emporio: a meatball joint

neighborhood:  pittsburgh the setup the second stop (though first chronologically) is to emporio. on this trip is official friends of dcwd rajistan and chill, and official co-writer/wife of dcwd texas. the vibe emporio is the bottom floor of a three part concept called sienna mercato (think what mbk was trying to do in dc). the bottom floor is the typical rustic bar space: exposed brick, dark booths surrounding a large bar area in the back. several tvs abound in this space, while more traditional seating sits upfront. the food emporio's concept is meatballs. that's it: pick one of four meatballs, one of nine sauces, and the method ofmeatballdelivery - sliders, panini, grinder, or just in a pile. in some ways, this is refreshing: a bar that knows its target audience and just gives them comfort food, rather than trying to gussy it up needlessly. and you know what? they nail it. we all go sliders, and the fist-sized hunks of meat - or in texas's case, mushrooms, white beans, and cauliflower - are delicious, pork bolognese and arrabiatta sauces offer a hint of spice, while a spinach-almond pesto is a delicate counterpoint to the parmesan and herbs in the turkey meatball. and don't sleep on the government cheese: all the satisfying parts of kraft, but a whole lot better. the verdict pretty good bar food. food rating: *** (out of 5) date rating: 2.5  hearts (out of 5) dress code: casual bar rating: party in the usa vibe: energetic cost: $  (out of 5) (less than $25 for two)

good stuff!. the "no wait" app wouldn't let me sign into line because of a bug in the app (not the restaurant's fault) but the wait was only 10-15 minutes, not bad for friday night around 7. service was good. the meatballs and sauces were awesome and the root beer was amazing - by far the best i've ever tasted. atmosphere was perfect except for being a little louder than i expected from a gourmetmeatballplace. the prices are perfect for a classy-casual, quirky date for a college couple, but the restaurant population was very diverse. definitely a good pick!

skyline, ambiance, meatballs, music, drinks. life is good.... me and my wife loved the new emporio:meatballjoint. we made reservations using the no wait app and had no problems with it whatsoever. when we arived we still had some time for our table, so decided to check the bar upstairs. coincidentally the bar upstairs il tetto also opened that night, 05/09.. the ambiance in the roof top was amazing. great views of the city skyline was offered from the retractable roof. all in all a great spot to hang out with friends just for a drink and order some light fare from the menu. we decided to head down to emporio once i received a text from no wait. we started with an order of poutine with chicken gravy and a fried egg. opted for tator tots instead of fries, and it was delish. i wanted to try something different so i got the vegetarian meatballs panini with creamy parm sauce and she got the chicken meatballs with pesto sauce and pasta on the side. great entrees, and everything tasted good. we were also impressed with the service. all in all a very pleasant experience and i am definitely returning back.

sienna mercato is in this beautiful building downtown next to august henry's saloon on penn ave. it is refreshing to have a bar located in the penn ave tourist corridor that i don't hate. sharp edge is expensive, august henry's is plain awful, seviche is colorful but passe, sonoma grill is where dads drink and ten penny is bunch of pretentious bologna. mark's was my go-to until they replaced it with a piece of crap reception area. i honestly never thought pittsburgh would have ameatballrestaurant. it seems awfully gimmicky, but it works. the emporio meatballs are not cheap, but the happy hour deal isn't bad at all. half off all drafts until 6 pm, but sadly no food discount. as for the meatballs, expect to dish out $3.50 a pop. the wonderful thing about emporio is the plethora of choices. you can choose from four different meatballs: beef, pork, veggie and chicken. then you choose one of nine different sauces: sunday gravy, pork bolognse, creamy parmesan

the food is good! always try themeatballof the day. the portions are generous. the service is always terrible unless you sit at the bar. but beware sitting at the bar. we have sat there twice for dinner and both times encountered the local *ahem* ladies of "service" at the bar waiting for their evening client.

what i loved the most about the place is the ambience. querky interiors, really cosy feeling. great vibe owe it to the friendly staff they've hired.
huge range of options to choose from. loved the mac and cheese with meatballs. there's also one dish with noodles as it's base, enjoyed these two to the core! tender meat and flawlessly cooked to perfection. this is the place to kill yourmeatballcravings!

i have walked through emporio a number of times on my way to the rooftop beer garden, but never actually had the food.  i came on a saturday night and i'm glad that i came when i did.  it was busy but there was no wait for a table.  we were seated near the street side.  the decor is the plain trendy exposed brick that you see so much nowadays.  if i had any complaint, it would be the reflected noise in the restaurant, or the ever present line of people waiting to take the elevator to the roof.  you have to cut through the line of people to access the restrooms.
the featuredmeatballwas gyro style, and i can never resist that.  it was outstanding.  the tzatziki accompanying it was fresh, creamy, and tangy.  delicious.  the meatballs were cooked perfectly.  another person in our party ordered classic style with a tomato sauce.  i was able to sample it and it was better than i expected... neat.  prices are a bit higher than i'd like, but are typical for this region of pittsburgh.

ate at the bar here and really enjoyed it. great beer list and interestingmeatballdishes in an attractive setting. would definitely go back.

my group was visiting from california.

a tradition we have when we go on the road to watch our hockey team is to have a pasta dinner on our first night.  i found sienna mercato, and said the place was about 0.4 miles from our hotel, and the hotel had a shuttle that could take up to 11 of us. this restaurant is divided into three floors, the first floor is ameatballrestaurant, second floor is a charcuterie and pizzeria, and a top floor is a beer garden. the third floor is on the roof, but the room is enclosed in glass.

reservations can only be made for the second floor restaurant, and since there were 20 of us, it took a while for a table as it was first come first serve. the staff was very nice and tried to accommodate us with two tables of 10. while we waited for the table, we went to the rooftop to get some drinks, but we had to wait for a table to free up as well.

fortunately, it took about 45-minutes to get my text message our tables were ready. we were seated adjacent to each other, but with different servers.   the downstairs level wasn't very large, so we were quite fortunate to have our group in just 2 tables.

the menu had a variety of things, but i wanted to try all their meatballs, so stephen and i shared a combination of them:

pork with pork bolognese, and the bom (ball of the month ) with marinara, vegetable ball with govt cheese, the turkeymeatballwith mushroom gravy, and my favorite of all, the classic beefmeatballwith the spinach-almond pesto.

what i didn't realize until we paid was our meatballs were the same price as sliders.  basically, we were not given our bread. i don't know if it was a miscommunication or an error on the server's part, but we left on a rather sour note. 

overall, everyone enjoyed their meal.  the service was decent, despite the size of our group.  most of the group had the 4 meatballs with pasta, which was too much for one person.  perhaps stephen and i should have split that, or, gone in with others to share a variety of meatballs and pasta. oh well, there's next visit.

i've been reading about this place for awhile, but never had the right opportunity to go check it out. my wife and i finally had a chance to go this week and it was fantastic.

the building is kind of a cool place. there are 3 restaurants, each on a different floor, so be aware of exactly where you're going so you don't end up in the wrong place. fortunately, emporio is on the 1st floor...so that's fairly easy and straightforward.

my wife is a vegetarian, so going to a meatball-only place seems a little odd. but they have several vegetarian options and they're all fairly clearly marked on the menu. our server was also very helpful when it came to suggesting items and telling us which sauces he preferred.

we started with the tater tot poutine with mushroom gravy. the tater tots alone were just okay. the mushroom gravy alone was just okay. but when you put it all together, it was actually a very nice starter. it was also a fairly large portion, which was a nice surprise.

for our meal, we both got grinders. my wife got the veggie meatballs with the spinach almond pesto sauce and i got the classic beef meatballs with the arribiatta sauce.

the veggie meatballs had a very nice taste. i wasn't crazy about the consistency, but it didn't seem to bother her. my beef meatballs were very good. the arribiatta sauce was described to me as a "spicy marinara". i would describe it more as marinara mixed with salsa. but, as odd as that sounds, it actually was very good. and, it had quite a kick (i like spicy food, so i enjoyed it...just be aware it is spicy).

they also had a special on this particular day. since it was ash wednesday, they had a fish (meat)ball. i don't know if it will be back again...although you would think it would be around during lent. we decided to get a slider, just to try it out. it comes with a tartar sauce on it (you don't get to pick a sauce for that one). it was...okay. the sauce was a little lemony, but not overwhelming. the fish was strong, but again, not overwhelming. getting 1 on a slider was the way to go...i think 3 in a grinder would have been too much.

we decided to get dessert and at the recommendation of a friend and the waiter, we got the warm ricotta doughnuts. our waiter asked if we wanted hot fudge or ice cream with it. we assumed there was an extra charge and said no. the doughnuts were very good (and very hot...like right out of the oven hot), but it could have used a sauce or fudge to dip it in. i don't know if it costs more, but it might be worth the splurge.

the best part about this place is that everything was very affordable. we each had a decent size grinder for less than $10. the sides (which we did not get) are a little on the higher side price-wise. but the poutine is affordable and you get a big portion, so that could work as a side or appetizer if you choose. for a nicer restaurant in downtown pittsburgh, it was nice to walk out without feeling hungry or like you were ripped off.

i'd say this place is definitely worth a visit if you're in downtown...and if you're not, make it a point to stop by sometime. they do one thing (meatballs) and they do them well.

(pictures - tater tot poutine, beefmeatballgrinder with arribiatta sauce, vegetarianmeatballgrinder with spinach almond pesto sauce, fish (meat)ball slider, warm ricotta doughnuts

this is such a cool concept!!! house music, ambience super!! menu very cool and food out of bounds. i tried everymeatballand all were amazing. try this place!!! cheers!!!

great dining experience! the server was attentive, polite, and very knowledgable and was spot on with her recommendations! i only caught a glimpse of the bottom of my glass once throughout the meal. i tried everymeatballwith her suggested pairing and could not pick a favorite. the desert and drink both equally impressed me. to end the meal i had the ricotta donuts that were served to me moments after being lifted from the fryer, very fresh asking donuts with a surprisingly smooth and rich fudge sauce. the drink was this cane sugar root beer they get shipped in from abita brewery near new orleans, it tasted like a better version of ibc or in other words it'll knock any big name can out of the water. this place is definitely worth a try, glad we ended up here since every other kitchen we checked in the city closed at 11.

simply delicious. waited to try this place until i got more opinions about it, it was worth the wait. can you say tater tots. classic and crispy. also had sliders. love the pick your meat, sauce, and vessel to be served on idea. vegetarian slider with tzatziki sauce was great. my date had the vegetarian panini with mushroom sauce also great choice. pork with marinara and turkey with pesto were my other sliders of choice, equally as good. also this place has a great craft beer selection. this may be my new home. but for all youmeatballlovers please go and enjoy. free your mind and get as many combinations as you can stuff yourself with.

we both really liked emporio. our server was friendly and checked with us on the timing of our dishes coming out (which ones should arrive first, etc). it's fun to imagine all the possibilities with 4meatballoptions and 9 sauce options plus 4 serving options. it's definitely a place we'll go to again, if not for the first floor meatballs then maybe the second floor pizzas or top floor bar area.

meatballs!. have heard different takes on emporio. for me, most restaurants overcook their meatballs, so was not especially wishing to go to emporio. a few of us were guided to emporio and found it to be a good choice. the restaurant is large, a little noisy with brick walls and a nice atmosphere. there a a few choices or meatballs, sauces, and the preparation (slider, panini with 2 meatballs, grinder with 3 meat balls and the saucy with 4 meatballs). pick a sauce and cheese to top and away you go. i had the spicy pork panini. the pork was cooked so it was tender on the inside and brown on the outside, not overcooked or like a rock as in most of the local joints. the porkmeatballhad a nice flavor, with a little spice, could it be allspice? it really could be a tad more spicy. the arribiata sauce came on the side. nice! the sauce was a little spicy and thick. again, probably could be a tad more spicy, but good.
there at 32 beers on tap and starters, sides and desserts, but we only had the meatballs.
all in all, a nice meal and place.