James K.
Yelp
We took a chance on a new (to us) place during Restaurant Week 2020. The restaurant itself is VERY nice, with a cozy atmosphere. I can't really agree with the "Wine Bar" description, though, as the wine list is quite limited. I suppose what they offer is OK, but it is certainly a small list, and overpriced.
Now, on to the food..hit or miss.
We started with the Harvest Salad, and we both found them excellent. Supergreens, roasted butternut squash, orange, goat cheese, toasted pepitas, candied nuts, honey white balsamic vinaigrette...a lot going on, but it all works. Complex flavor profile, and it was, sadly, the best part of both of our meals.
I had the Pasta Marinara as my main. The pasta did, indeed, have. the taste and texture of in-house made pasta. It was obviously fresh, so we're off to a good start. However, the "Chef's signature tomato sauce" is uninspired, nearly flavorless, and ran so much I thought the cops were after it. I had added 2 meatballs, and they were nice and firm. Unfortunately, they tasted unseasoned and the sauce did them no favors.
My wife ordered the Baked Eggplant. She liked the eggplant well enough, despite the stingy portion smothered under a lot of cheese. The pasta accompaniment was the same as what I had, and her opinion was the same. One of the restaurant week mains was Eggplant Rollatinni, and we realized halfway through her meal that that was what she'd been served. No big deal, because the dishes were basically the same except one was rolled up. We dined at 5:30pm, so I doubt they'd run out of Baked Eggplant...it seems as if the Rollatini isn't selling, so that's what you get if you order the other one. Again, not a big deal, but kind of a weird flex.
Our server was friendly, but the service was kind of slow. Points off for this.
Our dinner and 4 glasses of wine came to $124.00 That just is not good value for the quality of food we received. There are so many places to have great Italian food at in Pittsburgh that we see no reason to return to Pino's.