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| - Sometimes you walk into a restaurant and feel as though you've been transported to another time and place. Sometimes its tragic, sometimes its magic. Sometimes the food is good, sometimes you want to go into the kitchen and stab the cook in the neck. We've driven past Esta Esta quite a few times since moving to Pittsburgh last year and we've been filled with curisity. It looks like something straight out of Goodfellas. Last night, we decide to scratch that itch and see what this place is all about.
Esta Esta has been open since 1955 and it looks like nothing has changed. The first thing I noticed when I walked in the door was the overwhelming smell of romano cheese. Its a confusing smell - it smells a little like puke, it smells a little like rotten food, but in any event, I found it to be somewhat off-putting. The decor is tacky. The fake painted windows, the strings of lights with bunches of plastic grapes, the empty chianti bottles on the tables covered with red candle wax and tall red candles all give the place an air of sad nostalgia. Its dark in the diningroom and that always makes me think it might be really filthy but nobody can see it. So, right off the bat, I was concerned. These are not good signs and I almost demanded to my husband that we turn around and leave. But something made us stay.
There were two tables of people in a dining room of about 20 tables, but it still took the lone waitress about 10 minutes to come seat us. She led us to a booth and when I sat down on the cushioned bench, I sunk and I could feel a big metal spring poking me in the hip. She apologized and said "I should have warned you about that". No, they should replace that seat. But whatever.
A couple more groups came in while we were looking at the menu, one was a party of 8 and one was a party of 6. And this poor waitress was completely overwhelmed. She couldn't keep up and every time she came to the table, she apologized. The bartender came over and helped her, which was nice.
We looked at the traditional Italian menu and decided not to get too fancy. I ordered linguini and meatballs and my husband ordered eggplant parmesean. Our salads were fine, our bread was fine, but based on the decor and service, I was bracing myself for the worst when our food arrived. We were pleasantly surprised. The meatballs were bumpy and irregularly shaped, flat on one side, the telltale sign that they were homemade. Aside from being just a touch salty, they tasted good. The pasta was cooked well and tossed in sauce and cheese and the marinara was rich and flavorfull. My husband's eggplant was tasty too. It came rolled up in little bundles and the eggplant was sweet, fresh and cooked perfectly.
So despite the scary look and smell of this place, the food was not completely unfortunate. We probably won't be back, just because there are so many other places in Pittsburgh that serve good food and don't smell like cheese puke. But I didn't feel like I wanted to go into the kitchen and stab the cook in the neck.
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