Sullivan's Steakhouse - A lackluster attempt in a crowded market

And why the restaurant industry could benefit from a downsizing

There’s nothing like a good American steakhouse. While not my preferred category of dining, when done properly they are certainly worth visiting. I spent my younger years frequenting several, including the likes of Smith & Wollensky, Peter Luger, and Old Homestead.

A good steakhouse should either ooze character, or serve up a heavy dose of swank, preferably offer a combination of both.

Sullivan’s doesn’t offer either, and in the sea of modern American steakhouses that is downtown Pittsburgh, one must wonder: Why, oh why, does Sullivan’s Steakhouse even exist.

As far as I can tell, they exist to serve average quality meat on a plate, sometimes cooked properly, other times not so much.

Service and management are out to lunch (hopefully somewhere else), the atmosphere is boring, the drinks are more miss than hit. I don’t understand what the draw is here, other than being another on a long list of steakhouses to check off.

There’s a whole lot of mediocrity out there. So if you’re going to be worse than mediocre, you really should just close your doors. But not to make room for another restaurant, because there are arguably too many restaurants here to begin with.

There was a time when people really wanted to work in the restaurant industry. When it was a goal, not merely a fallback option. When, if you squinted just right, it could be a viable career instead of just a job, with a real possibility for success and for fulfillment.

Beginning in the mid ‘90s and really taking off in the early 2000’s, The Food Network made household names of the likes of Emeril Lagasse, Bobby Flay, and Rachael Ray. The rise of the network, along with personalities such as Anthony Bourdain, made going into the field “cool”. The money got a little better, a focus on the business side of things made it look a bit more like a serious career for more than just ownership.

A generation in, and reality hits. The culture was still pretty shitty, the hours long, the work grueling for those with aging and creaky joints, weekends and Holidays missed for those with families at home. Along came Mario Batali, John Besh, and others, exposed in part by the #MeToo movement, shining an even brighter light on the negative aspects of the culture, and tarnishing the overall appeal of the industry. TV shows and cooking competitions are still spit out regularly, but the novelty has begun to wear off.

Finally, COVID arrives and, like it did for much change in the workplace, hastens an already growing trend. You can’t work from home in the restaurant industry.

What does all this mean? It means that an industry that’s attracting less of the best and brightest than it used to, has to make do with the best of the rest. And opening more restaurants does not create more talented and dedicated employees.

Pittsburgh currently ranks in the top 25 of cities in the US with the most full-service restaurants per capita. And an overabundance of locations brings down the quality of the industry as a whole.

OK, a sporting metaphor, since we are a sports town after all: Think of it this way. There are currently 32 teams in the National Football League. That means 32 athletes in the world get to be starting quarterbacks in the NFL.

If the league expands to, say, 36 teams, that means that 4 additional athletes, who just yesterday were regarded as backup QBs, would now be starters.  And we’ll have to watch them throw passes every weekend.

Every position would naturally follow suit, and we’d be left with a diluted talent pool on the field. The on-field product would suffer, the games would not be played at the same high level they are now.

Similarly, just because 10 (or 20 or 30) new restaurants open up, doesn’t mean we have a corresponding pool of additional qualified chefs or managers or beverage directors just waiting on the sidelines. No, we’ll have to wade deeper into the talent pool for resources, and the result is more mediocrity across the spectrum.

But back to Sullivan’s Steakhouse. Their cheesesteak egg rolls are pretty good. And they’ll validate your parking. Yippee.

Go if: Everywhere else is booked.

Don’t go if: Just don’t.

Sullivan's Steakhouse

600 Grant St

Ground Floor

Pittsburgh, PA