Pittsburgh Restaurants & Bars: Lilith
- Liz Reed-Riban
- Nov 8
- 3 min read
Located in Shadyside: 238 Spahr St, Pittsburgh, PA 15232
Lilith is an intimate and cozy restaurant by Chefs Dianne Destefano and Jamilka Borges, focusing on eclectic and coastal fare and pastries inspired by their Sicilian and Puerto Rican heritages.
Vibes/First Impressions
This place is a tiny hole in the wall style restaurant. Tucked away in a residential-adjacent corner of Shadyside, the restaurant only has about ten tables, giving it a cozy, neighborhood feel. Everything on the menu is fresh and includes seasonal ingredients, sourced from local farms all listed out on their menu. When we walked in, every plate of food coming out of the kitchen and on the tables looked impressive and delicious. It's exciting when you walk into a restaurant and already know you're going to have a fantastic foodie experience.
Here's what I ordered:
Fancy Lobster Rolls – Wow, 5/5 on these. Fresh lobster (somehow), the aioli was delicious. Small buns but it's not considered an entre so I'll forgive it.
Lobster salad, achiote aioli, herbs, pan sobao
Yuca Pierogi – This came with 3 pierogies on a plate with an orange sauce. Yuca is very similar to potato, but isn't quite as tasty to me. Very interesting, but perhaps not something I'd get again. 3/5
Romesco, shallot-carrot escabeche
Here's what others ordered:
Squash Ravioli – Both friends that ordered this loved it. One gave it a 5/5 and the other gave it a 3.75/5. The squash was fresh and the ravioli was handmade. This dish lost points due to the sauce at the bottom being a little watery. C'est la vie!
Kuri and buttercup squash, roasted pears, sage, pepitas, fennel pollen, parmesan
Here's what we got for dessert:
Frozen Chocolate Torte – 5/5 on this decadent dessert. Rich chocolate mousse, hints of peanut butter, with a gorgeous presentation. They threw a chocolate snake on top as a hat-tip to Lilith, night demon and feminist icon.
Chocolate mousse, peanut butter mousse, coconut, wafer | Contains peanuts- cannot be removed
Apple Cake – Gorgeous presentation, reminded me of the ring of fire! See my photo to know what I mean, haha. Looked great but my friend didn't give it a rating so based on vibes alone, 5/5. You'll have to try this one for yourself.
cardamom cookie, apple butter, chestnut anglaise, cranberry
Drinks:
Protect your energy - Fancy-tiny-little-drink. I enjoy an autumn-inspired drink and this hit the mark for me. 4/5 because I could only drink one due to basically being only liquor.
Old Farm rye, pear, sage, anise
Plátano y Caña (served hot) - Hot buttered rum, anyone? 5/5 for the warm fall vibes.
Plantain infused Mermaid Spirits rum, butter, brown sugar, baking spice
Let's Rate this Place!
Food (out of 5): In total, 4/5!
Locally sourced, high-quality ingredients combined in beautiful and unique ways.
Drinks (out of 5): 4.5/5
Great drink menu! Well-mixed drinks with good ingredients. If you're more of a simple drink kind of person, this place might come off as a little pretentious.
Dessert (out of 5): 5/5
Rich and delicious. The two owners are pastry chefs, so I knew I could trust them to deliver. I would go back just to work through their entire dessert menu!
Atmosphere (out of 5): 3.5/5
It was very packed inside this place, not a lot of room to move around, which is the nature of small restaurants, so no big deal. But they did have insanely dim lighting; I felt like an old person talking to my friends, thinking to myself that I can't really see them (lol).
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