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| - A lower Lawrenceville staple in my book, serving up delicious Tuscan-style thin crust brick oven pizza and various other dishes like soups, salads, and pasta. But, more often than anything, I come here for their pizza. For this style of pizza, Piccolo Forno makes some of the best I've had in Pittsburgh, second only to Il Pizzaiolo's (among the places I've tried).
Because I live a few blocks away, most of my experiences here have been stopping in for a quick soup or panini during an off-hours late lunch or getting takeout pizza. The food is consistently delicious, and I have tried a lot of the menu. My favorite items are the Torre di Melanzane (eggplant/tomato/mozzarella appetizer), the Salciccia e Cipolle (sausage pizza), and the lasagna. I've enjoyed several of their soups, including an amazing butternut squash, and paninis for lunch.
When it isn't crowded or busy, the service is absolutely satisfactory. But yes -- it does get VERY crowded sometimes, particularly Friday and Saturday nights, and any night there is a big event going on in Lawrenceville. On very busy nights, it is PACKED, and you may have to wait up to 1-2 hours for a table, depending on the size of your party. They don't take reservations for tables under 5, so if you are planning to dine here on a Friday or Saturday night, plan to arrive much earlier than when you expect to eat. They will call you when your table is about to be ready, so you can spend the waiting time browsing the many cute shops nearby or grabbing a cappuccino at Espresso a Mano.
Many of the negative reviews here seem to have been affected by the long wait and crowdedness/popularity of the restaurant. Is the food worth the wait? It's hard to say. My advice is to either avoid trying to dine in during peak hours on Thurs, Fri, and Sat nights, or plan for the wait and do something fun in the neighborhood, or get takeout. You won't be disappointed by the food!
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