La Capella

I don?t usually write negative/poor reviews but?The owners of La Capella focused on nice atmosphere over good food. Our meals weren't bad but they were very average. Very forgettable. Average and forgettable are sins for any restaurant but especially here in PGH where there are so many good Italian restaurants. They needed to do something to stand out and they didn't.

My wife and I had dinner there last night after seeing a movie. (We prefer to go to local establishments over the chains.) We both ordered side salads. (None of the dressings were made on site.) She ordered a calzone and I had the Angel Hair Timballo. Our waitress came by several times to apologize to us because the kitchen was running behind. The wait wasn?t that bad.

When our food did arrive: The calzone looked nice & golden brown on the top but the dough underneath was not fully cooked. I guess they were trying to rush orders out. Personally, I would rather wait for a meal that?s prepared well than get a hurried, poorly prepared meal. The mozzarella cheese that was used in the calzone was flavorless. It was nice and hot & chewy but flavorless. My wife commented that she had problems telling the cheese from the undercooked dough. (Yuck!) The sauce they had on the side was also flavorless. It had nice chunky tomatoes in it but you couldn?t taste anything other than the tomatoes. My angel hair dish was good. It was made with sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms, and artichoke hearts in a white wine sauce. Some good flavor combinations and prepared well.

Again, not a bad place but the owners need to focus more on the food. The atmosphere is nice. The service was OK. The menu is diverse. (salads, pizza, sandwiches & wraps, dinner entrees) But the quality of the food needs to be brought up.

We?ll probably give them another shot. We just won?t be ordering the calzone!

Pros: Convinient location. Nice atmosphere.

Cons: They need to work on the quality of their food.