#6068 - Pleasure Bar, Pittsburgh, PA - 2/7/2025

Pleasure Bar, Pittsburgh, PA 

On our way to a late dinner at Fet-Fisk in Pittsburgh's Bloomfield neighborhood, we stopped in for a beer at the Pleasure Bar. Pleasure Bar is an old neighborhood joint (the sign right out front says since 1941, which isn't exactly accurate but is only a few years off), with a neighborhood bar on the edge of divey-ness up front and an Italian restaurant behind and beside.

If it weren't for our reservation at a difficult to get into restaurant, I would have welcomed the chance to taste the food I smelled there, and could have easily spent a few hours chatting with long-time locals Ollie, Patrick, and 2 others, as well as bartender Christy.

Pleasure Bar, Pittsburgh, PA 

Pleasure Bar was established in 1944 by Samuel and Michel Collinger in 1944 in a space that had briefly been filled by the Friendship Restaurant. It was one of several businesses named "Metropolitan Restaurant" in the 1920s and "Bloomfield Tavern" during the 30s. Pleasure Bar remained in the Collinger family for many years, and all the regulars we chatted with remembered them well.

It seems to have had a colorful history. In the 40s John Collinger was reputed to be one of the biggest numbers operators in the city. The family also didn't seem to buy into the blue laws restricting activities on Sundays, having had their license suspended at least once for serving alcohol on Sundays and another time for allowing dancing (the horror!) on Sundays.

Pleasure Bar has been run by only three families since 1944: The Collinger family eventually sold the business to Robert Mariani and the Mariani family, who ran it for about 25 years until selling it to Jim Campau in 2009, with the Campau family continuing to run it today.

4729 Liberty Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15224 - (412) 682-9603
Est. 1944 
Previous bars in this location: New Metropolitan Restaurant, Bloomfield Tavern, Friendship Restaurant
Web site: pleasurebarpittsburgh.com - facebook - instagram 
Reviews: cooksandeats - yelp - travelocity - thrillist - acrosspittsburgh