Nicola Mazziotti Bakery

Do yourself a favor. check this place out. the cookies and everything is FANTASTIC.
I have been coming here since they reopened in arnold and now up on the hill.
I asked the baker and he told me the difference is real ingredients. real butter etc. some places use synthetic. Nicola Mazziotti is the real deal. It’s a Pittsburgh secret. come before somebody from the post gazette writes it up and then you have to wait in line to get these baked goods. No I don’t work here or know anybody. I only give reviews for something I like. Biggest donuts I have ever seen for sale.

So, in honor of small business Saturday, I decided to hit up my local bakery for the first time. In my defense, the reason I haven’t been here before is that I’m not really into baked goods. I buy sandwich bread, hot dog buns, and tortillas. That’s about the extent of it.
But I happened to be going to a wine & cheese party, and I thought it might be good to bring something substantial to soak up the wine. I spotted a baguette precariously perched on a scale on the counter, and thought it would be just the thing. I asked about pumpernickel, but apparently it doesn’t get ordered often enough to be made daily, but if I wanted to request it, I could get it in 2 days. Cool! Unfortunately that wouldn’t work as the party was happening later that day, but it’s nice to know for the future.
As this was largely an Italian bakery, I figured I’d better get some Italian bread, so I got what looked to be their specialty, a big fat loaf of hearty Italian bread. They offered it in 1 and 2lb quantities.
Upon walking in I noticed a sign that said $ 10 minimum for credit card purchases. After working at a bank for a few years, I learned that that’s actually not legal. Merchants don’t have the right to dictate when you can use your credit/​debit card if they offer the service of a credit card machine. They just don’t want to have to pay merchant fees on small purchases and I’m sure it’s also a gimmick just to make people spend more money. The problem is that nobody seems to know who to turn them in to, so they all keep doing it. Instead of getting upset about it though, I just bought some biscotti to get me to 10 bucks.
It turned out to be a great decision, because everything I bought was excellent. I got double chocolate and pumpkin biscotti and they were both great. The Italian bread was my favorite. The crust was crunchy, but not hard to chew, and the center was light and fluffy. Same for the baguette. It was a hit at the party.
I will definitely stop in again. The prices were very fair, the staff was friendly and helpful, and there were a lot of tasty looking Italian goodies in there.

If you live, dine or work anywhere along the Allegheny River northeast of Pittsburgh, do yourself a service and get your bread here. It’s the kind of family bakery that reminds people why they eat food, rather than subsisting on dietary supplements. The friendly atmosphere alone would keep me hanging around if I had a yeast allergy. Until she died a few years ago, the original owner, who lived behind the bakery, would come over in the middle of the night and help the bakers– when she was well into her 80s. Also, the bread and pastry variety is amazing.