Restaurants in Monroeville

The chefs at Taipei bridge the gap between two of Asia’s superpowers, plating Chinese favorites from Taipei duck to general tso’s chicken alongside delicately rolled Japanese sushi specialties. Although their menu is built upon a pair of thousand-year-old culinary traditions, they also understand the value of a speedy bite; each day, they arrange a selection of favorites such as the moo goo gai pan into fast, tasty lunches paired rice, egg rolls, soup, and your own personal fast-forward button.

Inside a building that once sat vacant for several years, Barcelona at Rivers Edge transformed the empty space into a modern European restaurant that fuses flavors and styles of Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy. The revamped establishment merges international bites with views of the Allegheny River, which are especially impressive from Barcelona’s top-floor lounge and summertime rooftop deck. In addition to its extensive food spread and riverside vistas, Barcelona offers a wide range of wines and cocktails, including house-made sangria.

Not many people get the chance to dine in a restaurant's wine cellar, but at Vallozzi's, diners can book the underground space for a private dinner or dine in one of four other elegant areas. While enjoying award-winning wines, guests can feast on upscale Italian cuisine in Vallozzi's Classic dining room, which awards the eyes with hand-painted murals and romantic lighting. Alfresco dining options include Casa Elena and the patio, where guests can bask in the breeze without picnicking on an airport runway. Rounding out the quintet of rooms and boasting a handmade maple and olive wood bar, Rosso Bianco blends casual and chic with light-strewn tables, wine racks, and flat-screen TVs.

Chefs craft authentic Mexican dishes for dinner and lunch, using fresh ingredients and choice cuts of imported meats. Kitchens simmer sauces to order instead of pre-making and freezing blocks of mole, and guarantee every vegetarian entree is fully meat-free by dusting all tortillas, rice, and vegetables for butchers' fingerprints. A batch of fresh, hot tortilla chips and a dish of salsa greet each table, and Cuzamil's Murray Avenue location pours 15 different Mexican beers and 40 tequilas.

Savoy's executive chef, Kevin Watson, a People's Choice winner at Savor Pittsburgh in 2011, draws from 25 years of culinary experience to put a modern spin on American dishes, from barbecue ribs and burgers to seafood. Chef Watson’s eclectic mélange of upscale entrees and comfort fare has been featured on Pittsburgh Today, in the New Pittsburgh Courier, and in the recurring dreams of the restaurant’s regulars. Watson recommends his chicken and waffles with Pennsylvania maple syrup, saying "For this one I paired one of my personal favorite dishes, corn pudding, with a classic West Coast entrée and added a dash of Pittsburgh."

Meanwhile, the space's ritzy décor has enticed celebrities that include Tyson Beckford, Cedric the Entertainer, and Mya. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review marveled: "Pittsburgh designer Luca Paganico transformed an old, three-story building…in the Strip District into a posh, swanky, 74-seat establishment with imported Italian leather couches and chairs, fiber-optic bar tops, walls with lighting that changes color as customers dine, and different music playing in each room and hallway."

The cooks at Harris Grill populate their menu with American classics. They've got a bacon cheeseburger by the name of The Burghermeister Meister Burgher, a dish of marinated chicken skewers dubbed Britney Spears, and a grilled pork dish called Prime Pork Flatiron. To complement seasonal entrees and keep patrons on their toes, the selection of draft beer rotates often.