Food Halls are all the rage right now. Pittsburgh has several of them, but that requires coming into the city. The food hall concept is now available outside the city at the Meadows Casino with The Eatery at The Meadows, a four restaurant with bar concept in partnership with celebrity chef Fabio Viviani. This food hall replaces what was The Meadows old shopping mall-style food court. Although I never saw the old food court, I can definitely say The Eatery has to be significantly better than what was there originally.
Walking into The Eatery, it is very open and well lit with lots of seating. Right in the middle of the hall is 2Ten Drafthouse, a 40 seat bar with 36 beers on tap and plenty of TVs. A really cool feature of this bar is all the tap lines and kegs are visible. They all sit behind a glass room in the center of the bar. This allows for a shorter trip for the beer between the keg and the tap. The bar is also offering a variety of cocktails.
Around the outside of the hall are the four different food concepts: Mercato, The Classic, Zen Noodle and Joe & Dough. Each of these is curated by Chef Fabio and offers a different style of cuisine to allow for so many options to eat while at the casino. Mercato is serving up pizza and sandwiches with an Italian influence. The Classic is making burgers and fried chicken of various styles. Zen Noodle is creating a wide range of Asian inspired dishes such as pho, noodles, and classic Chinese American like General Tso’s Chicken and Spicy BBQ Pork Ribs. One can then end dinner with desserts from Joe & Dough or grab a cup of coffee and many other grab and go items. I briefly got to speak with Chef Fabio about The Eatery. He showed genuine excitement about the opening of the food hall. He was running around checking on each concept and talking to each guest to see if anything could be made better.
I started with a couple of slices of pizza from Mercato. I went with the NY Style Pepperoni and a Sicilian style fennel sausage. The NY Style was a standard slice warmed up to have a crispy crust. The Silician slice was great with a thick crust and plenty of toppings. They will also be making bar-style pies to split or have for yourself. The few that were on display looked pretty good and I maybe should have given one of those a shot.
Then I went to Zen Noodle to try out the Spicy BBQ Pork Ribs. This was one of my favorite things to get at a Chinese Restaurant. These ribs were tender and almost fall off the bone. I liked that they had a little pull to them. The sauce was sweet and spicy. I definitely needed to wash my hands after. Friends of mine got the Pho and the Garlic Soy Chicken Wings and both received great reviews.
I did not get a chance to try anything from The Classic. Friends got one of the Crunch Burger and the Chicken with biscuits. The burger is a smashed burger and this one was topped with potato chips. The chicken looked fried with a nice crispy breading.
Finished dinner with a slice of Chocolate Cheesecake from Joe & Dough. There were so many options to choose from cheesecake and cannoli to brownies and cinnamon rolls. There was a dessert there for anyone. They also offered a wide range of coffees.
I really enjoyed my meal at The Eatery. I got to try most of the different options they had available. My favorite was the Fennel Sausage Sicilian Pizza. I could see eating there again if I was down at the Meadows or even nearby at the Outlets. It’s a great addition to the Casino.
