notion

I had heard so many good things about notion. But I was not prepared for how fancy pants it is! I'd have to say this is maybe the fanciest place I've been to before. And I'm not just talking about the interior. I'm talkin' bout the whole package!

For $65 you receive four courses. You get to pick between three different items between every course. It's really a nice mix of food and my eyes went straight to certain picks. But what I didn't realize was that we got what I'll call the "bonus rounds." I wish I could describe to you all of the bonus rounds, I'll leave you with the surprise. Let's just say they were all incredibly unique and a fun little treat (and I can't describe them for the life of me, so there's that).

Here were my dish picks:
Beet with blueberries, hibiscus, creme fraiche
Scallops imitating gnocchi with peppermint, parmesan broth
Tenderloin with burnt onion, thinly sliced portabella and hazlenut
Milk Chocolate Nutella Cake, orange and banana pudding

I will first say I loved all the sauces they add to the dish right in front of you! I love a good sauce and the added bonus was watching them compliment the dish with the pairing sauce (see, fancy!). I thought the beets were great. I was a bit disappointed with the scallops, as I felt it could have used a bit more flavor. I loved the tenderloin though! They don't even ask you how you want it cooked, it just comes out medium rare, like it should be cooked all the time! I also really enjoyed the dessert. I loved the little bits of banana pudding mixed with the Nutella cake.

All the plates were small, but I was full by the time I was done. Not stuffed, but totally satisfied. And I lied, one of the bonus rounds was chocolate truffles, chocolate sticks and chocolate wafers. I was totally into this bonus round and even may have finished off others truffles. Oops.

But dining here is an experience. It's not just a dinner out. The way the wait staff caters to your every need, describes every single dish to you as it comes out and replaced every single napkin if you get up. Now THAT is a good waitstaff!

No corkage fee, but they're getting ready to get a liquor license so BYOB will be coming to an end soon. I imagine the cocktails will be just as inventive as the food!

It's hard to put too much of the dinner into words, you just have to go for yourself!

I'd expected so much! Maybe too much. Let's start with the cocktail. A riff on a Manhattan with kisses of St. Germain and Chambord sounded beautiful. Reality the Manhattan was overpowered by the sweet ingredients and lost its Manhattan-ness. Our waiter was kind enough to have it remade, which was an improvement, but still far too sweet instead balanced and subtle.

First courses couldn't have been better! The beef tartare with black garlic was perfection, as was the sweet corn soup with yogurt foam, lightly pickled shrimp and nasturtium petals. So good!

And then the second course. My selection, a maybe 2" flat disc of risotto rice, topped with a shaved matching disc of portobello mushroom, with a squirt parmesan cream on the side was delicious, but that was a course? My companion had a small raw, room temp piece of salmon with a dill cream that once tasted wasn't eaten. She's a sushi fan, so raw didn't freak her out it was the room temp that did.

Third course. We both had very small portions of sous vide chicken. It was unremarkable. Period.

Dessert? I ordered cheesecake. Adam, our very professional, quite knowledgeable waiter told me it would be unlike any cheesecake I'd ever had. He was right. It was gorgeous!

Sliced, fresh black cherries interspersed with beautiful cornflower blue borage flowers tiled the top of a lump of pudding-like, lemony "cheesecake" filing. As the saying goes, pretty is as pretty does. It didn't. The cherries were basically tasteless and the filling in the bottom disappointing. More pudding than cheesecake, it just didn't make the grade.

What's more, our Restaurant Week special menu meal (that totaled pennies shy of $85, and that didn't include the cocktails Adam took off our bill or his very generous, well deserved tip) lacked such substance, that we made dinner when we got home!

Let's see...how do I sum this up? Mathematically!

Category Rating

Atmosphere: 3
Service: 5
1st Course: 5
2nd Course: 3
3rd Course: 3
Dessert: 2
Cocktail: 2
Value: 2

TOTAL: 26
AVERAGE: 3.25

Rounding down, that's 3 stars. I expected better.

It wasn't because of restaurant week, I don't think I'll ever come here due to the high price. So the review is for what my dining experience during the restaurant week: $35 three course meal with $21 wine pairing.

Though I had wine with each dish, I'm not good at telling how well they go together, so I'll skip this part. Jennifer(I figured her name out because of the reservations) did tell us about why she chose those wines, but I just cannot tell how good or bad they are.

We got watermelon soda as a sample drink to start with. My friends liked it, but I don't like soda that much, so it was just okay to me. I prefer the simple watermelon + ice drink better.

Starters:
Beef tartare: Everyone loved it! The Korean flavors went well with icebergs, which is typical in Korean BBQ.
Corn soup: The combination of the salty corn soup and sweet cream(or yogurt?) created an interesting taste. It's much better than what I expected from a corn soup. The shrimps were really tender.

Entrees:
Salmon: Absolutely my favorite salmon dish so far. It was so tender that we thought it wasn't cooked though it wasn't raw either. Since a friend wouldn't eat any uncooked meat, we asked the waitress about it. She told us that it was cooked sous-vide which I've heard a few times but never got the chance to try. We learned that the chicken and the pork were also cooked sous-vide.
Risotto: The mushroom(portobello?) was flavorful. The risotto seemed simple but it was really good. I would love to eat more rice if they are this good. It was creamy and I don't know what else made it so delicious.

Chicken: The sauce made the juicy and tender chicken(breast) so amazing. I always find chicken breasts to be the most challenging to cook, so thumbs up for this dish.
Pork: my friends all like it due to the tenderness, but after I had the chicken, I couldn't say the pork was that good. It probably wasn't a fair comparison, but I liked the chicken much better.

Dessert:
Milk chocolate: I always like chocolate.
Cheesecake: I'm not a big fan of the cheesecake while others like it a lot.


As pointed out in another view, they like to pour the sauce in front of you, which I kind of enjoy. It's fun to see what the dish is like with or without the sauce.

We all enjoyed our dinner quite a lot.

I love the food and the service. I also like that Notion is currently a BYOB. We had the 4 course dinner, and because we shared we were able to taste most things on the menu that evening. The service was well timed and impeccably gracious.

The ambiance was very muted and simple, I liked the art glass hanging from the ceiling.

We had a wonderful experience at Notion and I would love to return in the near future.

Small bites, large price tag, amazing food adventure! If you are looking for a food experience then look no further, you've found it in Notion. I think to enjoy the experience and the food you have to be prepared for the type of place this is. It's the sort of place where you get this huge plate with an itty bitty smattering of food in the middle. Lucky for you that they give many plates on the prixe fixed menu so that you don't leave hungry.

Right now it's BYOB but they are applying for their liquore license. No corkage fee - woohoo! The decord is simple, clean and modern - I liked it. Small inside but there wasn't too many people so weren't bothered by noise of other tables since we were spaced adequately.

They started with a palate cleansing limeade type drink with chia seeds hanging out in the bottom. I don't know about you, but I love me some chia seeds. Our group ordered the 4 tasting menu and I chose the Beet, Scallops, Beef Tenderloin and Strawberry Cheesecake.

Beet
Delish! I think you need to really like beets to like this dish. I mean you get a beet bulb smack in the center of your plate with about 4 blueberries holding it captive. Then there's some lip smacking good sauce they drizzle over it and a dabble of creme fraiche.

Scallops
Meh! This was the disappointment in my food journey. They were mini scallops served cold with mint and some green sauce that didn't sit well with my palate. I wanted them to jump back in to the ocean or whatever body of water they came from. I tried a taste of my friend's Halibut dish and was envious because it was soooo good. Learn from misstep and order the Halibut instead of the scallops.

Beef Tenderloin
Yum! Highlight of the food trip. It was soo good that I scarfed it down. The beef was tender and perfectly salted while the mushrooms were lightly marinated. They poured a sauce over this dish as well but honestly, I'm not sure it did much to enhance the taste of the dish as this stood strong on its own.

Strawberry Cheesecake
Mmm! This was a deconstructed cheesecake of some sort. The cream cheese part was on the bottom covered with a cheese like slice of strawberry gel...please note that it was not cheese, but look like a Kraft cheese slice but red and strawberry flavored. There were some graham cracker chunks to the side with a few tiny dollops of strawberry pudding, rhubarb jelly-like mounds and basil jellyish dots. I had the opportunity to try the other deserts since my friend's ordered them and this was the best amongst the milk chocolate and yuzu. I wouldn't recommend the Yuzu unless you want to eat earthy leaves on top of vanilla pudding...that's what it tasted like to me.

So there you have it, food journey at its end. I would definitely recommend folks try this place just for the experience alone. I enjoyed the experience, the company and the food...probably in that order. The food is amazing but it's the whole package that makes this place great in my mind.

Run, drive, swim, whatever you have to do get here now. Well not now while I'm righting this but they open at 6 so you can even plan ahead a bit. This is the most amazing restaurant I've been to in pittsburgh. The food is amazing and the detail that is put into it is just amazing. The skill of Chef Dave is envious. He combines flavors from all over the world to create a single dish that is harmony in your mouth. There's just so many small touches that make this such a great restaurant. I personally recommend the tasting menu. Just do it. I don't like shell fish but the crab I had was just crazy good. Also the wine pairing is perfect. They know what there doing here. I have trouble justifying coming back to a place more then once with so many options in the burgh but I will be back and very very soon.

It doesn't take much to get a 2 or 3 from me, but I don't give up 5's easy. No, it takes a very special restaurant to romance me and take our relationship to that next level.

Notion is such a place. No words can do full justice to the delights that await all your senses. Calling their food good is like calling the surface of the sun warm or the ocean slightly damp. Expect dynamic flavor explosions, beautiful presentation, incredibly friendly and knowledgeable staff, and psychedelically creative blends like barley with espelette cream, cauliflower and manchego custard, scallop cucumber gnocchi, and deconstructed nutella chocolate cake.

I went with a group of 4 and got the tasting menu which includes 4 courses, an appetizer, , a fish, a meat, and a desert. Between the 4 of us we tried every single thing on the day's menu and none of us had anything we didn't love. They change up the offerings daily. I would recommend going with a group so you can all order and try everything. Alternately you can get the 6 course tasting menu with smaller courses of more dishes.

If Notion was in any other major city they would charge $200 a head. Notion isn't cheap at $65 for the 4 course tasting menu (it's top secretly 7 courses since they include 2 amuse-bouches and a bonus desert) but given the sky high quality of every aspect of the experience, and that it's byob so you don't get slammed with additional wine surcharges, Notion felt like one of the best values in Pittsburgh. I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship!

notion is definitely the best fine dining experience I have had thus far in Pittsburgh. At the recommendation of one of my friends, I made a reservation for dinner there with my wife last night. I can honestly say that our evening there was flawless. From the moment we arrived, to the moment we left, we experienced nothing short of an exceptional experience.

First - the physical space itself. We loved the simple, clean lines of the restaurant. As we continued through our meal, we commented on the beautiful accents and neatness of the place amongst ourselves. Few restaurants manage to achieve an uncluttered space which complements the culinary experience offered - notion nails this. While the PPG review "docks" the restaurant for this simplicity and economy of decorations, we rather enjoyed the simplicity, as there was nothing to detract from our enjoyment of the meal and of each others' conversation for the evening. The only piece missing was music to match the space and food - we heard Foo Fighters and Radiohead (which I love) when subtle ambient music or soft modern jazz would have likely paired better with the cuisine and mood. Some soft cutting-edge music would really complement the experience here!

Second - service. We were greeted warmly upon our arrival by Ian, our waiter for the evening. He was hospitable, courteous, and attended to our every need. He provided an excellent description for each and every component of the individual courses as they were expertly served. Small details of superlative service were obvious throughout the evening - new utensils magically appeared in-between each course without breaking the flow of our conversation; freshly pressed napkins were provided with a smile if a napkin happened to fall to the floor; our glasses never reached the bottom and were always replenished at the right time. These details are one of the major things that separate a restaurant like notion from others. What a great experience!

Third - the cuisine. Ah, the cuisine... Like others who have provided reviews for notion, we found the Chef's Tasting to be incredible. We almost always go for this option when available, so we can see for ourselves what the Chef's vision is. Our experience last night was no exception - this team certainly impressed us by their use of a broad variety of quality ingredients and techniques to express themselves in beautiful dishes throughout the tasting. Emulsions, foams, powders, pickling, and I suspect sous vide are techniques which were well demonstrated in our meal, and at an extremely high level. What I most enjoyed about our meal was the persistent use of the concept of contrasts - the cool, smooth sweet fennel custard that was served with the warm, savory chive soup was my personal favorite. Every single dish we ate, from the amuse bouche to the two desserts exhibited the beautiful interplay of contrasts in each bite, much to our pleasure.

I am excited to continue visiting notion from time to time to see the seasonal variations in how this amazing team continues to express its vision. Certainly, I expect to make this establishment my 'go-to' when family and friends are in town and wish to savor the finest Pittsburgh has to offer!

Our experience at notion with a lowercase 'n' began well.
I made reservations on their website, and they responded within 2 hours about some of the details I put regarding my girlfriends food allergies, specifically dairy and tree nuts. Jennifer answered me with several very reasonable followup questions to be sure that the specifics were understood, and assured me that the chef was taking it into account. So far, so good. I email the menu to her, we both discuss the $65 four course, excitement builds.

We arrive at the place, which is an underwhelming square on the outside. We walk in and am struck by how plain things were - the plain white walls felt like the small retail store that the building was obviously intendedly sized for. An uninspired light in the middle of the building was the only attempt to change it. We stand at the front of the dining room before the waitstaff emerged from the back wall and walked the length of the room to take our names.

We are seated, and when the waitress hands us the menus, she informs my girlfriend that if she wants to have her dietary restrictions observed as had been emailed, she needed to get the tasting menu. She did use her tone to try to imply that this might be optional maybe, but her words were that the chef specifically prepared a tasting menu selection just for her. A $48 dollar up-sell using the implied threat of a deathly allergic reaction.

She then tried to take our orders right there, on the spot.

I had to interject into this and say that we needed a minute. She walked away, and my girlfriend immediately said how that exchange made her feel uncomfortable. I, not wanting to pay $200+ for a dinner at anywhere that thinks that sort of tactic is acceptable, agreed. The tone of the entire dinner was going to be negative.

I can only suspect that these are hard times for notion, and the server herself was forced into using any excuse at all to sell the higher priced menu item, or had been given big financial incentives.

Walked out and got seated at Spoon within 15 minutes. The dining room felt vibrant and well put together, with strong lighting and a vibrant minimal bar. They also have drinks and offer a prix fixe four course for $65.

If you going to make something at this price point , then the dinning environment is not an optional bonus that you can skimp on, nor is having used car salesmen on your staff.

Sat, Mar 22, 2014 at 11:01 PM
TO: reservations@notionresta...
Hi Jennifer,
I just wanted to convey my feelings on our experience at Notion tonight. After being seated, our server confirmed her food allergies... and then informed us that if she wanted to have her dietary restrictions observed, she would need to get the tastings menu. This immediately made my girlfriend uncomfortable. Instead of feeling like a luxury dinner for us, it felt like a meal that our server forced/guilted onto both of us, which is not an experience that is worth $200+. Instead, I made reservations across the street at Spoon, and we were seated 10 minutes later.

If this restriction was really made ahead of time, then it certainly seems appropriate to have warned me in one of the 5 email we exchanged. Cordially,

-BFW

[no response, 48 hours later, so I'm posting this review]

Notion is clearly aiming to be THE white-table cloth, fine-dining establishment of Pittsburgh.

We went recently on a Saturday night and found the restaurant to be relatively busy. Diners are presented with two menu-options: a four course $65 tasting menu where you get to pick what you want from several categories, or a 6 course $85 tasting menu where the chef picks the dishes for you.

We opted for the $85 chef's menu and found the food to be a very good, high concept take on New American with Korean influences. Re: alcohol, as others have mentioned, the restaurant is in the middle of getting its liquor license, which means that you can currently bring your own wine with no corkage fee.

Standout dishes were: a delicious Korean flavoured beef tartare that was served with Korean ssam style lettuce wraps; a beautifully moist sturgeon, cooked sous-vide and served with horseradish, dill and a cucumber reduction; a pork belly with clam, kale and shellfish sauce; a starter course that featured an interesting, subtle take on three different types of ancient grains. Another winner was a hibiscus soda that was mixed table-side, served as the first of two amuses. All of the dishes were beautifully plated and there was an interesting mix of table wear used, which added to the presentation.

In other words, it is clear that the chef running this place has talent.

That said, given the price point (cheap in some ways because it is temporarily byob, noting however that this will soon be in "fine dining" territory once the liquor license comes through) I do have to make several comments on the service level and ambience of the place, which in my opinion require some work.

1) Ambience: The decor of this restaurant is not good - it was neither trendy nor classically elegant. The dining room was a sea of beige and the walls were very bare. It was also lit a bit too brightly and just plain did not feel fancy. Another unusual thing was that there was no music playing for much of the dinner (and when music was eventually switched on it was so low as to be almost imperceptible) which made conversation feel a little uncomfortable as you could hear everything that anyone within a two table radius was saying.

2) Service: Overall the service was decent - our waiter was both friendly and accommodating and was knowledgeable about the food being served. That said, there were a lot of little things that the restaurant did that lacked polish. Flaws, albeit minor ones, were numerous: our table was quite wobbly; candles were lit (with a Zippo) after we sat down, even though we had made a reservation beforehand (and so the table should have been fully prepped for our arrival); there was nowhere to put my wife's sweater so she put it on the banquette beside her; the restaurant was quite chilly, etc. etc.

As a result of all the ambience and service shortcomings, I'm inclined to give this place a 3.5/5 (but will give a 3 on Yelp). I think this is a fair score because the food, as mentioned, is very good (but not outstanding) and provided decent value noting our dinner, including tax + tip was about $225 (remembering again, that this did not include wine however). That said, this also means that dinner for two at Notion once it gets its liquor license will be a $300+ affair which in my opinion knocks it into a whole different dining category and similarly invites additional scrutiny.

Some may think that I am being unfairly nitpicky for some of the items above, however once you get into the fine-dining price range, the service and experience of the restaurant are every bit as important as the food. People go to these types of establishments to celebrate special occasions and accordingly they want an extraordinary experience. What Notion delivered was a well prepared, interesting menu with a very ordinary dining experience.

The good news is that all of this could be fixed pretty quickly and pretty easily and then this place could achieve the potential it clearly shows.

I will keep an eye on this place and may come back the next time in town for another taste.

-Brian