sienna on the square

delicious meal great value. i've been here twice before, once with a friend for happy hour drinks and another time to meet up with my son and daughter-in-law for dinner before a show. i had excellent experiences both times. today i stopped in for a bite for lunch and the excellence continues.

the ambience at sienna is contemporary with low lighting and caribbean infused jazz playing just loud enough in the background to create a cozy, inviting and, dare i say, romantic atmosphere. the bar is fully stocked and they carry a modest selection of craft beers. it’s finally getting warm enough now outside that they were able to open the front wall (garage door style) of the restaurant exposing the place to the sights and sounds of market square. they even offer sidewalk seating for those early enough to snatch up a table there. i, however, wasn’t so fortunate and took a seat at the bar.

after taking a stool i was promptly and cheerfully greeted by the bar keep with a glass of ice water. i glanced at the menu and hesitantly decided on the open face chicken parmesan sandwich with a side of pasta salad. i say hesitantly because i haven’t had agoodchix parm in the downtown-cbd yet.

it took less than ten minutes for my meal to come out and i was oh so pleasantly surprised. in front of me was a juicy plump chicken breast covered in delicious italian inspired marinara sauce (that was obviously in-house made) topped with a generous coating of provonello all sitting on top of a lone slice of focaccia. a pinch of basil sat capped off to the side on the provonello as if to say, “we believe in attention to detail”. it’s been a long time since i had chix parm that simply looked this good. if the presentation gets an “a”, the taste of this here dish gets an “a++”! the side pasta salad was a nice touch. it was dressed lightly and paired perfectly with the parmesan.

my total bill came to $11.77 plus tip. if you’ve dined enough in the downtown-cbd you know you can spend a lot more for a meal of this quality. i really can’t say enoughgoodthings about sienna sulla piazza.... excellent service, comfortable atmosphere, delicious meal all for a more than reasonable price.

very disappointed. we went there for dinner. the food was ok, nothing memorable. i would not go back for the food or 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. maybegoodfor 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 the food or 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 the food and 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 wasgoodand 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 our food , 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.

excellent!. everything was outstanding: the salad, the tomato bisque, the braised short ribs, and the zeppole. nice atmosphere and our waiter tookgoodcare of us. looking forward to returning.

just stopped in for takeout. nice place,goodservice. a little dark. terrific wine selection. had the open faced eggplant parm. very good. (the skin needed to be either peeled or scored, though). the sauce was fabulous. also had greens and beans. flavorful, but needed more greens. maybe it was the bottom of the pot. looking forward to bringing my husband here for a nice dinner some warm evening when we can sit outside and take it all in.

excellent italian food. the food was delicious. the braised rabbit was a fun meal to try. i definitely recommend it. if you are looking for agooditalian 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.

amazing food and 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 wasgoodbut 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 verygoodas 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.

rough start, excellent recovery!. arrived for a 6:30 reservation to be told that the folks at our table had just had their check dropped and we could wait at the (completely full) bar - which made me a little apprehensive, because we all know people can tend to linger. went to the bar to get drinks, female bartender said hello to me after about five minutes of me standing there but did not serve me. five more minutes passed, still not served, and we're basically standing blocking busy servers running to and fro and feeling pretty awkward. husband and i giving each other the side-eye and thinking five more minutes and we're walking over to capital grille. saved - by the hostess (who was apologetic and delightful) saying they are resetting our table, just a few minutes, so we ditched the bar and stood aside. our server, who turned out to be awesome, noticed us and seated us herself to make sure we were comfortable - great table, right in the corner of the banquette. we shared the octopus (yum) and greens and beans app (also verygoodif a bit lighter on the greens than i might have hoped. he had a tuna special which he loved, i had the braised rabbit which was incredible and we shared a meatball (tasty and wonderful marinara). cannoli and lava cake for dessert. the portions are just about right imo - not piles of food as many pgh italian restaurants serve, we left feeling satisfied but not overly full. atmosphere comfortable and i love how the front opens up into a canopy. i also thought the prices were reasonable. i look forward to going back and will take friends next time.

poor choice in all facets. limited menu, and very small portions; i got a subway on my way out. live music was annoying. worst service from a group of arrogant, condescending group of young punks. with all of the choices here, no need to overpay for bad service and poor food. all of thegoodreviews must be from the losers, who work here.

now we're talking! walked out of a neighbor resto where we waited 25 minutes for even a glass of water - also new, also italian, market square, (ok, i know it's saturday night, but...) and were head for nola, a sure bet. passed this, looked fun, walked in. pretty brick walks,goodlooking bar, room at the bar for drinks and also dinner. bartender curtis knows his stuff and made me a great martini (he said i don't need to say "gin" as that's understood: yes!) and ordered apps: very fine chicken liver mousse with a gorgeous honey glaze, and fried smelts, both beautifully done. another toot, then dinner. himself had pappardelle with bolognese, quite good, and i ate gnocchi with pork. gnocchi was so-so bland, but the rest was just lovely. portions weren't too large, which i love. altogether a nice evening and we will return.goodjob, people!

authentic italiano. i dined here on monday night, the greens & beans were deliscious for a starter, the arugala salad with a touch oh citrus was extraordinary. the pepperdelle was to die for, this is a favorite of mine. the cannoli for desert was fresh and tastey with both lemon and chocolate cream. the cocktails are generous for the money, and a heavy pour. the wine offerings are also favorable, they feature one of my favorites " nero di avola" this wine isgoodfor an italian meal all day, every day. service was plentiful and attentive. the decor was invitingly subtle, and not over done. i plan a return visit soon!

the service at this place is disgraceful. the hostess sucks and the staff is inattentive. for such a nice place andgoodfood it could do a lot better with a better staff.