Storms Restaurant & BYOB — Restaurant in Baldwin

Friends recommended this place and we came by on a Wednesday night. Good thing we made reservations as the place is small, and was packed. The dining room is not large and there is another, small, annex, which is where we were seated. Because we were in the annex, I could not see how many staff members were on duty that night, but we only saw three: The hostess, our waitress, and a busboy.

The menu features very typical American-Italian dishes, so we chose four different ones. We’ve been told their servings sizes are large, and entrees came with a choice of a soup or salad, so we abstained from any appetizers. Two of us got the dinner salad, and two went with the Wedding soup which was the only option offered. The dinner salad is pretty ordinary with the only two things that distinguish it from other restaurant’s offerings being the croutons used and the appearance of a mix of green and black olives. The wedding soup was tasty but one of the cups had no meatballs in it.

We got the following four entrees – with my comments on each – in order of best to worst: Angel Hair Fra Diavolo: While not the traditional one, this was clearly the best meal of the night. The sauce was jus spicy enough to be interesting and the pasta was cooked enough – but not overcooked as sometimes happens with angel hair. Eggplant Parmesan: This was a decent representation of this dish. It was a bit on the sweet side, but the eggplant retained its crunchy coating even though it was sauced, so that was a good thing. Chicken Piccata: This one was a bit odd. I do not typically see artichokes on this one. It was very saucy, but it was lemony. Chicken Marsala: The first thing that struck me was how thin and sweet the sauce was. It took a bit for the Marsala flavor to come through. It was definitely there though. Definitely the worst of the bunch. Not really terrible, but not one that I would want again as there are far better ones all around the Pittsburgh area.

One thing that we commented on was the lack of a pasta side with the two chicken dishes. They were very saucy, and runny sauces at that, so what were we supposed to do with that? We did use some of the bread that was on the table, and could, I suppose, have asked for more.

The waitress zoomed by on occasion. She was a whirlwind. This is why I made the comment above about not knowing how many staff members they had that night. We saw her when she took our orders, delivered our food, gave us our checks, and our receipts. Similarly with the other three tables in the annex. The busboy was the one who came by every five to six minutes to take away empty plates, refill water glasses, and – in our table – provide the missing cutlery.

While prices were very reasonable, I do not think we will come back. The food was just OK and there are much better examples of this kind of cuisine...

Although the food is very good, I was asked to leave the restaurant after 1.5 hours. Now we had an appetizer, main course and split a dessert. I was still drinking my coffee. It was a table for 2 and there were numerous empty tables. I understand they get reservations which I had but you do not have to have one. It is embarrassing and appalling that a restaurant would conduct business in this manner. They sent some bus boy out from the back to announce this in front of everyone in the restaurant. The waitress was tipped extremely well and the meals are not cheap. I do not mind paying for good food. I DO MIND paying and then being treated in this manner. The whole time we were being rushed to finish a course. Again, not a way to conduct business. Word of mouth is a...

Food was pretty good-service was poor. Started with hostess asking if we had reservations - place was 2/3 empty. Got squeezed at the last table next guy to the emergency exit. Waitress was disinterested and seemingly got annoyed when we asked for more than the one slice of italian bread for the 2 of us. Told my wife she probably would not bring butter. She didn't. My wife asked and her annoyance went up. She literally tossed a dish of frozen butter on the table. Same with the bill. No thanks at all. We won't be back despite the food was pretty good. Also you should know this was a byob place. Nothing available to buy. Was not the place to spend our...