Published by Jeremy. Last Updated on May 8, 2024.
Disclaimer: Our site uses demographic data, email opt-ins, display advertising, and affiliate links. Please check out our Terms and Conditions. Pricing, operating hours, or menus may have changed since our initial visit and may not be reflected in subsequent updates. Please confirm these directly with any business or attraction prior to visiting.
If you've ever spent some time walking around the Cultural District, you may have seen Pizza Bari and thought of it as just another pizza shop downtown.
But go inside and you will discover that this unassuming shop also has a not-so-secret Uzbek menu full of delicious cuisine to try. So on your next trip, look past the pizza and try some wonderful central Asian cuisine!
But be warned- the portions here are quite large, so go with a group and eat family style if you can.
Pizza Bari Offers Delicious Uzbek Fare Downtown
We started off our visit at Pizza Bari with an order of their housemade fruit juice visible to us in the form of a pitcher behind the counter. When it came out to our table, we were surprised to find out that we weren't just getting a glass of the juice, but rather the entire pitcher!
This sets the stage for the massive portions that were to follow.
We put in a conventional order of an appetizer (manti dumplings) plus rice plov and lamb kebab for our entrees thinking that it'd be a typical amount of food you would expect from a restaurant. But, as you can imagine from the lead-in with the juice, we were wrong. This was a feast that could've easily fed four people if not more!
The manti are large dumplings filled with meat and topped with herbs and served with a sour cream like sauce on the side for dipping. We run the risk of being repetitive here, but it is not surprising that these are some of the largest dumplings we have seen in any cuisine style (think almost soft ball size, not golf ball size). Suffice it to say, you'll be quite fulfilled with a single manti, and our order of five ensured we had enough for leftovers of the simple-yet-delectable dumplings.
The plov, the national dish of Uzbekistan, was our favorite of the night. This is a delicious rice-based dish with vegetables, raisins, spices, and topped with ample amounts of meat. The rice itself had a perfect balance of flavors from the spices and vegetables, all cut with a very mild sweetness, which was taken to another level with the immensely tender meat on top. If you've had rice pilaf or biryani, it is not too much different- just with a bit of a twist with the meat and spice combination!
Much like the manti, the portion size of the plov is huge such that we could've had ample leftovers here; however, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention that this one was such a treat that we devoured almost the entire dish then and there- a true testament to just how wonderful this one was!
Our final order of the night was a lamb kebab with potatoes, which came out with a generous portion of meat plus some of the most tender potatoes you will have. While this dish is a bit more straight-forward relative to the plov, it certainly showcases how some of the simplest dishes are the best- just meat, potatoes, spices, and onions makes for a delicious meal.
As much as we tried to eat every last bite of this delicious meal, the portion size got the better of us and we had to ask for a to-go box. Or, rather, boxes. The amount of food we had leftover was still of a size bigger than most orders we have at conventional restaurants, and made for some rather delicious leftovers for later.
Overall, Pizza Bari is one of those places that you could easily overlook if you took the restaurant name literally as only a pizza restaurant. But go beyond the conventional menu and you will find a wealth of unique and interesting Uzbek dishes that just beg being tried. Now we just need to return with a group of friends to try more and enjoy the family style feast the way it should be- with a group!
Pizza Bari Halal is located at 955 Liberty Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh.
