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Location: 178-180 Pius St., South Side Slopes. 412-381-7695
Hours: Wed.-Sat. 5-11 p.m.; Sun. 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sunday brunch 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Prices: First course $5-15; second course $18-30
Fare: Contemporary American
Atmosphere: As fancy or as familial as you like it
Liquor: Full bar
Smoking: None permitted
As population and weekly devotion declined, some of Pittsburgh’s churches have been repurposed — and re-embraced. But the creative energy that has gone into turning houses of worship into microbreweries and nightclubs has hardly touched another segment of the communal fabric of yore: the social hall. Once central to community life, Elks and the related menagerie — Eagles, Moose, Lions — now seem quaint. There are no longer dense immigrant populations requiring meeting spots, and the VFW is desperately trying to convince troops home from Iraq that they, too, are veterans of a foreign war.
So what to do with all these empty gathering places? We like the solution proposed by a tiny hall with a long history up on the South Side Slopes. UUBU6 — that’s double-you-bee-you-six, for Workingman’s Beneficial Union 6 — has been converted to serve our generation’s finest communal function: fine dining in a funky atmosphere.
UUBU6 occupies a modest but venerable pair of buildings off the beaten path of the South Side’s drinking and dining spine. It peers down on Carson Street and Downtown from its precarious perch on the high side of a slanted street. Outside, it’s as unassuming as the workers’ housing around it; inside, humble spaces have been made dramatic without drastic make-overs. Instead of obliterating the old interior, simple touches, like new paint, drapes and a few well-chosen pieces of furniture, create distinctive set pieces in which each room’s new use feels layered upon the old. The room in which we were seated was the color of the inside of a blood orange, dimmed by candlelight, while the bar looked like it still might dispense quarter drafts for union members. Painted pine floors and a tin ceiling undercut any tendencies to pretension.
The menu, though also unpretentious, is a far cry from the fare that was probably served here in the past. In some ways, the contemporary American style has become clichéd — farms are named, fine cuts of meat are prepared down-home-style, and so on — but when done well, it’s exciting.
And it was exciting at UUBU6, starting with the breadbasket. Hearty whole-grain slices kept company with an exceptional apple bread which was more like a tart, starting off our meal with the decadent taste of dessert.
A complimentary amuse bouche of oysters in champagne vinaigrette kept our taste buds busy while we perused the menu. The kitchen cheerfully accommodated Angelique’s request for an appetizer-size portion of Ohio City pumpkin ravioli in creamy roasted onion sauce with butternut squash puree. The ravioli were stuffed full of autumn itself, it seemed, and the velvety sauce was deeply infused with sweet and savory notes.
Jason opted for the quail appetizer. Two succulent halves of tiny roasted bird perched atop a little mound of white bean-and-sausage ragout. The beans were al dente — an interesting move that worked in a small serving — and the sausage broadened the dish’s flavor without dominating.
New Zealand venison rack — actually just one thick chop — was much bolder. The meat itself was beautifully seared, pink and firm within. While the chanterelles beneath it were a bit bland, the chestnut spätzle were brilliantly nutty. Two strong sauces came in tiny ceramic pots. Red eye gravy — a sort of jus made with coffee — intensified the chop’s char, while huckleberry sauce offered rich syrupy complement and contrast.
Angelique’s entrée of chicken gratin was what casserole wants to be when it grows up: comfort food in a little black dress. Tender white meat, crunchy bacon bits and silken orzo mingled in a creamy combination of sharp white cheddar and tangy chevre, all under a dusting of toasted focaccia crumbs.
For dessert, reine de saba cake — flavored with espresso and rum and cloaked with a rich blanket of chocolate ganache — sealed our impression of UUBU6 as a gem of a restaurant offering top-quality food, confidently prepared. In other words, just the kind of place we’d love to call our social hall.
JR: 
AB:
This article appears in Dec 7-13, 2006.
Recently ate here after reading such a great revies. What a HUGE disappointment. Service was about as good as you’d expect from Denny’s. The portions were laughably small. Try one scallop sliced into several pieces for nine dollars. Or maybe the the most unimpressive steak I’ve seen for $32. This steak somehow managed to come out cooked medium but with a hard chewy texture and the only flavor being of pepper. My friend actually ahd to take a piece of steak out of her mouth because she couldn’t chew it. Or maybe the pheasant two ways with the overly dry pappardelle that was literally clumped together and had to be cut with a knife. I live about 10 minutes away from UUBU6 and have city perfectly fine tap water. The water here tastes awful, maybe they’ve never heard of filtering water before. Overall an expensive disaster. We let the manager know about our disatisfaction and he gave us free dessert. Dessert was good, but we see no reason to ever come back. Do yourself a favor and save your money.
I agree with the previous post- I ate at UUBU6 last weekend with a group of friends, and was HIGHLY disappointed. The service was awful (close to an hour before we had drinks in hand), and the food was some of the most bland I’ve eaten. My companions commented as well that their food was, at best, bland, and with respect to the steak and duck, partially unchewable. The starch included with my “cajun” spiced fish (I could detect no seasoning except possibly oil), consisted of sticky, plain white rice. Period. I would not eat here again, even if I paid half of the price of what I paid for this cafeteria reminiscent meal.
what a disaster! we decided to go to uubu6 for thanksgiving but first we tried it 2 days before the holiday. though the menu is only a print out it wasn’t changed to accomodate the fact that NOTHING was available. i ended up eating an order of dry french fries. no explanations or apologies from the staff. we went on thanksgiving anyway hoping things would be better. no such luck. i ordered steak with lobster sauce. for 33 dollars i got an overcooked piece of bad meat with dry previously frozen lobster mush. after 1 1/2 hours the turkey entree arrived and the turkey was RAW! the stuffing consisted of not much more than wet soggy bread. how awful. as we were leaving i hunted down the manager who had refused to appear at our table upon our request. he could barely stand still and offered to take things off the bill. i refused telling him he was missing the big picture. i assured him we would not be returning however that barely mattered since i assumed they would not be open much longer. go anywhere but here unless you care to experience death by poultry poisoning!!!!! gobble gobble…i think the bird was still alive!
We, too, dined at UUBU6 for Thanksgiving. Not a total disaster, but not fabulous. Our reservation was for 4pm. We didn’t get out until 7pm. This is due to the fact that every time our waitress walked away, we never saw her again for another half hour. She never introduced herself so we never knew for whom to ask. I must say that the wild mushroom soup was very good, as was the salad I ordered. The entree, however, was luke warm, but was too hungary by that time to have them take it back. BIG mistake with the pumpkin pie. If I didn’t know it was supposed to be pumpkin, I wouldn’t have known. Totally tasteless. This would not be a restaurant I would jump to go to again. For the price, there are much better places to go.
I purchased a Dining Deal gift certificate from the DVE website. Other than that, why would I go to this tucked away restaurant. Well, now I know. Not only was my food terrible, but the service was poor. When we sat down they had a $30 per person special but said no coupons. I asked to use our gift certificate knowing I paid less then what it was for, the waitress came back and said she tried but we couldn’t use it. There’s a reason why your restaurant is on the DVE dining deals……to get MORE business! So, I wanted to leave but we stayed, no wine, appetizer or dessert which was our usual routine. I had my empty glass turned over for 5 minutes and then had to grab the OTHER waiter to fill our drinks. I ordered a $30 pasta dish that was awful. Lobster Spinach Fettuccini that was so clumpy I couldn’t shove it in my mouth. The lobster, well let us just say it tasted fake. Good lobster is sweet and this left the worse after taste in my mouth for hours. We arrived at the place @ 8:20 pm and didn’t get to leave until 9:50. WE ONLY ORDERED ENTREES. I barely saw our waitress but after we got the bill she ran over to get our money. I would NEVER recommend this place. Awful food and service and not accommadating for a newcomer at all.
Do not waste your money or your time with this restaurant. Had an 8:00 reservation and did not receive a morsel of food (including bread) until after 9:00.
First, the waiter took our drink order and brought a warm bottle of white wine, with no ice bucket. Asked him for an ice bucket to at least get the wine closer to the proper temperature, and he brought out a bucket with about 10 ice cubes in it. After getting more ice, we let the wine chill for a while (we certainly had time). He took our orders and though one of the dishes came with a salad and we added a salad to the other dish, 30 minutes passed and there was no salad. The waiter was never even around to ask about the status of the order. Finally, he came out with our entrees. After informing him that we never received salad, the waiter acted like it was a newsflash that we even were getting salads (even though one of the meals included a salad). He said he’d bring the salads out soon and when I asked him if the entrees would just be kept warm or recooked, he basically didn’t consider recooking them fresh as an option.
When the salads finally came out (20 minutes later), they were good but not worth waiting an hour for (still had to actually ask for bread at this point). The food itself was adequate, though the entrees were a little dried out because they were ready 30 minutes before we finally got to them. We didn’t bother staying for dessert as we couldn’t wait to get out of there. In fact, had it not been for the fact that we had a gift certificate to the restaurant, we would have just cut our losses and left a lot earlier.
I will repeat, do yourself a favor and skip this restaurant. If you really would like a great Pittsburgh dining experience, go to Nine On Nine instead.
We dined here with another couple this past weekend and had a great experience! I’d say they’ve responded to criticisms about service, because our server was timely, pleasant and efficient. The food was excellent from the appetizers to the dessert. They have a great wine list with reasonably priced bottles that match their affordable entrees. The decor is very attractive. If you have any interest in helping a local restaurant survive, please give UUBU6 a try! It was well worth our efforts … a very enjoyable dining experience!
I completely agree with most of these reviews. This place was absolutely awful. Not only was the staff incredibly rude, but their service was nonexistant. They were ridiculously short staffed and actually complained to our party that if gift certificate offers were not available, they would have no business. I completely agree, because I would never come back to such a rude establishment.
After learning that they were out of two of their entrees (their menu consists of a single page, with limited options) we decided we would simply redeem our coupons with a bottle of wine. However, this endeavor was far too complicated for the staff, and took an hour and a half for them to open the bottle. (After we were informed that they were out of our first choice of wine) We were so frustrated with the staff that we left ordering nothing but wine.
DO NOT GO HERE.