically, Max & Erma’s is a fast casual chain restaurant like a Friday’s or Bennigan’s.
The next time we make it up to Pgh, we’re going to try to stick to local places. We know what to expect from Max & Erma’s, and it’s just kind of «eh.»

I should have known better. How are these places still in business. After being ignored by the two hostess for 5 minutes, once seated, the fries were the hardest French fried sticks I’ve ever had. Their Cajun burger was a patty with onion and smothered with something they consider Cajun. Should have gone to the 5 guys across the street.

Their chicken Tortilla soup is the best i have ever had. I also like their Chicken Parm. If you ever go to a Max & Erma’s you have to make sure to try the Soup.

«Stranded» in the area for a few days, we decided to check out Max & Erma’s. We actually stopped into each of the restaurants in the area for a menu and settled here.
Boy am I glad we did. This is a truly unique restaurant. I haven’t been to a sit down restaurant, with a bar, decent beverage selection that sells chocolate chip cookies and has a sundae bar.
We started with the Max Draft Beer for just $ 5, Blue Moon and Troegs (a local brew and first try for me) and ordered dinner. My boyfriend had the «3-​course» option which was tortilla soup or salad, a 6 ounce beef burger or turkey avocado swiss burger, and a chocolate chip cookie. I had the philly cheesesteak and asked the waitress to doctor up my fries to their loaded fries. They put fresh and crisp bacon, white cheddar cheese curds and this delicious beer cheese sauce. I highly recommend this cheese fry option. The sauce is truly yummy and is served very warm.
We finished off with a light, quite beautiful pitcher of pineapple, white peach sangria.
All in all, I will definitely stop back anytime I’m in the area.

Eh. It’s okay. I had a Mediterranean past and it was just okay. The combinations of spices/​flavors didn’t really work.

I’d only been to a M&E restaurant 9 years ago in Downtown Pittsburgh. I remember making a mess of myself trying to eat their burger.
This time I used silverware.
What I did was modify their Honkytonk Burger, which aleady came with pulled pork, BBQ mayo, deep fried pickles, and bacon between two pieces of Texas toast. I added a spicy mayo, guacamole, and caramelized onions among some other things to make it a little more heinous, so much so that eating it by hand was futile; a knife and fork were required to dispatch the beast for good. Nonetheless, it made for a pretty mighty (if not legendary) medium rare burger, one that dripped like a leaky faucet when I first bit into it.
I had a taste of Kay’s Laredo Steak and was transported to Ruth’s Chris for half a minute. Seared to an on-​target medium rare and seasoned well, the square of beef wilted in my mouth with little chewing needed.
Whether or not they are pre-​fabricated, their sextet of fresh-​baked chocolate chip cookies are a fun, rudimentary way to finish the meal. Just like their damn fine seasoned french fries, the cookies have an outer crisp and a thermal, soft interior made bloody rich by the melted choco-​bits. And they come to you on an aluminum pan with a spatula.
Marilyn, our server was a delight and handled her duties well.
I’m not regretting our post-​wedding visit with Max and Erma late yesterday morning. They’re a cute couple to hang out with even if they have many counterparts all over the U.S. of A.