Senti Restaurant — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

This was our first visit to Senti. We chose Senti after reading about the restaurant through our Marriott Bonvoy membership. Our son is a CIA-trained chef who has worked for celebrity chefs in the US and abroad, so we are spoiled and picky when it comes to dining out. My wife and I are also accomplished home cooks with Italian roots. We are always looking for that one really great Italian restaurant that is both elegant and reminds you of your nonna's kitchen when you taste the food. Senti hit that mark.

We started with appetizers, a mixed greens salad and the mussels with spicy pork sausage, sweet peppers, fennel, white wine and accompanied with grilled Italian homestyle/crusty bread. The mussels were awesome, coming in a very large portion that could have been a meal in itself. Although the mixed greens salad presentation looked good on the surface and tasted very good with a nice dressing, the occasional encounter of a piece of soggy, water-spoiled leaves unfortunately left a bad first impression with us. We alerted the waiter and were not charged for the salad.

We ordered a pasta entre, roasted squash ravioli served with brown butter sage sauce and diced granny smith apples... superb! We wanted to test the house red sauces, so we shared a side dish of polpette in marinara sauce: lovely, light and perfectly seasoned meat balls with a great hand-prepared sauce. I ordered the brasato di manzo: short ribs braised in red wine served with red pepper compote and creamy polenta made with parmesan stock and prosciutto... fork tender and wonderful. I also ordered a side dish of the house-made gnocchi, but with pomodoro, not ragu sauce. The smooth, simple sauce topped with fresh basil was exquisite. We each had a glass of wine, an Abruzzo chardonnay and a Barbera d'Asti, both reasonably priced with lovely bouquets and finish.

To finish we shared the chocolate bread pudding with coffee creme anglaise. Wow! Senti exceeded our expectations. Bravo,...

Dining at Senti was the absolute worst restaurant experience that I have ever had in my entire lifetime. We booked a reservation for Mother’s Day brunch. When we arrived a few minutes early, we were told that our table wasn’t ready. No big deal... until we waited 45 minutes until we were shoved into a table that was too small for our party because the table still was not ready. For some reason, the manager and wait staff refused to tell the party that there was a reservation behind them. The manager apologized and stated they would “do something special” for us. Once we were seated 45 minutes late, we waited ANOTHER 50 minutes in between our appetizer and entree courses. No apology given whatsoever at that point. Three of us god filets, all of which were over cooked and poor cuts. When one of us informed our waitress that the steaks were over cooked, she looked at us like we were inconveniencing her by telling her this. By the time that the check came, we had been in the restaurant for THREE HOURS. Would you think there would be a massive discount on the check, especially given what the manager said? Yep, so did we. What happened? We got $10 off of each filet, seemingly only to do with them being over cooked. No money off whatsoever for how long we waited. I was warned to not try this restaurant and I absolutely wish that I never had. They completely ruined all of the plans that we had for...

We ended up dining at Senti rather last minute. We dined early at about 5 o'clock and got a table immediately being only one of a few tables in the restaurant.

My wife and I decided to order a sampling of the menu, and ordered Prosciutto E Burrata, Frito Misto, Lasagna Alla Veneta, Ossobuco di Maiale, Barbabietola, Carrot Salad, Glazed Pork Belly, and the Fettuccine Carbonara. We enjoyed all the dishes but I will take a moment to talk about the ones we thought were the best.

First, the lasagna was among the best either of us has ever had. It comes with a bechamel that initially we thought would be a bad pairing. However, it tasted great and added a delicious creaminess to the dish.

Next the Barbabietola is a beet dish that had a vinaigrette. Even though flavor wise it was pretty standard with the goat cheese, but the Beets were so incredibly fresh and flavorful. Really great dish to have before facing the more full flavors of the entrees.

Finally the Ossobuco was a highlight. Braised perfectly and all I had to do was gently push on the bone with my fork to separate it from the meat. We both also thoroughly enjoyed the Polenta that accompanied. Overall, a very good experience.

Finally, we were also impressed with the service. Our waitress was kind and did a great job. We ordered quite a bit from the menu and she spaced the meal very well for us so we could...