joseph tambellini

finally. i have been meaning to try this place for sometimenow. i usually don't seek out italian restaurants because i am generally disappointed. we had a lovely meal, and the service really made it feel special. oh, and a miracle has happened; i loved his sauce. i never, ever love anyone's sauce. we will be back.

a little defensive?. as a larger party for a bachelorette dinner, we were put in a private room on the third floor; we were all firsttimeguests and looking forward to trying a well respected restaurant. as we walked through each floor on our way up, the ambiance was very nice and it was a comfortable, cool temperature to combat the 80+ degree day we just had. when we arrived to our room, however, it was a sweat box with a teeny tiny, very loud fan blowing some air around. upon asking if the air was on, and if it would cool down soon, our server ken assured us it would be "super chilly in just a few minutes!" it wasn't until about 2.5 hours that it started to feel a little more comfortable, although still quite warm. the room was nice, with a little seating area with leather couches to one side and a nicely set group table to the other side of the room. we had a private bathroom and an attentive server. the zucchini appetizer we had was average, but the sesame calamari was absolutely amazing. our non-pasta entrees included a salad, a pasta course, then the main course (not very common in this type of restaurant, everything is usually a la carte) dinners were good, my pasta course (described as an 'almost' vodka sauce) was my favorite and the chicken romano was good, but not stellar. overall we had a really good experience (minus the heat issue) until our check came. we were charged $2 a piece for cheese on our salads. we were approached with, "would you like soup or salad with your entree? salad? ok, what kind of cheese would you like on that?" the $2 dollars isn't going to kill me, i pay more than that for a coffee, but it was the principal of it. i have worked in a very comprable restaurant with a very well known chef and we would use the phrase "up-charge" for those little additional things. or be given the choice of, "would you like to add cheese to that?" there was more cheese on the tables and added to our pastas that we weren't charged for, than was on our salads! when we asked the server about it, he got extremely defensive, talked so fast you couldn't understand him, but at some point we heard, "in places like this people don't talk about prices!" "that's how i was trained!" and my personal favorite "stuff isn't free!" also, where i had worked, regardless of whether or not the server/guest was right or wrong, the guest was always right and we would have apologized, removed all questionable charges, and even sometimes brought out desserts or coffee for the table. our otherwise enjoyable experience ended with an insecure server almost yelling at us about something so easily fixed or addressed. should i expect a $5 charge for my bread basket next time? if i learned anything from ken, nothing is freeeee!

nice neighborhood restaurant. my husband and i had dinner at tambelini's for the firsttimethis evening. the service was great and food was excellent! i had the mufalda caprese and the roasted potato and garlic soup. both were wonderful. my husband had a 16 ounce pork chop with peppers. he also had the tomato caprese salad. he loved both. he had a jumbo lump crab cake for an appetizer. also very good. definitely recommend this restaurant. we will return

margaret koren. i would definitely come again! new years eve is a badtimeto judge a restaurant and be fair. the food and service were very good. our table was not a good place to sit. we were close to the computer and someone was always walking by, also the restrooms made it a busy place. with the door opening frequently it was a bit cold. we did enjoy our meals and made it to the hickey came!

the food is very good but, the service is hit or miss, first couple times very good. the lasttimeshe was not bad but not great, the lasttimetook my wife there for dinner, the waitress took my wifes plate wich was half and did not even ask if she wanted it boxed, then brought my own birthday cake and waitress did not even cut it,had to cut it myself, then they charged me $20.00 dollars for a cake fee, when questioned about this joe said all high end resturants charge that, ok thats fine but, at least cut my cake and serve it. joe was out of line the way he treated my wife and i. and its a nice place but hardly high end, does not even have valet parking. i think he needs to retrain wait staff before claiming to be high end. hyde park wait staff is well trained maybe think of taking some lessons off them before you call yourself high end

my favorite italian food in pittsburgh. we started with the meatballs-classic done right, the fried zucchini is golden and crispy-delicious, the sauce for both was perfect. i got the veal special with peppers-the dish was spot on and the marsala demi sauce was perfect. my fiance who is a bit of a picky eater loved her shrimp scampi. the pasta was cooked perfectly, and our salads that also came with the meal were very tasty. all the food was quality and cooked perfectly! and the service was outstanding beginning with being greeted by melissa at the door, she was able to get us the last table on a busy friday night, nexttimei'll make a reservation, and our server adam was very knowedgable about the menu and did a great job, the chef/owner joe t. also stopped by our table to chat, he is a nice guy who really cares about the food and restaurant. all of this and the wonderful atmosphere contributed to make our dining experiance a memorable one. quite simply this place cooks italian food the way italian food should be cooked!!

i love the place. it's close to home and the closest i can get to my moms tomato sauce. i like joes meatballs they are better than moms! sorry mom. i'm usually there late and straight from work so im not the best dressed when it'stimefor the vacuums to come out but its romantic and freindly and as joe says about the dress code as long as you have a pocket for your wallet your welcome. said jokingly! joe is awesome stops by all the tables and is always a laugh and has a story. there are three floors and the top floor is perfect for a party or to watch hockey playoffs. parking is great across the street. stop in tell them dan sent you.

i have been there several times in the last few years . the food has been ok . i don't think it's as good as the hype . i would try the place again but the most consistent problem keeps me from returning . extremely poor slow service . the lasttimei was there was on a week day . there might have been 3-4 other tables in use on the first floor yet the two of us were there almost 3 hours most of thattimespent waiting for our various orders

incredible experience!!!!!. we walked in the door and were greeted by a wonderful young lady whom ended up being the owner, (melissa). the place was georgus and warm, we knew right then it was going to be a great experience.
the food and service was outstanding, all the staff were attentive without being intrusive and melissa spent sometimewith us. she was as genuine a person as you will ever meet.
my husband had a veal chop, done perfectly, i had the chilean seabass with an orange butter sauce and crusted with toasted almonds..wow!!
if you go here and dont have a meatball, you will never know what your missing,,,,,sorry grandma, better than mine and yours!!!!
i cant wait to bring more people there to show off such a great restaurant in our city!! it's wonderful that a restaurant this great can give off such a "down to earth" feel!! not pretentious like soooooo many other new restaurants that make you feel as if they are doing you a favor!!
thank you melissa and joseph, we will be back!!

don"t believe the hype!!!. i just had dinner at joseph tambellini's restaurant for the first and last time. it was an important occasion which was my mothers birthday. we had a very early dinner and we were the only guests in the restaurant to begin. i am a chef and owned and operated several establishments and my opinion comes from my experience. i will give no names, but they have a waitress that shouldn't even work at fast food. i place two appetizers and while she was putting them in she asked me if i had an appetizer that i didn't order and the bartender corrected her. the food overall was just ok and that's all. i can easily name 20+ italian restaurants that are better in the pgh area. i ordered a salad and was brought soup, and we asked for our pasta with dinner and she brought them right away. i noticed when i requested the bill she had a long puzzled conversation with the bartender/host. one thing i have never seen before i paid the bill at one price and when she brought my change the bill was at a higher price. at the completion of our meal there were four people at the bar and another table of two. at thistimejoseph enters the room and talks with the people at the bar for about 2o min before we left and i was surprised that he didn['t even check on the two tables that he had just cooked for. i spent a lot of money there and i guess good service should come from the top down and they sure need to learn it.