Lidia's Pittsburgh

1/3/11

          When you enter Lidia's you feel like they know what they are ding there.  The hostess asked us if we wanted to check our coats, and there was no wait to find or reservation we went straight to our table.  The atmosphere at Lidia's is very rustic charm, there is a fire place and a huge chandler made of blown glass.  You can tell that the building used to be a warehouse just by looking at the ceiling because its about 40 ft high and has huge heating ducts running along the roof, but it adds to the charm of the building. The place is just so welcoming.

          There is an open kitchen so if your seated at the bar you can watch what is going on in the back of the house.  Also the bathroom was A+ clean.

          Now on to the food, we started with the Polipo (Octopus $9.50) and Brodetto di Gambei e Astice (shrimp and lobster in a brodetto sauce over polenta $12.00).  The octopus was cooked perfectly, it was tender and the potatoes and capers paired great with it.  The shrimp and lobster was very good with the polenta. 

          For our main courses my wife ordered the Pasta Trio Dinner (comes with Cesar salad and desert $29.00) and I ordered the Osso Bucco di Maiale (Pork shank w/Barley Risotto $25.00).  My wife loved the Pasta Trio(which changes daily), her trio was a ricotta filled ravioli with a garlic herb sauce, shrimp and Pena with a red sauce and a fetachini Alfredo.  I tried them too and I would have to say the ravioli was my favorite.  As for my main course the pork shank, it was very, very good.  The shank cam out with a sauce of the meat dripping mixed with orange zest cornstarch and herbs.  It was placed on a bed of barley risotto, which was cooked perfectly.

          Desert, was a Torta di Ciocolata con Castagne(Chocolate Torta, chestnut mousse, milk chocolate mousse, bitter sweet chocolate ganache and a brown sugar coco ice cream) included in my wives trio meal.  I am not a chocolate fan at all and I am not big on over spending for a desert at a restaurant at all.  Beleive me they spend $10 on ingredients to make the desert and then sell it at $7.50 a slice (7.50 x 8 est slices in a small cake)= $60 a profit of $50.  That's a little overpriced.  Anyways, enough ranting on costs.  This cake was awesome, I could have eaten a whole cake right there.  Like I said I'm not even a fan of chocolate.  It was so moist and there were so many different textures with the ganash, cake and mouses.   WONDERFUL.

          Overall, we had a great evening with a good friend.  The food was great, service great, price high but worth every penny.  If you are looking for a nice place to take a date or for a special occasion this is high on the list to go to.  Would I recommend Lidia's to anybody that asks? Yes, I would over and over.

Overall: 9 of 10

Food: 9 of 10

Service: 10 of 10

Price: 8 of 10

Lidia's Pittsburgh

1400 Smallman St.

Pittsburgh, PA 15222