Duke's Upper Deck Cafe

Before today I probably would have given this place three stars based mostly on their beer selection; however, today the service was terrible. We waited two hours for a pizza sub, French onion soup, fries, and buffalo chicken tenders. About an hour and a half in we finally got the small pizza sub and the wrongly made buffalo chicken tenders (ie, no hot sauce). We were told by the waitress that she realized it was wrong, but decided to still bring it out to see if my gf would eat it. She sent it back. By a half hour later, we still had not received the buffalo chicken tenders, nor the French onion soup (which should have been mostly made already), and no fries.  We were told the chef was new, but no effort was made really to make the situation better. No quick and easy app or beers on the house. To boot, the beer was pretty expensive. I will probably give the place another chance based on their beer selection, but it won't be for a while. The food has always been average at best, and the pizza sub was no different. We ended up leaving after two hours without receiving 75% of our order.

There's lots of potential here because of the wonderful character and ambiance of this place, but the food was average at best.  We were there on a Pens Playoff night and there were 2 people working all the tables in both rooms.  Our food came to us cold and unimpressive at that.  Our orders were somewhat mixed up.  The potato skins used a really cheap artificial cheese that was not very appealing.  I tasted a slice of pizza, which is definitely the best thing they offer.  The crust was delicious and homemade.  If you are going to order something, I would go with the pizza.  We also ordered the chicken wings which were pretty good, also.  If you are looking for good food, Homestead better choices at Blue Dust or Tin Front.

Maybe I don't get it.  I've lived around here for some time, and the "born and raised" crowd can't get enough of Duke's.

Maybe it's the odd, you-don't-know-what-it-is odor when you walk in.

Perhaps it's the 80's theater-esque sticky floor.

Surly service, not because they are mean, but swarmed with yinzer locals tops off the average bar food and inflated drinks.

I wanted to like it, but just couldn't!  Someone, anyone... tell me the appeal here!!!