Piada Italian Street Food — Restaurant in Bethel Park

Ordering dinner from Piada in Bethel Park was the worst decision that our family has ever made! If you were thinking about trying this place, my recommendation is to save your money and spend it at another restaurant. The FIRST time we ordered from this restaurant, my daughter ordered 3 FARMER'S MARKET SALADS, and when she got there they had made 3 BACON AND BLUE SALADS INSTEAD! The manager noticed that it was wrong and remade the salads for her. Then we decided to try this place a SECOND time. My husband, my daughter, and i ordered the create your own tossed pasta. When we got the 3 pastas home THE TOPPINGS WERE ALL WRONG! MOST OF THE TOPPINGS WE ORDERED WERE NOT ON THE PASTAS, and A BUNCH OF TOPPINGS THAT WE DID NOT ORDER WERE ON OUR PASTAS. We contacted GARY, the regional manager, at the Bethel Park location. He gave me the days and times that he was scheduled to be at that location, and he told me to stop in for some free entree coupons. I came on one of the days that he said he would be there, but I was told he was not in. I tried another one of the days that he was supposed to be there, and I was told this time that he was in the hospital. I waited a week and I tracked GARY down at the new Robinson location. He took my name and address and promised to send the free entree coupons to my home. I waited 2 1/2 WEEKS and the coupons never came. I called Gary again at the Robinson location and he said that he had lost my name and address, but had recently found it. He said the coupons were in the envelope with my address on it, and all he to do was put a stamp on the envelope and mail it. It has been another week, and I still have not received the free entree coupons. Problems at restaurants seem to trickle from management on down to the employees, so I can understand now why the new location in Bethel can't handle a simple pasta meal. Their own manager, GARY, in two months can't mail an envelope with free entree coupons to a customer who had a really bad experience at his restaurant. I wouldn't recommend the Robinson location either, because Gary is also managing this location. Piada needs to realize what a liability this manager, Gary, is to their restaurant and...

Piada only opened up a few days ago and we happened to be in the neighborhood so we decided to stop in. We really liked it, given what it is. The first thing to realize is that it is a riff on Chipotle – instead of Mexican-style burritos, you have the option of pastas, salad bowls, or their version of burritos. They do not call them burritos – they call them Piadas, but they treat them exactly the same as Chipotle – just with different fillings. That is not to disparage what they do – not at all! However, their tag line is “Italian Street Food” and that would be Paninis, and not these burrito take-offs.

We tried one of their bowls, a pasta, and their Piada Rolls. We thoroughly enjoyed each of them and they whole lot was relatively inexpensive and very tasty. The bowl was the Bacon & Blue to which we added a piece of grilled Salmon. The salad was very tasty and the salmon was cooked to perfection to make an excellent lunch. The Pasta we chose was Penne with the Fra Diavolo sauce. The pasta was perfectly al dente, and the sauce was well seasoned as well. The large serving size was actually too much for a lunch portion and enough to have leftovers. The Piada Rolls were their burrito shells with some cheese on the inside, rolled up, and then baked and served. They also have a version with pepperoni. While I keep referring to burritos above, these are not tortillas and do not taste anything like tortillas.

As you can see from my descriptions above, the food was very tasty and enjoyable. So, yes, this is a takeoff on Chipotle, and no, it is not Italian street food, but we will definitely stop in again to try some of their other offerings when we are in that neighborhood again! About the only real negative was that they are still getting their process in place – it takes a bit longer than it should to go down the line. We noted that they had two steamers for the wraps – but were only using one for instance. I am not taking away from this review for that – this is clearly a learning...

Food: 2/10 We ordered the diavolo pasta with grass fed meatballs and the chefs favorite piada with steak, and garlic dough. The penne in the pasta was so old, that it was hard and chewy in some spots- forget about it being warm. the grass fed meatballs were hard as a rock, obviously old. There was not nearly enough sauce either. The chefs favorite piada was underwhelming and cold, however the steak was fine! Our garlic dough was missing garlic and was essentially just cheesy dough with a very thin butter coating around the edge.

Service: 3/10 The real reason for this review is because this is the second time i’ve come here and been greeted by miserable staff. Every one of them (there were 5 of them by 9PM) had an horrible attitude towards each other and us. whoever is responsible for budgeting and payroll, your employees need a raise because they’re miserable. I’d consider investing in quality training for staff to ensure the safety and a good experience for your customers.

Overall, I don’t think the experience is a deal breaker but i am hesitant to come here again in the future because of these reasons. If nothing else, it’s unsafe to serve customers old food that clearly hasn’t been temp controlled, where food borne...