Cafe Notte

This place has been on my list for awhile. After seeing them featured on Pittsburgh Today Live, we finally made a reservation. We went a few weeks ago on a snowy Friday night. When we got there, we requested to sit in the bar area. It was so cozy with a fireplace going.

We started with the homemade bread, which is complimentary and came with a delicious dipping oil. We also had the fired zucchini and the beans and greens. They were both tasty but the greens and beans were out of this world delicious - they had a lemony flavor, so different but so good.

I had the shrimp scampi. The shrimp were cooked to perfection and the pasta was so good. My husband had the eggplant parm and requested it with rigatoni with the vodka sauce, he said it was incredible. He also ordered the limoncello martini and loved it. My mom was with us and she has the pasta aglio e olio, she said it was some of the best she's ever had. For dessert we shared the bread pudding at the recommendation of our server, it was fantastic. The dessert line up was so good, I have to go back to try more!

Our server was wonderful, kind, friendly, and knowledgeable about the menu. We really enjoyed it and will definitely be going back!

We shared the

Food was good. Signature pasta dish had too much sauce not enough pasta. It was like pasta tomato soup. Their marinara is not too sweet, which we liked. Chicken parmesan was overcooked but well beaten. Negronis were nice. Bar does not have Mezcal, so he couldn't embellish the "Draco" with it, but was going to revamp his recipes he said.

Menu was fairly simple, which was refreshing. Many italian places have a bajillion offerings (like Falsetti's) but not quality. This place was quality. Will try it again sometime with family (and reservations).

Very busy. Had to sit at bar. She was fully booked otherwise. At 6:30pm on a Saturday night the bar was empty, but the bar area was full. Overheard Tuesdays and Wednesdays are fairly empty times for the restaurant.

All in all a good experience with italian food that didn't taste like ketchup.

5/5 stars

Stopped in late and had an amazing dinner!
Cute aesthetic, astrological/constellation theme, with stars on the ceiling (in a cute way not cheesy)

Super friendly staff, and I got the French dip special sandwich, which was unbelievable. My husband got the vodka pasta sauce, which is also very good :)

An okay spot on Ohio River Blvd near Emsworth. I have driven past this place a hundred times and finally had dinner here last weekend. We were seated in the bar area, it has cool starry ceiling but otherwise the decor is a bit dated. Our table was too small for a party of 4. Our waitress was very nice but service was not great. It wasn't even that busy and it took forever for drinks, clearing plates, etc. I started with the Summer Salad which was very good. Entrees come with bread but they served ours at the time our entrees came out, I thought that was a little weird. I had the shrimp scampi which was fine. The pasta was good quality but the dish was so oily/greasy and a pet peeve of mine is when the tails are still on the shrimp (I know a lot of places do it). I feel that everything is a bit overpriced here. I will probably not come back here again.

We tried this place for restaurant week and it was delicious! The waitress was super friendly but they seemed a little short staffed. We had to wait a bit before we could get a second glass of wine and we didn't see the waitress often after she took our order. Also the bread came out with the salad (second course) which we would have preferred it come out with our appetizers first since we wanted to dip the bread in the sauce that came arancini.
For the first course we got mini crab cakes and arancini. Both were delicious and had two of each.
Second came the Caesar salad and the fresh bread.
I got the salmon and my friend got the short ribs with home made pasta. My salmon was cooked perfect and the maple bourbon glaze was amazing!! My friend loved her short ribs and it complimented the pasta wonderfully! Then we both had tiramisu for dessert and it was one of the better ones I've had.
The restaurant has an open patio and the front of the restaurant inside was quaint and cozy. But I believe the back is where they host private parties. I would come again if I was on that side of town!

I NEVER write reviews, but I felt obligated to write this one. We had a reservation at 5:30 for 7, 4 checks. We were seated quickly. Our server was a young man. Ordered 3 appetizers, they did come out quick. The calamari had too much breading and was hard. The mussels tasted like saltwater. I didn't eat the bacon wrapped scallops, but my friend said they were good. I ordered the Ossubuco, it was good, but the risotto, not so much. One person ordered the filet with pan seared gnocchi and it was slightly overcooked (ordered it medium) and there was no gnocchi, but mashed potatoes. Another person ordered the linguini and clam sauce, and he said it tasted like straight salt water and couldn't even eat it. Another person ordered the veal marsala and said he could barely cut it with a knife, and it was very chewy. No complaints on the other 3 dishes. The food was very bland, not much seasoning. The waiter came back one time and I asked for salt, and he never brought it. Never refilled our water or asked if we needed more alcohol drinks once we were served. After we were done, brought a pen and paper and asked us all what we had and wrote it down. He brought our checks, and they were so badly mixed up. Someone's drink was on mine, someone's entree was on another and so on. If we told him who had what food/drinks again, it would have taken another 30 mins to get it corrected that my friend ended up putting it on his card (364.00) and we figured it out on our own and paid him. I never had such bad service/food before. We didn't complain while we were there because most of us worked in the food industry before. I have found a hair at the end of my salad before and didn't say anything because I don't like to complain and just dealt with it, it happens. But bad food/service shouldn't happen.

Good pizza, nice drinks, friendly people. Passed it often on the strip and finally tried it. Happy

Tried Cafe Notte for the 1st time during a very chilly January Restaurant Week night and wasn't disappointed! Charming family run Italian restaurant on Rte 65 in Emsworth and near intersection of Camp Horne Rd. Had the delicious crab cake which had good ratio of crab meat to breading, the Ossobuco was humongous, tasty, moist and not salty as pork shanks can often be. the short rib parpadelle was also good. (I believe they make their own pasta) Desserts, home made Tiramisu and very berry cake were excellent. Dining Room was quaint with twinkling starlight vaulted ceiling but room was chilly even with a fire place. (Though it was 15F outside at the time) Angie our server was good. Even though it's more than 20 miles from home I Will be back to try more of the menu.

We called to reserve an outdoor table on a Thursday and when we got there just due to the position of the sun setting, we elected to dine indoors, which the staff was very courteous and happy to relocate us. Also, outside they had a live performer setting up, but they said we could still listen from inside.

Upon entry, we made a right to the bar and dinning area. The ceiling is high and had very nice lighting. Our waiter was very attentive. Drinks came out perfect and strong.

I played it safe and went with the chicken parm, which was delicious.

Kids ordered the pizza which was a pretty big serving size for them, they weren't fond of the crust or sauce.

Definitely a place we would have no issues with coming back to if in the area again!

We recently hosted an engagement party for our son and his fiancee at Cafe Notte. We had about 40 guests and everything was fabulous. Beautiful private room, top notch food, and friendly and professional service. We are also big fans of their ala carte service. We highly recommend!