Restaurants in Penn Hills

Inspired by both local and international influences, the chefs of Cornerstone Restaurant & Bar prepare a menu of American cuisine that delights in seasonal ingredients and changes. Housed within a building that was originally a bank—complete with original vault doors—the restaurant has offered tastes of pan-seared scallops, served alongside barley risotto, pancetta, blood oranges and roasted brussels sprouts.

While they sit next to exposed-brick walls, diners can feast on risotto with wild mushrooms, duck confit, pomegranate seeds, and crispy parsnips. Lamb burgers are bedecked with goat cheese, arugula, and a balsamic-truffle vinaigrette, and roasted beets are thin sliced and served with fennel and arugula to make up a salad.

Accompanying these meals are a selection of beers, cocktails, and spirits. Domestic and imported beers reveal microbrew and seasonal tastes, and cocktails deliver everything from fruit-flavored vodkas to straight bourbons.

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.

Executive Chef Jim Brown whimsically incorporates new ingredients into traditional recipes, creating innovative flavor combinations that manage to make familiar dishes feel surprising. Crab-stuffed salmon explodes with flavor, while Korean flank steak and stacked chicken round out the menu. To accompany the eclectically inspired menu, Luma features an extensive list of internationally sourced wines that highlights the food-friendly vinos of California.

While 20/20 is typically a metric for eyesight, at Hula Bar & Grill it is a metric for culinary vision; the eatery complements its array of 20 specialty burgers with 20 specialty pizzas. In their kitchen that stays open until midnight 365 days per year, the chefs bake golden-brown pies such as the Bloody Mary pizza with red vodka sauce, celery, and chicken. They also whip up burgers such as the Kahuna burger—a five-pattied cheeseburger that towers over plates at a foot tall, the size of the burgers Godzilla eats while on a diet. Those who can’t decide between the two specialties can get the best of both worlds with the Pizza Burger, a patty crowned with pizza sauce, pepperoni, and Italian cheeses. Chicken wings swoop to tables in an array of flavors, from wasabi ranch to bourbon barbecue—another house specialty—washed down by long island iced teas and other refreshing cocktails.

Entertaining guests is just as important as feeding them at Kazoku Japanese Steak House. Weekly musical acts take the stage, and karaoke nights enable patrons to showcase their singing chops. A back room is dedicated to pool tables, and other classic bar games at the eatery include darts and corn hole toss. Even the meals encompass an entertainment aspect, with hibachi chefs dicing and flipping shrimp, steak, and chicken on the grills mere feet from diners. Sushi chefs pile up to 50 pieces of sashimi, nigiri, and maki rolls onto decorative wooden ships for a fun-filled sushi feast.

Nestled on one of Oakmont's quaint streets, What's Cookin' at Casey's spotlights authentic Italian cuisine lovingly whipped up from the owners' time-perfected family recipes. Drop by for BYOB dinner and peruse a menu crooning the Old Country's greatest hits, including Rose's chicken cacciatore with savory notes of boneless chicken breast and mushrooms, capped with a velvety encore of tomato-basil cream sauce ($15.95). Creamy layers of polenta and marinara sauce cool fiery italian sausage ($15.95), and Casey's traditional or vegetable lasagna deliciously builds a home layer by layer in guests' mouths ($14.95). Chefs also elevate cuts of meat to greater heights in grilled 8-ounce sirloin filets ($16.95) and nine hand-holdable hoagies ($5.25–$10.95).