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 aboutsiennasulla 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.siennais 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.

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 atsiennabut definitely not my last!

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 chosesiennaon the square. it's one of my favorite restaurants in pittsburgh and i wish we got there more often.

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:siennaon 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.

we walked from the hyatt place on the north shore over the fort duquesne bridge to point state park, then tosiennasulla piazza in market square for dinner with friends. i can’t remember the last time i visited market square. it’s changed quite a bit... unfortunately, i had partied a little too hard at liz’s bachelorette party on the south side the night before.siennahad an excellent wine menu, but i had to pass on that. i wasn’t sure if i could handle real food, especially rich italian food, but sienna’s housemade ricotta wild mushroom gnocchi ($19), surprisingly, helped cure my hangover. i asked them not to include the pancetta. fantastic gnocchi dish with gorgeous mushrooms.

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 atsiennais 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 a good chix 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 enough good things aboutsiennasulla piazza.... excellent service, comfortable atmosphere, delicious meal all for a more than reasonable price.

great meal, as always!. we have never been disappointed when we've gone to sienna. it has become one of our favorite restaurants. my husband had the melon gazpacho and it was fabulous. we were there with a couple of picky eaters and they both found something on the menu they loved. i would not hesitate to recommendsiennato anyone.

the food atsiennasulla 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 the food stands 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, butsiennaprepared 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

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 tosiennapreviously-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.

authentic and awesome. this place is well worth a visit...or 6. we ate at the bar because the tables were full but that didn't deter from the service, atmosphere, and food. they have homemade bread with a white bean spread instead of butter and they add a different flavor to it every night-this night was tomato, basil, and goat cheese. absolutely delicious. to start, we had thesiennachopped salad and tomato bisque-both were yummy and a great way to start. for one entree, we ordered the pancetta wrapped pork tenderloin that came with red cabbage, and apples. this was the most tender and succulent pork i've ever had. the other entree was the ricotta gnocchi and that was served with wild mushrooms, pancetta, and swiss chard. it was so authentic tasting and one of the best dishes i've ever tried. i'm definitely coming back so i can try some flatbreads.

fabulous. been tosiennatwice and had a great dinner both times. the gnocchi melts in your mouth. great atmosphere and knowledgable staff who don't rush the meal.

the magician. i had a great experience atsiennasulla. after going there for lunch a couple times, i had my heart set on dinner andsiennadid not disappoint. everything i've eaten there has been fantastic...beets, flatbreads, the mussels on their lunch menu were the best i ever had and my only complaint is that they weren't on their dinner menu, the greens and beans and finally the excellent shrimp risotto entree. perfect! i love the atmosphere. we had great service. and, i found my new favorite wine...the magician! thank you sienna...i will be back!

...even though italian is usually near the bottom of my list when it comes to dining out, i heard a glowing recommendation ofsiennaa couple weeks back and decided to try it

quality. i've been tosiennafor several dinners and had stellar food that beats other top fine dining in the city. you can't go wrong here!