sienna on the square

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. thefoodeasily 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.

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 thefoodand 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 thefoodwe 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 thefoodother 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!

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. thefoodwas 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!

enjoyable. thefoodwas excellent, the atmosphere was very pleasant and personal, and overall a great dining experience. the flatbreads were really good.

hated it. poor service,foodwas average. i do not think it was prepared by a professional chef. i would not recommend.

very disappointed. we went there for dinner. thefoodwas ok, nothing memorable. i would not go back for thefoodor recommend it. if you like wine, it is not the place to go. very poor wine list. maybe 5 or 6 wines by the glass for each red and white variety. also about 10 wines by the bottle for each the red and white varieties so very short list for both. the problem isn't that it is a very short list, it is that the standard of the wine is very low. maybe good for a struggling college student but if you are into wine, you will be disappointed. the price is cheap and it reflects in the quality.
i did not like my appetizer and my dinner was too salty. i took one bite of each and returned it. at that point i was disappointed in everything and i did not want them to replace it. they still charged me for both. they said it was their policy to charge for everything that is ordered even though i took only one bite. they said that they can package thefoodor me to take home. well, i do not like it now and will not like it later so why take it home. the manager also told me that the chef tasted thefoodand said it tasted fine so i was wrong. omg, the chef is the one that made the bad food, of course he likes it!! terrible management, mediocre food, mediocre service, mediocre ambiance. never again.

mobile review first i'd li.... mobile review
first i'd like to know if i ate at the same place the other reviewers are at? i have nothing but negative comments from my experience the other day. first off the ice tea was brewed so strong it just felt like your whole mouth was full of bitters. second the flatbread was so soggy and so full of garlic. not enjoyable at all. the most disturbing of all is when the waitress sent the manager out to our table to discuss our request. he spent more time explaining to us why they could not change the type of cheese on our flatbread than trying to accommodate the customer. the request was not ridiculous or complex it was a simple change. it would have taken less time to simply make a change and work with the kitchen and accommodate the customer than go through the song and dance he displayed at our table. we will never ever go back to the restaurant again.


-----23 sep, 2012-----

company slogan " no we can't ". chef of the year or not we will never be back.this was 2nd bad experience. we had a party of 8 and every small request was greeted with no , no & no. server was good and tried to accommodate our large party but struggled to keep up with drink refills. he candidly told us the bartender only moved at his pace and takes orders from noone. well thats a great way to start our dinner. so from there it went downhill fast . we could tell the chef had lectured his servers well on "no changes on the menu" instead of getting our drinks from the slow
bartender , our server told us there could be no changes and the menu "is what is."great customer service there buddy! we received ourfood, salmon 4 oz portion at best . the pasta portions where ok. one of us asked for more bread on the meat cheese platter , we where told it would be a small charge.....really i mean really....! give it one year at best, the chef is too arrogant , those types don't last for long. that jerky i'm always right atitude doesnt translate to customer service. when you go out to dinner, what makes you want t go back to a place is great customer service and great food...and sadly this establishment does not deliver either.

fabulous! what a great expe.... fabulous!
what a great experience from start to finish!
wait staff was great and thefoodwas better.
highly recommend this restaurant.

very quite and romantic.

love this restaurant. my husband and i love coming to this restaurant. the lighting is subdued, and the atmosphere is inviting and romantic. thefoodis exceptional. we've tried a number of the appetizers, salads, flatbreads, pasta, etc., and all has been delicious. the only weak part of the evening is the quality of the mixed drinks. while the bartenders are gracious, their skill at creating mixed drinks is not equal to the skill of the chef in the kitchen. when we eat here, we keep our drink requests very simple, beer or a glass of wine.


-----25 jan, 2014-----

excellent experience. my husband and i had dinner with another couple here last night, and the evening was exceptional from start to finish. we had drinks at the bar while we waited for our table, and the drinks were perfect. our waitress was attentive without being intrusive. their meals and ours were delicious. in addition to wonderful food, the atmosphere is warm and inviting. we will definitely return often.

thefoodat sienna sulla is really very good. i would not recommend dropping by for happy hour with more than four guests unless you have a reservation. the bar is small, the bartenders don't like flash photography and being rowdy is generally discouraged. the crowd tends to be a little older and the atmosphere isn't encouraging for slamming miller lites, but thefoodstands out. the mozzarella stuffed giant veal meatball pictured above is fantastic. well seasoned, well textured, perfectly paired with toasted pine nuts and entirely delicious. i personally think that pine nuts are one of the most underutilized ingredients. although the meatball is a rather simple creation, i find other restaurants have no problem finding some clever way to ruin it. this was the absolute best thing ever. chicken liver mousse is always good, but sienna prepared it flawlessly. adorned with crushed pistachios and honey, i think i could enjoy this dish everyday for the rest of my life. it had a

greatfoodgreat atmosphere!. a colleague of mine recommended that we try the restaurant. i went online and was able to easily set a reservation, upon arrival we were greeted immediately even tough they were very busy. the hostess guided us to the bar where the service was very pleasant and responsive. our table was ready on time and the waiter was excellent. his knowledge of the menu and thefoodpreparation was fabulous. everything we ordered was exactly as he stated and thefoodwas excellent! the atmosphere was very relaxing and was the perfect to fit the mood. this is definitely on our list of restaurants to return to.

excellent italian food. thefoodwas delicious. the braised rabbit was a fun meal to try. i definitely recommend it. if you are looking for a good italian restaurant in downtown pittsburgh this is the place to go! the only thing that was a little weird was you could see where the staff stood when they weren't busy.

amazingfoodand cocktails!!!. my boyfriend and i headed down to market square this past friday, december 20. with the unseasonably warm weather, and it being so close to christmas, it was naturally crowded. my boyfriend loves jazz and we originally had tried to go to nola but could not even get through the front door. we had gone to sienna previously-just for drinks- and had looked at their menu then and had wanted to come back so this was the perfect opportunity. we grabbed two seats at the bar and perused the menu. my boyfriend ordered a sangria (he was not impressed) however i drank the rosemary lemon drop (he loved that though) and the first one i had was good but the second one (made by a different bartender) was hands-down 100% the best cocktail i have had in a very long time! my boyfriend ordered the braised rabbit,which is actually what i wanted, however i decided upon the prosciutto &arugula flatbread. that way i could taste his rabbit and he could try the flat bread.the braised rabbit was one of the best tasting entrees i have ever had at a restaurant! it was cooked very tender and was not "gamey", the sauce tasted as if it had wine in it, was creamy but not overly so-it was just amazing! the flatbread was surprisingly very good as well. it was a little overly salted, however, not so much so that it distracted from the other flavors.and it was very evident that all ingredients in both dishes were very fresh and authentic. the bill was a little higher than we would have liked. in particular the rosemary lemon drops were $10 each which is steep, however, the second one i drank (and i don't believe i have said this in a long time) truly was worth $10 based on taste and presentation. overall, i am excited to go back and try another entree besides the flatbread.i think next time i will order a rabbit entree for myself, even if my boyfriend gets it again, because it was just.that.good.

quality. i've been to sienna for several dinners and had stellarfoodthat beats other top fine dining in the city. you can't go wrong here!

great new spot in market square. went with a coworker for lunch.foodand service were great. great new addition to the area. will definitely be heading back.