Matteo’s

I went to Matteo’s during restaurant week this year and had a great time!
We ate on a Thursday night and there was a good crowd. We made a reservation a couple days in advance since it was restaurant week– not sure if it is normally this crowded. I would definitely call ahead during the week and make a reservation for weekends.
We ate of the RW menu. We made the mistake of looking at the regular menu-​everything sounded so good! We split a margarita pizza. For 2 people it is a good appetizer size. It is thin and crispy!
For my first course, I had the greens and beans with sausage. The sauce it was sauteed in was delicious. Everything melted in my mouth.
I order the orange bourbon glazed salmon and my boyfriend had the lamb ragu. They were both very tasty and just as delicious the next day! Between the pizza, bread, and first course, we had little room left for our meal and dessert (We knew we were gonna be full with the amount of food we ordered).
I highly recommend the almond torte for dessert!
The entire staff was super friendly! If our waiter was busy, another one would gladly refill our drinks. The atmosphere is very cozy and lovely décor. We are looking forward to going back and trying more of the menu!

Where to begin? My boyfriend and I stood in the tiny, cold entrance for five minutes despite having a reservation. The clearly inexperienced and overwhelmed host «trainee» was unfriendly and barely spoke to us. Once we were seated, he did bring us waters. However, he forgot to bring us menus. It was so chaotic and loud in the restaurant that I was unable to successfully flag someone down for more than ten minutes. We finally received menus at that time. No one had noticed that we did not have menus, and I truly wonder how long we would have sat there without them if I had not taken action.
Next, we were approached by a man who with excessive and frankly unwelcome explanation informed us that he was unsure as to who would be our waiter. After some time, it was apparently determined that he would be our waiter. He introduced himself as «Tony.» Later, we heard him introduce himself to another man as «Chad.» Clearly, there is intentional deception taking place at this restaurant as means to deliver a «truly Italian» dining experience to its customers. I do not appreciate deceitful behavior regardless of the situation or goal.
Tony/​Chad took our orders for alcoholic drinks. While enjoying the drinks, I noticed the owner giving me dramatic, dirty looks. This is absolutely unacceptable. It was later revealed to us that the owner thought we were underage, which explains but does not excuse his rude behavior. Tony/​Chad came over to our table and informed us that he forgot to card us, that we «look seventeen,» that «it was our lucky night,» and the like. He also informed my boyfriend that he had facial hair when he was twelve years old, and that my boyfriend’s facial hair does not mean that he is of the legal drinking age. He then told us that we had better enjoy our drinks tonight, because next time he would certainly card us. This is ridiculous. I am twenty-​three years old and do not appreciate being treated like a teenager who got lucky because I was not carded.
The above are only the more absurd moments from our dining experience at Matteo’s. There were many other minor incidents.
Lastly, the food was acceptable, however it is grossly overpriced for its quality.
I consider a one-​star rating to be generous.
I will never in my life return to Matteo’s.

After hearing rave reviews from a number of friends about Matteo’s I was very excited to go this past Saturday on a date night with my girlfriend to experience the menu that was put together for Restaurant Week. Instead sharing yet another wonderful experience in Pittsburgh’s burgeoning culinary scene we left the Lawrenceville eatery with an experience that left much to be desired.
The food was very good witha few outliers. I started with the Greens and Beans (fantastic), had the Salmon Special (delicious), and finished with the Toasted Almond Torte (solid). My girlfriend ordered an arugula salad with pears, the Lamb Ragu (very good yet lacked Parmesan cheese) and finished with the cheese plate. Our two critiques of the food include that the pears were far from special and frankly tasteless with the salad. The cheese plate (which was a dessert option) features cheese that were anything but dessert. Brie was the only of the three cheeses I’d expect to be served with fruit while the others were better served before an entrée.
The service however, was deplorable. Our waiter was awkward, inconsiderate and frankly, not the brightest crayon in the box. My girlfriend ordered the wine pairing to accompany her meal and twice she had to send a glass back because our esteemed helper brought the wrong item. It was almost if he just poured a glass thinking we were too incompetent to know what we ordered. It was insulting. Oh yea, it took 45 minutes to get our first glasses of wine, appetizers and bread to share. This all with zero explanation. Luckily, our service was no where near the disaster that the table next to us went through. I’m not sure one of the patrons ever received the Veal Marsala and wine pairing he ordered.
As we concluded our meal we were told that restaurant week has thrown off the entire meal experience and we should «come back when it’s not Restaurant Week.» If participating is such an issue, then my advice to the restaurant is to just sit out the next time until a winning formula is produced and can be executed.
By the end of the date, after the shoddy service and meltdown that seemed to be going on in the kitchen and among the wait staff, I half expected the folks from Candid Camera to pop out from behind the bar saying we had been spoofed.
Whether or not we return is to be determined.

Given that Piccolo Forno is just down the street, I would expect better, much better.
The food is OK. Huge portions that are reminiscent of Bravo. Nothing particularly interesting that stood out aside from the greens & beans which I loved.
The food and portions are OK enough that I would have returned if I was craving chain-​like food not at a chain, had it not been for the service. We had made reservations for 7 of us for a friends birthday. A few major downfalls:
1. We brought a cake which the waitress just sat on a random chair when we told her at the beginning. When it was time for us to sing, we removed it ourselves and had to track the waitress down to ask for plates and a knife to cut it. They then charged us $ 10 for their «service». Every other restaurant I have brought a cake to has immediately taken the cake to the kitchen to refrigerate it, brought it out with a candle on and cut/​served the cake to us.
2. They were out of Pinot Grigio by the bottle? They offered zero alternative options and instead we had to all have individual glasses of pinot grigio… out of a bottle. It was just confusing, like if you are out of your «bottled option» give us another «bottled option»! There were seven of us ready to drink bottles upon bottles and instead we had to go by the glass. It honestly seemed like they were scamming us.
3. Our waitress was nonexistent. We waited over 20 minutes for her to take our orders, she rarely filled our water unless asked, and overall all was extremely rude.
4. The guest of honor’s lovely boyfriend had called in advance to surprise her and us with 2 bottles of champagne. They gave the bottles to another table and did nothing to rectify the situation.

On rare occasions when eating out, I’ll try something and be surprised… The beans and greens are incredibly fresh and VERY good; surprisingly so. This is a nice place, good atmosphere and the food was delicious, definitely could tell that they go the extra mile to make sure everything is fresh, proper temperature, etc.

Wow, I am glad I did not review Unilocal before going to Matteos because I may not have gone. My first time I was taken by a friend years ago for my birthday. I my bruchetta and enjoyed my Bolognese to no end. I have continued to enjoy the food continually, desserts included. I highly recommend the chicken BLT. Some of the specials are to die for! From time to time, staff can be spacey, but I have run into that all along Butler Street. My husband just had the Tiramisu and it was excellent!

Matt Cavanaugh is an incredible chef. Hands down. He’s innovative, bold and fresh. Ingredients are traditional to creative Italian dishes that break out the difference between a good Italian restaurant vs a faux paus.
Dining for groups or intimacy is good here. Outdoor dining weather approved.
Specialities nightly and seasonally.
Good wine list for all vino lovers.
Wine tastings on Thursdays — check their website for details.
There’s no reason why anyone shouldn’t pass up this restaurant for lunch or dinner. Price point is reasonable.

I can’t remember how or why Matteo’s was on my Pittsburgh bucket list since Italian food is not a favorite of mine but I am determined to knock every item off. I had the opportunity to cross Matteo’s off last week with a friend & her boyfriend.
The three of us sat at the bar and the bartender was immediately responsive. Based on the food we ordered, the bartender paired the perfect wine. He also served fresh, warm bread with seasoned olive oil dipping sauce.
We started with the beans & greens– shrimp (can be ordered with spicy sausage instead!) spinach, cream sauce & white northern beans. The spinach was perfect, a hard task to accomplish. Usually, restaurants over cook it & it’s mush. I would order this dish again. The shrimp were large & full of flavor from marinating in the cream sauce.
Next up: house salad. Simple yet quality ingredients. Mixed greens (no cheap iceberg here) and cucumber, onion, tomato, olives, & balsamic dressing on the side. A bowl of blue cheese crumbles was also served on the side.
Main dishes: we shared the black and blue salmon with roasted vegetables, barrel aged coffee crusted steak, and penne with bacon vodka sauce. The black and blue salmom was amazing. Delicate blue cheese melted on blackened salmon with roasted zucchini & squash. Roasted & crunchy, the way they should be! I am not a big pasta or red meat fan but I tasted both. The coffee crust was an excellent compliment to the steak. Not overpowering & ground enough that it wasn’t grainy. No grounds in my teeth, bonus! The penne sauce was just the right amount of creamy and the bacon bits were plentiful. If my bank account let me, I’d go back every night for the salmon!
The chef dropped in to check on us a few times and I felt like he genuinely cared about each and every item his kitchen prepared. I watched him check in and interact with most of the patrons, too. I can’t speak for the waitstaff since the bartender served our food.
Another great part of my experience was the portion sizes! I had leftovers for two days & yes, I did manage to save some salmon for the next day.
Matteo’s is now a permanent fixture on my foodie list & I will be back!

My friends and I are sitting at the bar. I realise it is Saturday night, but we were pretty much ignored by Tony, who took his time taking our orders and brought our wine pairings before our food was brought out. We had to flag down another server to see if she could take our order. Then Tony finally took our orders, placed our bread next to the bar rag, and almost gave me a dirty plate.

I’m a fan of nearly every restaurant in Lawrenceville. All I can say is: if you’re going to open an Italian restaurant a few blocks from Piccolo Forno, it better be damn good. Sorry Matteo’s, but you’re not going to cut it.
My boyfriend and I wandered in on a Tuesday night a few weeks ago, after wanting to go to Smoke but realizing it was closed on Tuesdays. The restaurant was very empty, so we were promptly seated. The bread is delicious, I’ll give them that. It’s fresh from the oven and piping hot. I would’ve eaten more if I knew what was ahead! I then had some wedding soup. It was decent wedding soup — nothing to write home about, but still yummy. My boyfriend opted to go without an app.
For entrees, I had one of the specials that was a mushroom marsala pasta. My boyfriend opted for the vegetable primavera with aglio olio (they also offer an alfredo option for the primavera). Both dishes just entirely lacked seasoning. Is the chef on a no salt diet and wants the rest of us to suffer with him? I’m not sure, but the lack of seasoning was almost unbearable. I salted it myself, but there is a difference in taste between cooking the salt in the dish and dumping it on tableside. I took much of my dish to-​go simply because I didn’t enjoy it and knew my garbage disposal of a boyfriend (I say that with love) would take it for lunch the next day. He was pleased with the amount of veggies in his primavera, but again, no seasoning whatsoever made it incredibly bland and not an enjoyable dining experience at all.
Matteo’s has potential. It’s decorated adorably, the location is great, and the menu is full of classics, which is common and often sought after at Italian restaurants. But I encourage the owners/​managers to start tasting what is coming out of the kitchen. Bland food makes for a bad dining experience, and with an incredible Italian place up the street, you need to seriously up your game to get my business back.

One of my favorite Italian restaurants! We went there Saturday night before Mother’s day and sat outside. The beans and greens with shrimp was excellent., the seafood pizza was great and the mushroom ravioli on the specials list is to die for. So many mushrooms and lots of garlic. I hope they add this to their regular menu. The best part is that the portions are large and filling you can continue to enjoy your meal for a few more days because there will be plenty to bring home.

This was only so so, but for the price I was expecting amazing…
The good; drinks are delicious and the have great bread (always a plus).
We ordered the Brussels sprouts and to say they were over done is an understatement… burnt to a crisp, and blacked unrecognizable crisp. The entrees were all underwhelming (not well flavored and just blah)
Nothing was terrible, but I won’t be back at those prices.

Went here today for a late lunch date with my hubby.
There were a few tables occupied, but it was not slammed. When I walked in I noticed a specials board outside that mentioned crab ravioli with a saffron cream sauce. It sounded so delicious, that nothing else was going to come up to scratch.
When we asked the waitress about the dish she continued the description by mentioning that it would be topped with a Jonah Crab Claw which sold me on it. Though it was the most expensive dish on the lunch menu ($ 28) it was worth every penny. The ravioli was stuffed full of crab and no other filler, and the sauce was heavenly and we took advantage of the bread to soak it up. The crab claw, ended up being 4 big crab claws. It was amazing!
My husband decided to go with the linguine primavera in alfredo sauce with chicken. This dish was delicious, and the pasta was perfectly cooked. The chicken was also perfectly cooked and a large portion for an add on. The one thing I will say is that the alfredo sauce wasn’t the cheesiest, but I think the lightness of the sauce enhanced the dish.
We don’t eat carbs that often, and when we were leaving we said that this «cheat» was worth it!
We will definitely be back when we are ready for some serious carb heaven!

A lenten Friday with a lot of fish entrees on the chalk board.
Four for dinner last night. First time for the two of us as we joined another couple for their return trip.
First off, get the Greens and Beans with Shrimp. One word — awesome. The four of us shared the large bowl and I could have had another.
Four people — four different entrees:
Crab ravioli — served with several crab claws on top.
Mahi Mahi — jerk style
Red Snapper — lemon capers with asparagus and red potatoes
Crab stuffed Shrimp — with asparagus and red potatoes.
All us loved what we ordered. We’d go again.

I went here on a Wednesday night last week during restaurant week. Although I was very appreciative that they were able to fit us in the day I made reservations, the upcoming experience was disappointing. My friend and I both weren’t very excited about any of our courses.
For one, they took quite a bit of time to bring out the bread and the olive oil – at least this part was delicious, but it would be embarrassing if a restaurant messed up something so simple. For the appetizer, I got the grilled calamari with sweet chili sauce which was ok. The flavors went well together but I wasn’t craving bite after bite of it. For the second course I got the beet salad which was probably the worst salad I’ve ever gotten in a restaurant. It was just romaine lettuce with tiny bits of beets smaller than dimes. Some tomatoes and cheese were thrown in an an effort to make it better, but wow – beet salad is usually primarily beets with some sort of legume, maybe onions, and cheese. The beets should be the star. The beets in this salad were essentially a garnish. The main course wasn’t much better – garlic crusted tilapia served with asparagus. The tilapia was sort of soggy and you couldn’t even taste the fish (or garlic for that matter) because all you could taste was the gorgonzola that they put on it. My friend got the same thing and didn’t finish hers because she found it unappetizing.
I wish I could have had a better experience at Matteo’s but it seems that their food does not measure up to the prices that they charge. Luckily, there are many other better restaurants on Butler to have dinner at.

I went here for restaurant week, and between a table of 4 people, we sampled everything on the restaurant week menu. (4 apps, 4 salads, and 4 entrees) Everything was a hit, and they were generous with bringing out fresh, hot bread too. Our waiter was down to earth, yet still very knowledgeable. And the best part was, despite being very busy, they had out table ready on time so we could sit down upon arrival.
Bottom line: Excellent food & helpful/​friendly service. Definite recommendation!

Although I am giving Matteo’s three stars, this was much more of a 2.5 star experience. After viewing the restaurant week menu, which on paper looked delicious, I decided to make reservations for this past Friday night for myself and my boyfriend. Our reservations were for 7:45 and we arrived on time to a packed dining room. In fact, our table was the only one open at that time. It took quite some time for someone to come up to the door to greet us, but once he did we were sat quickly. Our server, Erica, was excellent. She was one of the highlights of the entire dining experience. After explaining the restaurant week menu, she brought over bread and oil, both of which were tasty and much welcomed due to the fact both my dining companion and I were starving. My dining companion and I both chose to do the restaurant week menu with the $ 15 wine pairing with each course.
For appetizers, I chose the chorizo mussels (chorizo sausage, fresh tomatoes, and Chablis) which was paired with Krems Gruner Veltiner. This was a drier white wine and really complimented the spicier flavor of the chorizo. The flavor of the dish was great, however, throughout the dish were broken shell pieces. It seemed with every bite of the sauce, I was biting into a broken shell and then having to pull pieces of it out of my mouth. This really ruined this dish for me and did not leave a good taste in my mouth, no pun intended. My boyfriend chose the grilled chili calamari (grilled and tossed in a sweet chili sauce) which was paired with Rothburg Riesling. My boyfriend said it best when he said this was the worst calamari he has eaten in his life. It was chewy, rubbery, and overlooked. The wine was sweet and would have complimented the sweet chili sauce if the calamari had been edible, which it really was not.
Since the first course left much to be desired, expectations were low for the second course. My boyfriend chose the house salad (mixed greens, onion, cucumber, olives, pepperoncini, and tomato) paired with Blue Quail Chardonnay. There isn’t much to say about his salad except it was a decent size and he enjoyed the balsamic dressing. I chose the beet salad (beet, bacon, tomatoes, goat cheese, and romaine with balsamic reduction) paired with Dreambird Pinot Grigio. For my dining experience, this was the highlight of the meal (minus dessert which I’ll get to later). The salad was large and filled with beets and bacon (because bacon makes everything better!) and I loved the reduction and how it complimented the goat cheese without being overwhelmingly vinegary.
For entrees I was torn between ordering the lamb ragu or the Gorgonzola crusted tilapia. I saw the tilapia go out to another table and it looked delicious and it was paired with a white wine which is my preference over red so I ended up going with the fish. When the entrée arrived, the Gorgonzola was very dominant on one side of the fish and the other side had none at all and was very flavorless. It was served with asparagus (no seasoning at all) and paired with Château Lamothe, a drier white wine. The dish was huge and I ended up taking half home but I was pretty disappointed in the mostly flavorless meal. My boyfriend had the chicken piccata (lemon, capers, white wine, mushrooms) which was served with a side of vodka pasta and paired with Tutela Pinot Grigio. His meal was very tasty, particularly the vodka pasta sauce. The lemon flavor was present throughout the dish and complimented the salty capers nicely. He really enjoyed his meal and dud not have any leftovers to take although portions were huge.
The absolute highlight of the meal, which was not a restaurant week menu course, was the tiramisu. It was so tasty I did not want to share after my disappointing entrée, but I still gave my boyfriend a few bites.
Service was excellent from Erica. Our entrees took an excruciatingly long time and while waiting for them, she brought over complimentary wine (a chianti for him and a red cab for me) so we had something in front of us during the painstakingly long wait. That was such a nice touch that I’d be willing to return to Matteo’s despite the mostly lackluster food. Great service can go a long way! Overall I will not be rushing to return and I’m thankful this meal was at a discounted price because it was a mostly disappointing experience, minus the beet salad, the tiramisu, and the excellent service.

Went on a Thursday night during Restaurant week. I was with a table of 8. Each of us got the 3 course special menu for Restaurant week. For a Thursday night the place was rather full. Our sever was very nice.
I had a couple of problems with my experience there. First was the lack of quality control. My first course was mussels with chorizo sausage. The flavors were great, but they somehow shattered a mussel in the bowl. That meant I had little pieces of shell all throughout the dish that I had to find and discard or else is chip a tooth.
My wife’s first course was calamari in a sweet chili sauce. Another person at the table got the same dish. One had the right amount of sauce, the other one was swimming in it.
My second issue was how boring the food was past the first course.
The salad course was okay but uninspired.
The mains were disappointing. I got lamb ragu, which on the menu sounded fabulous, but the description was misleading. What came out was ground lamb in tomato sauce. The dish didn’t take advantage of the lamb, and could have been any protein.
Overall the food was not great, and the quality control was lacking. For what you pay to sit down there, you’re better off going down the street to Piccolo Forno.

I wish I could have liked the food. The appetizer of grilled calamari was okay, it everything else that we had was just bland or didn’t meet our expectations. The décor of the plan was cute and the server was great but the food fell really short.

I want to write this very carefully. I came in for restaurant week, so I expected it to be bustling. From a previous experience I also expected it to be good, but it was not.
We came on Friday and it was packed. I felt like our server and the kitchen seemed overwhelmed. We waited a good amount of time between our wine, receiving bread and our courses. Not that I mind staggering things, but especially the wine and bread should have been out quicker. The bread was fresh and piping hot, so that settled the rumbling stomachs once we got it.
I ordered the special of mussels in tomato sauce, Ceasar salad and polenta crusted cod. The mussels were okay. I wasn’t thrilled with the sauce, as it seemed a bit bland. The salad was totally fine. But the cod, inedible.
Now I will say, I felt very badly about saying something, but I wasn’t going to eat it. It was mushy and the tomato sauce also seemed to not be seasoned. I took one bite and was done. The server didn’t seem to concerned, but did exchange my meal for the tortellini. While that was much better, the experience had already been ruined.
I must admit, I was surprised that a manager didn’t pop in to ask if everything was okay. Especially since two of our four meals had been sent back. I also saw the chef pop out twice and he also never said a word to us. I just thought it was strange. Was it my responsibility to tell the manager? Or was it the server? I don’t know, but I felt awkward about the whole experience.