My spouse and dined at Vallozzi’s for dinner on a Friday
evening in mid-September 2018. Vallozzi’s is open for lunch on weekdays and
dinner on Mondays through Saturdays (closed on Sundays). You can make a
reservation using the online Open Table system.
The original Vallozzi’s (pronounced not with an “oh” sounds but instead with an “ah” sound)
in Greensburg opened nearly 40 years ago, but it was not until 2012 when they
opened a second location in Downtown Pittsburgh’s Cultural District on Fifth
Avenue, on Fifth Avenue (just off Market Square) across the street from
the Fairmont Hotel. Vallozzi’s ownership also operate the nearby Market Street
Grocery, several locations of Earth Inspired Salads, and downtown’s Talia
Cucina.
Upon entering the restaurant, patrons are presented with their
first choice: should you pass through the stacked-stone arch and enter the bar
area? Or should you step up and approach the host stand, passing by a wall
filled with plates signed by famous people who have dined at Vallozzi’s?
Although the quieter formal dining room was our destination, we peeked into the
energetic bar room, where diners can sit at the drinks bar, at one of the
high-top communal tables, or on the lower lounge furniture; however, we thought
the choicest seats were at the L-shaped salumi/mozzarella bar (Vallozzi’s has
its meats and cheeses flown in weekly from Italy) where guests can watch a chef
at work. In the dining room, beige walls (some of which are painted with murals
of Italian pastoral scenes, and one of which also contains a charcoal gray
outline of a horse) provide the backdrop for tables lining both sides of the
room that share padded banquettes and free-standing tables at the center of the
room. A small, more private dining area is located just off the main floor and
behind the host stand, perched one step above it and partially obscured by wall
shelving that holds wine bottles and other objects. Alternatively, a small,
completely separate private event room is also available.
Vallozzi’s serves fine Italian cuisine. We started with a
(limon)cello flight; instead of the flavors listed on the menu, we chose to
sample the three daily special offerings: pineapple, cherry, and kumquat. As
appetizers, we shared the fried stuffed peppers (with sausage and salsa verde,
seemingly served on a bed of lightly sautéed garlic) and the salumi trio (the
contents of which were not explained when delivered, served with giardiniera).
For entrees, we took the advice of our server and ordered the crab cakes (two
enormous completely lump crabmeat balls served lightly sautéed to form a thinly
crisp outer layer – amazing, although they could have been even better if
accented with some sort of sauce like remoulade or even tartar - served over
roasted corn, fennel, and chives). Our other entrée was the cacio e pepe (when
we questioned our server about the dish being made with shrimp, she explained
that the protein was placed atop the pasta, not really mixed into the pepper
Parmesan butter sauce. (This dish was tasty, but it was nothing like cacio e
pepe; it was more of shrimp pasta.) For dessert, again at our server’s
suggested, we tried the delicious bread pudding. (We were disappointed that she
did not offer us a complimentary shot of limoncello as we had observed her
doing for the table adjacent to ours, particularly since she knew we liked it.)
We enjoyed our dinner at Vallozzi’s; we wish we had not been
so slow to discover this gem!
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