Over the Bar Bicycle Cafe promotes a healthy lifestyle and good eats
The vaulted ceiling in the bar is covered with bicycle murals.
This unique light fixture was created out of spokes and bicycle chains.
The chimichurri steak bowl features Seared sirloin steak, basmati rice, sliced avocado, dressed greens, black beans, roasted corn, cherry tomato, diced scallions, chopped cilantro, lime wedge and a chimichurri drizzle.
The OTB Bicycle Cafe is famous for its wings that feature homemade wing sauces and rubs in buffalo, mild, BBQ, garlic parmesan, spicy chili lime, trail dust, Cajun and ranch.
OTB Bicycle Cafe is known for its large selection of local high-end and hard-to-find brews on tap.
OTB Bicycle Cafe's signature Fixie burger is shown in front of custom tile work featuring a mini version of their building.
OTB Bicycle Cafe is a 6,000-square-foot building with indoor and outdoor seating.
OTB Bicycle Cafe is a 6,000-square-foot building with a large outdoor deck located inside the Crossroads at Hastings community.
The OTB Bicycle Cafe Logo celebrates mountain biking.
Patio season at the OTB Bicycle Cafe Hastings means guests can enjoy listening to live music on the weekends while enjoying beautiful outdoor views of the surrounding area.
Location is everything.
That is what Michael Kotyk, owner of Over the Bar Bicycle Cafe, had in mind when he decided to build his third restaurant’s location close to 600 acres of protected land.
OTB Bicycle Cafe Hastings is located in the Crossroads at Hastings community in South Fayette Township.
The restaurant is close to Chartiers Creek and sits between two community parks, Fairview and Boyce Mayview Parks and the Wingfield Pines Conservation Area.
“That is the kind of environment I wanted the restaurant to be in because I believe in an active healthy-living lifestyle,” said Kotyk, an avid cyclist.
As the weather warms up, patrons are taking full advantage of that natural beauty by making full use of the outdoor deck with live music on the weekends and seating for over 250 people between inside and outdoor seating.
Kotyk said with all the natural beauty surrounding OTB, they are also a destination, so many people drive to the restaurant to dine and enjoy the area.
“Right now, it is mainly neighborhood people or people who bring bikes and their children ride their bikes on the trail while they have an appetizer and a cocktail,” said Hastings. “We have many Adirondack chairs and two fire pits on the deck. We set up cornhole boards and volleyball nets for people to play with out behind us.”
There is no shortage of outdoor recreational opportunities just steps away from the restaurant, so patrons can enjoy lunch or dinner before or after taking a stroll on nearby walking trails, hopping on their bike for a long ride or just relaxing on the large outdoor deck enjoying the view.
“Where our restaurant sits will never be developed,” said Kotyk. “There is also a railroad that goes through that is only used once a day, and that railroad would connect to the Montour Trail that also connects to the Great Allegheny Passage.”
As a cyclist, he envisions this restaurant being connected to those trail systems eventually as long as all the permissions are in place and the rail systems are onboard.
“We have a trail that we put in, but right now, it only connects up into the neighborhood,” said Kotyk. “There are five miles of trails that run through the neighborhood.”
The OTB Bicycle Cafe at Hastings is the third location of the OTB Bicycle Cafe restaurant. The other two are located in old historic buildings, one in North Park and the other in South Side.
“The one on the South Side was built in the 1800s, and the one on the North was built in the 1930s,” said Kotyk. “They are really neat spaces.”
Kotyk lives near the new restaurant and built an office there, so with trusted managers in the other two restaurants, that is where he spends most of his time now.
“This is the first restaurant that I built the building from the ground up,” said Kotyk. “It was built by Charter Homes and has a motto of ‘live in a place where you can walk to everything’. So within the neighborhood, they have a coffee shop, a brewery, a yoga studio, a juice bar, a veterinary clinic, and we are right on the edge of the neighborhood.”
The OTB Bicycle Cafe is unique in that it offers a 6,000-square-foot building, a large outdoor deck and a private party room.
Kotyk combined his passion for cycling, nature and a need for cyclers to refuel by opening his first restaurant in 2008.
“The South Park location is one block off of the Great Allegheny Passage, which is a bike trail from Pittsburgh to Washington D.C.,” he said. “It is all off-road, and people come from all over the world to do it. I am a cyclist, so the bicycle theme started there. That’s where the idea came from, to have people drop in off of the trail to come in, eat and refuel. The North Park location sits right in a county park, so it is surrounded by mountain bike trails, so people from Pittsburgh drive there to do road rides to the suburbs of Pittsburgh.”
Kotyk worked for a restaurant for a decade, starting at 15. He worked in every position until he went to college and then to graduate school. He started working for an architectural and planning firm where he did bicycle and pedestrian planning, trail feasibility studies and park master plans.
He started to get into cycling when he met his wife and found there was an extensive network of cyclists in the Pittsburgh area.
“Cycling was becoming more popular not just as a recreation opportunity but as a mode of transportation,” said Kotyk. “Bike messengers were popular when we first opened, so we offered $2 Pabst Blue Ribbon pounders. That’s all we needed to do to lure them in. All three locations still offer them today.”
He opened his first location on New Year’s Eve 2007. His most recent location opened in December 2020, during Covid, so even though it was challenging, they made it through, and business is thriving.
They recently held a kick-off patio party, a Fourth of July party and are featuring live bands every Saturday and Sunday on the patio.
Kotyk said there is a vaulted ceiling in the bar that is massive and covered with bicycle murals.
“All of the restaurants are covered in bicycle artwork,” he said. “We have a deer head made out of bicycle parts and bicycle-themed mosaic tile work throughout the restaurant.”
The menu features some core items as its sister restaurants, but about half of the menu is its own unique options.
“The OTB Bicycle Cafe is a very fun, relaxing place for lunch,” said James Whalen. “It has a good menu with unique salads, sandwiches and appetizers. Many things, like the tortilla chips (best I’ve ever had), are homemade.”
They offer unique burgers, vegetarian dishes, interesting salads, and favorites like Dirt Rag Delight burger, chimichurri steak bowl and the Crash chicken sandwich.
“I love this place,” said Emily Uzar. “The restaurant is very open. They have indoor/outdoor seating. The decor is unique, all of their food items are delicious and well-priced. Their cocktail menu has many different options.”
OTB Bicycle Cafe features a full bar with 16 taps pouring local high-end and hard-to-find brews, wines, cocktails and a massive bourbon selection.
“We also have our own beer, Gravel Grinder, through our partnership with Dancing Gnome Brewery,” said Kotyk. “We sell so much Gravel Grinder that the brewery has trouble keeping it in stock here.”
OTB at Hastings is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sundays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Its Facebook and Instagram pages offer free yoga class offerings, bourbon dinners, daily food and drink specials and more.
The community the OTB Bicycle Cafe sits in offers single-family homes and designer townhomes. Their website is charterhomes.com/hastings.
Visit otbbicyclecafe.com/hastings for more information or visit Instagram at instagram.com/otbhastings/ or Facebook page at facebook.com/OTBBicycleCafeHastings.