Maulik S. wrote: > >Hello, > >My girlfriend is coming into town for a week. I want to take her to a >very nice italian restauruant. (elegant is good! we want to dress up and >go out.) Problem: no car. :-( So anywhere in oakland, shadyside, >squirrel hill is best.. or within a bus ride, i guess. >I know about Pasta Piatto.. any other suggestions? You want Italian, you gotta come to Bloomfield. (54C and 86A go right down Liberty through it.) If you want to go all out, go to Lambardozi's, at the corner of Mathilda and Liberty. A fantastic place, all the amenities, price is high but worth it. If you want to 'skimp' a little bit, go to the Pleasure Bar, a little further down on Liberty (not sure of the connecting street). Decent food, nice service, good atmosphere, but not nearly as 'fancy' as Lambardozi's - and, IMAO, not quite as good. BTW, if you go to the Pleasure Bar, note that the front door (ie, on Liberty) takes you through the bar; the dining room entrance is around on the side. In between the two in terms of quality would be Santucci's, at 4624 Liberty. Excellent food, the service is extraoridarily good, and it's usually not crowded. The atmosphere wasn't a little pretentious, I thought, but then that's me. There are a few other Italian restaurants here, but nothing that I can really recommend (ie, they didn't impress me when I was there). BTW, there is a little place whose name I can't remember, right near the Subway shop, that I would recommend *against* - small place, high prices and rude service.
Pittsburgh, PA
Suggestions?
I've always liked Piccolo Piccolo, which is downtown and to which you can easily get by bus. Others have thought it merely average, not outstanding, but I've always enjoyed the meals there very much. It's an "Italian Italian" restaurant as opposed to an "Italian-American" restaurant, which is what I get the impression places like the Pleasure Bar and Portocello's are. Northern Italian cuisine, which I understand to mean more like French cuisine: light on tomato sauce, etc.