Taste of Art @ Art Institute of Pittsburgh

4.5 — a bit taken off for reasons below.
First off, some of the dishes are beautifully plated, and visual appeal always makes a difference.
On Tuesday, I ordered the steak diane, which came with roasted beets and potato croquettes. The roasted beets were just regular diced beets — juicy and sweet. The potato croquettes came way too crispy as they’d fried it for too long, but after mentioning this to the server, he brought me another order that tasted absolutely wonderful — soft, warm, and full of potato goodness! The steak was either rare or medium rare — I didn’t specify — and very flavorful and tender. It doesn’t seem to be seasoned, which is perfect for me as I prefer to taste the foods themselves.
On Wednesday, I ordered the salted caramel whiakey tart. Best salted caramel sauce I’ve ever had. Most just taste like regular caramel. The salt flavor in this, however, shone through without overpowering the sweetness. The dark chocolate on the tart was perfect. The tart did come too hard to cut due to the layer of salted caramel though, and all of their available ones were still frozen, so I had to lift and bite in an uncouth manner (they had no other unfrozen ones). It was very chewy. Aside from the difficulty though, it tasted great, with the spicy whiskey flavor (well, I guess alcohol in general although I’m not 21 yet) mixed with the sweet elements.
The minor mistakes were understandable since the chefs are simply students, and they’re quite skilled in any case. Servers are also wonderfully cordial.
If this week weren’t the only one that I had time available (came on spring break because I have classes at this time otherwise), I’d definitely come more often! They also have a weekly specials menu in addition to the regular semester menu, with all sorts of novel dishes.

Yes, the food was great but the service was abysmal. Took a long time for the food to arrive and they took around 30 min to figure out what the bill was.
But i give them credit for the good food, the presentation, the taste and the location. The staff were friendly.
I will definitely go there when i have over 1.5 hours to kill for lunch. That was my only downside.

I started off with the shiitake french onion soup, followed by a fine pinapple caprese appatiser. My entré was a steak sandwich on brioche served with a small potato salad and pico de gallo. Finally ending with homemade apple pie and vinella bean icecream.

For value and taste, Taste of Art gives you bang for your buck. Students welcome you, provide service and prepare the food in professional grade kitchens. The atmosphere is also lovely, energetic yet relaxing. I’ve attended the end of quarter buffet 3 times this far and enjoy it every time. This little restaurant offers worldly cuisine for very affordable prices.

I just went to the A Taste of Art restaurant at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Yum! Yum Yum! One of the best $ 11.50 lunches I have ever had. Yes, that’s right! I said $ 11.50 (including gratuity, but not taxes) For $ 11.50 I had Shrimp and Corn Fritters with avocado crème fraîche and smoky chiptle aioli as an appetizer and as my main entrée, I had Beef Brisket and Roasted Potatoes with a cherry and onion compote. Brisket is one of those dishes that can be very good and succulent or veddy, veddy bad and as tough as shoe leather. The brisket served today was veddy, veddy good! Likewike, fritters can be quite tasty or leaden and greasy. The Shrimp and Corn Fritters were mighty tasty.
Since this place is a cooking school restaurant, don’t expect head-​over-​heels-​fall-​in love-​at-​first-​sight service. However, for the price point and the quality of the food served, you’d be hard pressed to find a better place for lunch. Additionally, each student semester/​quarter the menu changes and a new cuisine is selected for the students to develop dishes around. This quarter the cuisine is Italian. Now you, the diner, will see several dishes that fall under the «Italian» umbrella. Now don’t be surprised to see quite a number of dishes which don’t quite fit the Itailian mode… Can we talk about Brussel Sprouts and Smoked Pork with Spaetzle? Hunh?
Anyway, go and enjoy, you’ll definitely find something that you will not be able to put down!

ToA is open again. Stopped in for lunch. They have a nice varied menu. There does not seem to be a theme this term. Had a really nice meal with a friend. The menu includes soups and appetizers, salads, entrees and deserts. The desert was delicious so save room.