sienna on the square

new place, same great taste. distinguished local chef matthew porco, formerly of mio kitchen & wine bar, received a few of our best restaurants awards (including 2010 chef of the year). not surprisingly, buzz has been building about sienna sulla piazza, a new italian eatery situated in market square that will feature the chef’s work. sienna, one of few regional eateries that received certification from the green restaurant association, strives to provide diners with an exceptional experience. the menu includes such dishes as pasta fagioli and tomato risotto. if you were a mio fan, it looks like you’re in luck.

delicious italian close to the cultural district. sienna is a great restaurant that offers a huge menu of housemade dishes. the mixture of outdoor/indoor seating is nice and service is friendly, though slow. we were seated at the large bar area and it seemed that the single bartender was overloaded. we had to wait long periods before being presented with menus or asked about our order, though dining with a pre-show crowd has that effect i guess. the food easily makes up for the slow service though!

pros:
1. decently priced meal options, with appetizers in the low $10s and entrees between $15-30.
2. offers a variety of housemade sauces and pastas (and you can definitely tell it’s made in house)
3. we got the following dishes and they were simply amazing:
rabbit and housemade tagiatelle
handmade papperdelle bolognese (pay extra to get the mozzarella meatball, it’s worth it!)
4. also offer delicious looking , huge salads and flatbreads. we saw a lot of mouth-watering flatbreads coming out of the kitchen with a mound of greens.

cons:
1. service is slow at the bar area
2. complimentary crab dip is yummy but the accompanying bread is pretty bland

overall, i highly recommend this place for market square dining. it’s delicious, has nice outdoor seating and the effort the restaurant puts into making items in house is clearly reflected in the food.

wonderful atmosphere and food.. although the hostess originally told us it would be an hour wait, tables quickly opened up inside and outside and we ended up only waiting about ten minutes. the antipasta cheese plate was great and the happy hour was as well. moscow mule for $6 was superb! quattro formaggio flatbread and the salads were some of the best i had (very large proportions too). a must on a nice evening to visit.

so disappointed. my friend and i had tickets to a 7:30 show at the benedum on a monday night, and came for dinner at 5:45 with a reservation. we thought an hour and a half for dinner would be fine. what a mistake! we were seated by a bad attitude young girl in an almost empty restaurant, maybe ten tables with people. we immediately ordered a drink and when it arrived ordered an app and main courses. we did say we had to be out for our show. our flatbread app showed up at 6:30. 45 minutes after seating and while it was tasty it was also extremely salty. by now we are worried and tell 2 more people that we have to leave at 7:15. by 7:05 we're realizing we may not have time to eat. when our waiter arrives at 7:12 we just ask for our check as we still do not have our meals. he brings our check which includes the food and a glass of wine we still did not have. we can't even believe it! he gets a manager which seems to take forever and they still don't take all the food we didn't receive off of our check! and to add insult to injury, they try to serve our entrees to us as we are leaving. i have eaten many places, lived in la and traveled a lot, but have never had such a rude experience in a restaurant in my life. i really can't speak for the food other than the salty app but we had to sit through an entire show, hungry and dying of thirst from the salt. this place needs an attitude makeover!

we had a delicious dinner . appetizers beet salad great ,tomato bisque , chicken liver mousse all excellent . entres were all terrific mussels in fennel tomato broth, short ribs were tender in a delicious sauce, prosciutto wrapped salmon yummy and chicken marsala devine. waiter was wonderful didn't rush us. if we lived in pitt we would definitely come back.

ate here for lunch, sat at the bar, unique and warm atmosphere. very attentive service without being annoying, creative platings without being obnoxious.

what a wonderful experience!. from the time we walked in to the time we left, the staff was attentive to our needs. our waitress, who said it was her first day, was knowledgeble, friendly and accommodating. the food was sensational and not the usual items on a menu which i found to be a refreshing change. this was my first time at sienna but definitely not my last!

always a great experience. the chopped salad is delicious! the staff is so accommodating to my time as i’m mostly there on lunch hour. the flatbreads are also a favorite!

so overpriced. small portions that leave you hungry after racking up a big bill. hard to find, no where to park. cramped venue. the marinara sauce tasted like it was burned and stuck to the pot. the duck was good, but such a small portion for what it cost. $7 salad ala carte, nothing special. everything is ala carte. will not return.

enjoyed: white bean spread, pre-dinner salad, hand made pasta

did not enjoy the sauce with our pastas at all. my wife got the marinara sauce with the bucatini. the sauce tasted as if it had been burnt. my bolognese had an odd flavor to it that did not make it enjoyable.

friendly staff and delicious food! the risotto and their signature meatballs were a gastronomic delight! the chocolate cake topped off a memorable meal.

matilda is one of the shows we were really looking forward to seeing in this season's broadway package. the show did not disappoint. it was excellent. as usual, we went to dinner after the show. this time, we chose sienna on the square. it's one of my favorite restaurants in pittsburgh and i wish we got there more often.

my god, the risotto! great wine list, super fun staff, and my god.... the risotto!! creative flatbreads, soup comes out like someone's grandmother is in the back cooking... and yes.... for crying out loud.... get the risotto!

my sister and i just finished the chicken piccata it was amazing along w/the chopped salad. however, the veal meatballs were a bit too salty😔

yesterday was a rare sunday date day for us. we had tickets to see kinky boots. that show was the reason we bought a 3 show package to the summer clo shows. it is a fantastic show and a treat to have billy porter come to his hometown to play lola. after the show, we headed to market square and enjoyed the beautiful day for a bit before the smell of cigarette smoke chased us over to dinner a bit earlier than our reservation. our dinner destination: sienna on the square. we had been to sienna before, in september 2013, and were excited to try it again because it had been so long since our last visit. it was almost like a new-to-us place.