Bravo! Italian Kitchen — Restaurant in Mt. Lebanon

It's been many, many, many years since we've been to one of the outposts of this chain. Some friends wanted to go out to lunch and insisted on going to a place with outdoor seating (remnants of COVID...). As it turned out, it was a gorgeous day, and they do have a small outdoor patio that was in operating, so that's where we ended up.

Being a mall restaurant, we ended up entering on the mall side, and were ushered all the way to the other end to exit to the small patio - which is tucked in besides the roadway dividing the mall from a small parking lot. Luckily this is a side of the mall that does not have a lot of traffic. Therefore, we had a very pleasant meal. Our waitress - Dawn - contributed to this as she was on the ball and was frequently in attendance - even though we were the only people eating on the patio. She was professional, personable, and attentive.

We had barely sat down when she presented us with the bread plate and their flavored oil. She then returned with flatware.

We ended up ordering the Salmon Fresca, Pasta Bravo, and Chicken Marsala dishes. We also got the Shrimp Fra Diavolo by mistake. That was delivered and then Dawn realized it was not for us and graciously whisked it away before we dove in! Funny that! The Salmon was wonderful and the Pasta dish was great. The Chicken dish had several faults: One of the chicken breast pieces was uneven, so it had a very thick end and a thin end. Rather than cut it evenly, or pound it evenly, the kitchen attempted to cook it as is which resulted in an undercooked thick part, and an overdone thin part. The Marsala sauce was very good and I wanted more of it. The green beans that came with it were not cooked enough and needed another two or three minutes to lose the raw flavor.

Aside from that mishap, we enjoyed the meal and the environment. For lunch, prices are up there ($30 per person), but we did get some leftovers...

Went for later dinner on Saturday night. Service was fine, but odd. The whole experience was off. First, we ordered 3 items to share: Caesar salad, flatbread, calamari. My sister also got a drink from the bar. We were very clear that we were sharing the items and asked for plates to split them at the table. The salad came out first. Miniscule! The salad was split between two bread plates and barely covered 10 percent of the plate. There were three bites. That's it! It was not even worth bothering with as we wanted the three items together (and told the waitress) and the miniscule amount provided no taste or food to eat. It was crazy. Then after ten minutes, the calamari came out. SLoppy presentation. Again, I question the portion size, but what made it almost inedible was that the bottom of the plate was covered with spicy red sauce and mayonnaise / hollandaise sauce. It was just gross. Each piece had one or both of the sauces on it so there was no other taste and these two sauces were gross. Completely unsatisfying and un appetizing. Finally, after ten more minutes, the flatbread came out. It was fine, but by this time, I was still grossed out by the calamari and annoyed that there was no salad. When the check came, it was $55.00 for two people and I was drinking water. Not anywhere close to being worth it. One saving item for the restaurant, which is insane, is that the Caesar was a side salad, not the entree salad. Who on earth splits a side salad? How does this make sense? It was just stupid and the server never clarified. I would never choose to go back and will not suggest Bravo as an option but if someone insists on going there, I would go. But it will never make it on my list of places...

We had not been to Bravo’s in several years and received gift certificates as a Christmas gift. We decided to go yesterday December 31st to Bravos at Galleria Mall in Mt Lebanon

Our experience was not very good.

The silverware comes neatly wrapped in napkins . Two of the three settings had dried food stuck to them. We brought this to the servers attention and she brought two new settings which were just wrapped by the manager and the still had food stuck to them. ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING! The server then handpicked the silverware herself which solved the problem finally.

I ordered the double order of pork chops which were extremely tough and the green beans were way undercooked. The only decent tasting item on the plate were the mashed potatoes.

My wife’s meal tasted off as well. She asked for additional tomato sauce and it took about 15 minutes to get it. Ridiculous. The server only had two tables including ours yet the service was very slow.

We used to eat at this restaurant a few times a month until we moved and never had a bad experience until yesterday. Based on our experience this Bravo location is definitely going downhill.

And one other thing most restaurant managers will make sure to come by the table if there is a problem . Not once did they come by to speak with us.

There are far better Italian restaurants in the area to dine at. Do yourself a favor and eat...