Visit Date: February 23, 2025

Seattle. Columbus. Philadelphia. San Francisco. These are all cities with food halls that Sam and I have ventured into, walked around, and left (mostly) empty-handed. It’s not that we weren’t interested in any of the offerings — I usually get overstimulated by the options, crowds, and lack of seating. Because of our poor luck with food halls, we were slow to try out one of Pittsburgh’s newest spots. But, an event brought us downtown on a Sunday morning, and Sam suggested we walk to the Strip to give Novo Asian Food Hall a try. 

Novo Asian Food Hall is located in Pittsburgh’s Strip District neighborhood, inside the newly reconstructed “The Terminal”, which has quickly become the home of many other local businesses. The food hall opened on March 1, 2024 and has generally been well received by the community.  

Within Novo Asian Food Hall are seven locally-owned Asian restaurants: Sumi’s Cakery (Korean bakery), Teachaan (bubble tea, street food), Korea Garden (Korean bento boxes, street food), Kung Fu Chicken (Taiwanese fried chicken), Tan Lac Vien (Vietnamese staples), Mola (sushi), and Lolo’s (Filipino classics). There is also a bar located within the space. 

The physical space was great! It was beautifully designed, with plenty of seating, even on a busy weekend. They had a mix of booths and table/chairs, as well as some long tables near the bar for larger groups. They still had Chinese New Year decorations up, which made for a festive environment. We found the acoustics in the space to be solid, allowing for us to converse at our normal  

The food stalls are set up around the outside perimeter of the space, making it easy to navigate and check out each stall’s offerings. You order and pay at each restaurant individually, and then they give you a buzzer to return when your order is ready. 

Here’s what we ate: 

Mola 

California roll: $7.00

Spicy tuna roll: $9.00

Yuzu Cheesecake: $4.00

We tried this first and it was the best thing we ate! We went with their safer options for sushi, one cooked and one raw, as we felt they would be a good gauge of the quality of fish and overall taste. The sushi was fresh, and the rolls were generous in size. Mola, whose main location is in East Liberty, is known for their sushi, and now we know why. 

We also tried the yuzu cheesecake, which was served with some sort of berry sauce/compote (the actual flavor of this was pretty indiscernible). This was fine. Sam isn’t as big of a citrus fan, but I liked the punchy, fresh flavor from the yuzu. The sauce added nothing to the cheesecake. Unfortunately, we would not order this again due to the $4 price tag, which seemed very steep for what it was.  

This great start to our lunch incentivized us to try out the storefront, so keep an eye out for that review someday!

Sumi’s Cakery

Honey Garlic Bun with Cream Cheese: $7.00

Egg Tart: $3.50

While I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, I still can never resist an Asian bakery! Sam surprised me and returned to the table with a bun and an egg tart. Neither dish was served warm, and there wasn’t an option to, which I was surprised by. I wasn’t sure how I would like the bun, especially at room temperature, but I enjoyed this. The bread was fluffy, but while the cream cheese was tasty, it was a little too sweet and too abundant. I didn’t get any of the garlic flavor, mostly just honey and cream cheese.

The egg tart, however, was excellent. Egg tarts have quickly become one of my favorite desserts since they are not too sweet, but they are difficult to execute well. This was great. The tart shell was flakey, and the custard was silky smooth. I couldn’t stop eating this!

Korea Garden

Kimchi Pancake: $12.00

Dumplings (7): $12.00

With the surge of Korean TV shows and movies, I was really excited to try Korean food (albeit some safe options). Unfortunately, I was let down by this food stall, and this was the worst part of our lunch. The biggest issue was not necessarily the food quality, but the price for what we paid.

The kimchi pancake was nice, like a scallion pancake but with some kimchi mixed in (obviously). It wasn’t overwhelmingly spicy but definitely had a nice kick to it. We also tried their dumplings, which were deep fried. They were filled with a beef filling, as well as glass noodles and some veggies. Beef dumplings are never usually my favorite, and these aligned with that pattern. The taste was not my favorite, and I found them texturally off. Additional, both of these dishes were very greasy and while they came with a large quantity of food, it still seemed steep in price.  

We felt like this was a great representation of the variety in the Asian food scene here in Pittsburgh, and while the food quality wasn’t phenomenal across the board, it is a great way to try out different cuisines in one place. Overall, we had a really great lunch at Novo Asian Food Hall, and we will definitely return! We hope to try out all of the food stalls offered, revisit places we liked, and give others another chance! 

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Have you been to or heard of Novo Asian Food Hall before? What did you think? How do you think it betters or worsens Pittsburgh’s food scene? Will you pay a visit? Do you have any other Pittsburgh recommendations for us to try? Let us know in the comments!