PIYOLA — Restaurant in Mt. Lebanon

Avoid dining at PIYOLA, and definitely skip the grilled meat sampler platter. I always eat at Chaykhana, although where despite the lack of air conditioning in summer (making you sweat profusely) but the food and prices were great—affordable and tasty. Today, I passed by PIYOLA for lunch ,that they were run by the same owner. Even though I knew the prices would be higher, I still had a positive impression and decided to give it a try. The experience, however, was incredibly disappointing.

When I entered around lunchtime, no one greeted us. The staff in the open kitchen just told us to sit wherever. We had no idea that the main dining area was located beyond a long, tunnel-like open kitchen, so we ended up sitting in a cramped front area. It felt like a waiting area that the owner had converted into a dining space—small tables, a bit wobbly, and right behind us, a large freezer buzzed so loudly it gave me a headache.

Normally, I’d have the lamb shank, beshbarmak and beef samsa at Chaykhana, so I decided to try something different here—grilled meat platter . To my surprise, after 40 minutes of waiting with no other customers around, the food finally arrived. I was so hungry while waiting that I had to eat the dessert first to fill my stomach—of course, no waiter could be found, so a kitchen worker had to use the walkie-talkie to call waiter from the back to bring it to me.

The grilled meat platter was a disaster. The meats weren't grilled together, so most of them were cold by the time they arrived. The lamb chops were good, but everything else was tough and flavorless, with just cumin and garlic seasoning—nothing special. The corn was burnt on the outside but raw inside, and the grilled tomatoes were practically raw too. It felt like eating raw tomatoes.

The most ridiculous part? About 5 minutes after the food arrived, the waiter asked how everything was and said if we were done, we could pay at the front (the unspoken message being that we won’t see him again ). And all this for an average of 50 per person. After finishing, I felt like I had been scammed. Honestly, it would have been better to go for Brazilian BBQ instead.

I understand that the owner wants to make money, so they’ve put effort into the restaurant's interior design, added tablecloths, and tried to create a "higher-end" atmosphere. The menu even looks like something from a mid-range restaurant. But in reality, the management, food quality, and service level are on par with a fast-food joint or burger place. It's hard to even express how disappointing this was. I came in with expectations, and walked out feeling like I'd stepped into a trap.

I used don’t understand why some restaurants that only served dinner, but now I understand why—if you can’t ensure the quality of food and service, it's better not to open for lunch and deceive customers. This restaurant needs a professional manager to run the kitchen and train the waiters, so as to prevent customers from feeling...

I know nothing about Uzbeki food. My only experience with this cuisine was visiting a restaurant in this area that served some dishes that came from that country. Now this restaurant opened up and I went and tried it with some friends. Before coming out, I read the reviews. I like to start with the most negative reviews first and the complaints I read were about how expensive the food was and how slow the service was. I have no idea what they were talking about! Our group of four had a wonderful meal with lots of food for less than $35 per person. As to speed, it seemed that we had just placed our order, and appetizers started showing up!

Not knowing the cuisine, we asked our waiter for assistance and recommendations. He was very gracious in describing the various dishes and definitely made clear suggestions on what we should get. Between us, we ordered two appetizers and four entrees. The dishes we got included the Labneh, Pumpkin Manti, roasted potatoes and mushrooms, Piyola Doner, Beshbarmak, Uzbek Plov, and we also got some tea and the yogurt drink. We shared everything and had leftovers to take home. Our consensus was that everything we delicious but the clear winner was the Beshbarmak which was a soup with very wide noodles and a lamb shank on it. The lamb was so tender we took it apart with our forks (no knife needed). Probably the weakest dish was the Uzbek Plov because it was on the dry side. The previous version of this dish that I’ve had was presented much better as well. It was still tasty, but here, it was the weakest dish. We also ended up getting two of their breads: one half of one with the Plov, and another with the Piyola Doner (stuffed with a beef and veggie mixture). This bread reminded us a bit of a pretzel dough – although different. The Uzbeks all it Naan, but it’s very different than the Indian Naan.

We also liked the décor. The previous restaurant was nice. The new owners spent a lot of effort in making it nicer. I’ve included a picture so you can see what they did with the back wall. Each of the niches have a ceramic piece in it. According to our waiter, the staff made all the alterations and modifications to the restaurant themselves.

The name of the restaurant – Piyola – is what Uzbeks call the small bowls that they use to drink tea from. Oddly though, they gave us little soup bowls. Not sure what that was about. It did not detract from our enjoyment; it was just kind of funny.

One more note. The people who run this restaurant are strict moslems. No alcohol. Not a BYOB either. While we were there another party brought a bottle of wine and were gracefully told to keep it closed. They also do take care of all kinds of dietary restrictions and offer many dishes that are vegetarian, vegan, gluten free. Everything is Halal.

There is much more to explore on their menu so we need to set up another visit. We are looking...

Came here the first week after opening to check out what changed after the previous owner sold it. Here's the experience:

Place got a nice glow-up. The lighting change to the warm yellow is huge. Change from lavender to yellow and burgundy is a welcome one. Lots of greenery (alas, mostly plastic).

Servers look nice, wear uniforms and act friendly, although it is noticable that the adjustment to the upscale nature of the place is still there. The restaurant has front and back area, however it became slightly more packed together due to the abundance of decorations. The attempt at making the upscale restaurant and keeping the traditional approach to chaichanas is there, but it could use some refinement in deciding what it wants to be more as the styles are pretty differing on their own.

The menu is cohesive and sensible, mostly consisting of classic regional choices as lamb, lyulya, samsa with a few surprising outliers, such as buratta salad and raspberry roulette in desserts (which is not bad, just unexpected, I'd expect pachlava or something regional, considering the name of the place). I decided to try one cold and one warm appetizer: beef samsa for hot, hummus for cold. I was asked by the server if I'd like sparkling or mineral water in the way that didn't indicate that it was a priced option and had to ask, then decline when told it was indeed a paid choice (to the point of servers getting comfortable still, no blame here, just a note as I was unpleasantly surprised by system charges in the past).

Samsa was adequate price to size and was very fresh, soft, crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. Very much a fingerfood, each took about 2-3 bites. Hummus was of good, creamy texture with some pitted olives on top. The acidity on the hummus was just a bit too much, but in acceptable limits. I also ran out of pita before I finished it, but upon request was given a few more pieces of bread. However, I feel like half pita slices + half carrot sticks would be a more balanced and colorful choice.

Everything was served on white, classic plates, pretty elegantly, although I don't know how gold-plated silverware play into that aesthetic, I'd expect, again, a more classical, silvery choice.

The overall experience was pleasant, but I am sure it will get much better in a few months and I'll probably update my review...