Spirits & Tales

Disappointed not worth value for prices charged, over hyped

Great meal and super service

Delicious drinks! Excellent food! Great atmosphere! Comfortable seating! Will be back soon!

Good cocktails, well mixed and a great variety. Service was attentive, but slow; expect to take a couple of hours for dinner at least. Food was good (chicken is highly recommended) with the small plates being some of the most interesting and tasty selections. Desert was ok, nothing special with homemade ice cream. Price was high, especially for the Oakland area, but we felt it was ok for the quality of the meal.

Great food, had the burger. Wish there were more options on the menu, very limited at lunch. But the food they serve is so good with interesting flavors. The view is outstanding, overlooking Oakland through all floor to ceiling windows, and a little outdoor seating area that it wonderful

Rather good food. Couldn’t really complain about anything on any plate. Excellent quality beef, oysters, socca. Server explained nothing, repeatedly forgot utensils, then vanished at the end when we were wrapping up the evening. Management needs to address service because the kitchen is really doing a great job. Terrific view. This restaurant could be a real Pittsburgh destination. Hang in there folks!

Service quite slow but food was very good

A welcome addition to the Oakland dining scene. The almond cake is delish!

Food is inconsistent. The octopus appetizer is fantastic but the mussels were just bad. We all ordered the fish of the day and the dish just did not come together well. Plus the fish portion I got was laughably small. They need to work on being more consistent as the prior visit I had there was much better.

Service was ok but not quick. Food was good. Views are nice. Tables are well-spaced. It is definitely super casual - the guy sitting at the next table was wearing running shorts - his hairy legs didn’t pair well with my not inexpensive though well-prepared meal. Valet parking is a big plus.

The view and location is fantastic! But the food menu was very limited and very expensive for what was offered.

A great spot with a beautiful view.

Beautiful view, excellent service, delicious food and cocktails. Had lunch for our anniversary; can recommend the Root of All Evil and Midnight Manhattan cocktails, beetroot nicoise salad with salmon and avocado, S & T burger, and almond cake with honey caramel.

I enjoyed lunch with friends so much that I made a reservation for my husband and me on Saturday evening. In spite of PAA renovation, the views are beautiful, especially if you are a Pitt alum. The food is good and Sofia provided exceptional service. We'll be back!

5 Starexperience, upscale for a Marriott property

The food was delicious and the view was fantastic! The server was very accommodating. I will be back.

The restaurant is a gorgeous space, and the food is decent. However, service is truly wretchedly horrible. They just don’t have the service piece down yet. Considering that this restaurant is in a swanky new boutique hotel owned by the Marriott Corporation, it seems they could invest in training of employees. We have been here several times now, as it is located close to my work, and the story is always the same. Initially, I thought this was due to the newness of the restaurant, but it is been open for four months now, and they have had plenty of time to get their act together.

Great brunch with friends at Spirits & Tales. We split the Avocado Toast four ways just so everyone could try it...so good! Entree timing was perfect and our server kept the brunch drinks flowing. The chef came out to check on us as well! The views of the surrounding neighborhood are killer, the food was amazing and the service was top notch. We will keep this place in the brunch rotation for sure!

The view is amazing! The food and service were also very good. We had a lovely quiet lunch with gorgeous views.

Very, very Limited Menu. Typical though for a below average hotel restaurant. Ordered a salid and a burger because the burger was the only decent thing on the menu. We both ordered a burger cooked medium. It was naturally super well done. Certainly wont return to the Spirits and Tales for dining.

The food was excellent and served hot. Staff was attentive. I would go back

I'd recommend this restaurant with a big "BUT." It's still new so maybe the service will improve (e.g., ours was too rushed and the server seemed uneducated about the dishes and didn't recognize a common cocktail that wasn't on their specialty list, etc.) I really enjoyed my gnocchi dish and having dessert on the "terrace" where we were left to have coffee and leisurely enjoy the evening.

Food very disappointing. Lamb stew was watery and had very little taste

I had heard that the view was phenomenal, and I would say it was decent, but overall, the restaurant reminded me of any run of the mill hotel lobby restaurant, which is the reason i rated the ambiance poorly. The food was very good.

We had Sunday brunch. It was delightful. The views are amazing. The food was delicious. The service from the ground floor elevator to the front desk staff to the server was exceptional. We took guests and they were so impressed. They’ve lived in Pgh for years and could’ve get over the beauty they hadn’t previously seen.

Beautiful space, delicious food and great service! Not to mention being able to walk out to the patio area with views of Oakland.

I was there once for lunch and once for breakfast. Each meal was just ok. In both instances the greens on my plate were heavily salted which was not appetizing.
Service was slow at each meal.

Food was amazing. Service was the problem. Had reservation but had to wait for table to be cleaned. Ordered small plates and soup. Took over 40 minutes and it all came at one time on a very small two top table. Poor training for sever and kitchen. Certainly correctable. Food made it worth it.

The roasted olives and the octopus are excellent appetizers.
We ordered the fish plate and the chicken plate, both really good.
The view is magnificent and the place is quite and relaxing.

very nice place. service too long even though there was only a few people, and the food looked nice, but tasted mediocre. they need to work on their recipes to perfect the levels of salt to sweet to sour.

Staffing will be the undoing of this promising spot. Too few bartenders and waitstaff. The protein mains were good. The french fries were overcooked to become potato sticks. The side dishes were over seasoned.

Randolf, our waiter, was outstanding! and the food and view were great

Highly recommend for food and exceptional service. Views from nearly all angles is impressive. Liked the uniqueness of an upside down establishment. Not recommended for small group meeting in that noise level blocks out communication between guests even at a small table. No rushing. Pace of meal presentation was spot on.

We have been staying at the Oaklander Hotel for the past few days while a family member has been in medical care. All our meals have been at Spirits & Tales. Food and ambience are wonderful, creative. Modern but warm and inviting. We had the burger and fries, market fish, chicken and the beet salad and more. We also had lovely breakfasts. High quality tasty foods. Fit for foodies and across the board high quality. Wines are excellent and a vast array of options. Views of the Pitt campus and Schenley Farms are incomparable. We enjoyed staff and service very much. Everyone is excited to be a part of the new addition to Pittsburgh’s food scene. Thanks to S&T for making our stay so enjoyable. We will be back next week!!

This was our second visit to Spirit and Tales. We love the decore and the menu is very good. Service has been a disappointment on both visits. They seem to have 2 people running around like crazy and others not busy at all. Kitchen seems too far for the staff and they disappear often for long stretches. Steak frites was also a disappointment. Very small for a 14oz ribeye and it came way over cooked, which we sent back. Burgers were also over cooked but acceptable. Medium well vs medium. Olives were good as well as the chickpea flatbread appetizers. It’s a wonderful addition to the Oakland area. I hope they work out the issues because this place has fabulous potential.

We went for Sunday brunch. Everything was excellent, including cocktails!

Excellent S&T Burger

An average experience for the price. Great ambiance and views though. Probably a better place for drinks than for dinner.

We dined on Easter Sunday and was pleased with the ambiance and requested to sit by the window which was all occupied. The tables near the window are small and positioned in a tight place. It is best to sit in the middle where there is more room. We liked the terrace area but it was only for sitting and enjoying the rooftop view of Oakland. We ordered prosecco which was delicious! However, the food was not that great. The grilled octopus appetizer was very oily and my husband ordered salad which was just okay. My husband also ordered Streak Frites which served ribeye that was cooked to perfection at medium however, it was a very, very bad cut and full of fat! In fact, half of the meat was all fat. Disappointing! I ordered the Marseillais Fish but they did not have the fish available. What they had was "similar to a salmon," our server said. It was mild tasting but I was also very disappointed with the cut of the fish. It is the worse cut, the tail end. Lastly, for trying to be a fancy French bistro, we have had better in Pittsburgh. For these reasons, we do not think we will be back. We will be going to our favorite bistro instead, which is always very consistent and serves choice cut meats and fish.

Enjoyed our meal and especially the view. Great place for brunch.