Southwest Bistro

 On the recommendation of a post on this bboard, my husband and I tried
 out the Southwest Bistro downtown on 6th Avenue across from the Fulton
 Theater.

 We had an excellent, spicy and creative meal - we will definitely visit
 again.  We both tried the gaspacho (very fresh and good); my husband had
 the lamb shank with blue corn meal polenta - it was tender and
 delicious; I had the corn meal pizza with peppers, smoked tomatoes and
 chorizo (hot sausage) - it had lots of fresh cilantro - very good and
 very filling.  For dessert we tried the blueberry vodka sorbet -
 refreshing after a spicy meal.

 We called at 6:30 on a Saturday night, and they took our reservation for
 7:30 that night.  When we got there, it wasn't that crowded, but I was
 glad we had the reservation.  This restaurant is new, so it's not listed
 in the phonebook.

 Christian L. wrote:
 >Excerpts from netnews.pgh.food: 26-Jul-94 Southwest Bistro by Melissa
 >[email removed]
 >> On the recommendation of a post on this bboard, my husband and I tried
 >> out the Southwest Bistro downtown on 6th Avenue across from the Fulton
 >> Theater.
 >>
 >
 >From rest of this post, it seems that I would like to try this place.
 >Could anyone tell me what the prices are like?

 Just had lunch there today (going for dinner on Friday).  For lunch
 I had one of the "specials" which was Turkey Chili.  This was good,
 pleasantly warm/hot with beans and shredded/chunks of turkey.  My
 lunch came with a salad which was excellent (I had the Cilantro Vinaigrette).
 There were some greens, bits of walnuts, mandarin orange, and golden raisins
 which all combined into a really nice flavor.  We also got corn bread with
 our meals.  Mine was $6.95.  My friend had the Caesar Salad with Rock Shrimp.
 His was I think $7.95, but might have been $6.95.  We had an Arizona Iced Tea
 for which they charged $1.95 each.   The service was pretty good and there
 was no wait to be seated.  It looks like dinner prices are in the low teens.
 When making our dinner reservations the waitress said she really liked the lamb
 dish and the pasta with red pepper sauce (sweet red peppers - not too spicy).

 Bon Apetite.

 Finally tried it Sat night. Very, very disappointed.
 My wife and I got there after the theater rush so it was nearly empty
 but the service was still mediocre to poor. Found the food very bland,
 the prices rather high, and the management unconcerned.
 Oh well. One more on the "never go again" list.
 JWW