Pasqualino's Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Penn Hills

See update below...

1st review) I'm giving this restaurant 3 stars because of people, but the food did not live up to the hype. When I walked in they said they ran out of the gnocchi for large serving.. so they said they gave me 1 extra meatball. Come to find out when I opened it not only did they not give me an extra meatball, but I was to get two meatballs with the large portion and only got 1. The shrimp pesto pasta I got was not even Luke warm, like the pasta was cold and the sauce was to warm it, but it just make the entire temp not even warm. Do not get me started on the pizza. What kind of Italians are they.. that was not fresh dough.. they were hard processed shell crust it seems. It was nasty. I hardly ever waste food, and we threw out the majority of the pizza. It tasted like I was chewy cardboard. For the amount I paid, it was disappointing. I am all about supporting local business. I made go back and try something else, and see if it was the cooks in the kitchen at that time... but that is a definite maybe.

Update 3/2/25 Changed rating to 2 ... A group was having lunch there.. and I haven't been back since my last review. It was again not good. Not sure if people have tasted good italian before, but this restaurant is not it.

1. menu has wrong prices
2. menu described crab cakes as being made with real crab. It was all breading pieces of spinach I think, and the "crab" is definitely imitation crab, not real lump crab meat like the menu states. Did I really think I was going to get two crab cakes for 18.00 and have them be a delicious fully lump crab meat, no, but the menu stated it, and there wasn't what looked or tasted like any real crab in it at all. CORRECT YOUR MENU. I also ordered and Arnold palmer. I was charged for an ice tea and a bottle of lemonade. So for my 1 drink it costs me over 5.00. If they couldn't make a reg Arnold palmer they should have told me. Gave me the option to pick something else.

Also they gave my husband a wrong meal. They apologized and had to remake it. He didn't get it till everyone else's meals were almost done. They apologized, but didn't offer anything off, or a salad or something to eat along with everyone else. This is why service points were deducted.

I definitely will not be back, even if a large group, I next time will recommend we go somewhere else. I still have the to go containers in my fridge, so if the restaurant tries to dispute their crab cakes being made with imitation, I could...

I visited today 3/3 with my nana for lunch, and unfortunately, our experience was ruined by a rude and unprofessional waitress. Upon arriving, we followed the “seat yourself” sign, only to find that every open table was dirty. We sat at a small table and waited patiently while the waitress, who already seemed overwhelmed, said she would clean it soon. My nana even acknowledged how busy she was in a kind way.

Shortly after, my mom surprised us and joined for lunch. Since we had only received drinks, we decided to move to a larger table right next to us, which was also dirty. My nana kindly offered to wipe it down herself to help, and instead of appreciating the gesture, the waitress snapped at us with a rude and unnecessary attitude, telling us to “just be patient.” We were patient and never once rushed her. When we pointed out her rudeness, she continued to complain that this was the second table she had to clean for us—despite the fact that all tables were dirty, and we had no other choice.

As someone who manages a very high-volume bar downtown, I understand how stressful busy shifts can be. However, good customer service is the most important part of this job, and this waitress failed at it completely. Her attitude was unacceptable, and because of her, we chose to leave and take our business elsewhere. I would never allow an employee to speak to customers this way, and based on our experience, I cannot recommend dining here if she is working. I hope management takes this seriously because no paying customer should be treated with such disrespect. I heard the woman say to another table “I don’t care let her” which I believe was in response to my nana saying she’d be back to speak...

I grew up on this place and my rating is more for the food than the service. Most of the food is wonderful, but I agree with a lot of the other reviews about the pizza (I think it's awful. It's like school cafeteria or microwave pizza to me) and the chaos behind the counter. I'm not really sure why the majority of the staff is a bunch of pretty clueless teenagers but that's what it seems like when you're there. My friend and I sat down to eat. I had no issues whatsoever with the service, but at the same time I placed my order to dine in, I placed a take out order so it would be ready when I was done eating to take home. It took my friend and I about 45 minutes to finish completely, even reminding the server about the to go order once we got our food. Well, we waited 25 minutes for an order I placed almost an hour prior to with other people crowding in for their to go orders, all impatient because I definitely believe, as others have stated, that they were told 20 minutes and the reality is at least double that time. I have no idea who is at fault but they really need to remedy it.

Besides that, the meatballs are amazing and the pasta dishes that feature the fresh homemade pasta are far superior than any chain...