Ross Township food guide: McKnight Road, Babcock Boulevard and the most listings of any town

The short version

Ross Township sits directly against Pittsburgh's northern border. It's mostly residential, with a retail corridor along McKnight Road and smaller business districts on U.S. Route 19 and Babcock Boulevard¹. Our directory lists 140 places to eat and drink inside its official boundary, the most of any of the 129 municipalities outside the city²³.

That number needs context. Ross covers 14.47 square miles, so the density works out to about 10 listings per square mile, a fraction of what you find in city business districts³. Only 41% of the listings are independent; 82 belong to chains, which is what you would expect along a regional shopping road².

McKnight Road, Babcock and the mall

McKnight Road carries 42 listings on its own, about a third of the township total. Babcock Boulevard follows with 25, and Ross Park Mall Drive, the ring road around the mall, has 20². If you want a sit down chain dinner, McKnight is where you go. If you want something smaller, Babcock Boulevard and the older streets near Perry Highway are where the independents cluster.

By category, Pizza leads with 19 listings, followed by bars and pubs (11), bakeries (11) and Mexican and tacos (10)². That is a broad spread for a suburb: nothing dominates, and bakeries rank surprisingly high.

A Big Mac, a plank road and a jailbreak

Ross has an odd claim on American food history. Jim Delligatti invented the Big Mac in the summer of 1967 in the kitchen of his McDonald's on McKnight Road¹. Five years earlier, on August 1, 1962, Northway Mall opened in Ross with 62 stores; it was the first enclosed mall in Pennsylvania, and it now operates as The Block Northway¹.

The roads are older than the malls. The township was formed in 1809 after John McKnight and 30 other residents of Pine Township petitioned the court, and it is named after James Ross, a Pittsburgh attorney and U.S. senator¹. Perry Highway began as the Venango Path, became the Franklin Road and then the Perrysville Plank Road, and was paved from the city line to Perrysville in the 1920s¹.

One story from that road involves food. In January 1902, the Biddle Brothers escaped the Allegheny County Jail with the help of the warden's wife, Katherine Soffel. In a snowstorm they stopped at the White House Hotel on the Perrysville road and ordered six ham sandwiches and a pint of whiskey before they were caught in Butler County¹.

Groceries, markets and the library

The county's farmers market list includes Ross Township Farmers Market and Mazur's Farm Stand⁴. Supermarkets in Ross include Kuhn's Market, Oriental Market, Shop 'n Save - Pines Plaza, and Shop 'n Save / Rochester⁵. That inventory is several years old, so check that a store is still open before you go.

Ross and the borough of West View share the North Hills School District and take part in the multimunicipality Northland Public Library¹.

Who lives in Ross

Ross had 33,567 residents in 2020, up from 31,105 in 2010 (+8%)⁶⁷. The median household income is about $92,642, and the median age is 42.6. About 28% of occupied homes are rented, and 51% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor's degree⁸.

Ross is a commuter suburb, but most commuters drive. Only about 2% of working residents take transit, and about 25% work from home⁸.

Pairing Ross with its neighbors

Ross has eleven borders, and West View, which split off from Ross in 1905, sits in its southwest corner¹. Perrysville, Keown Station, Evergreen Hamlet and McKnight Village are among the township's communities¹. A Perry Highway crawl can start in West View and run north through Perrysville toward McCandless without ever touching McKnight Road.

How Ross compares

Set against the 129 municipalities outside the city on this site, Ross ranks 1st by number of listings and 51st by listings per square mile. The typical (median) one has 14 listings and about 6 per square mile; Ross has 140 and 10²³. Its independent share, 41%, is below the median of 75%, and 12% of its listings have a full bar, against a median of 27%.

For getting around, 1% of working residents walk to work and 2% take transit; the medians across these municipalities are 1% and 2%⁸. 25% work from home, against a median of 19%⁸. Ross has 156 active transit stops, 4th on this list, and about 23,872 scheduled trips a week (6th)⁹.

Picks, inspections and new places

This week's Spotlight picks are La Famiglia Gourmet Pizza Company (pizza), the FOOLS (bars & pubs), Crumbl Northway (bakeries), Cafe Vivella (coffee & cafes), Taj Mahal Pittsburgh (breakfast & brunch), and Honey Baked Ham (American). Each is independent and its latest county inspection on file reads “Inspected & Permitted”¹⁰. Picks rotate every week.

We matched 73 of Ross's 140 listings to Allegheny County Health Department records from Aug 11, 2025 to Jul 28, 2026¹⁰. 2 of those have a most recent placard of “Follow Up Required”, which usually means a recheck was scheduled; it does not mean a place is closed. 13 facilities here passed a preoperational inspection in that window, including Dollar Tree #11472, Aramark Refreshments, and Balance Brewing.

Getting there

The transit file lists 156 active stops in Ross, served by 10 route codes (2, 4, 8, 12, 13, 17, O1, and O12) with about 23,872 scheduled trips a week⁹. The busiest single stop is Perry Hwy past West View Ave, with 652 weekly trips. The county asset list includes the Ross Park & Ride⁵.

We matched 73 Ross listings to county health inspection records, and each matched spot page shows the latest date and placard¹⁰.

Ross by the numbers

Counts from our directory². Land area from Census TIGER/Line county subdivisions³.

Listings by category

Main food streets: McKnight Road (42), Babcock Boulevard (25), Ross Park Mall Drive (20), and Perry Highway (12).

New and changing

These Ross facilities had a preoperational inspection from the Allegheny County Health Department between Aug 11, 2025 and Jul 28, 2026. That inspection happens before a food facility opens, changes owners or reopens after major work¹⁰.

• Jul 17, 2026Dollar Tree #11472Inspected & Permitted
• May 18, 2026Aramark RefreshmentsInspected & Permitted
• Mar 18, 2026Balance BrewingInspected & Permitted
• Feb 25, 2026Karen's Hallmark #32Inspected & Permitted
• Feb 25, 2026Karen's Hallmark #34Inspected & Permitted
• Feb 4, 2026Rita's Ice-CustardInspected & Permitted
• Dec 17, 2025Cafe VivellaInspected & Permitted
• Dec 4, 2025Goodwill -RossInspected & Permitted

Things to do nearby

Transit details

How working residents commute

Percent of workers 16+, 2020-2024 estimates⁸.

Who lives here

Survey estimates for small towns have wide margins of error.