Meh.\n\nThe Bites:\nI've been here a bunch of times, and I've never ordered anything I would order again.  Nothing was flagrantly bad, but nothing was that great either.  The food is decent fuel--reasonably priced and certainly won't leave you hungry--but it's far from worth going the least bit out of your way.\n\nThe Brews:\nGood selection with prices more or less at the center of the market.  They serve cheap food, but the drinks aren't a bargain.  Nothing special here either.\n\nThe ambiance:\nIt's often unnecessarily loud.  I'd say the only reason to go here is to hang out with a group of friends, but oftentimes when I've come, the music has been playing so loud (or the general atmosphere was so loud) I could only hear the people immediately next to me anyway.  So I suppose they forfeit their \"good for groups\" advantage on that one.\n\nI get the feeling that this is the place to go to in Shadyside when the other places are too crowded and/or too expensive.  You'll NEVER catch me saying \"Hey, let's go to Bites and Brews\"...but I'll probably wind up back here at some point anyway.  Oh well.