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| - I had high hopes for a wonderful evening at Sienna Sulla Piazza but those expectations were dashed on the rocks by uninspired food, fair to poor service and a sound system that blared inappropriate music for an upscale restaurant. I had read a lot of good reviews of Sienna which had my mouth watering. Unfortunately I had a below average experience. The restaurant itself is small, with tables both indoors and outside. We had made a reservation for a table inside and were unfortunately seated under one of the many speakers from the restaurants sound system. The ceilings were quite high but the loud rock music which rang out from their system was very annoying and made it difficult to have a normal conversation with my dinner companion. I don't mind loud music but I prefer to experience it at a club or concert where I have paid, knowing that my ears will be ringing by the time I leave. In my opinion, Pink Floyd and The Doors are totally inappropriate music for what I was expecting in a fine dining atmosphere. (By the way, I love those bands, just not when I'm shelling out $$$$ for dinner) I asked the waiter if he could have them turn down the music but was told, (for some reason) that the spotify system that it was playing from, could not be adjusted. Okay, I was a waiter for ten years and know all the tricks of the trade and I know when I'm getting a load of BS . The menu is small and although it has definite variety as far as Italian specialties, (pizza to pasta to an octopus salad), it felt as if the chef was handicapping himself with such limited variations under those themes The wine, cocktail and wine by the bottle listings are also small but with good character and moderate pricing for a downtown Pittsburgh restaurant. My dinner companion went for a glass of wine (11$) house salad and one of the homemade pasta specialties, which was suppossed to have a variety of seafood. I chose the octopus salad app and the short rib entree. The house salad was uninspired with lots of iceberg lettuce, mixed with a few field greens and tomatoes, all chopped up to a pulp and drenched with some type of bland dressing.(7$) The octopus salad was served warn with white beans, a red pepper puree and some arugula (11$) a good size portion, with a hint of spice and actually, very good flavor, despite the over infusion of mustard seeds. The seafood pasta entree, which was served, tossed in a lobster cream sauce was dull, with nondescript flavoring and not a lot of seafood. I will say that the homemade pasta was quite good but for the price, there wasn't much of it (24$) Important to note that chef Matt Porco must have gotten a good deal on a ton of shishito peppers (found mostly in east asian cooking) because too many of the dishes on the current menu feature them. The braised short rib(also 24$) had my mouth watering and even though my ear drums were being assaulted with blue oyster cult and leonard skinnard, I was ready to dig in. Once again, portion size for the beef rib was small. It lay in a large cloud of mashed potatoes which were in need of salt and pepper and flavor. Around the potato was a ring of pickled jardiniere (cooked vegetables, sometimes pickled) The meat itself was dry and there was no sauce whatsoever to help with flavor. The pickled garnish was over empowered with vinegar that its pungent aroma overwhelmed the meek flavoring of the rest of the dish. Desert menu is skimpy with only three deserts, one of which incorporated balsamic vinegar into it's pastry cream. The menu also features flat breads which we did not have but looked interesting. However I always say that if i want good pizza, I will just order it from my favorite pizza shop in my neighborhood, where I know won't be disappointed. I think it's safe to say that mediocrity reins supreme at Sienna Sulla,
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