Matteo's - Pittsburgh

We made a reservation for seven people to celebrate a friend's birthday. Here are a few major issues we encountered: 1. We brought a cake, and when we informed the waitress, she simply placed it on a random chair. When it was time for us to sing, we had to retrieve it ourselves and then track her down for plates and a knife to cut it. To top it off, they charged us $10 for this service. In my experience at other restaurants, they typically take cakes to the kitchen for refrigeration, bring them out with candles, and serve them without any hassle. 2. They were out of Pinot Grigio by the bottle, which was perplexing. Instead of offering alternative bottled options, we were left to order individual glasses, which felt like a missed opportunity. We were a group of seven ready to enjoy several bottles, and instead, we had to settle for glasses. It honestly seemed a bit deceptive. 3. Our waitress was hardly present. We waited over 20 minutes just for her to take our orders, and she rarely refilled our water unless we asked. Overall, her demeanor was quite rude. 4. The lovely boyfriend of the guest of honor had called ahead to surprise us with two bottles of champagne, but they ended up giving the bottles to another table and did nothing to resolve the mix-up. Overall, the experience was disappointing and made it difficult to enjoy what could have been a special celebration.

I ordered the scoglio with red sauce and penne. While the sauce was more like a linguine or spaghetti sauce, I preferred penne for its ease of eating. The sauce was flavorful and had a strong garlic taste. One downside was that for the price, the scallops were quite small—about the size of mini marshmallows. Additionally, it seemed like someone had pried open mussels that should have been left closed, indicating they were no longer fresh. My husband enjoyed the lamb chops, which he found to be cooked to perfection. They came with one side (he chose asparagus) and he decided to order an additional side of penne in garlic oil to complement the sauce from his lamb. The chops were swimming in sauce, which he loved. The standout of the meal for me was the chocolate mousse cake. According to our server, the chef’s wife makes the desserts, which also include rum cake and tiramisu. The mousse had the perfect consistency and level of sweetness—not overly sweet at all. While the restaurant is on the pricier side, I would recommend it for a date night. My husband’s Makers Mark and Diet Coke were $10 each, which reflects the up-and-coming vibe of Lawrenceville. Overall, I would consider returning, but it wouldn’t be a weekly outing.

I have to be honest about this experience. We visited this restaurant during Pittsburgh Restaurant Week and were quite disappointed. The waitress appeared frustrated by the crowd, which was surprising since she relies on tips. At another table, a guest sent back a glass of wine that had lipstick on it. Instead of bringing a clean glass, she poured the wine into a water glass and wiped the rim with her shirt before returning the wine to the already dirty glass—gross! Our food was cold and not very tasty, but after witnessing the wine incident, we were too concerned to send anything back.

Matt Cavanaugh is an incredible chef. Hands down. He's innovative, bold and fresh. Ingredients are traditional to creative Italian dishes that break out the difference between a good Italian restaurant vs a faux paus. Dining for groups or intimacy is good here. Outdoor dining weather approved. Specialities nightly and seasonally. Good wine list for all vino lovers. Wine tastings on Thursdays check their website for details. There's no reason why anyone shouldn't pass up this restaurant for lunch or dinner. Price point is reasonable.

So I 've actually never taken the time to review anything on yelp but feel the urge to do so deeply tonight. We had reservations for 7 for an engagement party 's the waitress didn 't even ask our drink orders til 730. She didn 't ask for our food order until 8. One hour of our lives down the tubes. While waiting for our food we ordered another round of drinks (mostly beer) which didn 't arrive until 830. Keep in mind the average ratio of customers to waiters was 2 customers per waiter so not over busy. We are currently sitting in the restaurant and didn 't get our VERY average food until 9:10. THENNNN the owner was bar tending....one of the customers with our party ordered a drink which tasted like straight sugar syrup. When she asked to have it swapped out, the owner goes what 's wrong now??? So she just skipped getting a new drink and just wasted $10. NEVER AGAIN.