Entry No. 65 — the Pittsburgh file — filed under: pierogi
Pierogies Plus
Helen Mannarino left Warsaw in 1974, landed in McKees Rocks, and in June 1991 opened a pierogi shop in a renovated gas station on Island Avenue with about 350 square feet to work in; a 2006 expansion pushed it past 3,000 and added a walk-in cooler, a freezer and a real cooking system. The crew behind the counter comes from Poland, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and the neighborhood, and the fillings run potato-and-cheese, sauerkraut, cabbage, spinach, meat and the sweet lekvar-style dessert ones, with gluten-free and seasonal fall and winter varieties on rotation. You order by the dozen, in person or by phone at 412-331-2224 — there is no online ordering for local pickup, though they ship frozen to all fifty states. The shop runs Monday through Friday, 10:30 to 6, with a hard cutoff on hot food at 5:30 after which it is cold or microwave-ready only.
→ Three more weird eats & drinks in Pittsburgh — never the same twice
The story
Helen Mannarino was born and raised in Warsaw, left Poland for the United States in 1974 and settled in McKees Rocks. She worked in the food industry for years before deciding to sell the food she had grown up on, and on June 5, 1991 she opened Pierogies Plus in a renovated gas station at 342 Island Avenue with roughly 350 square feet to cook in. In 2006 the shop expanded past 3,000 square feet, adding real production space, a cooking system and cold storage — the gas-station bones are still visible from the street, but the operation behind them is a small factory.
The people making the dough come from Poland, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and the surrounding blocks, several of them with forty-plus years of doing exactly this. The count on the online store runs to 43 pierogi varieties at $16.99 a dozen, most of them expected — potato, cheese, sauerkraut, spinach, meat, cabbage plain or with cottage cheese or kielbasa or mushrooms — plus dessert fillings like apple pie and apricot with cream cheese, a breakfast pierogi, a cheeseburger one at $17.95, a gluten-free menu and a fall/winter seasonal run. Stuffed cabbage, haluski, crab cakes and baked goods round out the counter, and they sell an instructional DVD for the ambitious.
National television found the place early: Food Network's Food Finds in 2003, Bobby Flay's Food Nation in 2004, with WQED covering it at home. The wholesale side put the product into Whole Foods and local retailers and restaurants, and the shop ships frozen to all fifty states — though shipping goes dark over the summer, when a box of pierogies crossing the country in July is a bad idea, and resumes in the fall. Retail is stubbornly analog: Monday through Friday, 10:30 to 6, closed both weekend days, phone or in person only for pickup orders.
What it's like
Island Avenue runs flat through the Bottoms below the McKees Rocks hillside, industrial and unglamorous, and you park on the street out front. Inside is a counter, freezer cases and a short menu board — this is a production kitchen with a retail window, not a restaurant with a dining room, so the transaction is quick and quantities are counted by the dozen. Hot food stops at 5:30 even though the door stays open until 6, which catches out anyone who assumed closing time meant cooking time; after that you are buying cold or microwave-ready. Order by phone at 412-331-2224 if you want a large quantity waiting, bring a card (they take all four majors), and know that the crew is friendly but working.
The move: Duck out early on a weekday and get there before 5:30 so you can eat a hot order right there, then buy two more dozen frozen — potato-and-cheese and sauerkraut — and spend the evening at home frying them in butter and onions with a beer, which is the correct way to eat them anyway.
📍 Before you go Monday–Friday 10:30am–6:00pm, closed both weekend days — this is the trip-killer, plan around it. Hot food stops at 5:30pm; after that you can only buy cold or microwave-ready. Phone or in-person ordering only for pickup (412-331-2224); the online store is shipping-only. Major credit cards accepted. It is about 15 minutes from downtown, in the flat industrial Bottoms below the McKees Rocks hillside — street parking out front.
- 📍 McKees Rocks
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 342 Island Avenue, McKees Rocks, PA 15136
Hours: Added 2026-08-26 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- Get Hip Recordings — Three miles back across the river in the R.J. Casey industrial park, open Monday to Saturday 10–6 — the same weekday-daylight window Pierogies Plus keeps, and the same call-ahead-first industrial-park logic.
- Bicycle Heaven — Six thousand bicycles in a Preble Avenue warehouse, on the same stretch of riverfront industry — a warehouse full of one obsessive thing pairs neatly with a gas station full of another.
- Apteka — The contrast trip: all-vegan Central and Eastern European cooking on Penn Avenue, pierogi included. It opens Thursday through Sunday at 5, so Thursday and Friday are the two days you can do both.
More weird in Pittsburgh
Good to know
Can I go on a weekend?
No. The shop runs Monday through Friday, 10:30am to 6:00pm, and is closed Saturday and Sunday. This is the single most common trip-killer, so build the visit into a weekday. The online store takes orders around the clock, but that is shipping, not pickup.
How do I order for pickup?
Call 412-331-2224 or walk in. There is no online ordering for local pickup — the web store exists to ship frozen product, not to queue up a counter order. Credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover) are accepted.
What does it cost?
The online store lists standard pierogi varieties at $16.99 per dozen, with the cheeseburger at $17.95. Stuffed cabbage, haluski, crab cakes and baked goods are sold alongside them, and there is a separate gluten-free menu.
Can they ship to me?
They ship frozen to all fifty states, but not year-round — shipping is suspended through the summer for temperature reasons and resumes in the fall. If you want a box sent in July, you are waiting.
How far is it from downtown?
About fifteen minutes by car, across the Ohio to McKees Rocks. Street parking sits directly out front on Island Avenue. Come before 5:30 if you want to eat something hot on the spot rather than take it all home frozen.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site
last checked: 2026-08-26