I would recommend Cafe Same to you. After repeatedly driving by this restaurant (on Baum at its intersection with Liberty and Aiken), I decided to take my family there this past weekend. We had an excellant meal! All 5 of us ordered a fixed-price ($12.95), four course meal consisting of: - either fried provolone with tomatoes or spicy sausage with marinara - a generous, diverse house salad - a double (meaning two different types) portion of pasta - frozen strawberry yogurt Also included was some great bread with a garlic enhanced hummus. There were roughly 20 types of pasta to select from. I tried a three-bean based veal marinara that was very tasty. I also had a spinach alfredo which was fairly ordinary. Everyone else rated their pasta/sauces as good to great. The restaurant has a very warm, comfortable atmosphere - the service was friendly and competent, maybe a tad slow. The wine list was full, but a little on the expensive side (i.e. I have seen the same wines cheaper, elsewhere). Cafe Sam has a full menu - we certainly plan on going back and giving it a try! The restaurant seems near enough to Bloomfield that I have to believe it is influenced by the Italian restaurants there. Enjoy! PS - There was also a decent looking bar - it contained a piano, although I'm not sure when and if it is played. >Someone wrote: > I'm a student at CMU and my parents are coming up for this weekend. > I would like to have them take me to some excellent Italian food. I'm > looking for someplace near CMU (Oakland, Shady, S.H., etc) that is > reasonable to semi-expensive, has good ambience, and has a bar. All > suggestions welcome.
Pittsburgh, PA