Pittsburgh: Mezzo (November 2016)

Mezzo – One of Three Restaurants on Three Different Levels at the Same Address

My spouse and I visited Mezzo for dinner on a Saturday evening in mid-November 2016. We booked our table using the online Open Table reservation system. Mezzo is open daily for dinner only. The owners of Mezzo operate all of the Sienna Mercato venues (three different restaurants on three different levels, including Emporio at the street level, Mezzo on the second floor, and Il Tetto as the retractable rooftop beer garden) as well as Sienna on the Square (in Market Square). A second outlet of Emporio makes its home in Wexford.

Mezzo, which opened in the fall of 2014, is located on Penn Avenue in Downtown Pittsburgh’s Cultural District. You reach the second floor via staircase or elevator, so the restaurant is handicap-accessible. The space features exposed brick, hand-painted logos and wall décor, black-and-white wallpaper with sketches of pigs, tall ceilings, exposed wood beams, white high-backed chairs, and Edison lightbulbs. The dining room includes walls of windows that slide open in appropriate weather, table seating on two levels (one level is just a step below the other), and an L-shaped bar.

Mezzo offers Italian cuisine that features locally sourced ingredients. The menu includes charcuterie (with in-house cured meats such as pancetta, sausage, salami, and speck) and artisan cheeses, along with wood-fired pizzas, pastas, risotto, antipastos, salads, side dishes, Paninis, and protein entrees. To start, we shared the delicious beef and onion pizza with a terrific doughy crust, although we only finished half in order to save room for our entrees (we took it home for lunch the day). As entrees, we ordered two expertly prepared al dente pasta dishes, the la Genovese (with short rib), and the tortiglioni (with crumbled sausage). We ordered whole portions (half portions are also available), but we took home half of each dish for lunch the following day. For dessert, we shared a delicious coconut panna cotta topped with diced fruit (like mango and kiwi), served with coconut macaroons.

We loved our dinner at Mezzo! Every food item that we ordered was a hit, and we look forward to returning, as well as to trying the meatball joint Emporio and the rooftop beer garden Il Tetto. (We already tried Sienna Mercato in October of 2014 and thought it was wonderful; see our review called “Excellent Italian Food in a Casual Setting”.)