Tipsy Cow

Great food, even better staff. My favorite place in Shadyside.

I like the place for summer since they have an open front and it gets pretty busy. The burger was good too.

The food was great. You get to design your own burger (bad note: the salmon burger was on the menu but no longer available). I selected the veggie burger after hearing the sad news about the discontinued salmon burger. You get to pick from a variety of sauces. The Thai sauce was really good yet very spicy. Also, the Bloody Mary and Russian drink were quite tasty.

Better than average. We were seated quickly, drinks served quickly, and the food was absolutely on point. I had a custom burger. It was prepared perfect and the portions weren’t huge. The ambiance was chill, the décor was nice, and the crowd was nice. The only downside was the server. She wasn’t awful she just seemed distracted or something. Overall a really great experience once we got our food.

The burger was good. Then again I was hungry. The milkshake wasn’t so good. The service was terrible. If you go, shoot for days that they run specials. Maybe I’d go back on a Monday for Wing Night or Wednesday for burger night. I personally like BRGR better in terms of both food and atmosphere. I went to eat… But as a bar, they do serve alcohol

Hummus, with pita delicious! Pepper relish sets it off.
Chicken sandy to order, can pick all the favorites! Made your way!
Chicken caesar, generous portion hot great tasting grilled chicken. Every bite melts in the mouth.
And the service behind the bar is the best you’ll find! Ask for Dave he will take care of ya!
Even went back for the rest of the menu on day 2 of my business trip!
Chips and dip is a belly filler in itself, followed by the buffalo chicken salad can’t go wrong.
Dave made my some of the best crown and gingers my palate has come in counter with.
Wings to go and another chicken sandy, one will be saved for lunch tomorrow. The other, won’t make it till midnight!
Stop in tipsy cow great grub, clean, friendly, bartender Dave is the best will suggest great menu items!

You can order a burger, wings, etc. off the menu or you can build your own burger, which is what I did. The concept and options are not too different from Burgatory. Taste-​wise, however, Burgatory is way better. The burger I created had avocado, baby spinach, pesto aioli, provolone, cucumbers, and mayo. I thought I would enjoy it but I was wrong. It was already disappointing that the rarest you can go is medium rare because I always eat my burgers rare. However, when I bit into my burger, I was even more disappointed to find that my «medium rare» burger was actually medium. The white sangria I ordered was really average. I wouldn’t order it again. I must say though that the burgers are very fairly priced. $ 9 each including fries with several $ 1 add-​in options (ex: egg, avocado, guacamole, bacon, onion straws, fried mac & cheese). Their happy hour prices are also good. Came in a group of 4 on a Monday at 5pm and the place was very empty.
Taste | 2.5
Atmosphere | 3
Presentation | 3
Service | 3.5
OVERALL | 3

I love this place. It’s my new go to bar. Great burgers, great appetizers, great drinks!

If I had to sum this place in 3 words: Maggie is awesome. Not to discredit the others since I’ve only been here once, but Maggie was on top of her shit. I also didn’t get food, but her service and their happy hour were fantastic.

I went here for the first time this weekend. It was a cool atmosphere and on a warm summer night it was great to sit outside. My friends and I got a pitcher of sangria and some light food. The red sangria was pretty good but I did question if there was much alcohol in it. I found the food to be okay but the service was prompt on taking orders and checking back on us. Overall the place was pretty busy but not shoulder to shoulder crowded. I would definitely go back again!

Ambiance:
This place used to be Shadyside Saloon and was completely revamped. There was a brief stint as «Stack’d 2» and «The Avenue», but it seems the name has now settled on «Tipsy Cow». The setting is an upscale burger joint similar to BRGR or Burgatory. Several TVs inside along the bard with plenty of seating for groups as well. There’s darts in the back. Really nice outdoor seating area for about 25 people which is dog friendly and awesome in nice weather.
Food:
They offer several predefined burger options as well as a «build-​your-​own» option similar to Stack’d. They also offer several apps, mostly of the fried variety. I’ve had a few different burger options and all have been good but none amazing.
Drinks:
I have fairly high standards as far as draft beer lists go and the options here are fairly middle of the road with mostly standard widely distributed craft and national brews. There’s a few different wines by the class and a full bar. They have sangria by the pitcher or glass and it’s half-​off sangria pitchers on Thursday’s bringing the price down to $ 7.50, making this a great option for a warm Thursday evening outside. Furthermore drinks are half-​priced during happy-​hour from 5 – 7.
Overall:
While the burgers aren’t the best in town the place is still pretty cool overall. I like that it’s dog friendly, has great outdoor seating, and nice drink specials.

Went here with some friends the other night. The seating was first come first served and not well regulated.
Our waitress was prompt, but it seemed as though the kitchen and the bar were definitely running slow.
We ordered two appetizers that oddly came with the exact same dipping sauce. The fried pickles were definitely better than the fried mac and cheese bites.
The burgers came next after quite a wait and my friends Sangria took a while as well. Once the burgers came mine was missing most of the toppings and needed to be sent back. My friends milkshake was also MIA.
When my burger was back in the kitchen the waitress explained that they just forgot a few of the toppings and were adding them to the burger. As such when my burger was returned to me it was severely dried out, though I will say it was worth returning just to get the cheese wheel topping that was delicious.
When my friends milkshake did appear it was also dropped off without a straw. Overall the service was spotty and the food was just ok. I might go back, but with so many different burger places in Pittsburgh I am not sure I will.

A welcome addition to Ellsworth and lots of outdoor seating. They have a great happy hour special from 5 – 7 which is half off almost all drinks. I tried the red Sangria which came in a huge glass and was delicious! The white also looked very tasty. They had many draft beer selections including Rivertown and Summer Shandy. They are known for their build your own burgers and you can pick your meat and toppings with many different choices all coming with a side of fries. My date was happy with his burger and all the options. I went with a appetizer of the pretzel twist which came with a cheese and mustard sauce. Very tasty and worth the $ 5. For a busy Friday at happy hour our waitress did a nice job.

I’m very surprised at all the negative reviews. My guess is this place had some early challenges with identity and service but we most definitely did not have that experience. Over 1 month now since it has opened and it by far trumps it’s predecessors at this location. Overall, Tipsy Cow is a good addition to Shadyside with ample outdoor seating (surprisingly hard to find in the Burgh) to celebrate the end of winter and a VERY reasonably priced drink and food menu. Great casual spot to hang out with a few friends.
Ambience:
I didn’t go inside so I can’t comment much on the interior. They did a great job capitalizing on the front space though– at least 10 tables to seat 4 – 6 people. Plus the front wall retracts to open the whole restaurant to the outdoor air. Definitely need more of this in Pittsburgh when the weather is nice.
Food:
Fried mac n cheese = epitome of Pittsburgh. Sooo good and heart attack inducing. The fried pickles and French fries I thought were pretty standard. They also have a build-​a-​burger concept for $ 10 – 15 or so. The wings were average. Good bar food but nothing to write home about except the fried mac n cheese. I’ll go back just for that.
Drinks:
The beer list was disappointing– a reasonable mix of types but they didn’t have many craft or local beers. Aside from that, cocktails were rather reasonably priced. And on Thursdays, ½ off sangria pitchers with some of the best sangria I’ve had in the city for $ 7 per pitcher.
Service:
This was where I disagreed with other reviews. Maybe we went on a good day or after they fixed their problems from opening. The service was prompt and helpful. Plus they brought out a beer pitcher for my friend’s dog to drink out of and a box for him to eat his food. I haven’t seen many dog friendly establishments in Pittsburgh…

Tried this place last night with the BF and honestly was not expecting good things. I have talked to a couple of people who had bad experiences, so safe to say I was skeptical, but we rather enjoyed ourselves!
They have a small menu with a few «house» made burgers/​sandwiches, salads, apps, or a build your own burger menu, very much like another popular burger joint some might be familiar with (*hint hint* rhymes with Purgatory), and milkshakes. Both the BF and I ‘built our own’ burgers– him the ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ with a salad and I ordered the beef with fries. I liked mine; it was cooked properly and tasty. We both enjoyed the ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ burger; I was surprised how much you could taste the bacon-​y flavor, although I felt it was a little dry and he said it was not, it was juicy, so you will have to form your own opinion there… We also tried a salty caramel milkshake for the walk home and it was good.
I know the other reviews complain about the service, and like I said, I have heard that from people I know, but our service was fine. Our waitress was attentive enough; filled waters, asked how things were, checked in… things of that nature.
For me, I enjoyed this place. I would have probably only given it 3.5 stars if I was able, but Unilocal has yet to make that change (*hint hint* Unilocal). It wasn’t my favorite but I would definitely go again.

Have been here a couple times since it opened. Figured I would call ahead and order for my Mother’s Day meal.
Called 5 times. No answer. Figure it’s really nice out and they are busy. So I walk up because I live close. I walk in and they have maybe five tables and the waitresses are playing darts.
I downloaded this app just to say how annoyed I was.
I don’t care how much I like it, I won’t come back. There’s enough places on Ellsworth to go to.

I know this is a new establishment and they’re still working kinks out…
but I had a very bad experience at Tipsy Cow. I went on a Monday night for dinner.
It’s seat yourself, but there was no way to know it until one of the servers walking by told us to seat ourselves. The other group waiting who came after us then took the table we would’ve wanted so we lucked out there.
It took a while for our server to find us and bring us menus, one of which was a beer menu written on a piece of receipt paper… While we were waiting to place our order, we saw a group of people leave without ordering and left their menus on their table — bad sign. There were only 2 servers working there that night, so I understand why we didn’t see our server much. But the lack of service we received when she came by and her unfriendliness was very discouraging. We ordered burgers, which arrived way over cooked. We asked for refills of water but never got them. Our server would visit the table next to us but would ignore us, and not once did she even ask how things were. We eventually had to go up to the bar to get waters. Oh but when we went up to the bar, the bartender had disappeared for a few minutes too. At last, we saw our waitress who already had our check and silently left it on the table. We noticed that she at least had the time to write «thank you» on the check. She again visited the table next to us but conveniently didn’t notice our check was ready to be picked up so I had to get up and follow her to hand it to her.
I was definitely not impressed by the venue or the food. The service could have made up for it, but unfortunately it was severely lacking.

This place has a serious identity crisis. Tipsy Cow is the newest rebrand for this location, which was redone last year around this time. First informally known as ‘Stack’d 2′ after Stackd in Shadyside it was finally given the official name of ‘The Ave’ in the Fall. I found they had rebranded to the Tipsy Cow when I arrived back from Hong Kong at the beginning of April.
Last time I was there was Monday as the day was pleasant and my friend and I had a desire to dine outside. The tipsy cow has 4 – 5 tables outside and another 3 booths with opened up windows. Very good. K and I arrived to find a few of our MBA kids already sitting so we joined the party and eventually inherited the table. The corner booths comfortably fit 5 people.
Once seated, our waitress [waitron] was MIA. So it took about 10 minutes or a little more for me to finally get a good old Dogfish Head 60 minute. [How I do love this Beer] At least with company the waiting was not bad. Finally I grabbed some wings [super crispy and filling but at $ 10 for 12 that’s a bit pricey for Pittsburgh] and K some fries [standard]. After taking over the table we lounged until it started raining and hunted down the MIA waitron so we could leave.
Pros: Good draft beer selection, wings, Build you own Burger menu, outdoor seating
Cons: MIA waitron
Good staple for Ellsworth but nothing spectacular.

Nice new place on Ellsworth. I just went there with some friends for brunch this weekend. The food was pretty good (we only got a couple of appetizers), but damn: $ 10 for a beer on draft? I miss the days when places in Shadyside were more affordable. I probably won’t be back unless friends drag me back again.

I went on a Friday evening around dinner time and expected great things — I’m a big fan of Stack’d in Shadyside also and their burgers are yum!
First of all our service was terrible. I hate to say that because the waitress was very nice and friendly but I think the place was just highly understaffed with way too many customers and not enough waiters/​waitresses to handle them. It was over a half hour between the time I sat down and the time I actually was able to even order anything (maybe a 15 minute wait just for my glass of water).
I ordered wings to share, half Thai Chili and half OMFG! sauce (both of which I’ve had at Stack’d) and though I am aware that they are labeled spicy — usually my friend and I can handle spicy. However these were WAYY too spicy to the point where you could tell the flavor was good but the fire was just a bit much.
They also lost my other friend’s burger order and had to rush it later after the rest of our food had already been brought out even though he turned in his order slip along with us.
Then when we were almost finished eating and ready to go, the waitress came out with 2 more wings saying the kitchen had dropped them (on the floor?) and decided to make us new ones give them to us like 20+ minutes later? We hadn’t noticed because the menu doesn’t say how many you are actually supposed to get but I thought this was strange — though it was nice of them to give us the wings even though we didn’t ask for them.
I don’t want to be too harsh and ideally I would leave around 2.5 stars but since the wings were good (albeit too hot to handle) I’ll round up to 3. But the establishment needs to pick up the pace a bit because the service was far too slow and I spent a good chunk of my time here feeling frustrated.