Il Pizzaiolo Primo

Had lunch here with a group of 6 people and were seated promptly in the upstairs seating area. It was very dark and we had to use our phones flashlight to read the menu. We were seated at a table that would have seated 4 comfortably but they squeezed 6 of us at the table. We already had reservations, so I would recommend that if you don’t want to wait during a prime lunch/​dinner hour. Food was OK; I ordered a wood-​fired margherita pizza and upgraded the cheese on it for an additional $ 2 which was supposedly a better grade mozzarella. I couldn’t tell a difference, but that’s just me. Overall, it’s a bit pricey for what you get. Overall service and food is average.

Had an eggplant dish over linguini. Excellent! The waiter was friendly and attentive. Was seated immediately by the host Ryan, and was welcomed with a smile! Great food, great service, great location!

One of the nicest italian places, the one at market square is so nice. They make the pasta on order its so fresh. Actually all the ingrediants are fresh. I miss this place and will definitly go there whenever im in pittsbrgh.

You’d do a disservice to your taste buds passing up this gem! Has a true Neapolitan vibe. The upstairs and downstairs have a completely different atmosphere from each other. The staff was friendly and attentive. My husband ordered a delicious Lamb Ragu and I ordered the Pappardelle Funghi. It was amazing!!! Wild Mushrooms, Pancetta, Cream, Parmigiano, White Wine mmmm you can’t go wrong. Also had some Delicious Villa Fidelia Rosso 2011 Sportoletti. Similar to a Malbec. Fantastic and well priced. They serve huge cannoli’s and the most moist tiramisu we’ve ever had. Five stars. Hands down from a hard core gourmet chef. Also the chef is heading to Vegas in the spring for the annual best pizza competition. Home made everything. It’s to die for.

This place is excellent. I was going to rate this place a 4 because I feel a bit begrudged to pay $ 20+ for a pasta dish. But I decided to change it to a 5 after concluding that the pasta is either made on site or ordered from a high quality manufacturer, which may justify the price.
Side note– the bar chairs were really uncomfortable. They were way too tall. I’m younger, so it was no problem for me. But an older lady came to sit next to me at the bar and it took her almost an entire minute and the help of her daughter to get onto the chair.

Had a late dinner here with my boyfriend on a Thursday. Small space, so definitely make a reservation beforehand. Pizza here is obviously the main attraction, and we got a quattro frommagi pizza, HIS favorite.
I ordered the cavatelli rapini with sausage. Huge portion, so definitely shareable! About half of the pasta menu is made with fresh pasta made in-​house, which in my opinion is ALWAYS the better option. The cavatelli was among those. The noodles had a decent bite to them, and not mushy. The sausage was average, but not bad.
Overall we had a good meal and would come back again if in the area. Not sure if I’d make special plans just to come here though.

Took my in-​laws here because they were visiting from out of town on a Sunday. We were the second party in the restaurant when they opened. Needless to say, we waited an hour and a half to get our food! To make matters worse, the waitress never told us why our food took so long. When we did get the food it was a 6 on a scale of 10 but the long wait ruined my opinion of this place. The uninformed and indifferent waitress didn’t help.

I went there with all my family
Food was ok but way over priced, I don’t mind paying for a good quality
But I don’t think I’m going back :(

A little overrated, if you ask me. It’s a little fancy but not over the top. The environment and décor are great, and of course the location is key. However, the food is a hit or miss. I’ve been here a few times and I’ve tried several dishes off the menu. The first time I went, I ordered the linguini vongole (linguini with clams) and my pasta was extremely undercooked, to the point it was hard in the middle. Both the waitress and chef argued it was served al dente and that’s the proper way to prepare pasta. I understand what al dente means but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t mean a crunchy noodle. The pizzas are ok. I know many may beg to differ but I found the crust to be a bit too salty. They’re also pretty pricy, considering you can get the same quality pie right down the street at Stone pizzeria for half the price. I’ve also ordered the vitello parmigiano and it was pretty good. Nothing to brag about. However, the best dish I’ve tried here is the calamari, arribiata style, which you can’t find at the Mount Lebanon location. By far, the best calamari I’ve ever had. All in all, I would only come here for a plate of calamari and maybe some drinks. The other menu items seem to be a gamble that I’m not sure I’m willing to bet on.

Average pizza with a decent wood fired taste but the price is outrageous. Undercooked pizza with nothing out of the normal products. Would I return? Maybe. Not a first choice in the future.

This place was recommended by a handful of friends, so I thought my birthday would be a great day to indulge.
The waitress helped us select a bottle of wine. She let us taste three different wines based on what we told her that we liked, and the one we landed on was an easy to drink medium-​bodied red. Perfect for any pasta dish or pizza.
Our meal started with a tomato and mozzarella caprese salad, served simply with basil, salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. It was strange to have a caprese salad without vinegar, but the cheese had a tang to it and it was flavorful as is.
At the recommendation of our server, I ordered the shrimp pesto linguini with zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and banana peppers. The shrimp was cooked perfectly, but the buttery pesto sauce and zucchini made the dish out-​of-​this-​world. It was a sizable dish, so I had the pleasure of having leftovers.
My husband ordered the fish of the day, which was red snapper. The fish came out whole, head to tail, stuffed with a lemon wedge and stems of fresh herbs. The fish was flaky and delicious, despite the occasional pin-​bone. Served over potato wedges, asparagus, and red peppers.
We finished our meal with espresso and a dish of chocolate and hazelnut gelato. We poured our espresso over top of the gelato and it was such a yummy way to catch a caffeine buzz.
We vowed to come back soon to try the pizza.

My fiancé’s sister took us there for dinner this weekend to celebrate just getting engaged and WOW! I had been here once in the past. I was actually at the original one in Mt. Lebanon years ago and remember loving it but for whatever reason I hadn’t gone back until this weekend. I really don’t know why and it most definitely won’t be 5ish years before I go again. I got the Quattro Fromaggio pizza –or something like that. It was delicious. Both my fiancé and his sister got a gnocchi dish with different sauces. The gnocchi melted in your mouth, it was so good. Our appetizer was absolutely delicious. I forget what it was called. It was a cheesy bread concoction, so good. I really don’t think you could go wrong here with whatever you order. This place knows good Italian food.

Top notch Italian food in the heart of the city. Started with the fried mozzarella with pesto and marinara. Without question, the best I’ve ever had. Then had a very tasty Mista salad. After reading other reviews, I knew it would be an ‘on top of old smokey’ meatball night. I went with the old school rigatoni with marinara and meatballs. The meatballs were as tender and good as others had said. The portion was generous and pasta cooked to perfection… with just the right snap when I bit down. No mush mounds being served here.
My 21 year old son was just as impressed. He had the margarita pizza with meatball. I sampled a piece after seeing the big pizza oven and reading the rave reviews. The crust was especially good. Crisp with a hint of sweetness.
The service was also excellent. Our server, Casey, (a Cameron Diaz look-​a-​like) checked on us throughout our meal.

I am very torn here-​the food was a very solid 4 stars but the service was maybe 2 stars (more like 1.5) at best (and that is coming from someone who waited tables all through college so I am more than patient and understanding). The only thing really going in my server’s favor from last night was that our party of 6 was going to the Cabaret (to see Girls Only-​which I HIGHLY recommend by the way) and he did get us out of there by 7:15, just enough time to walk over before the show. Let me go into further detail…
Our party of 6 had 6:00pm reservations and we were seated promptly upon arrival in the upstairs area. Market Square offers a valet service for (I believe) $ 7. I’d highly suggest using it given the parking situation in the area. Our party of six was put at, what appeared to me, to be a table more suitable for 4 people and we were situated right by the stairs. We didn’t even have enough room for the bottle of water to stay on the table once our meals arrived. My mom and I were the 4^th and 5^th people out of our party of 6 to arrive, and we were told my the other three women that they had been sitting there for at least 10 minutes without so much as a greeting from waitstaff. Our 6^th person arrived approximately 10 minutes after my mother and I and only then did our server (I wish I could remember his name-​all I remember is the distinctive tattoo on his neck and I’d prefer not to identify him in that manner) come over to ask if we wanted sparkling or still water. We had been looking at the menus for quite some time already (timeline described above) and clearly wanted to order an appetizer as well as wine. My mom’s friend started speaking and what did the server do– he interrupted her speaking and said, «Hold on a minute and I will be right back.» We were pretty floored. He didn’t come back in a minute, however, it was a full 7 minutes later!!! And, nothing against smokers because I smoked at one point too, but he came back reeking of cigarettes to the point that it was pretty nasty-​and I rarely say that since I used to have that habit myself. At that point he took our drink orders (coffee, 2 glasses of red, and 2 of white), and AGAIN, my mom’s friend attempted to order an appetizer and he scurried off while she was speaking! He took at least another 7 minutes to bring over our drinks. Then we FINALLY got to hear the specials that evening. At this point, we were beyond ready to order to make our show, so with a couple of modifications due to the specials we ordered (family style and shared): the pizza special of the day which was a pancetta and fig pizza with a balsamic drizzle and zucchini flowers (we had this cut into 6 so each of us could have a slice. I could have eaten the entire thing myself, it was VERY good!), the Ricotta gnudi (the other special for Wednesday that came in a sage butter sauce. Besides the pizza, this was the next favorite item at our table.), the cavatelli rapini (Sausage, Rapini, Garlic, White Wine, Pecorino, Olive Oil), the pollo limone (Chicken Breast, Lemon, White Wine, Parsley, Butter), the PARMIGIANA MELANZANE (Eggplant, Fresh Mozzarella, Marinara, Parmigiano, Basil), and the VITELLO PARMIGIANO (Veal Cutlet, Fresh Mozzarella, Marinara, Spaghetti, Parmigiano). The cavatelli was cooked perfectly al dente (per the server it was homemade pasta), the sausage was spicy yet not overpowering too. I only had a small piece of the pollo limone but the lemon butter sauce was quite juicy and flavorful. The eggplant parm tasted as if it was fresh out of the backyard garden! The sauce was perfectly seasoned with basil and the eggplant was plentiful. The veal parm was very tender and I enjoyed the sauce but was not impressed with the spaghetti pasta, which I do not believe was made on premises.
Our pizza came out very quickly as did our entrees. We cleaned every plate; as I said, the food was excellent last night. When he asked about checks he split it up 6 ways, even though we said there were two «couples» that could be put together and then two single women. He gave a check to my mom’s friend’s daughter who CLEARLY did not look an age where she would be paying her own tab. Then he took FOREVER to run the credit cards through-​at least 10 minutes. When dining out, I expect service to be on par with the price tag, and this service was in no way worth the $ 180 price tag of the meal. Although we were all disappointed in the service we received, our meals were quite tasty. When we were leaving, we noticed other servers bringing bread to their tables-​yet another thing our server failed to do, which would have been quite appreciated given the lengthy wait for him to take our orders. I would come back here for the food, however, if I received this server again, I would politely ask the host/​hostess for a different section to sit in.

Perhaps I chose unwisely from their menu but the sausage pizza I ordered (Salsiccia) was just OK. I would have preferred it to have been cooked a little more crispy and found it a little soggy. I was overwhelmed in a good way though with their offering of beers and most of them Italian to boot. I ended up with a Moretti La Rossa in a bottle that I had never sampled before and loved it.
Arriving before 6pm, the place was mostly empty and I had no trouble snagging a downstairs table without a reservation. My server took a while to «find» me initially but after that service was fine. Prices were a little on the high side but I kept everything under my T&E threshold and was fine with it.

So… where to begin…
This place is extremely overpriced. I got a margarita pizza. It was a 4 cut and $ 18?! Wait what?! Yes, you heard correctly. $ 18. Way to pricey for a 4 cut pizza no matter how you cook it.
The rest of my party got pasta. Which was even more expensive than my pizza and the serving size wasn’t even that large.
Additionally, I have a food allergy and couldn’t eat any of the appetizers except the calamari. What does this tell you? They could make meatballs without the herb I’m allergic to? Well, this means that they aren’t fresh. Could they be frozen? Maybe, but who actually knows.
Lastly, if they lowered the prices of their food, they would be much better off.

We went here for the first time last night and it was nothing short of amazing. Walking in, you are hit with an awesome atmosphere and amazing smells.
We made a reservation and were seated in an awesome table upstairs. Shortly after we were seated, our waiter, Brian, came to our table and asked if we had dined at Il Pizzaiolo before. We both said no. Brian gave a history of the restaurant, and told us how all of the food is imported weekly from Italy. He then gave us an in depth run down of the menu, going through each category of food and explaining every dish. He made awesome recommendations on food and wine. For the wine, we told him the kind that we usually drink, and he recommended a reasonably priced bottle that we both ended up loving.
For food, we started with the Insalata Caprese which was amazing. The cheese tasted so fresh it almost melted in your mouth. For my meal, I had the Margherita DOC pizza which was made in a woodfired oven and tasted authentic. My boyfriend had the Rigatoni Con Polpette which he loved– and i obviously had to try. It was arguably some of the best sauce I’ve had. And they spoiled him with 6 meatballs in the dish. Both of us were very happy with our meals.
The awesome atmosphere combined with amazing food, and outstanding service from our waiter Brian has definitely put Il Pizzaiolo on our list of favorite restaurants. We will definitely be back!
Oh and I forgot to mention, the food makes great leftovers! :)

Where to begin with this place… Unprofessional is an understatement.
I’ve been here twice. On my first visit, I went to a business dinner. I am in a professional dinner with colleagues and a random waiter starts stalking my table and finally drops off a note: photo attached. Hitting on me! Asking me out — circle YES OR NO. Why do you even have time — you’re at work and I’m doing business! I wasso so so embarrassed! Thanks Il Pizzaiolo!!!
Next, I decide to try lunch. HUGE mistake. The Il Pizzaiolo was empty. A few people at the bar. Multiple staff members. We were bumped between 3 different servers.
Ordered meatballs as an appetizer — our 2^nd waiter/​bartender drops them off stating they are the «freshest, hottest meatballs in town!» — a blatant lie. We didn’t even eat one full meatball.
The food was OK, we did eat a little of our meals. EVEN BAD PIZZA IS GOOD.
While we were waiting for our bill, from our third waitress, we observed a group of il pizzaiolo employees (including our third waitress), criticizing the undergarment choices of a hostess. Apparently she wasn’t permitted to wear the black bra straps with the open back, then she changed that and came back and they told her that her dress was see through… so she changed again. All observed while waiting for the check. Completely done eating… FINALLY, I see a moment of clarity as our waitress remembers us in the corner, the ONLY patrons in the whole Il Pizzaiolo
As I leave I ask for a manger — after I already paid my check and tipped my server — it took about 10 or so minutes to find him. He then informed me that my opinion was «interesting» as they «do not ever receive complaints.» After responding that this is highly unlikely and I’m just trying to give feedback to help — he promptly told me he doesn’t need to listen to this type of stuff from «people like you» — black, female, not in my usual business clothes? What is a people like me?
Never ever ever going back.

On my go-​to list from now on! This place is bigger than it first appears, with a dining room and bar upstairs. I loved the décor on both floors, but it was the food that makes me want to go back again and again.
I sampled the mixed greens salad, the bread, the Margherita pizza, and the prosciutto pizzas. The salad was the only thing I wouldn’t write home about. The bread is a soft pillow of deliciousness. I couldn’t resist. Both pizzas were flavorful, with crispy crusts and a great sauce. Word to the wise though — they come uncut unless you specifically ask them to cut it. We topped the whole thing off with some white wine (couldn’t tell you what kind since I suck at Italian wines).
My only real complaint is that while there were open at lunchtime on a Sunday, they don’t have a lunch menu. Our bill for two people splitting the food listed above came to over $ 100 ($ 44 of which was wine).

What a lovely spot for an al fresco lunch! Il Pizzaiolo is as authentic Italian as I’ve had in Italy — the menu reads like one I ordered from in Taormina, the pizza taste like those I’ve had in Rome… Il Pizzaiolo is impressive, and if you’re a fan of Italian fare, you won’t be disappointed in this spot.
My girl and I sat down for a celebratory lunch, popped a few glasses of prosecco and went to town on the amazing special of the day, Burratta. Sure, it was $ 20 but it was $ 20 so well spent — happiness on a place, I tell ya. It was fresh, slightly firm, incredibly creamy and so deliciously cheesy I cannot even find the words to accurately describe it. The fact that it was paired with the freshest-​of-​the-​season heirloom tomatoes and a drizzle of slightly tangy olive oil made me swoon.
I was impressed with the service, too. Our waiter was attentive and sweet, and totally got that we were in for a fun experience. He helped us choose a pizza and checked in regularly to see that we were happy and everything was to our liking. He was really excellent, along with everything else.
As I mentioned, we sat outside overlooking the square, so while I didn’t spend much time in the actual restaurant, it was energetic, casually classy and very reminiscent of European eateries I’ve been to. It was bustling, pleasantly noisy and lively.
Definitely check Il Pizzaiolo out if you’ve a hankering for fresh pizza, great Italian food and a fun time. You won’t be disappointed!