Things to Do in Pittsburgh: 5th Avenue Place

Sometimes, you just need a food court. Whether you are on a field trip with a school group or aiming to get generic food for a variety of different tastes, food courts and miniature malls like 5th Avenue Place provide an easy, accessible, and simple option.

5th Avenue place is at the corner of 5th Ave and Liberty Ave, in the large, reddish Highmark Building. Entering into the ground floor, there are a few shops, a tourist welcome center, and a food court upstairs. Going further upstairs would take you into the buildings considerable office space, but most guests probably aren't looking for that. Instead, they stop on the second floor.

The food court would be familiar to any mall shopper. With mainstays like Sbarro's involved, the food is exactly what you would expect. Honestly, it is very generic. That said, food courts benefit from being able to handle crowds and being able to provide a decent diversity of options, and this does both. There is a healthy salad bar, burger joint, and a few other options for anyone.

Caffe Amante is the single real restaurant, cut off from the rest of the mini-mall. The lunch menu here is a good mix of pastas and specialties, but most pleasing is the fact that it is generally not too pricy. most entrees are between $7 and $11, which isn't killer. If you can get over the mall outside the window, the atmosphere inside is fairly nice.

With the exception of Total Vision Care, a busy optometrist's office, the majority of the stores inside cater to tourists and folks coming in for a visit. There are multiple gift shops and a couple clothiers inside.

With the exception of the tourist info center, the entire operation is closed Sunday. Otherwise, it is open from 10 am to 5 pm weekdays and 10 am to 3 pm on Saturdays. It gets pretty busy during lunch hours, as workers from upstairs and around the area descend into the plaza for fast food, but you can probably be in and out of there is a reasonably short amount of time. For more information and shop specifics, see their website at http://fifthavenueplacepa.com/.