Pino’s Contemporary Italian Restaurant & Wine Bar

We stopped in without a reservation and were squeezed in. The server was very accomdating to my severe dairy allergy. She went back and checked with the chef twice to ensure I ordered the correct items. I thought it was lovely.

Would definitely come back! Was very impressed by the menu choices. Came here for restaurant week. I enjoyed every last bit of each course. It’s definitely pricey, but I’d say well worth it! Staff was attentive and food came out at a reasonable time (I read previous reviews that said they waited, I did not have this experience). Was very pleased and will be back!

I am so glad my daughter, aunt and myself took a chance and tried this restaurant. Liz the waitress was so helpful and friendly. We had great wine and delicious meals. It was also a nice touch that the Chef came to our table to meet and greet. If you love homemade pasta, you will love this restaurant. We will definitely be back!

The food was good. The pasta is made fresh. The ambiance wasn’t very cozy. Even though you are packed together and the tables are small, it really didn’t match the menu which is Primarily Italian. Our server was busy when we first got there so we waited patiently. However, as the dinner went on and it was only us and 2 other tables, she didn’t clean off the table once, refill our drinks, got an order wrong (it drives me nuts when servers don’t write orders down on paper). Again the food was delicious but everything else didn’t fit.

Went for a quick dinner tonight and couldn’t be happier. I had the tuna and my son had the Carbonara pasta. Both were excellent. I love the neighborhood atmosphere. The meals are pricey but very good.

Some nice wine and good appetizers. The main courses are quite pricey.

GREAT neighborhood restaurant, with charming atmosphere and awesome food!
Only possible complaint could be that the Lamb Bolognese serving was a little skimpy.
but that’s because it was perfection!

One of my favorite places to eat while in Pittsburgh. If your in the shady side area or Bakery Square area this is one of the place you need to check out. Great service. great food.great people.

Great neighborhood spot. The staff is attentive and friendly. The food is awesome and the ambiance is perfect.
We had a great experience here. The mussels were flavorful and my steak main course was perfect.
I totally recommend Pino’s.

We had dinner and drinks tonight and it was great as usual. We have been here often, with couples, with family, and for a large family event. Service and food have always been top notch.

I went with ladies of Dine & Dish to Pino’s in January. It was good, solid food. It is located in the quaint neighborhood of Point Breeze. The service was a bit lacking but it got the job done.

Probably one of the worst places I have been to recently. I have had pasta come out of the freezer that was better prepared. $ 70 for a mushy rigatoni chicken dish and 2 glasses of wine (incl 20% gratuity.) service was very poor — on our table of 5 server couldn’t remember what anyone had for drinks or dinner ever. You need to write down something on your pad like woman in blue del sol/​cab sauv to help you, that’s fine but don’t come back all clueless like you had never heard us order. I won’t be going back. Seating was also poor, I had reservations and walked in before a large party, who was seated before me. Meaning I arrived at the hostess station first, and they took the party behind me before asking me my name. I was not the first, nor the last, to arrive for my party and reservation was in my name.

Pino’s is an mid-​level Italian place with a charming neighborhood atmosphere. The prices aren’t the cheapest, but for what it is Pino’s delivers small plates and dinners that are satisfying without breaking the bank. The lamb bolognese is one of my personal favorites, as well as pretty much any of the appetizers. I also love the creative cocktail list and the half price bottles of wine for happy hour. There are few places in Pittsburgh that can get me as excited about cocktails as Pino’s. My roommate and I have come here with friends and sat at the bar for hours eating and drinking a variety of delightful things. In short, they do drinks and food quite well for the price.
The reason Pino’s only gets three stars is the unfortunate inconsistency with service I’ve encountered. I get treated differently depending on who I come in with, and that’s unprofessional. If I’m with my roommate and one of my friends (both of whom work nearby) we all get seated quickly and treated extremely well. In short, it feels like my presence is valued. When I’ve come to Pino’s with people who aren’t in with the owners though, I’ve had a thoroughly lackluster experience. Once I came on my birthday with my boyfriend and frankly was let down. We waited awkwardly for a very long time to be seated even though there were empty tables and in general had a very impersonal experience. I felt embarrassed having spoken so highly of Pino’s to him beforehand. I know I’ll be back for the occasional happy hour or small dinner, but Pino’s isn’t somewhere I would take anyone I wanted to impress due to the problematic service.

Two piece and a biscuit!
My partner and I decided to dine at Pino this evening as we live nearby and heard some really nice things about the restaurant. My partner called ahead at around five pm and made a reservation for eight o’clock. Arriving on time we were left standing at the hostess stand for nearly fifteen minutes before someone came to seat us. While waiting the female bartender asked if there was anything we would like from the bar. We decided on two light beers.
The server was nice, however we waited for at least ten minutes for the bread plate to come out, and awhile longer for the calamari, salad and finally the main course. My partners’ plate had to be sent back due to it being practically raw, when he requested well done.
After nearly two hours (1:40min) we were more than finished and eager to go home. On the way out the bar tender called out in a husky voice «sir, you forgot to pay your beer tab.» The service was slow and not very hospitable. The plate, the steak was delicious. Unfortunately my partners was less than mediocre.
Unfortunately we will not return to Pino any time soon due to our experience. If you decide to try Pino then I suggest arriving ten minutes late and eat an appetizer before you get there…

Pinos offers an unhappy marriage of good food at bad prices. The food is tasty but not transcendent. The prices in the high $ 20’s for most of the entrees are not justified by the quality, location, or portions. The food is essentially slightly hipper Olive Garden fare at double the prices.
For dinner entrees you can get more for your money elsewhere. But it’s not all bad. The atmosphere is pleasant and the service was excellent. I had a good time and I’d happily go back for appetizers (most are $ 8 – 10).
Pino’s is frequented by a large rambunctious flock of malbec massacring 40 – 50 year old women. My friend and I were the only males there. If cougar hunting is your sport of choice, you’ll feel right at home in Pino’s jungle safari!

I have been going to Pino’s for several years with my family so I feel well qualified to give a balanced review rather than basing it on a single experience, good or bad. Every restaurant can have a bad day. And even the worst places can please some customers every now and then.
What you get at Pino’s is great service and excellent food. If your idea of Italian is the Olive Garden, you are in for an education and a treat. This is the real deal. We have a family of picky eaters including a full blown celiac and we all love it.
Yes, over the years I have twice seen owner/​chef Joe unhappy with unhappy customers. In one case the customer was arrogant and offensive. On the other occasion, Joe should have swallowed his pride if only to avoid the coordinated revenge reviews that followed.

I live in Connecticut and visit family in Pittsburgh often. Pino’s is my favorite Pittsburgh restaurant.
I don’t have one favorite dish because I usually order one of the specials, which change often. I ordered from the regular menu for the first time a couple of weeks ago. The Bolognese sauce on tagliatelle pasta (I think the menu has it on rigatoni) was as good as what I had in Italy. My son had the seafood risotto. It was so good, I need to order it next time.
My brother is a retired chef and hates to eat out because few restaurants are worth paying for what he can make better at home. He loved his meal and his tastes of everyone else’s at the table (there were 10 of us). He was giddy to enjoy eating out for the first time in in a long time.
Oh, they also make great cocktails and have a very, very nice wine list.
Oh, if you think you can only get good fries and mussels at the Belgium place around the corner, try Pino’s. The fries are topped with crispy herbs… yum!
No, it isn’t cheap. But, I’m happy to pay for quality.

I went to Pino’s with my three other friends for Restaurant Week and was underwhelmed and completely disappointed. We chose an option for each course of the very limited Restaurant Week menu. I selected the baked eggplant caprese appetizer, Lazy Man lasagna Florentine and then the panna cotta for dessert.
Baked eggplant caprese: the breaded eggplant was a soggy mess.
Lazy Man Lasagna Florentine: it was essentially two huge lasagna noodles sandwiching huge clumps of spinach (I’m talking like a 3-​inch high pile of clumped spinach) with a few mushrooms peppered in. The spinach ratio was out of control and I honestly ate a few bites and couldn’t even continue.
Panna cotta: this was the most decent of the items we ordered.
My friend ordered off the regular menu, which she advised not to do since her food would come out at a different time? Why?
We tried my friend’s appetizer of the Italian Fries, which are described on the menu as sounding very similar to the amazing fries at Point Brugge… but it was just a bowl of regular French fries, which were lackluster and misleading. She also got the house soup with chickpeas and it looked like Spaghetti-o’s and tasted even worse.
I don’t know where all the positive reviews are coming from. There was not one thing we ate that was impressive in any way. All of it was overpriced and below mediocre. I wasted my money, and I will never, ever go back there.

Stopped in without a reservation around 7 pm. I ordered the house soup. It was very yummy. The soup was a tomato based soup with noodles and chick peas. I also tried the sausage flatbread. The flatbread sizing easily fed one. My boyfriend shared with me. The tomato sauce and peppers on it really made the flatbread.
I really one to come back int the summer when the front windows are opened and enjoy some wine and small dishesa

Three of us had dinner at Pino’s on a Friday night because we mistakenly assumed we’d be able to get seats at Point Brugges. Having walked, we didn’t have many other options, so we headed into Pino’s (albeit a tad underdressed).
The food was all pretty good – one of my companions had the chicken and risotto, and the chicken was tasty but the risotto was creamy only from the addition of fat, and not from released starches… I had the casareccia as arrabiata is my favorite sauce. The pasta itself was tasty (and homemade as the name implies), but the sauce lacked the signature spice of arrabiata. For $ 25 for a bowl of pasta, I expect much, much more.
Bottom line – you won’t be disappointed by the food, but when the check comes, you’ll feel you have overpaid. Ambiance does not match the prices, but the happy hour deal (half off wine) might be worthwhile.