While I drove by The Flame dozens of times before actually going inside, I've been there several times now. It's probably because it's close to where I live, but mostly because it's so darn tasty. The brisket, I have to admit, may disappoint. But that's only because everything else is so much better in comparison. The ribs and pulled chicken are great but the pulled pork is A-MAY-ZING. I've had several of their side dishes and cornbread and my tummy always ends up with a smile. They have some good daily/weekly deals, too, so if you're planning to stop by, check the menu online first. But for reals, the pulled pork - it's the best I've had so far in this city. So moist and tender...the stuff dreams are made of. They are closed on Mondays and only open on Sundays for catering orders. I try to forget this as I have several times tried to call ahead a take out order on a Monday. I've also experienced the catering a few times and never been let down. read more

The Flame BBQ - Haluski and Pulled Pork Special - Barbeque Near Me - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

I had food from The Flame at Millvale Brew Fest (2016) and had the pulled pork sandwich which was ok. However, the man I took as being the owner or manager wasn't the nicest person around. I was in line for the buffet and couldn't decide if I wanted the pulled pork or Italian sausage sandwich (took me about 20 seconds). It was between sessions so it was down time and I was the only person in line. When I couldn't pick a sandwich immediately this guy got testy with me and said, "come on, come on, make up your mind". He made me feel like an idiot. If I wasn't starving I would have walked away without eating at all. I can tell you I'll never give them my patronage. Seriously who does that? read more

We used The Flame for a large indoor event and ordered $1000 worth of food. The pulled- pork with their homemade BBQ sauce is the best! All their sides are excellent, especially their greens, pierogies and baked beans. I would NOT recommend their hamburgers or hotdogs. They're not grilled. They appear to have been mass baked in an oven. Spend a little more and get their shredded meats or ribs or brisket. Overall, I highly recommend them and plan on using them again in the future. read more

This is one of those 'local gems' that you've got to try! This place is hidden in plain sight along Babcock Boulevard in Shaler (North Hills) in a converted house. You can't miss the large "The Flame" sign. Inside you'll find a few small tables and patio chairs, soda cooler, and TV. You could definitely eat here, but we usually do take-out. The owner is always there...ready to give suggestions and free samples. The menu has tons of options from ribs to chicken to homemade macaroni and cheese. Every side dish you need for the complete BBQ. Yesterday - he gave us a free BBQ chicken breast to try! I love the sampler platters - filled with pulled pork, chicken, ribs, and 2 sides of choice. The meat is perfectly smoked and flavored and fall-off-the-bone tender. The pulled chicken and pork doesn't come drowned in sauce - but you're welcome to add it! The BBQ sauce is sweet and tangy with a hint of spice. They also cater parties and deliver. A must try! read more

Boss Hog 8" pulled pork sandwich did NOT taste fresh and did not have much flavor. Sauce had too much vinegar, although the roll seemed fresh. Cornbread muffin was somewhere between North & South. Not sweet but not really Southern either. The place is not particularly clean and the owner is not very friendly. After walking in, we stood there silently while he waited for the lotto numbers to be announced. He got up, took our order without saying much - no greeting, menu suggestions or free samples as the previous poster reports. We sat down and he brought our food out silently. He then busied himself in the back while we ate and didn't say much when we left either. The item we ordered was (I believe) his signature sandwich. So, one would think it would be sorted out well, but this was not flavorful and I don't think particularly fresh. We wanted a bbq place we could depend on, but we won't be returning to this one. read more

Sigh.... Last week was the second time my hubs and tried The Flame BBQ. We wanted to love it so badly. The pulled pork was ok, honestly not much better than I make at home in my slow cooker. The brisket was dry and flavorless. The absolute worst was the ribs. They were like trying to bite through a stick of beef jerky. They were dry, flavorless and just awful. The sauce is tangy, kind of interesting but not good enough to improve the flavor of any of this dry meat. The mac n' cheese had zero seasoning and the coleslaw may as well had been from the grocery store shelf and the cornbread actually was from the grocery store, I could bet all I have that they aren't making that in house. Oh, I almost forgot, we wanted to try their fries with pulled pork but they "didn't have the fryers on" Uhmmm, what? My husband loves BBQ and I ordered a lot from them for us to try and I was so disappointed and wasted a lot of money. It's worth it, north hills folks, to drive a little farther and get better BBQ. read more

I ate here this past Saturday afternoon with my girlfriend for lunch. My girlfriend and I both love BBQ and even though we have driven past this location many times (and I have eaten here a few times), it never really comes to mind whenever I am trying to think about a place to eat. Due to that we made sure to plan ahead of time and finally made it here. The inside of the place is not much to look at with only a counter to order, a cooler full of drinks, 3 tables, a TV and some magazines. It is clean though and probably serves the number of eat in people well as I remember having a conversation with the owner a few years ago about how most of their customers order their food to go. Upon picking up a menu I was pleasantly surprised to see that they have really expanded it from the last time that I was which was at least a year ago. After consulting with my girlfriend, we decided to split a beef brisket mac and cheese and also a miss piggy platter on which we ordered some pulled pork, collard greens and black eyed peas. It came out to us in about 10 minutes which seemed to be a more than reasonable time frame. The first thing that I noticed was that the beef brisket was shaved very thinly over top of the mac and cheese. It also had a nice smoky flavor which helped the dish immensely as I did not think that the mac and cheese itself was anything impressive. As a matter of a fact we decided to put some of their BBQ sauce on top of it in order to give it some more flavor which it definitely did. The pulled pork on our miss piggy platter was extremely tender and had some good flavors to it but the sides were both interesting. While the collard greens also had a good flavor, the bottom of the cup that it was served in was filled with some type of liquid whenever I was finished. Then the black eyed peas had something sour, probably kraut, in them. I still an unsure of how I felt about that as at times I thought the sourness added something to the peas and at other times I thought that it was a bit much. In the end my girlfriend and I ended up finishing everything and definitely left the place feeling satisfied. The bottom line for me is that I would definitely head back here again in the future. Their BBQ sauce is good and their food reasonably priced for what you get making for a good meal. read more

I have to confess, the Flame was my lunch's bridesmaid today. I started my lunch drive heading in the direction of a seeming recent yelpers' hang, intent upon adding my two cents to the flood of reviews. Lesson one. . . read not only the reviews, but also the hours of operation. Not only was my bride not open for lunch. . . but it was also not open on Tuesdays at ALL. Disappointed, I turned for home, wondering what I'd have for lunch since I'd been focused to the point of excluding any other potential venues from consideration, when I decided on The Flame. I like barbecue, pulled pork, etc, and it sounded good. I've eaten at The Flame (or rather ordered from then taken out) several times, and always enjoyed it, but this was my first visit with an eye toward "reviewing it". Unfortunately this was not my best visit. Waitstaff (the lady behind the counter) seemed not to be having a great day. Though she wasn't outright hostile, neither did she make any attempt to welcome me to The Flame, saying simply, "Did you order for pickup?" and at my negative response, "What can I get you?" I think that, and the amount owed (upon collecting my food to go) was the extent of our dialog. I decided to jump on the Mac 'n' cheese 'n' insert food item bandwagon and ordered the Stock o' Mac with pulled pork, and a side of sweet potato fries. I love me some sweet potato fries. I collected my plastic shopping bag and left the 'welcoming' fires of the barbecue behind. The Stack o' Mac was good. Really good, honestly. Upon initial inspection it looked like nothing so much as a pile of pulled pork on top of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Deluxe despite indications of home made mac'n'cheese. It was sooo much better than Kraft. I guess I'm not sure what I was REALLY expecting from homemade mac and cheese. That it would LOOK like the noodles were homemade? Stupid. It was velvety and sharp and delightful and upon further review, surprised me that the sole criticism of it was that there wasn't more of it, since what I'd really been drawn to was not so much the macaroni, but the pulled pork. The portion size was a tad smaller than I'd have liked. It's not a huge criticism, because I probably don't NEED to be eating more than what was given, and there was a hefty bunch of pulled pork on top of it. . . but I liked it more than I thought I would, and I think it would have balanced out the dish a little if there'd been more of the great mac 'n' cheese. The sweet potato fries were also good, but "floppier" than I prefer. I like a nice crisp fry. But these had great skin-on, earthy, sweet flavor, and when I got home and dipped them in a little Sweet Baby Ray's (cause that's how I roll) they were very tasty and I found that relative to the total experience my disappointment with the texture was pretty minor. Cost wise, it's not a bunch to spend. $10.86 for lunch. But this is Millvale. Relative to the surroundings and what the neighboring establishments charge. . . it actually seems sort of spendy. I expect, for example, to drop $15.00 or more for lunch in Pittsburgh on any given day (with tip). But Millvale? There was no tip to worry about, but also no drink. Seemed like a bit much for a bit too little. Overall, I'll definitely be back. I don't think I'd counsel anyone to undertake a journey to visit, but certainly if you're in the area and have a hankerin' for pulled pork or chicken wings, it's a good venue. read more

The Flame BBQ - the front of the restaurant - Barbeque Near Me - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

I had the Miss Piggy pulled pork plate. The BBQ was pretty tasty, they season theres with a vinegar based sauce. I got french fries and macaroni on the side, nothing to exciting there but also nothing to complain about. The drink selection included Boylan sodas,Cheerwine (no longer just a southern delicacy), canned cokes, and water, and bottled tea. The prices weren't bad, I'll probably be back. read more

The Flame BBQ - pulled pork. - Barbeque Near Me - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

My family loves this place for the food and the excellent staff. All of the meats are really good and the sides rock. My favorite is the bbq beef. We had Lou cater our family reunion. Everyone loved it! read more

Some of the best baked beans I ever had, kid who served me I think his name was Nick looked a little high. The pulled pork was the best around town and the owner is from beaver county. Good customer service except the owner kept talking trash on Jersey Mikes read more

Matt Plautz recommended this to me. The boss dog was out of this world. Snacked on a few of those while talking to the owner about how bad Jersey Mikes is. He's right Jersey Mike's ain't fire but it's bomb. Might bring my boy Tony Miller there next week to get some baked beans read more

Been here a few times -- not the newer place in Cranberry but the older place just south of there, in the McKnight area. It was very tasty too. I'm from Texas so I tend to hold BBQ up there with 911 heroes and Jesus -- and I can certify that this place can do a mean pulled pork. It is tender, warm, seasoned and delish. Seriously, I've been to a lot of BBQ places around PGH and their meat is often more effed up than a sack full of hangers. But The Flame does a good job. A note for people who are in to BBQ. The Flame, like almost all BBQ I've had in western PA, is not sipcy like we've got in Texas. It is sweet, like that found in and around Nashville and the Carolinas. The Flame is just like that -- sweet BBQ sauce from the south Atlantic region of the US. Also, the tea they serve is gross. Its bottled by some local company (I think) so its not like they brewed it there in the store -- so I'd skip the tea. The potato salad is good. Mac and cheese is good too. read more

I might give this place a second chance. Had the brisket platter which was sub par. Meat did not have any smoke flavor and portion was slight. Slaw was pretty good and cornbread was good as well. Will maybe try the pork next time if I am in that area. As it is family owned business I will give second chance! read more

Just opened up on 19 in Cranberry. The pulled pork sandwich is great! They serve it on a fresh 6 inch bun with a generous portion of so tender pork. The barbeque sauce has just enough sweetness and tang that it doesn't take away from the flavor of the meat. I haven't tried anything else but if it is as good as the pulled pork, we've got a winner here! read more

I met the owner at Ross Community Day, his idea to promote the Flame was to bad mouth his competition. I dont vote based on negative ads, I certainly will not choose a restaurant that way. My advice, !stay clear of the flame! read more

I was underwhelmed. Too bad do because it's close enough that I could go there a lot for lunch. It looks good from the outside but damn. Sauce wasn't that good, meat was dry and they give you some crappy wonderbread for the sandwich. read more

It pains me to give this place such a low rating, because honestly the food wasn't too bad. We booked The Flame BBQ for a work event. We had decided on 2 caterers instead of one- we were having a hard time finding one caterer to do what we wanted on our budget, so we ended up choosing the Flame BBQ and another local establishment. We were upfront well in advance about this, because I guess I just didn't want to offend anyone. Everything was cool pre-event day. On the food: It's not what you'd want to serve at your wedding, but it's not bland or tasteless. It was good, quality barbecue. We did a few pans of pulled pork, mac & cheese, potato salad, and baked beans. Everything tasted nice. The bread for the sandwiches was great, he brought all the supplies and paper products, and I was all in all really happy with how the food turned out. Everyone seemed to have good things to say about it, and I noted no complaints. ... except that the owner, who stuck around to man his table, seemed really miffed that we also used a second caterer. I dealt with him personally and made sure to mention this in several of our phone calls, but still it seemed to offend him. After the event, I got word from 4 different coworkers that he had approached them and grilled them about the price of the other caterer, the poor quality of their food, etc. etc. He just generally shit-talked the other guys. I have not heard from any customers who were there, but I'm concerned that since it was an outside-of-work event and he couldn't have possibly known everyone he spoke to was an employee, that he might have spoken this way with customers as well. When he approached me during the event, I was unaware he had already been grilling others. Assuming he was asking about their price for just his own knowledge, I made the mistake of being honest with him and telling him how much they charged me for the spread. He then went on and on, as though he was offended that I went with a caterer charging that much, about how he could have done the same things as they did (despite these items not appearing on their menus at all), and this exchange made me really uncomfortable. All things considered, if it weren't for this weird and uncomfortable exchange with the owner, I would have been back. Like I said, the food was pretty good. My kid has been asking for their Mac & Cheese ever since and the pulled pork was so tender- but for a catering experience, I found the interactions with the guy very off-putting as did my coworkers. I won't say don't use them- like I said, the food is good and it could very well have just been a bad day for the guy- but I will not be back. read more

I like this place a lot. Having lived in the South for many years, this fits my memory of moist, slow-cooked pulled pork served piled high. BBQ sauce is placed on the table for you to add to taste; it's a bit too sweet for my tastes as-is, but the provided Cholula hot sauce helps with that. I normally eat the pork burrito, which has the pulled pork, onions and shredded cheddar cheese on a tortilla. I'm happy enough to eat the fillings and skip the tortilla. Today I had the Mac 'n' cheese with pork, which was yummy, but the cheese sauce was thinner than I prefer. The Boss Hog sandwich is simply pulled pork on a bun, but my boyfriend finds it eminently craveable. On my visit today, they seem to have switched to Johnnie Ryan soda. The black cherry was good, but it was a startle as I was anticipating the Boylan's. In addition to pork they also have lamb, which I have had served with a white BBQ sauce and found to be OK. They also have chicken, which I mean. C'Mon. How can you mess up chicken? I do love their pork a lot, but I find it to be a bit spendy for lunch. This is an occasional treat for us. read more

We stumbled upon this place looking for a caterer for a casual wedding shower a few years ago. Since then, it has become a go-to for catering events and take-out. The food is excellent. We love the pulled pork/chicken, baked beans, and sweet potatoes. The potatoes are like candy! Our guests always rave about the food, and my parents even request party packs when we go home to visit. read more

Flavor! That's what this BBQ establishment has over the other BBQ places I have tried, which is just about all of them around Pittsburgh. This chef-owner does not feel he needs to dump half a bottle of hot sauce on his food, instead he concocts complex and tasty sauces to give a subtle flavor to his excellent meat. This time I asked for extra sauce! He uses cherry wood, he does not smoke over charcoal like the majority of the other establishments. To me, charcoal tastes like oil, and not smoke. On multiple visits the owner has been very pleasant, a big smile on his face, happy to discuss his BBQ. I have sampled most of his side's, nothing mac and cheese because I make my own, and all have been excellent. To those who gave negative reviews about the sauce, if you like the sauce hotter, dump hot sauce into it. It's better to leave it out because you can always put it in but once it's in you can't ever take it out again. Personally, I like the flavor of the sauce and I will not go back to those who overspiced there rubs are there sauces. Take note that even the negative reviews where the reviewer seemed to have taking the time to make things sound as bad as they could, nitpicking everything, even those people said the pulled pork was okay. Most people raved about it. When people have a wonderful experience they generally don't take the time to go and write a review, but I think this establishment deserves it. I have not had the brisket, but I have had the pulled pork and the ribs, and both were wonderful. The genuine smoky flavor and tender meat, with a rich tomato sauce, I think that's the best around. read more

The health department should visit here. They just microwave incredibly old food - they don't really cook anything! This past week the chicken was questionable at best. Extremely disappointing... read more

Wow! A girlfriend told me about this place opening in Cranberry Twp, PA and I can't say enough about this place. The pulled pork, bbq sauce, mac n cheese, sweet yams, coleslaw and beans were AMAZING! Definitely worth every penny! You won't be sorry. read more

We ordered the BBQ rib platter and the meat was absolutely horrible. All overlooked, tough, and extremely fatty. We called to provide feedback and they told us we must have got a Bad Batch. This place will not be around long with the poor quality combined by their failure to accept feedback in a constructive way. stay away. read more

Great food. Pork was delicious and melted in your mouth. A place you want to be a regular of. The owner was very friendly and even offered brisket samples to try even though we did not order. Must try! read more

I had the Miss Piggy lunch special with cole slaw, plus a side of cornbread. The pork tasted like it was boiled. It smelled very pungent, as if I were actually in the pig's pen. It had no flavor, other than sweaty pig. It even dripped water when I bit into it... no sign of tasty fat or grease, just thin clear tasteless fluid. And there were all sorts of strange grizzly and sack-like shapes in the meat. The cole slaw was good. The cornbread was cold and a tad stale (looked like a hockey puck), but sweet like I prefer. I did not have a pleasant experience at The Flame. I went for lunch on a Monday, just before noon. Could it be bad timing? read more

I went to the new Cranberry location. The pulled pork was some of the best that I've had in a while. Small location but the food was very good. read more

not fresh...mac and cheese from fridge to microwave....girl behind counter and no cooks? She said she can deep fry me some wings. I can get that anywhere. Theres no love put in this food. Id rather have kraft mac then what they served me. Also the size of the dish is small for the price. When you pay over $7 for mac and cheese there better be some cheese in it. This was a joke. read more

Well.... Sorry, but I consider myself a snob when it comes to BBQ Ribs. Born and raised in the Mid-West kinda spoiled me when it comes to beef, pork, etc. I thought I'd give The Flame a try due to Groupon and sorry to say... between 1-10 I can only give them a 4.5. The cook advised that the ribs are cooked in the oven then lastly put on the Charbroil for the final hit of heat. You can tell because the ribs really had no taste as if steamed to get the tenderness then onto the gas to firm things up a little. The ribs had no taste and the BBQ sauce was way too runny for me. I asked if they use Mayo in the Cole slaw and they told me they use Marzetti Sauce for the Cole Slaw. My wife had the Cole Slaw and I wanted to try the Greens. The Greens were way too mushy for me and you could tell there were no smoked neck bones used for flavoring. Just salt and a microwave. Mushy & bland for my taste. Sorry Flame for this review but it's only my opinion and I was hoping to find that one Rib place that stands above all others. I tried it once, will I try it again....probably not. Sorry. Jim / North Hills Pittsburgh read more