**ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE!!**
We went here on a weekend around 7ish for dinner; we always pass it and were curious but never stopped until one fateful evening...
The first thing you notice is the musty smell when you walk in.
Then you realize that the 70's decor (including hung stripper lights around the ceiling) hasn't changed (probably) since the restaurants inaugural opening.
We were seated and a candle was lit (think Lady & the Tramp-style Chianti bottle with a candle stick... that's what it was!)
Next we were brought our drinks and some stale Italian bread, that I swear had a hint of Freezer-Burned flavor to it.
The menu items had NO descriptions next to anything.
Just the name of the item and a price. This kind of leads me to believe that the owner must be extremely ethnocentric (bordering on racist) and hate anyone who ISN'T Italian.... what else should I think?
Who assumes that everyone knows every Italian dish?
Playing it safe, I ordered the Dill-Butter Salmon--because I LOVE salmon--and the cauliflower as my side dish.
It came out looking really good!!
When I tasted it, the Salmon was incredibly salty!
I salt the crap out of most everything, but this was even salty for me!
As I ate, noticed one bite was particularly fishy and, for a second, I thought it was colder than the rest.
Upon cutting into the very center of this tiny piece of salmon, I noticed that it was completely raw inside and freezing cold.
In the entire 6 years that I've been with my husband, I have never complained to a waitress, sent anything back OR made a fuss over the food ANYWHERE.
I just couldn't eat this though.
I was very apologetic to our nice waitress (WHY THE HECK WAS I APOLOGIZING? ...but I digress) and said that it could use "some extra time to cook because the center was raw and still very very cold.
Would that be possible?"
She (the waitress) was then very apologetic and said "no problem, we'll fix that right up, blah blah blah"
I'm not sure who was more embarrassed, her or me!
It came back out and I cut into the middle-ish again and it was still just as pink and cold as the first time I sent it back.
I explained to her that I couldn't eat it (still incredibly polite about the entire situation--as I find it embarrassing to complain about food) and that I was through and no longer hungry, because I didn't want to prolong this awkward food fail.
She brought out our bill....
This salmon dish that they botched was originally $19.99 (for effing SALMON... a TINY piece of it, that wasn't sushi-grade and was served raw and COLD without the menu indicating such).
She took $10 off of our bill... so we paid 9.99 for a monkey-dish of cauliflower.
Yep. True story.
I. was. pissed!
When a restaurant does wrong, you take the ITEM off of the menu.
Not a fraction of it and add free cake.
I wanted dinner, not dessert.
Oh, and a piece of cake was put into a container to take home "on the house".
I don't want your cake--I'm ready to puke from accidentally eating fishy/cold/crappy salmon... Cake is not the answer to topping off this "meal"!
We'll never go back again.
Scent = moldy/damp/sort of dirty
Decor = c'mon, renovate or at least dust!
Price = waaaaaaaaay overpriced for basic Italian fare.
Food = a joke, even my husband's dinner (the Tour of Italy) was mediocre, at best!
(The Alfredo sauce tasted like it came straight out of a jar)
Italian restaurants in Pittsburgh are easy to do, but its even easier to do the FOOD badly.
This place has got to be a "front" for something else, I have no idea how this joint stays open! Maybe they have poker machines somewhere?
Who ever this "Michael" cat is, that is said to come and talk to everyone, certainly never came to talk to us!
PS: Playing old music to make you feel like you're an extra in Good Fellas does not an Authentic Italian Restaurant make.