by Bailey Ritchey, Ashley Llaneza, James Engel, Julia Falgione, Stephanie Bodner

Shady Grove is a restaurant located on Walnut Street in Shadyside. It is very casual and serves American comfort food for reasonable prices. The restaurant gives off a very comfortable vibe and has a variety of different food options to choose from. “The Oracle” ventured out to the streets of Shadyside to truly experience the vibes of Shady Grove.

Ashley: Shady Grove has a very comfortable atmosphere and the food is nothing short of delicious. Although I eat there often, I wanted to order something that I had never tried before. As an appetizer, I ordered the shazam shrimp, which was a nice twist on your typical fried shrimp. It was tossed in a creamy sauce that came with a kick. For my entree, I ordered a Portobello pesto sandwich with waffle fries. The sandwich had the perfect ratio of Portobello to pesto and the waffle fries were well cooked. Overall, I would rate Shady Grove a 4.5/5 only because the restaurant itself is a bit of a drive away and parking is limited.

Bailey: The Shady Grove is definitely a restaurant that I would go back to. For an appetizer, I ordered potato skins that had cheese and bacon on top. This was by far my favorite part of the meal. My entree was pesto pizza and a side of fries. The pizza was good, but nothing too different from normal pizza. The fries were crispy and another favorite part of the meal. For dessert I ordered an ice cream sandwich that came straight from the packaging, but I didn’t mind because I love them. Along with the amazing food came the great environment and vibe. Sitting next to a flower shop, you smell the fresh flowers while eating. Overall the night was very fun and earned a solid 4.3/5.

James: I enjoyed my time at Shady Grove. The service was good and my food was tasty. I ordered the Bacon Swiss Burger, which included a thick beef patty, warm melted Swiss cheese, and tender bacon all between a soft bun. This was entirely filling and very satisfactory. Shady Grove also features the rarely seen waffle fry. These were crispy but not too greasy, and they are definitely worth a try. Overall, Shady Grove offers a good meal at a snazzy, albeit expensive, location. 4.8/5.

Julia: The food at Shady Grove was very enjoyable and I would without a doubt go back. For an appetizer I had the Ahi Tuna Poke bowl. It had fresh seared tuna which had a very good taste and wasn’t fishy at all. It also included mango salsa in the poke bowl which added a great taste to the entire thing. For an entree I had the Thai shrimp tacos. The shrimp alone on the tacos was very good but the rest of the taco, like the tortilla was okay. I was disappointed with the fact that the entree was $14 and only came with three small tacos and no side. Lastly, for dessert I split a warm cookie with Stephanie. The cookie comes with a glass of milk rather than ice cream, which is original, but I would rather have ice cream with a warm cookie. I would say overall the experience was a 3.5/5.

Stephanie: The food at Shady Grove was very good. I ordered sweet potato tater tots with a spicy ranch. The tater tots were very good and the portion sizes were very big. The tater tots were very good and I would go back just for the appetizer. For my dinner I ordered a margherita pizza, which was just mediocre. The dough in my pizza was raw, like the consistency of playdoh. The actual pizza itself was very good but the dough by the crust was very gummy. I would definitely go back but just not get the pizza. I also shared the cookie with the nonexistent ice cream with Julia. I would rate my experience a 2.5/5.