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new(?) Italian restaurant
They had two specials, black sea bass and a gnocchi dish, so we decided to share those. (Each was around $27 -- not something we'll do often. Pasta dishes on the menu were around $15; I didn't look at the meat dishes.) Each special came with a (specified) appetizer, along with the choice of soup or salad that accompanies all their entrees.
I got the minnestrone soup (after confirming that it was vegetarian) and Dani got the mushroom soup. We both thought our soups were quite good. The gnocchi (in a tomato sauce with basil and cheese, though I forget which cheese it was) was tasty. The two appetizers, foccacia with cheese and peppers and red peppers stuffed with cheese and parsley (I think it was parsley) were decent.
The fish special was, err, unfortunate. They brought a whole fish (black sea bass isn't very large, it turns out; I'd be surprised if it had as much as 6oz of meat on it), which left us with the bones problem. I don't recall how they described the flavoring (they certainly claimed some), but what we got was very bland. It was supposed to come with asparagus but they ran out, so we got green beans instead; I thought they were ok and Dani thought they were decent for green beans (which he isn't generally fond of).
All portions were on the small side for the prices being charged. Overall, we've gotten better food, in better portions, at slightly lower prices, from Il Viletto in Oakland. And that's still in the space of "fancy enough that you'd take guests there", rather than some of the lower-end tasty places around.
Service was somewhat inattentive and clueless. Each entree came on a huge platter (inefficiently used, and they weren't making that up in presentation); there was no room on the table for both platters and anything else. (Our waiter moved the bread, the flower vase, and a couple other things onto an adjacent surface.) We'd said we would be sharing (the menu suggests this), but they didn't bring plates for us to use on the first pass. The fish and beans were part of the same special, but more than five minutes elapsed between getting the fish and getting the beans. (I started to eat the fish so it wouldn't get cold; Dani waited for the complete meal.) It took somewhere between five and ten minutes for Dani to get the hot water to go with the teabag they brought him right away. The gnocchi came without any utensils. We were offered "mineral water" when we sat down (presumably this had a price), but we were not offered just plain tap water. It took a while to get the check. Overall, while I didn't especially feel badly served, I did feel ineptly served. (Also slowly, but some of that appeared to be a kitchen problem rather than a waiter problem.)
The restaurant is smoke-free, which is a pleasant surprise. (It's small; they're definitely under the threshold where they're required to provide a non-smoking section.) The decor was inoffensive (which is all I ask for). One thing I don't usually notice, though: I sat in the most uncomfortable chair I've experienced recently. (And we were there for about an hour and a quarter, alas.)
I wonder how long they'll survive. Squirrel Hill isn't cheap, though I gather that commercial rent for the first year is deeply discounted.
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But I never quite understood what the big deal was either -- I didn't quite find it being worth the $30 per meal. Maybe it's because I'm not into risotto.
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Up here, all resturants are smoke free, regardless of size. When we eat out in other states, I always forget its not that way everywhere, and am always taken by surprise at the "smoking non smoking" question. I had to leave some roadside truck stop in PA the last time we were there because the smoke was so think I started to gag.
Having lived in smoke free resturant world for years, I still can't imagine why every other state doesn't do the same. The end of the world has not come, not even for the bars, although they predicted it.
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Roadside truck stops are some of the worst places to go if you're trying to avoid smoke, I've found. You're better off driving down the road to the Eat & Park or Friendly's or Perkins or whatever and paying a couple more dollars. (Personal bias alert: truck stops also rarely have food I can eat.)
Having lived in smoke free resturant world for years, I still can't imagine why every other state doesn't do the same.
This is personal philosophy, not an attempt to explain government behavior: while I, personally, would benefit hugely from such a law, I really don't feel it's the place of government to make such rules for private businesses, and I would probably vote against if the question came up on a ballot. It is entirely appropriate to rule that public places be smoke-free, and I'm glad PA has done so, but private businesses should sink or swim based on their own practices. I don't have a right to eat in restaurants the way I have a right to be able to walk into the courthouse. Now there are problems in the case of private monopolies-by-default in essential areas (what happens if the only grocery store in town is smoke-filled?), but with restaurants, there seem to be enough options that market forces could work.
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I enjoy rosotto, but I'm having trouble imagining a risotto or (meatless) pasta dish that would be worth $25-30.
So they've been there at least five years? They must be doing something right, then.