My spouse and I dined at Stagioni for dinner on a Saturday
evening in mid-September 2018. Stagioni is open for dinner only on Tuesdays
through Saturdays (closed Mondays). You can make a reservation using the online
Open Table system.
Stagioni, which means “seasons” in Italian, first opened in
2009 as a BYOB restaurant in Bloomfield, but it later relocated to the South
Side in 2012, at which time it also acquired a liquor license. The restaurant
has consistently been named one of Pittsburgh’s 25 best restaurants for several
years running, and its chef has been considered one of the city’s rising stars.
The restaurant is located on busy Carson Street on
Pittsburgh’s South Side, amid other restaurants, bars, and shops. It occupies
two levels of a former home-turned storefront in an historic row of buildings.
Originally just one shop, the restaurant offered a tiny bar and a few small
tables on the street level, with a cozy dining room on the second floor;
however, it eventually expanded into the space next door (previously occupied
by Le Pommier) to nearly double its space. Open Table reservation confirmations
still say, “Please let us know if anyone in your party has difficulty climbing
stairs” even though there is now plenty of ground-floor seating. Restrooms are
on the upper floor, which you reach via a long wooden staircase. (The single
ladies room, while spacious, has a very odd configuration/location for the
toilet; you nearly have to squat/sit sideways because there isn’t enough room
to fit your legs in front of the toilet.) Decor includes wood floors and wood chairs
placed at dark granite-topped tables. The first two-top table that the hostess
led us to was positively diminutive in size; it was so narrow that it barely
fit the width of a chair at it. We inquired as to whether we could have the
adjacent normal-sized table for two, but the hostess told us it was reserved.
When we mentioned that we had also reserved a table (weeks before, no less), she
repeated that we could not sit there. Then, when we said that we would be
leaving for a competing restaurant, she agreed to seat us at the alternate
table. (Interestingly, a walk-in couple was then seated at our original table.)
The main dining area downstairs enjoys a huge window that overlooks Carson
Street; at the rear of the space is white shelving filled with some cookbooks
and other colorful and interesting decorative objects to produce a clean look.
As its name (in Italian) indicates, Stagioni serves seasonal
rustic Italian cuisine. As appetizers, we shared two dishes: the salt cod
fritters and one of their polentas (with crispy Brussel sprouts) that was
plated tableside. (The polenta arrived in a small saucepan, with the Brussel
sprouts arranged on a wooden cutting board; then our server stirred the polenta
and poured it over the sprouts – unique!) As entrees, we ordered two pasta
dishes (which are available as half or full portions): the agnolotti (pasta pockets
filled with an off-putting pink-colored dry mortadella stuffing, then topped
with pistachios and unappealing olive green-colored peas (the color of canned
Le Sueur, not the bright green of fresh or even frozen peas). Our other entrée
was the fettucine, long brownish-hued pasta (perhaps it was wheat even though
it didn’t say so on the menu) with prosciutto, onion, and egg yolk. We passed
on dessert, as there were only three uninteresting choices including tiramisu
and Nutella mousse.
Although the food was acceptable at Stagioni, we had some issues
with our service. The worst flub was when we overheard our server chastising her
shadowing new employee that she almost ran our credit card with some else’s
much larger bill. We also had an issue with a round of drinks that we ordered
but never received; our [experienced] server was apologetic but didn’t offer
any recompense.
We made an investment of time, effort, and money to dine at
Stagioni, which we had heard and read good things about. (We were staying at
the Hampton Inn in the Strip District, and it cost us nearly 20 minutes and $20
each way in Uber fees to reach the restaurant.) Overall, the experience just
didn’t wow us; next time we’ll eat at one of the Italian restaurant options
closer to the hotel.
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