Della Terra | Italian Bistro — Restaurant in Zelienople

So, this is a very pretty restaurant with a really cool atmosphere, delicious food, fantastic cocktails, and a great wine selection. We have lived in NYC and Philadelphia, have traveled extensively, and love a great culinary experience! Della Terra is definitely a destination spot in the Pittsburgh area tucked in an unexpected locale like Zelienople. It’s the kind of spot you’d be more likely to find in a hip neighborhood downtown than in a northern suburb. We just moved to Wexford, so we’re thrilled and can see many happy hours and dinners there in our future.

I do unfortunately have a couple of things I want to comment on that effected our visit negatively. The front of house hospitality needs some work. The whole evening from start to finish should be an experience. You should leave feeling like, wow, that was amazing. The front of house staff kind of spoiled that feeling for us. We arrived for our 5:00 reservation around 20 to 5. The restaurant area was basically empty save for 2 or 3 tables seated. The sour host who barely said hello lead us to our table right next to another couple close to the door. My husband asked if there were any other tables and she briskly dismissed him and said, “this is the way the reservations work and this is your table.” She then turned her back on him and walked away. Ok then! I was just coming from work, so I had to run to the restroom. While I was gone, someone came to take the drink order. My husband didn’t know what I wanted, so he ordered a glass of wine for himself. When I came back, the manager (I think she was the manager?) delivered my husband’s wine. I asked her for a glass of Prosecco and she shrilly shot back, “I’ll let your server know!!” I thought to myself, just go tell my server I want a glass of Prosecco…you don’t need to admonish me for asking you. That’s what they would do at Denny’s let alone this fine dining establishment!! Also remember, it was around 5:00 and the restaurant was not busy at this point. I said, “oh I’m sorry, nevermind. I’ll ask the server!” She condescending asked “are you sure??” Why was me asking for a Prosecco being turned into such a big problem? The exchange was awkwardly combative for no reason. The other thing we noticed was that the other tables didn’t start to fill up until around 6:15. They could have easily accommodated us sitting somewhere we were more comfortable. I guess next time we make reservations, we’ll try to be more specific about where we’d like to sit? I’m not sure. The last point about front of house was that as we were leaving, no one said goodbye. It was odd.

All of the front of house stuff aside, our meal was delicious and our server, Michael, was fantastic. He was super attentive, knowledgeable, kind, and swift. We really appreciated him.

All in all, I am giving Della Terra 4 stars. We had a beautiful meal on Valentine’s Day and really enjoyed visiting this beautiful restaurant for the first time of many...

One star because I had to select it to write a review. That star is not representative of this review. Start with a pretty okay space, then remember it's in the plaza next to Subway. I don't care for Subway but it's lit well enough to read the menu. I had to use my phone flashlight to see it here. So the meal. You like salt? Do you like your salt salted with salt on the side served over a bed of salt and topped with more salt? Then This is the place for you. I'm a big eater, I eat a plate of food and if it's good complain to everyone at the table that I'm not hungry still. I ate not even half of my meal. A meal that comes on a pie plate, not a dinner plate. And where bread and salad are things you must purchase extra. At an Italian restaurant. They charge you for Bread and Salad. Extra. As in not included. Ridiculous. So back to the salted salt food on the salted pie plate. A) It was inedible B) If it had been edible it would have been a childs portion. (I have a 3.5 year old granddaughter as point of reference) C) This pie plate sized portion of Cavatelli was 18 freaking dollars. Without buying the upcharge bread and the upcharge salad. My wife and I chose the plant based sausage version while my dad chose the actual sausage version. None of us could finish more than a third of it, making us kick ourselves for not buying the upcharge bread and salad. The waitress asked me if my food was satisfactory, I told her no and about the salt. She took my plate and offered something different. They prepare everything as you order so another 20 minute wait wasn't an option. My wife and dad also pushed their not consumed plates to the center of the table, no comment from her. So here's how this should go, when a customer says there's a problem with the food you alert the management and they address it. So here's how it went, she credited me 1/2 of the price of one meal back. Without explanation or apology. 51.00 and a 7.00 tip for the worst meal I've had in a very long time. Maybe they were having an off day, perhaps the mad salter had broke in and poured bags of salt in every ingredient. I'll never know, in my mind they could care less about the quality, the price of their food or the satisfaction of their customers. So to the guy who extolls their virtues stating that anyone not giving rave reviews is a yokel, unappreciative of authentic italian food, I say go lick...

Start by saying we had a res. @ 6:30, were seated on time, and our dinner was served at 8:15!

There were so many things: empty salad/appetizer plates sat in front of us for over 1/2 hour before our server thought to stop by , and then said “Your dinners should be up shortly”. 10-15 minutes later, I called her over to ask about our dinners, and she said “Well, the kitchen had a big take out order”. This was probably at least an hour after we placed our order. Our dinners finally came at 8:15.

As it relates to the food, two of us had caesar salads that were soaked in dressing and SO much garlic, and the cacio e pepe was “so-so” at best. We ordered garlic bread since no bread would be served with dinner. Again, SO much garlic that it was NOT good at all.

Shortly after our dinners came, our server came back to the table. We thought she was going to offer an apology for the slow service. Instead, she said “I’m going home now”. She told us the name of the person who would be taking over. There were 4 of us at dinner..two couples. When asked, we told them we wanted separate checks. When we got our checks, the wine for both couples was on one check. Also, we were charged $0.50 for parmesan cheese…for the pasta! Unbelievable!

Here is the part that irritated me more than anything. I left a phone message for the manager the next morning. I specifically said that I wanted to give my feedback directly vs. on social media/internet sites. No call back. I called again, and the person who answered said: “We gave him your message”. Still no call back. One other note: When I left the phone message, I specifically said that I was not looking for any kind of compensation. I just wanted to provide my feedback directly through a conversation”. Apparently, not worth his/her time. No call back…three days later.

We first dined at this restaurant about one month ago. It was an “ok” experience. We decided to give it another try. That...