Central and Eastern European cuisine focused restaurant and bar, opened here Feb 2016. Had sprouted from a monthly pop-up called Pierogi Night. Contact via email for reservations and questions: aptekapgh@gmail.com. Open Wed-Sun 5:00pm-1:00am.
Categories: Vegan, Beer/Wine, European, Polish
17 Reviews
First Review by jswiss
Contributions +23
best fancy place - Edit
My partner and I went here for our first date and we keep coming back it is amazing!
Pros: all the things
Cons: kinda a wait and loud on weekends
Contributions +34
Unique and tasty! - Edit
This place was amazing! The atmosphere is very eclectic with the ordering set up, music and decor. The food was fabulous. We had the potato pancakes and perogies. The presentation was beautiful and all the accompaniments were very tasty. The cocktails were delicious too!
Pros: Excellent food., Nice vibe.
Contributions +26
first timers - Edit
This was an amazing meal on Easter! Great food and great beer! Service and ambiance was spot on. I highly recommend this place for the coolest vegans or ones who want to be for a night! ;)
Contributions +24
Unique and delicious - Edit
Incredibly delicious and unique vegan food. I didn’t recognize anything on the menu (except pierogies) but everything I have ordered has been out of this world!
Contributions +443
Delicious, Unique, a Culinary Trip - Edit
Such an awesome menu, very unique. Can’t go wrong with anything on it. Friendly service too. Gets very busy so plan ahead and be ready to wait at least a few minutes.
Pros: Great menu!, 100% Vegan
Contributions +35
unique and bohemian, I rhapsodize - Edit
Great menu, really unusual, delicious, healthy, appetite stimulating, and super cool, comfy setting ... A truly different vegan restaurant, a real plus to any city's culinary offerings. And very reasonably priced too!
Contributions +38
perfection - Edit
I'm incredibly lucky to have visited this place so many times. I recommend everything. I love the atmosphere. One of the best aesthetics of any restaurant I've ever been to.
Pros: everything is delicious
Cons: I don't get to go everyday.
Contributions +25
Orgasmic Herbal Multifaceted Odyssey - Edit
We found Apteka via Happy Cow and were a bit apprehensive due to the awful flash photography photos. We double checked on Yelp and also found over 130 raving reviews.
Apteka is situated in a residential area nestled between two houses. We nervously walked in and immediately were put at ease with the hip vibe. A huge chalkboard menu and a super helpful and friendly hostess guided us through the menu.
We decided to sit in the backyard patio and were served our food within 5 minutes of ordering.
We ordered two cocktails, perogies and two salads which were all amazing with interesting combinations and complex and harmonious flavors.
The décor is clean lined. Polished concrete and wood with white walls. Lighting is perfect.
Highly recommended.
Contributions +16
Casual atmosphere and delish vegan food! - Edit
Apteka was exactly what I expected: free-spirited and delicious! It is an awesome little nook in Bloomfield with an all vegan menu and a casual indie atmosphere. The service was speedy, and the servers were very nice! There are gluten free options too! The only critique is that the food did not come in order of the usual appetizer then entrée.
Pros: casual and relaxed atmosphere, great food, great service
Cons: only a few gluten free options, hard to figure out how to order, food did not come in order
Contributions +1197
Fun, fresh, flavorful - Edit
This is the best meal that I've had in recent memory. I came here with two friends, and everything on the menu looked so good that we were compelled to order one of everything.
And we didn't regret it. Every dish was brilliant. I especially enjoyed a cold potato, yoghurt, and lingonberry bowl and the fennel terrine. These were utterly exceptional. That said, all of the other dishes were phenomenal as well.
The food is surprisingly cheap given the quality of ingredients and preparation. I'd be pleased to get these dishes as part of a fancy schmancy tasting menu, yet I was able to get them instead in the comfortable, inviting environs of Apteka at a fraction of the price. This place is truly remarkable. I'm hope to come back soon.
Pros: Fresh, Well-balanced, Unique
Contributions +588
Apteka is AMAZING!!! - Edit
Polish cuisine makes great use of grains, millet, rye, & wheat. Pungent, aromatic and dense flavor palate, using nutmeg, juniper, mace. Old spice cupboard flavors that taste like something ancient, respected. A feast as homage to an old way.
Earthy flavors, deep browns. Cold weather & dead leaves, crisp frosty airs inspire appetites of starches and root vegetables. Hearty, hefty portions reasonably priced. A treat for the cold-weather season, indeed!
ecoRDN chose the Tartines to start. Like crostini or bruschetta, tartines are open faced sandwiches prepared on Apteka‘s grainy house-baked rye. Carrot pâté with pickled cucumber, radish & dill, sweet garlicky toothy bites, polish salad with pickle, celeriac and potato, reminiscent of sweet chunky heavy mayo salads of picnics past. See Apteka’s daily menu for alternating varieties.
The Horse & Pepper jumped right off the page, a sandwich boasting a huge slab of fried veggie pâté served on a hulking crust of baguette holding hands with sweet pepper sauce, crispy cabbage salad, black garlic butter & spicy peppers. The pâté resembles tempeh, in a traditionally set terrine cut into a massive rectangle & cooked to a nice crisp bark. Earthy, rich, and filling.
O M -effing- G, Apteka’s Pierogi are the Apis Patella!!! Heavenly wedges stuffed with a mix of smoked potato or a mash of mushroom and sauerkraut, underneath a sweet nut-based rich mayo-like yoghurt sauce that tasted like sweet pickle relish, creamy & perfect accompaniment along with the beets and fried cabbage, make it rain with chives. Non-nut options available upon request. The smoked potato pierogi is DIVINE. Smoked potato + parsnip+ turnip greens, a salty woody mash mixed with the carrot-like parsnip & mild bitter turnip greens. The mushroom & sauerkraut provided a perfect balance, earthy deep mushroom flavor marries so well with the pungent aromatic bite of the sauerkraut. A guaranteed umami face explosion!
For dessert we chose the Tarta Jablkowa (apple pie) w/ tart cherry compote. The buttery pastry soaked up the sweet spiced pureed apple, like the consistency of loose pumpkin pie,. A melange of fall aromatics underneath super tart port-y cherry compote, those cinnamony sweet browns, all that good time spice! The buttery flaky pastry is plant-based, as are all the options at Apteka. Another great place to visit where no-meat/no-dairy gourmands need not worry and go all-in for a memorable feast perfect for the cold time of year!
ecoRDN.com
Updated from previous review on 2017-05-06
Pros: Polish Plant-Based, Artisanal cocktails for those who imbibe, ALL VEGAN EVERYTHING
Contributions +69
Absolute treat - Edit
Our dinner here with friends was the highlight of our time in Pittsburgh. What an odd and interesting combination: vegetarian eastern European fare. Between the six people in our group, we tried most everything on the menu and loved it all.
Pros: Creative food you can't get anywhere else, Unexpected ingredient combinations
Cons: You order and pay up front--not at your table, It can get loud
Contributions +96
Wow. So good. - Edit
Probably the best pierogies I've ever had. My wife and i split two sandwiches on the rotating menu, and they were pretty damn amazing.
Decent beer selection on tap and in bottles.
My only negative takeaway was likely my own fault for ordering a scotch drink from a drink menu instead of ordering straight scotch. Super sweet and not my style, but they gladly replaced with a beer when i asked.
I would absolutely visit again when we're back in Pittsburgh.
Pros: all vegan , dishes are thoughtfully prepared, great for groups and sharing
Cons: not a fan of the "order at the counter"
Contributions +53
Eclectic & Original - Highly Recommend - Edit
I had a business trip to Pittsburgh and in researching vegan restaurants learned about Apteka and put it on my list to try. I am so happy that I did. The menu is very original with combinations of ingredients such as endives with beech mushrooms and prune puree. This dish as well as the borscht, smoked celeriac toast, mushroom/sauerkraut perogies. buckwheat stuffed savoy cabbage and apple tart with sour cherry compote all had a depth and complexity of flavor that is truly gourmet. I took leftovers with me to enjoy the next day (in containers made from recycled materials here in the US). I will be heading there again at each opportunity. The atmosphere is fun, eclectic and suits the University area very well.
Updated from previous review on 2016-11-02
Contributions +32
INCREDIBLE - Edit
The staff is so nice, The lady remembered me after I came in a few times. The cocktails are unique and AMAZING, some of the best I've ever had, and they're reasonably priced. And the pierogis which have been called the best in Pittsburgh vegan or non-vegan in a media source (I believe... I can't track down the article I read on facebook) are reasonably priced and INCREDIBLE. I've taken numerous omnis and they loved it.
Contributions +260
EXCELLENT FOOD! - Edit
All vegan, many food options. Clearly labeled what is gluten free or nut-free. I had the Piergis and endives w prunes, and a gin and celery seed drink. Everything was excellent taste, low prices, friendly staff, nice seating area. The drinks were great, would definitely return.
Pros: GREAT unique food, Unique drinks, Low prices
Contributions +63
Something new, different, and vegan! - Edit
I wasn't sure what I was getting into from looking at menu, but I'm so happy I took a chance. The cashier (pay when you order) was so helpful in picking out dishes. My friend and I shared Kanapki, 4 pierogi, and a sandwich (baba jaga). It was way too much food, but we wanted to try it all. Everything was delicious and new to me. I especially loved the seed bread that the Kanapki and sandwich were served on.
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