My cabbie recommended Lidia's. I wasn't sure what to think of it I just knew it was Italian food. It was a Thursday night and the place was dead. There were about 3 other tables. It wasn't because the place isn't good though. I think it might have much more to do with the economy...
I had Lidia's Trio del Giorno a la carte. The pastas were all good. Served right out of the pan, there was a penne with a red sauce, a linguine with peas and other veg, but I wasn't really paying much attention to those because they were serving goat cheese ravioli. I very nearly, almost exclusively ate the goat cheese ravioli. These were so tasty and cooked to perfection I very nearly ate until I was sick.
I was a bit disappointed in the wine selection by the glass. It seemed that most of everything I really wanted was only sold by the bottle. It turns out that in Pittsburgh you can have the restaurant re-cork the bottle and you can take it with you. Who knew? Regardless I ended up with a house wine that was adequate for the job.
All in all the place was just average. Even though my meal was fantastic it's mostly because I'm totally biased toward goat cheese. Strange bias I know. Everything else was just A-OK and the meal was pretty expensive for what it was.
I would go there again, but I'm going to explore more of Pittsburgh before I do.