I recently visited Seviche for a tasting of their finest offerings during a warm Pittsburgh spring evening.
During happy hour, Seviche offers a special menu with select tapas for $5, select glasses of wine for $4, special cocktails (including mojitos) for $5 and Latino beer for $3. Seviche also has Chickita Tuesdays when all ladies get their first drink on the house, all day long.
Seviche’s mojito selection is crisp and refreshing; I enjoyed the Seviche Mojito Classico, made with Bacardi Superior rum, muddled mint, fresh lime juice, mint infused simple syrup and a splash of soda. They also have peach, key lime, mango, mixed berry, and banana flavored mojitos.
Seviche has a lively happy hour from 5pm-7pm weekdays and a special weekend happy hour from 10pm-12am for the crowds who gather after shows in the cultural district.
The atmosphere of Seviche is warm and rhythmic, with notions of Cuban and Latino flair throughout the decor. With an open air kitchen and high ceilings, it never feels too crowded or stuffy even when the place is packed. With this type of atmosphere, Seviche would be remiss to not take advantage of it–every Monday night starting at 9pm is Salsa Night at Seviche, and I’m sure the vibe is electric.
On to the food! Manager Claudy treated my dining partner and I to the Chef’s Table, a tasting of 7 of Seviche’s delectable seviches and tapas.
Our first dish was a tasting of six different seviches including the Tiradito, a Peruvian style Sashimi with lemon juice, cilantro oil, red chili and sea salt which was refreshing and light on the palate. We also tasted Fire and Ice, a traditional seviche which sparked the taste-buds with habanero peppers and cooled them down with homemade pear granita. Our favorite was the Asian Tartare, served with truffle oil, wasabi mayonnaise, and caviar.
Up next was curried fillet mignon, with just the right amount of flavor. The tender meat was accented perfectly by the mild and creamy curry sauce, served over rice and steamed spinach.
While we were waiting for our next dish, we were trying to think of other restaurants in Pittsburgh with this amount of Cuban and Latino flair and we couldn’t think of any comparison. Next, we were treated to ahi tuna sliders–the tuna was perfectly prepared and it’s flavor was amplified by the accompanying homemade brioche bread and fries with ginger ketchup.
Our last dish was the jalapeno apple cobbler, a twist on traditional apple cobbler, made with jalapeno jelly and a pastry crust served with a dollop of vanilla ice cream. The jalapeno is de-seeded which makes the flavor sweeter and takes away the bite. This was the perfect ending to a great experience at Seviche.
Seviche, Pittsburgh’s Tapas and Happy Hour hotspot, is located at 930 Penn Avenue in the heart of the cultural district and is open from 5pm-1am Monday through Saturday.
Please comment on this post for a chance to win a $50 gift card to Seviche!