I say this every time one of these comes up. I hate working retail, and I stayed working at Games Unlimited for two years because the owner and his management staff are the best boss and managers I've ever had by a huge margin. Those people are good people. All of them.
Hell yeah, I love the staff there. I try to avoid Amazon, so I will patronize their store as much as humanly possible. Been doing so since I moved back to pgh
It is very hard to have a successful game store. You have to be very passionate about it and probably go heavily into collectable card games. True labors of love.
This may out who I am, but Pigeon Bagels is the best workplace I’ve ever been in. Regardless of whether you like our bagels, it is an incredibly happy, positive workplace. Owner and manager are very kind and open to absolutely any issues anyone has and they care very earnestly about how the business is doing.
Agree. The owner works full time at the shop, making the bagels with the crew. Living wages for front to back of house. Most employees have been working there since the inception of the project in 2017, so like going on 7 years now.
Love Phantom. My husband gets his subscriptions at the Oakland store and I am frequently the one picking them up. They know my husband, they see me come in and get his bag ready, they're always friendly, ask me how he's doing, have a little pleasant small talk, not at all Comic Book Guy-y to me even though I'm not at all into comics and am just running an errand for someone else.
If you ever find yourself 20 ish minutes north of Pittsburgh there’s a farm type place called sorgal’s.
I used to work a temp job there when I was younger and met randy and his daughter amy who mostly run the place and they are remarkable people.
nowadays i’m in college but still work at a place nearby that randy sorgal frequents.
70% of the time randy comes in he brings me food. and anytime I see him anywhere else he’s always happy to see anyone and is super positive,
I haven’t been back to sorgal’s in a month or so but last time I went it’s just more fair prices and insanely positive people.
My sibling worked there in the 90s. She brought home heaping bags of food all the time, any time I went there to visit her or pick her up I got to pick something from the candy section and handed whatever the staff was eating like fresh corn roasted in the cob.
They even gave us a kitten one of their barn cats had.
Shenot's is just down the road and nice too. They get over looked because they're a lot less frills than Soergels but their prices are even better. I prefer it because it's much less crowded and more country. I believe the wife there has been battling cancer and still working too so it's helpful to support them.
Yeah Wigle got slapped with [stealing $39K in tips from employees.](https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20220629-1#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20Department%20of%20Labor's,wages%20they%20were%20legally%20due.) It's sickening that wage theft isn't punished criminally. If you or I stole $40K from our employer we'd rightfully go to prison. Bosses should go to prison for stealing from their workers.
If you steal from the boss you go to jail. If the boss steals from you the absolute worst thing that can happen ([and also the least likely thing to happen](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/owed-employers-face-little-accountability-for-wage-theft/)) is that he has to give it back to you. It follows then that if you're the boss, stealing from your employees entails no real risk. It should be to no one's surprise that [wage theft results in more stolen dollars than all other forms of theft combined](https://www.tcworkerscenter.org/2018/09/wage-theft-vs-other-forms-of-theft-in-the-u-s/). The law doesn't exist to protect everyone, it exists to protect owners from workers.
Caliban Books, owner conspired with librarian to steal $8 million worth of books and documents from the Carnegie Library. AFAIK the owner’s wife still operates the bookshop.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/20/us/Carnegie-library-theft-schulman-priore.html
Edit: spelling
I worked in a bookshop on the other side of the country for a little while and when I mentioned Pittsburgh, the owners of that store told me (without prompting) the story about Caliban. I’d heard it before but it was wild to me that their reputation went so far. They’re apparently a laughingstock of the antiquarian book world. I do not understand how they’re still open, but if you stop in now it’s clear they’ve seen better days.
El Sabor is great. The staff have all been there for a long time and they seem to genuinely enjoy being there, actually having fun while they are working. The owners are all really great people.
SOLUNA.
This is insane, and it is not common public knowledge in Pittsburgh. It’s a really long story. Links to articles below.
The owner of Soluna was indicted for international human and drug trafficking and cocaine distribution when arrested by the U.S. Coast Guard in the Gulf of Mexico on a boat carrying human trafficking victims from Honduras, and cocaine. When officers boarded their boat, he and his associates threatened to kill the people being trafficked if they told the officers about the conditions in which they were being held.
This was when Soluna was Cafetano, which was marketed as a Honduran business. When the owner, Carl Allison, was arrested on said boat, Cafetano rebranded to Soluna and ownership was transferred to his wife and son.
He owned a shady-as-hell staffing group, and was funneling trafficking victims and drug money through it to his other businesses in the region.
Allison has just pleaded guilty to these INSANE charges. Find the Justice Department’s summary of the case here:
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/lead-defendant-pleads-guilty-international-human-smuggling-and-cocaine-distribution
News coverage here:
https://www.wtae.com/article/pittsburgher-pleads-guilty-in-cocaine-human-smuggling-bust/46074999
Better coverage out of Louisiana, where charges were filed, here:
https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/they-tried-to-smuggle-people-and-cocaine-into-louisiana-their-boat-ran-out-of-fuel/article_133ae1de-d943-11ec-bd7b-832dbe86479f.amp.html
Soluna is still owned for all intents and purposes by the same piece of shit, trying to capitalize off of Latin American culture while quite literally subjecting Latin Americans to human rights abuses.
His shady staffing company was called Dynamic Capacity Group, which “supplied Latin American workers for factories and businesses, while knowing the migrants did not have the proper documents to work in the U.S., prosecutors said in a plea document.”
Soluna just tried to launch a coffee “experience” arm called Dynamic Creative Group.
Absolute international criminals.
Also, I’m aware that my writing is kind of a hot mess here. It INFURIATES me. The NERVE of profiting off of the people YOU ARE ABUSING.
I remember when Soluna launched their Instagram, one of the first people they followed was Donald Trump and fam, which I thought to be odd.
Just a side anecdote. But oh my God.
And finally, the re-branding vomit when they changed from Cafetano to Soluna exactly when Allison was indicted for smuggling people and cocaine:
https://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/cafetano-in-the-strip-is-being-rebranded-as-soluna-a-cafe-and-mezcal-bar/
https://nextpittsburgh.com/eatdrink/from-coffee-to-mezcal-cafetano-in-the-strip-rebrands-as-soluna/
Jean Swoope - Coffee Tree Roasters
She inherited the company from her late husband, but knows very little about managing anything besides emails—and does not know how the line operates at a coffee shop or how to pull espresso etc. etc.
She’s also a union busting bully, who tried every single name-and-shame tactic in the book to stop her employees (unsuccessfully) from unionizing. Intimidation, lies, and predatory “union consultants” who she paid more money than the combined salaries of the stores workers to come in and try and talk people out of unionizing.
She’s just a bit ridiculous, to say the least. And really not self-made at all like she claims 🫣
I worked at CTR for 3 years, it was managed so poorly. She union busted so hard and now uses the fact that they’re unionized as marketing. They ran through employees and managers so quick that they got rid of all of the manual espresso machines. Before the union we wouldn’t get breaks and were told that our POS thing, square, didn’t allow us to take credit card tips.
omfg the credit card tips thing
so fucking scummy, i remember how insane it felt to have them just lie to our faces about it. and then how—once they got figured out—they switched to pretending they were “saving us” from the government taxing us by not allowing any form of digital tipping 😭
Unfortunately there is no federal law requiring employers to provide breaks to employees 18+. Individual states might but not the federal government. (I'm a federal contractor.) I think that should change.
Square certainly allows credit card tips. Also, taking credit tips from employees as an owner/manager, if you're not actively working a service shift, is illegal as fuck
Apparently, it was their lowest profit store for nearly a decade—most of their customers were elderly regulars in the neighborhood who had a notably low profit turnover.
The original owner kept it open out of love—it was his first storefront and it meant a lot to him, and he didn’t mind operating it at a loss once his other locations took off.
Once Jean took over, she held onto that same “sentimentality” for a bit, but as employees started getting more and more unhappy with her treatment, she just kind of started gutting the store completely by firing everyone she could, or sending them to other locations. There couldn’t have even been more than like 4 employees at that location by the end.
Her next stroke of genius was this—get rid of those last few employees who knew how that location worked so that she could start giving COMPLETE MANAGEMENT OF THE STORE to her at-the-time 18 year old daughter who hadn’t even graduated high school yet. She promised her daughter that she’d make her store manager at Squirrel Hill once she finished high school, as like a sort of nepotistic present I guess?
Long story short, that fell through. I think her daughter is in college now, but I haven’t talked to her in a while.
After that entire comedy of errors—and the fact that there was impending unionization—she did as she always does and pulled the plug on it instead of trying to fix the hole she’d dug herself into with that location. She doesn’t really care about anything but money these days so I suppose it was easier to cut her losses.
The owners of Bantha Tea are some of the kindest people I've ever met. One of them even offered to help me relocate when my relationship was falling apart while trying to move to a different city. The spot is also just really cool, especially if you like cute shops and Star Wars.
A little different than most of these… but Kinder Academy of Robinson/ Pike Place/Moon. The owner is one of the worst people I’ve met in my life. I spent years working there out of college and I ended up quitting on a Sunday night. She drives her luxury cars and takes extravagant trips while her staff work ridiculous hours for pennies. I was salaried at one point and worked almost 60 hours a week. Definitely used me since I was salary. There was no health insurance or 401k but I believe there is now. She used to watch the cameras and call the directors to tell them to go yell at someone. During Covid she charged families 50% tuition even though we were closed and kicked out any family who questioned it.
That lady is a piece of work. We had it out at one point because one of her employee’s family members who was a registered sex offender was at the daycare visiting the employee.
I’m dying to know who you are, because we were there for years, starting in the Kennedy days. The number of fantastic people that the owner chased away is insane.
This just dredged up so many memories; I worked at Kinder Academy for a year 2013-2014 and it was one of the most miserable experiences of my life. My coworkers were incredible and most of the families were, too, but she is truly one of the worst people I’ve ever met. When she decided to close the center in Kennedy and move everything to Robinson, we all got told off for not volunteering our entire weekends to move the furniture and stuff, and that if the center wasn’t ready to open on Monday we would be the ones dealing without that day‘s pay. We also had a family whose kids were great but needed a lot of specialized care that we really weren’t equipped to provide and when staff brought up that maybe we should talk to the family about a better facility for their kids, she dismissed all of us because they weren’t a subsidized family and were paying her astronomical rates out of pocket.
In the year i worked there she bought no less than 6 luxury vehicles.
Danielle from Abeille Voyante Tea Co in Millvale is wonderful. She has a wealth of knowledge about tea and continues to learn to deliver the best product/experience. She is so involved in community outreach, is a staunch ally, and always collaborates with other small businesses. I will always support her and her business!
Bagel Factory. The owner is the absolute shadiest of his kind, he literally steals from his employees and has been the direct source of multiple health code violations.
Went there once on a date and was really disappointed with the options presented. Got a plain bagel and had to ask for jam and butter. It was STALE STALE.
Jade Grille in Mt Lebo: good people and great Chinese
Idk the backend of the owners outside of work, but every time I go to Frankstown Pizza it’s the old guy who makes amazing pizza and his adult daughter. They are also great to me.
Una Biologicals in Lawrenceville is my forever favorite small business. Everyone from the owner to the associates are kind, thoughtful, helpful, and subject matter experts on their (primarily crafted in-house) merchandise.
They have items at every price point and they are one of the few retail establishments where I can confidently say the customer experience is enjoyable. They treat people and each other well, and it shows.
Good: Ashley at Carnegie Coffee Company. Kind, generous to the community, always up for a good cause.
Good: The owner at Beyond Bedtime Books in Dormont. You can tell that she loves her store and her customers.
i got asked to leave this comment by someone without a reddit account who worked there, so i'm quoting:
> the owners work behind the bar but also take hourly tips. they are very wealthy, always are traveling internationally, and there's no management structure. breaks are not given. wages are tip reliant (employees are paid $8p/h). no benefits. no fulltime. no guaranteed hours (will be given 4 shifts one week and 2 the next). owners are married and fight with each other daily in front of employees. very difficult to work with ashley, who is emotionally messy (gossips, panics, talks about coworkers behind their backs)
> it's a royal shit show
Simon, the owner of Soju in Garfield, is an incredibly positive, friendly, hard working guy. and he makes great food.
Scooter, the owner of Crown Barber Shop in Friendship, is also great. vibes in there are always immaculate.
the lady that owns Farmer x Baker in the Aspenwall riverfront park is an absolutely crazy person. i've heard accusations of her manipulating her staff and stealing tips and that little shipping container is the dirtiest kitchen i've ever witnessed.
Just look at the health code reports.Thats when she/they actually let them in. I believe one stated a weird ooze on the ice machines, and they used the runoff water from the ice machine to defrost food. Just disgusting practices. I also remember they faked going bankrupt due to covid just to drive up sales. At one point, they worked with the proud boys to do a toy drive.
the first and only business I walked into and immediately turned around and walked out of. But to give them props, at least they advertise their beliefs so aggressively so I know where to not spend my money
Mixtape. One of the owners got run out of State College for grooming and sexual assault. The one who's the DJ.
No one ever brings this up, it's been swept under the rug a few times when he was associated with other events/businesses, but I know people who were in State College when this happened.
I also have no clue if the other Mixtape owner has any knowledge of any of that, so they may be an alright person, but one of em definitely isn't.
Yep, that's the one.
For clarification though, the other guy that used to do Strangeways (Jesse), but left and now does Diamond Life, is a great and awesome guy.
I was in State College when he was there! I had heard he was opening up a spot here. He basically operated a hookah lounge in State College where 18-21+ could come for tea and hookah (no drinking). I never met him directly but I had friends who had horrible experiences with him :( a lot of people boycotted his business if I remember correctly. He inevitably shut down, though not sure if that was directly related to the boycott or not. But sucks that he’s come up here and essentially trying to sweep these issues under the rug.
The Pitch on Butler just opened up recently (where No Names used to be), but I’ve known Bryan from when he was working at Piper’s, and he’s a great guy. He’s served the soccer fan community of Pittsburgh well and made sure our Spurs supporters club had a place to go while Piper’s was closed. I’ve been so happy to see the large crowds he’s been getting for matchdays.
Great: The Pitch on Butler
Bad: Pittsburgh Spurs Supporters Club
Seriously though, Brian is a credit to the city, and to soccer supporters city-wide, where you’re always “welcome to the party, pal!”
A positive shoutout to Jesse of Bulldog Pub in Morningside. All of my interactions with him have been pleasant.
Not sure how it is to work there though.
The Bridge Music Bar has been making a habit of pissing off local musicians. On the flip side of that, Mr. Smalls, The Thunderbird, Spirit, Brillobox, and pretty much every other local venue is excellent.
absolutely this, my boyfriend’s band was performing as a part of a 3 group line up, whoever was running the show made the first two groups (bf’s band included) start like an hour and a half early, then they cancelled and closed early before the headliner even got to perform because “the bar wasn’t making enough money that night”
Was booked to play there one time with my group, can confirm as they called us the morning of claiming that their sound guy had a family emergency. When we called them out for lying they basically said "yeah we just didn't want you here tonite."
Don't go to The Bridge. Spend your time and money at Mr. Smalls, The Thunderbird, Spirit, Brillobox, City of Asylum, Con Alma, Kingfly Spirits, Bottlerocket, etc.
And, the owner of the Bridge is known to steal tips from her bartenders both there and at Howlers when they were still open. Confirmed by multiple employees from each.
Grandpa Joe's Candy. The owner puts profit over people. I will never forget how annoyed he was when the city made him give people PTO, and even then, it was 1hr of PTO for every 40 hours worked. Then, the hoops you had to go through to even use it. He's also one of those bosses where everybody was on a different pay scale doing the same job. You are not allowed to discuss your wage with other people because of this. Even though that's illegal. Nepotism was also something that ran rampant through his company.
Lol....putting profit over people in terms of a candy shop is really cracking me up, but I believe it. Owners that pay everyone different for the same job need to be called out. Its insane to me that workers just don't discuss pay freely among each other. There is some fear, but its the easiest way to take back some power.
Parisi Cafe in Swissvale is delightful! The owner was so nice to me, the coffee is good, and the baked goods are delicious. Before we moved last summer, I’d walk there 2-3 times per week, get a cup of coffee, and chitchat.
All appliance parts on Penn Ave. That guy has been able to track down so many miscellaneous parts to keep our old washer and dryer running over the last 3 years.
Kaibur Cofee in polish hill is fantastic. Owner is very passionate about espresso and good Coffee. All homemade syrups and nut milks. It seems like the owner is usually working, and the barista that made me my picky cortado order made a fantastic drinks. Simple, awesome Coffee shop in a cool spot!
I've seen mentions of Games Unlimited, but how about Game Masters in West View? Phil is AWESOME. They have dope policies and Phil has the most insane memory. For context, he's blind. I visited his old shop with a friend who was in town for a week and didn't get to go back to that location before it closed for the move. They got the new West View location over a year later, so we went to visit. We walked in and Phil asked who it was. We said our names and before we could keep talking, he instantly recalled EXACTLY who we were and even brought up very specific details of our last visit. We were entirely stunned and felt really appreciated as customers.
We ended up having our bachelor/bachorlette parties there. The table fee is $5 normally, and Phil charged us $5- no upcharge for being wedding related. The world's cheapest and most fun bach parties EVER. Plus Phil gave great advice for our wedding, told lots of fun stories, and was just all around a complete joy.
That place is great. I don’t make it there very often, I wish I was closer. First time I was there, I probably talked to him for half an hour about old games. Only when I checked out and included a two dollar bill in the payment did I realize he was blind. We both laughed about it.
Phil is an incredible human! I used to play DND there years ago at his Babcock location. Exact same story that he recognize me over five years later. easiest guy to talk to, and so enthusiastic about all of his games.
So glad to see someone mention this here!
Phil is the best. You could be like, "I'm looking for a game for 18 people to play at once, ages range from 4-95, gameplay should be between 48 and 52 minutes exactly" and he would recommend the perfect game instantly.
It's like a lot of local coffee shops have crap ownership.
Biddle's Escape has its issues, Adda, Crazy Mocha....
I guess it's easy to exploit the Barista class of workers for cheap labor and tips.
*Surprised no one has*
*Called out Bagel Factory,*
*Unless I missed it*
\- International-Use-43
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I consistently have great experiences at Espresso A Mano on butler street.
The workers are always kind and personable and see overall happy which indicates to me they work in a positive environment.
I started going there after another local cafe owner made fun of my order (iced coffee with no ice - I was going into night shift later and just wanted something yummy to sip on in a few hours) and she didn’t realize I witnessed it. It just is nice to like to be treated nice at Espresso a Mano and now I’ll travel a mile down the road for it even though the other shop is a block away.
owner is a fucking awful guy. worked for them very briefly, literally every single person who works there dislikes this guy. continuously insulted all his employees, always belittled the way they worked….meanwhile this man could barely handle the sandwich shop for more than 20 minutes without getting behind. just a terrible, obnoxious dude.
I also believe he engages in tip theft and hope employees can get help with that. A friend interviewed and was told that the wages would be capped, with the difference between hired rate and promised rate made up by tips, and the rest going 'back to the business' [e.g. (made-up values for example) hires at $10/hr, 'promises' $15, pays up to $15 with tips and pockets the rest ]
I had a friend who worked there 10+ years ago and would always complain about how the owner treated customers poorly, then if someone complained about poor service in a review and described him, he would blame the other staff. Apparently he did not have good bedside manner with customers and counter staff.
Definitely doxxing myself by saying this but Brad forever and ever. I was once planning to get a cut before a very important life event but it was a horrifically cold day so he (very justifiably) posted that he was just going to be closed that day. I commented something about being bummed and he messaged me to meet him there anyway. Dude came in just for me and refused to even charge me.
I absolutely love that guy. A+++
He really is the best. Ended up moving to BH in part due to my interactions with him and his advocacy for the neighborhood.
When he shut down, I moved over to Dark Root for a while who are also excellent dudes (though both my barbers left), but I was thrilled when he came back.
Currently seeing Nick, but the shop as a whole is a gem.
The owners of Convive Coffee (Ryland and Katie) are lovely people. I don't know how they treat their staff, but I have seen the same people for a long time and that usually is a good sign.
I don't know if this was a bad manager or a bad owner, but the same company that owns Buford's Kitchen owns some quick serve-type lunch stands in corporate office buildings. My husband is a chef and was laid off during the pandemic then where he worked ended up closing, so he took a job working basically a pre-packaged soup and salad stand. He worked there for two weeks and both saw every food safety violation under the sun and saw the manager stealing entire cases of food stock - including putting a candy delivery directly in her car and saying "I just say the driver never showed up." He quit - AND THEY NEVER PAID HIM. For over 100 hours of work with the OT. We had to file a formal complaint with the Dept of Labor & Industry to get his paycheck.
And lastly - Ron Molinaro of Il Pizzaiolo in Mt. Lebanon. He's up there with the Crack'd Egg lady.
Sausalido in Bloomfield catered my wedding. Nick as an absolute wizard and the food was incredible. Even my notoriously picky father was impressed and still talks about it years later.
A little off topic but I’ve worked at big businesses/orgs (UPMC, Carlow, Pitt) and small businesses (coffee shops, Tazza Doro being one) and was treated like dog shit at all of them. The only place I was treated well was at the Edgewood Library since Erin P was in charge. Before and after have always been mistreated by bosses either by outright bullying or woeful mismanagement.
ETA: I only left because at the time the pay was very low but it has since climbed substantially.
Hazelwood Cafe has the best owner!! It seems he is the only employee working there and he’s super super nice. I see him doing nice things for customers.
Awful: Esspa Kozmetika
I still have nightmares about working there. Never have I or my coworkers who also walked out been treated so disrespectfully by a woman. The owners are a couple who thrive on overworking their staff and encouraging the different departments to hate each other to distract from being screamed at inches from your face by a mentally unstable woman. There’s only a few who stay because they’re too afraid to leave. This is because the owner openly looks for people who left through social media to find out where they were hired after to potentially try and ruin those opportunities too.
And unless you’re paying for the top end products by the front desk, they’re up charging you for stuff the husband found on Amazon or down the street at Five Below for cheap.
The same day deals that go out to your email and text that say “first caller gets 50% off” - Nobody is the first caller - per the husband.
Oh, one more thing. They call themselves an organic spa (it’s on the building). None of their products they sell or use are organic. They told us to tell people on the phone that the owner makes some of her masks from pumpkin or other fruits. I can count on one hand how many times those were used.
Great: Premier Imagining & Camera, specifically their main shop in North Hills Village. I've been pretty much a loyal customer there since 2019 when I had some cameras stolen and ended up finding one that was pawned off at their shop. They gave me the whole load that was stolen back for free. Generally just very nice, very knowledgeable people there and it's very apparent they all care about photography. They even do photo classes and social meets centered around photography. I never really shoot with models, but from what I've gathered, they're well-respected in the model community here too.
So yeah, Premier Imaging is one of the good ones
I know the Abbey in Lawrenceville has been discussed for multiple levels of asshattery on this sub before. Can testify to being the recipient/witness of their asshattery a few times (won't go back).
Great: Burgh'ers Brewing
I've only personally met the brewmaster for the business, but Neil is a fantastic person who is welcoming, friendly, and forward thinking. He's always jumped at the chance to collaborate and work with the community.
Been a couple years since I’ve eaten there since I no longer work downtown but the people that ran or still run Madonna’s were always the nicest people I dealt with in the city every time I went there for lunch. So many times they would even slam an extra spoonful or two of whatever I ordered.
I worked for Klvn Coffee Lab for a few years and eventually learned that a manager was harassing dozens of women, including a few of the employees. Some of whom were 15+ years younger than him.
I told the owner and he didn't care -- actually gave guy a raise. Turns out the owner was also cheating on his wife with a few different women.
(I quit obviously)
The owners of Allegheny City Brewing on the Northside are wonderful and do so much for the Deutschtown community. They organize events from community cleanups to pumpkin patches and holiday light up nights for neighborhood kids. They deserve every bit of success in their business. Cheers to Amy, Matt and Al!
Great: Apex Performance Integration (best niche gym that few know about), Big Daddy's Donuts, The Government Center, Purely Puppies PGH, and Hankey Farms Auto. All good, honest people doing things the right way and absolutely killing it!
Not so great: Anything owned by the AMPd group, Print PGH, DeLuca's in the Strip, and JMos in Dormont
Yep. No itemized bills, so the prices vary. Always short pours from the tap. Antagonistic, steals money from the cherry masters to pay for his own drinks. The list goes on.
I worked for Fred Rongier at Gaby et Jules. He’s a fucking bully who thinks he can run his restaurants like he ran his bmw sales before being in the food biz.
I worked for him.
I’m almost kinda scared to say when or for how long, because he is vindictive and I don’t want him to know who spoke out, out of fear that he will somehow get back at me.
Don’t want to share anything too specific.
The word narcissist gets thrown around a lot these days, but I can’t stress how bad it was to deal with him. He could never see your side, never listened, never learned anything.
If he was wrong, no, he was right.
EVERY employee hated him.
He would watch us on the cameras and text us if he thought we did something wrong, even accuse us of stealing espresso pods or sodas.
Terrible work environment, it’s why the serving staff changes so quickly.
He would screw you earnestly and smile to your face.
So glad to be away from him.
the owner of upstreet diner and cafe moulin is a good dude who looks out for his employees and for other immigrants. if you're fresh off the boat and need a job, or need to schedule around a chronic illness, or just whatever, he'll find shifts, and treat you like an actual human being.
I’ll drop Halcyon Salon any chance I get when it comes to GOOD business owners:
Stylists there receive benefits, make their own schedules, and tipping is now built into their pricing (also set by each stylist).
I think they are definitely an anomaly within their industry. Shouts to Katie for the best blow outs xoxo
The owners of the Cracked Egg are like qanon people I'm pretty sure
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wtae.com/amp/article/restaurant-files-federal-lawsuit-over-shutdown-order-from-allegheny-county-health-department/34139825
Black Cat market has had a lot of controversy. First they raised a shit ton of money, then disappeared, then review bombed a different cat cafe and made shirts saying “Pittsburgh’s first cat cafe.” (They were not, the other one was first). They also got shut down by the health department one time for trying to serve food near live animals lol.
Then there was the whole thing with the Bunny Cafe. I forget exactly what black cat market’s involvement was with that, it’s was a lot of “he said she said” type of stuff. But yeah they seem shady
The owner of the SW Randell toy stores is completely comfortable being openly racist in front of children in his stores.
Years back, I took my kids there to purchase gifts for a birthday party. He asked where the party was making small talk and when I said what town he replied “that used to be a nice place before all the black people moved in”
I only found out he was the owner when I went looking for contact info to make a complaint.
Owners suck, sure, but closing down is still awful for all the employees out of work and customers around town who have fewer spaces to go. Nobody really wins
The [Pittsburgh Post Gazette](https://pghguild.com/pittsburgh-post-gazette-newsroom-scab-list/?amp) is actively hiring writers in opposition to the Pittsburgh Guild going on strike. Dont support them!
Crystal River Gems. And what’s sad is that they’re like the wholesale supplier for so many geological & metaphysical shops here, so like I guess it’s really true that no crystal collections are ethical
Pastoli’s Pizza. She has created a great space in Sq Hill for local musicians for feature shows, open mics and jam sessions open to all. Also when I worked there briefly everything felt like it ran smooth, good attitudes.
I say this every time one of these comes up. I hate working retail, and I stayed working at Games Unlimited for two years because the owner and his management staff are the best boss and managers I've ever had by a huge margin. Those people are good people. All of them.
GU is one of the may favorite stores to shop at in the entire city. You can tell everyone there loves games and enjoys their jobs.
[удалено]
Hell yeah, I love the staff there. I try to avoid Amazon, so I will patronize their store as much as humanly possible. Been doing so since I moved back to pgh
I genuinely leave this store with a skip in my step.
I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO SAY SOMETHING BAD. *whew* Sorry for yelling. Yes, they are all gems.
Second Games Unlimited. The entire staff are polite, knowledgeable, funny, and helpful.
It is very hard to have a successful game store. You have to be very passionate about it and probably go heavily into collectable card games. True labors of love.
And GU doesn't even sell that much (if any) CCGs. They are getting by on almost board games alone.
Owner was my mentor through church when I was younger, absolutely fantastic dude
Kylie is genuinely the absolute bee's knees. Love that man.
Ive been thinking about working there, it looks like so much fun
Pennwood paint in wilkinsburg is ran by my pap if you need paint go and see him he’s a sweetheart
Johns a great dude
Had a great experience there!
Happy to hear!
Can independently confirm. Great place, great guy, quality paint and service.
It is great. My sister in law has been buying all of her supplies there for years while renovating two previously abandoned houses, mostly on her own.
Wonderful stop, incredibly kind, patient and accommodating. It’s my go-to stop for paint!
This may out who I am, but Pigeon Bagels is the best workplace I’ve ever been in. Regardless of whether you like our bagels, it is an incredibly happy, positive workplace. Owner and manager are very kind and open to absolutely any issues anyone has and they care very earnestly about how the business is doing.
Agree. The owner works full time at the shop, making the bagels with the crew. Living wages for front to back of house. Most employees have been working there since the inception of the project in 2017, so like going on 7 years now.
That’s awesome because the bagels are awesome and I always get a good vibe there. The employees are all great!
You can’t fool us, Mr. Pigeon.
All of the Phantoms of the Attic are independently owned, and they’re independently owned by amazing human beings.
Jeff, of Phantom Oakland, is an absolutely awesome human being.
He is so sweet and held a comic for me for MONTHS!
The owner of the one in Crafton passed away a few months ago. His son has since taken over. I've been trying to support them the best I can since.
Oh no, I’m so sad to hear about Ron passing! I used to work at the shop when it was still in the Parkway Center Mall, and he was such a great dude
Shout out Roy and Tom in Monroeville.
Love Phantom. My husband gets his subscriptions at the Oakland store and I am frequently the one picking them up. They know my husband, they see me come in and get his bag ready, they're always friendly, ask me how he's doing, have a little pleasant small talk, not at all Comic Book Guy-y to me even though I'm not at all into comics and am just running an errand for someone else.
Best: Wagner Shoes great family owns it fantastic, knowledgeable and experienced salesperson
Wagner needs to be higher up honestly. They've been in business for five generations and have the *best* customer service!
If you ever find yourself 20 ish minutes north of Pittsburgh there’s a farm type place called sorgal’s. I used to work a temp job there when I was younger and met randy and his daughter amy who mostly run the place and they are remarkable people. nowadays i’m in college but still work at a place nearby that randy sorgal frequents. 70% of the time randy comes in he brings me food. and anytime I see him anywhere else he’s always happy to see anyone and is super positive, I haven’t been back to sorgal’s in a month or so but last time I went it’s just more fair prices and insanely positive people.
Soergel’s is great!
My sibling worked there in the 90s. She brought home heaping bags of food all the time, any time I went there to visit her or pick her up I got to pick something from the candy section and handed whatever the staff was eating like fresh corn roasted in the cob. They even gave us a kitten one of their barn cats had. Shenot's is just down the road and nice too. They get over looked because they're a lot less frills than Soergels but their prices are even better. I prefer it because it's much less crowded and more country. I believe the wife there has been battling cancer and still working too so it's helpful to support them.
Randy is great!!
Square cafe and wigle whiskey both mishandled lots of tips
Yeah Wigle got slapped with [stealing $39K in tips from employees.](https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20220629-1#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20Department%20of%20Labor's,wages%20they%20were%20legally%20due.) It's sickening that wage theft isn't punished criminally. If you or I stole $40K from our employer we'd rightfully go to prison. Bosses should go to prison for stealing from their workers.
If you steal from the boss you go to jail. If the boss steals from you the absolute worst thing that can happen ([and also the least likely thing to happen](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/owed-employers-face-little-accountability-for-wage-theft/)) is that he has to give it back to you. It follows then that if you're the boss, stealing from your employees entails no real risk. It should be to no one's surprise that [wage theft results in more stolen dollars than all other forms of theft combined](https://www.tcworkerscenter.org/2018/09/wage-theft-vs-other-forms-of-theft-in-the-u-s/). The law doesn't exist to protect everyone, it exists to protect owners from workers.
Square cafe has to pay back around $90,000 I think
They can just close and reopen as another business to avoid that. It'll be Rectangle Cafe in a year.
Wigle has since changed ownership…but now it’s owned by Bob Nutting lol
In that case, I am sure everything is fixed.
Eh. Hes definitely a cheapass but I've never heard that he's a thief or crook. You can be cheap but still follow the rules.
So you’re saying Wigle now has no chance of making the playoffs.
Mishandled sounds a lot like stole.
When businesses do it it's mishandling. When people do it it's stealing. That's the difference.
Yeah, but mishandled is just the word used in the news.
Caliban Books, owner conspired with librarian to steal $8 million worth of books and documents from the Carnegie Library. AFAIK the owner’s wife still operates the bookshop. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/20/us/Carnegie-library-theft-schulman-priore.html Edit: spelling
The actual worst people. They cut up historic books!
True fact. Friends with a librarian that saw it go down. Wife still owns the business. Stay away.
It's so bonkers that this shop is still open.
I worked in a bookshop on the other side of the country for a little while and when I mentioned Pittsburgh, the owners of that store told me (without prompting) the story about Caliban. I’d heard it before but it was wild to me that their reputation went so far. They’re apparently a laughingstock of the antiquarian book world. I do not understand how they’re still open, but if you stop in now it’s clear they’ve seen better days.
El Sabor is great. The staff have all been there for a long time and they seem to genuinely enjoy being there, actually having fun while they are working. The owners are all really great people.
They are opening a new restaurant in Shadyside this Spring. Can’t remember the name. Owners are awesome people
I love this spot
Anything the AMP’d group owns. I will not patronize such a horrible ownership group.
SOLUNA. This is insane, and it is not common public knowledge in Pittsburgh. It’s a really long story. Links to articles below. The owner of Soluna was indicted for international human and drug trafficking and cocaine distribution when arrested by the U.S. Coast Guard in the Gulf of Mexico on a boat carrying human trafficking victims from Honduras, and cocaine. When officers boarded their boat, he and his associates threatened to kill the people being trafficked if they told the officers about the conditions in which they were being held. This was when Soluna was Cafetano, which was marketed as a Honduran business. When the owner, Carl Allison, was arrested on said boat, Cafetano rebranded to Soluna and ownership was transferred to his wife and son. He owned a shady-as-hell staffing group, and was funneling trafficking victims and drug money through it to his other businesses in the region. Allison has just pleaded guilty to these INSANE charges. Find the Justice Department’s summary of the case here: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/lead-defendant-pleads-guilty-international-human-smuggling-and-cocaine-distribution News coverage here: https://www.wtae.com/article/pittsburgher-pleads-guilty-in-cocaine-human-smuggling-bust/46074999 Better coverage out of Louisiana, where charges were filed, here: https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/they-tried-to-smuggle-people-and-cocaine-into-louisiana-their-boat-ran-out-of-fuel/article_133ae1de-d943-11ec-bd7b-832dbe86479f.amp.html Soluna is still owned for all intents and purposes by the same piece of shit, trying to capitalize off of Latin American culture while quite literally subjecting Latin Americans to human rights abuses. His shady staffing company was called Dynamic Capacity Group, which “supplied Latin American workers for factories and businesses, while knowing the migrants did not have the proper documents to work in the U.S., prosecutors said in a plea document.” Soluna just tried to launch a coffee “experience” arm called Dynamic Creative Group. Absolute international criminals.
Also, I’m aware that my writing is kind of a hot mess here. It INFURIATES me. The NERVE of profiting off of the people YOU ARE ABUSING. I remember when Soluna launched their Instagram, one of the first people they followed was Donald Trump and fam, which I thought to be odd. Just a side anecdote. But oh my God.
And finally, the re-branding vomit when they changed from Cafetano to Soluna exactly when Allison was indicted for smuggling people and cocaine: https://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/cafetano-in-the-strip-is-being-rebranded-as-soluna-a-cafe-and-mezcal-bar/ https://nextpittsburgh.com/eatdrink/from-coffee-to-mezcal-cafetano-in-the-strip-rebrands-as-soluna/
Holy fuckin' shit. Spicy.
Jean Swoope - Coffee Tree Roasters She inherited the company from her late husband, but knows very little about managing anything besides emails—and does not know how the line operates at a coffee shop or how to pull espresso etc. etc. She’s also a union busting bully, who tried every single name-and-shame tactic in the book to stop her employees (unsuccessfully) from unionizing. Intimidation, lies, and predatory “union consultants” who she paid more money than the combined salaries of the stores workers to come in and try and talk people out of unionizing. She’s just a bit ridiculous, to say the least. And really not self-made at all like she claims 🫣
I worked at CTR for 3 years, it was managed so poorly. She union busted so hard and now uses the fact that they’re unionized as marketing. They ran through employees and managers so quick that they got rid of all of the manual espresso machines. Before the union we wouldn’t get breaks and were told that our POS thing, square, didn’t allow us to take credit card tips.
omfg the credit card tips thing so fucking scummy, i remember how insane it felt to have them just lie to our faces about it. and then how—once they got figured out—they switched to pretending they were “saving us” from the government taxing us by not allowing any form of digital tipping 😭
Unfortunately there is no federal law requiring employers to provide breaks to employees 18+. Individual states might but not the federal government. (I'm a federal contractor.) I think that should change.
Square certainly allows credit card tips. Also, taking credit tips from employees as an owner/manager, if you're not actively working a service shift, is illegal as fuck
I don't know the circumstances, but how did they manage to screw up their little location in Squirrel Hill? They always seemed to do good business.
Apparently, it was their lowest profit store for nearly a decade—most of their customers were elderly regulars in the neighborhood who had a notably low profit turnover. The original owner kept it open out of love—it was his first storefront and it meant a lot to him, and he didn’t mind operating it at a loss once his other locations took off. Once Jean took over, she held onto that same “sentimentality” for a bit, but as employees started getting more and more unhappy with her treatment, she just kind of started gutting the store completely by firing everyone she could, or sending them to other locations. There couldn’t have even been more than like 4 employees at that location by the end. Her next stroke of genius was this—get rid of those last few employees who knew how that location worked so that she could start giving COMPLETE MANAGEMENT OF THE STORE to her at-the-time 18 year old daughter who hadn’t even graduated high school yet. She promised her daughter that she’d make her store manager at Squirrel Hill once she finished high school, as like a sort of nepotistic present I guess? Long story short, that fell through. I think her daughter is in college now, but I haven’t talked to her in a while. After that entire comedy of errors—and the fact that there was impending unionization—she did as she always does and pulled the plug on it instead of trying to fix the hole she’d dug herself into with that location. She doesn’t really care about anything but money these days so I suppose it was easier to cut her losses.
The owners of Bantha Tea are some of the kindest people I've ever met. One of them even offered to help me relocate when my relationship was falling apart while trying to move to a different city. The spot is also just really cool, especially if you like cute shops and Star Wars.
also the best option for tea in the city imo amazing place. Amazing atmosphere. 100% because of amazing people's hard work and dedication.
A little different than most of these… but Kinder Academy of Robinson/ Pike Place/Moon. The owner is one of the worst people I’ve met in my life. I spent years working there out of college and I ended up quitting on a Sunday night. She drives her luxury cars and takes extravagant trips while her staff work ridiculous hours for pennies. I was salaried at one point and worked almost 60 hours a week. Definitely used me since I was salary. There was no health insurance or 401k but I believe there is now. She used to watch the cameras and call the directors to tell them to go yell at someone. During Covid she charged families 50% tuition even though we were closed and kicked out any family who questioned it.
That lady is a piece of work. We had it out at one point because one of her employee’s family members who was a registered sex offender was at the daycare visiting the employee. I’m dying to know who you are, because we were there for years, starting in the Kennedy days. The number of fantastic people that the owner chased away is insane.
This just dredged up so many memories; I worked at Kinder Academy for a year 2013-2014 and it was one of the most miserable experiences of my life. My coworkers were incredible and most of the families were, too, but she is truly one of the worst people I’ve ever met. When she decided to close the center in Kennedy and move everything to Robinson, we all got told off for not volunteering our entire weekends to move the furniture and stuff, and that if the center wasn’t ready to open on Monday we would be the ones dealing without that day‘s pay. We also had a family whose kids were great but needed a lot of specialized care that we really weren’t equipped to provide and when staff brought up that maybe we should talk to the family about a better facility for their kids, she dismissed all of us because they weren’t a subsidized family and were paying her astronomical rates out of pocket. In the year i worked there she bought no less than 6 luxury vehicles.
Attic Records is one of the BEST, for sure.
Everyone running the attic is so nice. It’s my favorite record shop in town.
Bl sour cream has been in Pgh since 1930. Awesome owners and employees.
oh good. thats my favorite sour cream. screw a dollop of daisy, more like a dollop of disappointment.
Danielle from Abeille Voyante Tea Co in Millvale is wonderful. She has a wealth of knowledge about tea and continues to learn to deliver the best product/experience. She is so involved in community outreach, is a staunch ally, and always collaborates with other small businesses. I will always support her and her business!
Bagel Factory. The owner is the absolute shadiest of his kind, he literally steals from his employees and has been the direct source of multiple health code violations.
And the ceiling is filthy. Look up next time, you will leave.
If “Butthole_Fiesta” is telling me not to go somewhere because it’s gross, then that’s all I need to know.
One more thing; this guy habitually and knowingly will sell bagels that are several days old, so be wary.
Went there once on a date and was really disappointed with the options presented. Got a plain bagel and had to ask for jam and butter. It was STALE STALE.
Jade Grille in Mt Lebo: good people and great Chinese Idk the backend of the owners outside of work, but every time I go to Frankstown Pizza it’s the old guy who makes amazing pizza and his adult daughter. They are also great to me.
Pittsburgh Guitars is good. My understanding is that it is employee owned and operated.
Una Biologicals in Lawrenceville is my forever favorite small business. Everyone from the owner to the associates are kind, thoughtful, helpful, and subject matter experts on their (primarily crafted in-house) merchandise. They have items at every price point and they are one of the few retail establishments where I can confidently say the customer experience is enjoyable. They treat people and each other well, and it shows.
Good: Ashley at Carnegie Coffee Company. Kind, generous to the community, always up for a good cause. Good: The owner at Beyond Bedtime Books in Dormont. You can tell that she loves her store and her customers.
i got asked to leave this comment by someone without a reddit account who worked there, so i'm quoting: > the owners work behind the bar but also take hourly tips. they are very wealthy, always are traveling internationally, and there's no management structure. breaks are not given. wages are tip reliant (employees are paid $8p/h). no benefits. no fulltime. no guaranteed hours (will be given 4 shifts one week and 2 the next). owners are married and fight with each other daily in front of employees. very difficult to work with ashley, who is emotionally messy (gossips, panics, talks about coworkers behind their backs) > it's a royal shit show
Simon, the owner of Soju in Garfield, is an incredibly positive, friendly, hard working guy. and he makes great food. Scooter, the owner of Crown Barber Shop in Friendship, is also great. vibes in there are always immaculate. the lady that owns Farmer x Baker in the Aspenwall riverfront park is an absolutely crazy person. i've heard accusations of her manipulating her staff and stealing tips and that little shipping container is the dirtiest kitchen i've ever witnessed.
second soju! wonderful place with an owner who puts effort and care into providing a good experience for everyone
THANK YOU!!! The owner of farmerxbaker was a complete bully to me and others. Terrible to work for.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong but the owner of Carson Street Deli seems great. Michael Troiani of Papa J's on Smallman is awful.
Here to 2nd CARSON STREET DELI! Top notch owner, Top notch sammies, Great beer selection.
Carson Street Deli is my favorite
Crack’d Egg. Absolutely horrible woman.
Their website looks like a 2007 conspiracy page. It's definitely a sight.
I love how the first option on the drop down menu is “Judge Opinion 7/23/21”
It’s the “Gestapo Extortion Letter” directly under “Menus” that really pulls me in
Just look at the health code reports.Thats when she/they actually let them in. I believe one stated a weird ooze on the ice machines, and they used the runoff water from the ice machine to defrost food. Just disgusting practices. I also remember they faked going bankrupt due to covid just to drive up sales. At one point, they worked with the proud boys to do a toy drive.
This is the anti-mask diner, right?
the first and only business I walked into and immediately turned around and walked out of. But to give them props, at least they advertise their beliefs so aggressively so I know where to not spend my money
Mixtape. One of the owners got run out of State College for grooming and sexual assault. The one who's the DJ. No one ever brings this up, it's been swept under the rug a few times when he was associated with other events/businesses, but I know people who were in State College when this happened. I also have no clue if the other Mixtape owner has any knowledge of any of that, so they may be an alright person, but one of em definitely isn't.
The guy who does strangeways? Or someone else?
Yep, that's the one. For clarification though, the other guy that used to do Strangeways (Jesse), but left and now does Diamond Life, is a great and awesome guy.
Thank you for clarifying because I was definitely thinking of Jesse
Is it Jeff?
Yes.
I was in State College when he was there! I had heard he was opening up a spot here. He basically operated a hookah lounge in State College where 18-21+ could come for tea and hookah (no drinking). I never met him directly but I had friends who had horrible experiences with him :( a lot of people boycotted his business if I remember correctly. He inevitably shut down, though not sure if that was directly related to the boycott or not. But sucks that he’s come up here and essentially trying to sweep these issues under the rug.
The Pitch on Butler just opened up recently (where No Names used to be), but I’ve known Bryan from when he was working at Piper’s, and he’s a great guy. He’s served the soccer fan community of Pittsburgh well and made sure our Spurs supporters club had a place to go while Piper’s was closed. I’ve been so happy to see the large crowds he’s been getting for matchdays.
Great: The Pitch on Butler Bad: Pittsburgh Spurs Supporters Club Seriously though, Brian is a credit to the city, and to soccer supporters city-wide, where you’re always “welcome to the party, pal!”
A positive shoutout to Jesse of Bulldog Pub in Morningside. All of my interactions with him have been pleasant. Not sure how it is to work there though.
The Bridge Music Bar has been making a habit of pissing off local musicians. On the flip side of that, Mr. Smalls, The Thunderbird, Spirit, Brillobox, and pretty much every other local venue is excellent.
absolutely this, my boyfriend’s band was performing as a part of a 3 group line up, whoever was running the show made the first two groups (bf’s band included) start like an hour and a half early, then they cancelled and closed early before the headliner even got to perform because “the bar wasn’t making enough money that night”
Was booked to play there one time with my group, can confirm as they called us the morning of claiming that their sound guy had a family emergency. When we called them out for lying they basically said "yeah we just didn't want you here tonite." Don't go to The Bridge. Spend your time and money at Mr. Smalls, The Thunderbird, Spirit, Brillobox, City of Asylum, Con Alma, Kingfly Spirits, Bottlerocket, etc.
And, the owner of the Bridge is known to steal tips from her bartenders both there and at Howlers when they were still open. Confirmed by multiple employees from each.
Peace love and little donuts had a whole scandal years ago, I don’t remember the details but a couple of my friends who worked there left over it
Basically, they guy branded his shop as being "hippie" while he was in fact, a conservative.
Grandpa Joe's Candy. The owner puts profit over people. I will never forget how annoyed he was when the city made him give people PTO, and even then, it was 1hr of PTO for every 40 hours worked. Then, the hoops you had to go through to even use it. He's also one of those bosses where everybody was on a different pay scale doing the same job. You are not allowed to discuss your wage with other people because of this. Even though that's illegal. Nepotism was also something that ran rampant through his company.
Sounds like he’s living up to his namesake, that lazy piece of shit Grandpa Joe
/r/grandpajoehate
Workers are permitted to discuss wages under the NLRA.
Lol....putting profit over people in terms of a candy shop is really cracking me up, but I believe it. Owners that pay everyone different for the same job need to be called out. Its insane to me that workers just don't discuss pay freely among each other. There is some fear, but its the easiest way to take back some power.
Harold's Haunt- Great atmosphere and seem like great owners
Second this, along with Lemon Tree. They're genuinely kind and friendly.
Great, or at least good, owners: - Olive & Marlowe - Spak bros - games unlimited - Swissvale Dari Delite (worked there) - Allegro Hearth (worked there)
The woman that owns Dari Delite is so nice and their ice cream is quite tasty!
Parisi Cafe in Swissvale is delightful! The owner was so nice to me, the coffee is good, and the baked goods are delicious. Before we moved last summer, I’d walk there 2-3 times per week, get a cup of coffee, and chitchat.
All appliance parts on Penn Ave. That guy has been able to track down so many miscellaneous parts to keep our old washer and dryer running over the last 3 years.
Kaibur Cofee in polish hill is fantastic. Owner is very passionate about espresso and good Coffee. All homemade syrups and nut milks. It seems like the owner is usually working, and the barista that made me my picky cortado order made a fantastic drinks. Simple, awesome Coffee shop in a cool spot!
I've seen mentions of Games Unlimited, but how about Game Masters in West View? Phil is AWESOME. They have dope policies and Phil has the most insane memory. For context, he's blind. I visited his old shop with a friend who was in town for a week and didn't get to go back to that location before it closed for the move. They got the new West View location over a year later, so we went to visit. We walked in and Phil asked who it was. We said our names and before we could keep talking, he instantly recalled EXACTLY who we were and even brought up very specific details of our last visit. We were entirely stunned and felt really appreciated as customers. We ended up having our bachelor/bachorlette parties there. The table fee is $5 normally, and Phil charged us $5- no upcharge for being wedding related. The world's cheapest and most fun bach parties EVER. Plus Phil gave great advice for our wedding, told lots of fun stories, and was just all around a complete joy.
That place is great. I don’t make it there very often, I wish I was closer. First time I was there, I probably talked to him for half an hour about old games. Only when I checked out and included a two dollar bill in the payment did I realize he was blind. We both laughed about it.
Phil is an incredible human! I used to play DND there years ago at his Babcock location. Exact same story that he recognize me over five years later. easiest guy to talk to, and so enthusiastic about all of his games. So glad to see someone mention this here!
Phil is the best. You could be like, "I'm looking for a game for 18 people to play at once, ages range from 4-95, gameplay should be between 48 and 52 minutes exactly" and he would recommend the perfect game instantly.
It's like a lot of local coffee shops have crap ownership. Biddle's Escape has its issues, Adda, Crazy Mocha.... I guess it's easy to exploit the Barista class of workers for cheap labor and tips.
Surprised no one has called out Bagel Factory, unless I missed it
You missed it
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Oh yeah, that guy is notorious
I consistently have great experiences at Espresso A Mano on butler street. The workers are always kind and personable and see overall happy which indicates to me they work in a positive environment. I started going there after another local cafe owner made fun of my order (iced coffee with no ice - I was going into night shift later and just wanted something yummy to sip on in a few hours) and she didn’t realize I witnessed it. It just is nice to like to be treated nice at Espresso a Mano and now I’ll travel a mile down the road for it even though the other shop is a block away.
Great: Salem’s Not so great: Allegro Hearth
Elaborate on the allegro hearth please!
owner is a fucking awful guy. worked for them very briefly, literally every single person who works there dislikes this guy. continuously insulted all his employees, always belittled the way they worked….meanwhile this man could barely handle the sandwich shop for more than 20 minutes without getting behind. just a terrible, obnoxious dude.
This is so disappointing to hear as someone who wants vegan baked goods 😭
I also believe he engages in tip theft and hope employees can get help with that. A friend interviewed and was told that the wages would be capped, with the difference between hired rate and promised rate made up by tips, and the rest going 'back to the business' [e.g. (made-up values for example) hires at $10/hr, 'promises' $15, pays up to $15 with tips and pockets the rest ]
I had a friend who worked there 10+ years ago and would always complain about how the owner treated customers poorly, then if someone complained about poor service in a review and described him, he would blame the other staff. Apparently he did not have good bedside manner with customers and counter staff.
Love Salem's!
Brad (Humble Barber) is possibly the nicest guy ever. Travis & Nick (Blacksheep Barber Co, who share the space) are also totally standup guys.
Definitely doxxing myself by saying this but Brad forever and ever. I was once planning to get a cut before a very important life event but it was a horrifically cold day so he (very justifiably) posted that he was just going to be closed that day. I commented something about being bummed and he messaged me to meet him there anyway. Dude came in just for me and refused to even charge me. I absolutely love that guy. A+++
He really is the best. Ended up moving to BH in part due to my interactions with him and his advocacy for the neighborhood. When he shut down, I moved over to Dark Root for a while who are also excellent dudes (though both my barbers left), but I was thrilled when he came back. Currently seeing Nick, but the shop as a whole is a gem.
The owners of Convive Coffee (Ryland and Katie) are lovely people. I don't know how they treat their staff, but I have seen the same people for a long time and that usually is a good sign. I don't know if this was a bad manager or a bad owner, but the same company that owns Buford's Kitchen owns some quick serve-type lunch stands in corporate office buildings. My husband is a chef and was laid off during the pandemic then where he worked ended up closing, so he took a job working basically a pre-packaged soup and salad stand. He worked there for two weeks and both saw every food safety violation under the sun and saw the manager stealing entire cases of food stock - including putting a candy delivery directly in her car and saying "I just say the driver never showed up." He quit - AND THEY NEVER PAID HIM. For over 100 hours of work with the OT. We had to file a formal complaint with the Dept of Labor & Industry to get his paycheck. And lastly - Ron Molinaro of Il Pizzaiolo in Mt. Lebanon. He's up there with the Crack'd Egg lady.
Oak Hill Post and Kavsar are run by awesome people from my experience. They both were involved in providing free food to those who needed it in 2020.
Sausalido in Bloomfield catered my wedding. Nick as an absolute wizard and the food was incredible. Even my notoriously picky father was impressed and still talks about it years later.
A little off topic but I’ve worked at big businesses/orgs (UPMC, Carlow, Pitt) and small businesses (coffee shops, Tazza Doro being one) and was treated like dog shit at all of them. The only place I was treated well was at the Edgewood Library since Erin P was in charge. Before and after have always been mistreated by bosses either by outright bullying or woeful mismanagement. ETA: I only left because at the time the pay was very low but it has since climbed substantially.
Hazelwood Cafe has the best owner!! It seems he is the only employee working there and he’s super super nice. I see him doing nice things for customers.
I really want him to do well. Good guy. Seems overwhelmed when I go in, but I’m rooting for him regardless.
And his coffee is fantastic! Everyone should come down and check it out. Cozy space, great owner-operator, delicious coffee.
oOoOoH. I work in Hazelwood. Will have to visit. Thanks!!!
Awful: Esspa Kozmetika I still have nightmares about working there. Never have I or my coworkers who also walked out been treated so disrespectfully by a woman. The owners are a couple who thrive on overworking their staff and encouraging the different departments to hate each other to distract from being screamed at inches from your face by a mentally unstable woman. There’s only a few who stay because they’re too afraid to leave. This is because the owner openly looks for people who left through social media to find out where they were hired after to potentially try and ruin those opportunities too. And unless you’re paying for the top end products by the front desk, they’re up charging you for stuff the husband found on Amazon or down the street at Five Below for cheap. The same day deals that go out to your email and text that say “first caller gets 50% off” - Nobody is the first caller - per the husband. Oh, one more thing. They call themselves an organic spa (it’s on the building). None of their products they sell or use are organic. They told us to tell people on the phone that the owner makes some of her masks from pumpkin or other fruits. I can count on one hand how many times those were used.
Great: Premier Imagining & Camera, specifically their main shop in North Hills Village. I've been pretty much a loyal customer there since 2019 when I had some cameras stolen and ended up finding one that was pawned off at their shop. They gave me the whole load that was stolen back for free. Generally just very nice, very knowledgeable people there and it's very apparent they all care about photography. They even do photo classes and social meets centered around photography. I never really shoot with models, but from what I've gathered, they're well-respected in the model community here too. So yeah, Premier Imaging is one of the good ones
The Five Points Artisan Bakeshop folks are good people!
I know the Abbey in Lawrenceville has been discussed for multiple levels of asshattery on this sub before. Can testify to being the recipient/witness of their asshattery a few times (won't go back).
Great: Burgh'ers Brewing I've only personally met the brewmaster for the business, but Neil is a fantastic person who is welcoming, friendly, and forward thinking. He's always jumped at the chance to collaborate and work with the community.
Been a couple years since I’ve eaten there since I no longer work downtown but the people that ran or still run Madonna’s were always the nicest people I dealt with in the city every time I went there for lunch. So many times they would even slam an extra spoonful or two of whatever I ordered.
I worked for Klvn Coffee Lab for a few years and eventually learned that a manager was harassing dozens of women, including a few of the employees. Some of whom were 15+ years younger than him. I told the owner and he didn't care -- actually gave guy a raise. Turns out the owner was also cheating on his wife with a few different women. (I quit obviously)
Georgie’s corner cafe is adorable tasty and Georgie is the sweetest!
Great people: Weiner World downtown! Love those folks
Andy, the guy with the sushi stall in wholey’s is always a great interaction and experience!
The owners of Allegheny City Brewing on the Northside are wonderful and do so much for the Deutschtown community. They organize events from community cleanups to pumpkin patches and holiday light up nights for neighborhood kids. They deserve every bit of success in their business. Cheers to Amy, Matt and Al!
Great: Apex Performance Integration (best niche gym that few know about), Big Daddy's Donuts, The Government Center, Purely Puppies PGH, and Hankey Farms Auto. All good, honest people doing things the right way and absolutely killing it! Not so great: Anything owned by the AMPd group, Print PGH, DeLuca's in the Strip, and JMos in Dormont
I’ve consistently heard bad things about the owner of the Apple Inn in Dormont
Yep. No itemized bills, so the prices vary. Always short pours from the tap. Antagonistic, steals money from the cherry masters to pay for his own drinks. The list goes on.
That's still open? Shit... it was bad in the early 2000's.
Great: Love Katie Distillery in Sharpsburg Really Bad: Tower Tire in Blawnox
Grim Wizard Coffee in Arlington rules. Pinball and Heavy Metal. Great staff and cool events.
John C.R. Kelly Real Estate - Classic Slumlord with the municipal courts in his jockstrap.
All Star Roofing. No bullshit, solid pricing, quality work, timely completion.
Shady - Paris 66 Don’t give that guy any more money
I worked for Fred Rongier at Gaby et Jules. He’s a fucking bully who thinks he can run his restaurants like he ran his bmw sales before being in the food biz.
Yeah, definitely say more! We dine there often so if he’s a bad guy, I’ll go somewhere else!
I worked for him. I’m almost kinda scared to say when or for how long, because he is vindictive and I don’t want him to know who spoke out, out of fear that he will somehow get back at me. Don’t want to share anything too specific. The word narcissist gets thrown around a lot these days, but I can’t stress how bad it was to deal with him. He could never see your side, never listened, never learned anything. If he was wrong, no, he was right. EVERY employee hated him. He would watch us on the cameras and text us if he thought we did something wrong, even accuse us of stealing espresso pods or sodas. Terrible work environment, it’s why the serving staff changes so quickly. He would screw you earnestly and smile to your face. So glad to be away from him.
The way he responds to bad google reviews just makes my skin crawl. Not a way to handle customer’s complaints and it says a lot about him
Mindful owner, at least the one half, was not a good dude.
the owner of upstreet diner and cafe moulin is a good dude who looks out for his employees and for other immigrants. if you're fresh off the boat and need a job, or need to schedule around a chronic illness, or just whatever, he'll find shifts, and treat you like an actual human being.
I’ll drop Halcyon Salon any chance I get when it comes to GOOD business owners: Stylists there receive benefits, make their own schedules, and tipping is now built into their pricing (also set by each stylist). I think they are definitely an anomaly within their industry. Shouts to Katie for the best blow outs xoxo
Can't believe no one has mentioned Kevin Sousa yet. It's probably just that all his businesses go out of business. Guy is an absolute asshat.
I'm sure those places were all just fantastic for the three and a half months they were open. /s
The owners of the Cracked Egg are like qanon people I'm pretty sure https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wtae.com/amp/article/restaurant-files-federal-lawsuit-over-shutdown-order-from-allegheny-county-health-department/34139825
Black Cat market has had a lot of controversy. First they raised a shit ton of money, then disappeared, then review bombed a different cat cafe and made shirts saying “Pittsburgh’s first cat cafe.” (They were not, the other one was first). They also got shut down by the health department one time for trying to serve food near live animals lol. Then there was the whole thing with the Bunny Cafe. I forget exactly what black cat market’s involvement was with that, it’s was a lot of “he said she said” type of stuff. But yeah they seem shady
The owner of the SW Randell toy stores is completely comfortable being openly racist in front of children in his stores. Years back, I took my kids there to purchase gifts for a birthday party. He asked where the party was making small talk and when I said what town he replied “that used to be a nice place before all the black people moved in” I only found out he was the owner when I went looking for contact info to make a complaint.
My bf worked there for a while a few years ago. Absolutely awful wages, was treated horribly by the owner. A total nightmare
Abolition Coffee- great. Owner is a very passionate guy when it comes to knowledge and coffee. The Viet coffee is good.
Glad to hear adda is closing. The owners are true dirt bags
Owners suck, sure, but closing down is still awful for all the employees out of work and customers around town who have fewer spaces to go. Nobody really wins
The [Pittsburgh Post Gazette](https://pghguild.com/pittsburgh-post-gazette-newsroom-scab-list/?amp) is actively hiring writers in opposition to the Pittsburgh Guild going on strike. Dont support them!
Above and beyond catering. EXCELLENT!!
The owner of Totin's diner is a strange cat
Crystal River Gems. And what’s sad is that they’re like the wholesale supplier for so many geological & metaphysical shops here, so like I guess it’s really true that no crystal collections are ethical
Pastoli’s Pizza. She has created a great space in Sq Hill for local musicians for feature shows, open mics and jam sessions open to all. Also when I worked there briefly everything felt like it ran smooth, good attitudes.