pittsburgh: I love Italian food, but like independant restaurants that actually cook the food to order. I am coming to Pittsburgh, PA soon and hope to find a place like we have in New York City!|||Pizzutti's Restaurant. Hands down. It's on Bellefonte Street in Shadyside. About a half a block down from Walnut Street where all of the stores are. I'm telling you every time I go I can't wait to go back to try something else! They make homemade pasta that is to die for! They have a lot of items to choose from. It's not all pasta. I love the raviolis and the paperdelle (spelling???) with the sweet Italian sausage. My friend always gets the homemade spaghetti and meatballs. He says it's the best. Oh, and the mussels, I love the mussels with fries. Yum! No matter what you order it is going to be good. I found their card. The phone number is 412-687-1022 Trust me on this one. The restaurant is off the beaten path, but is worth finding. It looks very European inside.|||I agree! I tried it last night. Nice place, good food, service. Compared to Davio, neighborhood = much nicer, Service = comparable, Atmosphere = both nice but my personal preference would give the nod to Davio, Food = Really good, but not quite Davio. Report Abuse |||Well first you have to go to the Strip District just outside of downtown on a Saturday morning there you will find foods from all nations Wholeys sells fresh calamari among others delectable my daughter runs a knock off fashion store at 21st and Penn if you want a good deal on purses then continue up Liberty Ave into Bloomfield to our Little Italy and in the evening stop at the Church Brew Works for a homemade micro brew Hope you are staying in Downtown the Courtyard on Penn is very nice With a great little hot spot across the street Welcome to the Burg!!|||Davio is my favorite Italian restaurant in Pittsburgh, though I don't know if it is Northern or not (I always forget the distinction) It is in a weird neighboorhood, but the food and service in impeccable. (and you can bring your own wine)|||Sally - you're lucky because Italian food is very big in Pittsburgh. As the other poster said, there is a neighborhood in Pittsburgh called "Bloomfield" (it's on the east end, about 3-4 miles from downtown). My favorite restaurant in Bloomfield is D'Amico's, but Del's is pretty good, too. There's a place called Minutello's (on Shady Avenue) that has good, basic Italian food. Their pizza is great. They make their own sausage, and offer it as a topping for pizza and of course make pasta dishes with it, too. In the strip (a few blocks from downtown) Lidia's has more upscale italian food (it's one of Lidia Bastronovich's - spelling? restaurants - she has a cooking show on PBS). They have a brunch on Saturday that is a pasta sampling. The first course is a salad selection you serve yourself of antipasti, bean salads, green salads, etc. and dessert is a serve yourself with tarts, cannoli, tiramisu, etc. Really good. I don't know if any of this is Northern Italian -but it's all good! Welcome to Pittsburgh and I hope you like living here!