Hours
Profile
Neighborhood
- Squirrel Hill
$$ - average
Jewish (Sephardic), Mediterranean
Pinati Restaurant
Pinati is a Kosher restaurant in Squirrel Hill that offers vegetarian/vegan options including "vegetarian sampler platters" for 2 or 4 people.
Along the 61C bus line, which runs from downtown, through Oakland on Forbes to Squirrel Hill, and then south on Murray through Squirrel Hill.
Added by D. Wheitner on Aug 5 06 (updated Aug 5 06)
Reviews
For Mother's Day, my husband and 11-month old son took me to Pinati for dinner, which is a place I've usually really enjoyed. Well, there are no signs declaring their "kosher" status or signs stating that outside food can't be brought in, so naturally I brought in some homemade, organic baby food for our child. A waiter came and asked if the food was kosher and told us to keep it away from the utensils and serving ware. We overheard the waiter asking the head chef "are they still here?" After 50, yes 50, minutes they took our order after saying we'd get a discount on our food for being so understanding. Mind you, the place wasn't crowded. I had asked for pita to be delivered immediately, as my son was still quite hungry (I had planned on feeding him additional food there) and he'd been waiting for an hour for more food at this point. It took 10 minutes to get more pita and another 20 minutes to get our food. Then the head guy came and asked if the wait was worth it. Awful service. Best guess is that they were giving us the "don't ever come back service." To top it off, we weren't given a discount and the prices of our food were a couple of bucks more than the price printed on the menu, plus the additional tax.
I have written many exceptional reviews about restaurants that my wife and I have enjoyed over the years, and the restaurants that I didn't care for I usually choose to just say nothing about, until today. This will mark my first BAD review ever, and boy was it a bad experience.
My wife and I have lived and grown up in great dining cities such as Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and New York. And overall our ethnic dining experiences here in Pittsburgh have been actually quite pleasing... until the dreaded evening we chose to dine at Pinati in Squirrel Hill. After taking 20 minutes to take our orders, it took over 50 minutes to get our food after ordering. FIFTY minutes is a little outrageous. The appetizers (which usually are served before the main course, not WITH the main course) were totally cold. And worst of all, the entree orders were wrong! My wife is a strict vegetarian and a simple falafel sandwich was mixed with BEEF. That's like giving non-halal meat to a strict practicing muslim, or giving non-kosher meat to a strict practicing jew. If this wasn't outrageous enough, the waiter AND "acting" manager/cook chose to give us attitude about complaining about the mix-up. What a wonderful way to treat a customer! And they CHARGED us for the wrong sandwich and tacked on an 18% gratuity into the bill. The food is below average at best, and the service is horrendous.
I wouldn't even recommend Pinati's to the neighbor next door with the constantly barking dog.
Don't bother with this place. I normally don't pay attention to bad restaurant reviews because there's always someone who has something to complain about. In this case, I should have paid attention to the reviews. Unless you are a practicing kosher Jew looking for a place to dine out, forget this place. We ordered two simple pita sandwiches. The place was not crowded. There was one group there who had already eaten and two more tables were filled AFTER we ordered. One table who arrived after us was served entrees before we got our two sandwiches. We ordered a Schwarma pita and a Falafel pita. No appetizers, no entrees, no side dishes, no complicated anything- just two sandwiches. We waited over 30 minutes. No one came to let us know when our food would arrive or to apologize for the rediculous wait time. One gentleman who arrived at least 20 minutes after us was served within 5 minuets. Let's face it, this place is not out there to gain acclaim, to impress eaters or to make friends. They are there solely for the purpose of the surrounding Jewish community. Unless you have a lot of time and aren't hungry yet, don't bother going here. You're much better off going to Aladins eatery around the corner- you'll get better food, more options, pay less or the same and you'll get served in less than half the time.