Alphabet City

They have an excellent environment whether you’re looking for a special programming, a bookstore, a place to work, or a restaurant - Brugge in North is located at this place. I usually come here when they announce an artist off mainstream and I never leave disappointed.

Lovely place for book shopping, hanging out with your friends and have a delicious meal or during from their cafe. We went there to watch a movie downstairs from the City of Assylum program. Will definitely go there again.

Good meal, and poetry with jazz was a good show.

This is really a gem in the North Side. We had brunch at the restaurant, and I don't think anyone left with an empty stomach. The food was delicious, the drinks were incredible, and the staff was so on top of it and polite!

It's a great place, with performances, readings and shows almost every day. A very varied bookstore, you can find many books translated from other languages and the restaurant is excellent. Everything for a perfect evening. Also those who visit the place are helping writers who are protected from persecution, jail and even murder, at City Of Asylum Pittsburgh. It is a wonderful place to celebrate freedom of expression. If you're lucky you might run into an award winning novelist and ask them to sign a book. Keep an eye on their calendar. Excellent Jazz music

We attended the performance Sunday 3/13. The music and musicians were wonderful. The problem is the diners in the room adjacent to the seating area for the performance were very loud, and got louder as the night progressed. They were very distracting and made it hard to enjoy the performance. One table in particular was very obnoxious, appeared to be drinking heavily, and when my wife motioned for them to be quiet, one woman at the table gave her the middle finger. There appears to be a curtain between the two areas, and perhaps if it was drawn, it would deaden the sound. Such a shame these ignorant people ruined the evening for the others.

One of the best breakfast meals I’ve ever had in Pittsburgh! Food was seasoned well. Service was pretty good. Great location.

Great vibe, great mission! Better than ever.

Love, love, love, Cucino Alphabeto!! Chris, the bartender was fantastic! He actually made us customized cocktails and even documented one for my son Alec. So if you're in need a great drink askfor The Alec. Also met the very low-key, super nice owners, such gracious people, had a great conversation. Again, highly recommend and you'll have a great evening!!

I came here for the Story Club and it was fantastic. I really enjoy being able to sit and listen to people's stories while drinking a nice glass of wine. During the story club they did not have their food but I know that they usually will have tapas and wine during other events or when they are just open. I went on their website and they have such fun things going on during the month. I really look forward to coming to the events here in the future. For this event we were able to find seats right away and they, for the early birds, have tables and couches to sit on. So if you want something more than just chairs get there early! I was also really excited to see not only a full bar but some fun cocktails and even more exciting mocktails! The switch to more non-alcoholic drinks is super exciting to me. Also the water was self serve so you didn't have to bother the bartenders, another win! Can't wait to go back!

A nice library/ book store associated with City of Asylum. A wonderful selection of books from around the world. Definately worth a peruse for the reading enthusiast. I would suggest a daylight visit, as the neighborhood is somewhat unsavory near-abouts. Stay aware of your surroundings.

The North Side is undergoing an exciting transformation, with new restaurants and breweries opening. But this is absolutely the coolest thing to happen anywhere, Alphabet City is part of Pittsburgh City of Asylum's performance space, restaurant and bookstore. City of Asylum is a residency program for international writers/poets who are censored in their own country. The brainchild of co-founder Henry Reese, Alphabet City is an exciting new venue for Jazz, film, poetry slams, readings, and a whole lot more. This is a place with an International focus, diversity, exciting new ideas, and it's fantastic that it's all happening here in Pittsburgh on the North Side. The bookstore offers more than you can find at any chain, there's an International flavor that's very appealing. The staff is very friendly. knowledgeable and helpful. I met a volunteer who was working at the bookstore who helped me find what I was looking for and showed me around. In summary, unique, exciting, educational and fun.

I've now been here twice for events, a fundraising gala for City of Asylum, and a professional networking event hosted by The Pittsburgh Technology Council. Alphabet City is the main hub for City of Asylum, an organization that helps refugees in a variety of artistic venues who have faced various levels of persecution from their home countries for their creative endeavors. I won't get into that further here, but it's an incredibly worthwhile mission. They regularly host creative performances in areas of music, literature, and film. There's a bookstore with a vast selection of international and translated works. The space is small, but stylish and sophisticated. It's shared by Brugge on North, the newest member of the Point Brugge/Park Brugge trio, who appears to help out with their catering most of the time, but also operates as an independent restaurant. The food is excellent, for what it's worth. I can't say enough good things about this organization. They're providing an altruistic service and a level of cultural entertainment to this city straight from the source that you'll be hard-pressed to find anywhere else.

I was excited about this venue. It's part of the City of Asylum, the wonderful organization which has a residency program for exiled foreign literary writers. I first learned of them because of their spectacular painted houses on Sampsonia way, the houses that are part of that residency program and are art themselves. According to their website, this new building houses their offices, a bookstore, a restaurant "Casellula & Cheese Cafe of NY", and event space for performances. I came here today because it was opening day and the documentary "Pursuing Happiness" written by Adam Shell, Nicholas Kraft was being shown which features Randy Gilson of Randyland among many other happy souls in the United States being interviewed and showcased in the film. It was a very interesting subject and done well in this film. My husband and I arrived at around 2:30pm to take a look around. It's a very inviting space in an old building rehabbed. The bookstore, event space, and restaurant/bar all share the open space on the first floor. The place was packed with people perusing the aisles and shelves. The bookcases are electronically slidable for when they need the space -- pretty clever feature. The sections are labeled -- I saw "cookbooks", "fiction", "essays", "poems", to name a few of the sections. There are even a used book section and children's books. We learned that books are sequenced in a section first by publisher. What?? That is absurd for the general public's intentions to find a book. Are you crazy? I had enough trouble with the Dewey system growing up. Now you're going to tell me I have to know a publisher in order to find a book on my own? Yeah not gonna happen. We proceeded to ask if they had a certain book, of which they looked it up and discovered they did not. Not a big deal they didn't have it. Definitely a bigger deal I have to ask someone to find a book for me. We did end up purchasing three books that interested us -- two from foreign authors which had been translated into English (one about Chernobyl, one about World War I, and one about the North Shore's history). And today being opening day, they were purchased at a 10 percent discount. Yay for us. We then left to pursue other activities nearby and came back for the 7pm showing of the documentary. I will mention that it was free and we submitted a donation. The place was packed. For the movie showing, simple chairs were set about the main event area with one screen at the far end and two smaller screens set to each side. So it's not exactly an ideal space to watch a movie as the seats aren't that comfortable and heads are in the way as the floor is all on one level. Ok. This performance is free but if I pay for a different performance, this is a bit of an issue, and issue mild or worse relative to the price of admission. Now to the real issue, free or not. The restaurant area (it's opening day, as well) is right next to the event area. (It goes from left to right -- Restaurant, Event Area, Bookstore). There is no partition, no sound wall, nothing. So, as the movie progressed, the restaurant noise from happy patrons and waitstaff became louder and louder in competition with the movie. When the movie was over, Randy Gilman from Randyland spoke as did the writers/producers/director. The restaurant chatter just got louder and louder, again in direct competition. The issue is that the restaurant patrons were not there to see the movie so had no skin in the game and no reason to be quiet and polite. It wasn't like a dinner theatre experience in which they were eating and watching the show. They hadn't paid nor reserved their tables with any intention on being spectators to our event; however, were sharing the same space and interfering with our/MY experience. (This wasn't chatter related to another ensuing incident requiring medical attention. That couldn't be helped and isn't even part of this discussion. That incident was handled well.) So what happens on a paying event night I wonder? Sorry, but I don't think this was a well-thought out idea of shared space with no consideration of your audience and their money for future events. If the restaurant is truly a separate experience from the main event, then it needs to be physically separated and soundproofed. Or you make the diners part of the main event experience -- they pay the event price and you require they not talk during the performance. You just cannot have it both ways. I think the noise level from the restaurant was disrespectful to the event patrons, the film makers and Randy, all in attendance for this showing.

Alphabet City is a fantastic concept supporting art within the community. I have not personally attended a performance here, but often frequent the bookstore to browse. The book selection is fantastic, with a wide variety of authors and titles. In the back, there is even a used book section and a discounted book section. I adore spending Sunday afternoons browsing through the books and am so glad this place is part of the northside neighborhood.

We got to experience Alphabet City during Doors Open Pittsburgh this year. The entire concept is awesome and the space is so cool. I can't wait to get to come back to experience the entire concept when we weren't trying to get to more spaces.