{"id":172,"date":"2010-08-15T19:27:36","date_gmt":"2010-08-15T23:27:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/?page_id=172"},"modified":"2020-03-02T18:18:37","modified_gmt":"2020-03-02T22:18:37","slug":"villa-south-side-pittsburgh","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/?page_id=172","title":{"rendered":"Dining – Villa – South Side – Pittsburgh"},"content":{"rendered":"

Villa<\/strong> – 1831 East Carson Street – Pittsburgh, PA 15203 – (412) 431-3535<\/p>\n

This month our review takes us to my neighborhood- the South Side where you\u2019ll be surprised to hear about a fabulous new \u201cWhite Hot\u201d night spot that serves up not only great drinks but some fabulous food as well.\u00a0 I\u2019m proud to tell you about Villa Southside, located at the corner of 19th<\/sup> & Carson Streets.\u00a0 With a late night menu that beats any bar food, great service, friendly bartenders and an atmosphere straight out of New York City, this is a place that even us \u201cslightly older\u201d folks can still feel cool hanging with the young crowd.<\/p>\n

The entire structure has been completely renovated from a former restaurant to a bar with several comfort zones.\u00a0 They built an open air deck that rivals any I\u2019ve seen and the open air feeling makes the upstairs bar & dance floor that much more popular.\u00a0 Villa does have a dress code, they explain it\u2019s similar to the standard- no baggy oversized clothes, no athletic wear, no ball caps but the rule I like the best when dressed to my best is \u201cno smoking\u201d anywhere inside the establishment at any time.\u00a0 Villa doesn\u2019t even like smoking on their rooftop deck.\u00a0 I have to say it definitely does make for a much cleaner environment and the furniture surely won\u2019t have nasty burn holes.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t wait to tell you about the wonderful tapas we tried, but first- let me mention the drinks!\u00a0 Mike, our \u201cMad Mixologist\u201d for the evening served up some pretty sweet (meaning specialty) martinis.\u00a0 We\u2019re talking Key Lime, Dirty Banana & Pomegranate concoctions that we were literally fighting over at the bar!\u00a0 It was such a nice mixture of martinis and a great representation of the kind of drinks Villa can wow you with.\u00a0 Mike (super cute & single!) explained that they care about the quality and use only the best of the name brand mixers in their soda guns.\u00a0 It does make a difference, the drinks are fabulous.\u00a0 Now let\u2019s get to the food…<\/p>\n

First let me tell you that the full Villa menu is available online.\u00a0 Here\u2019s just a taste of the not only delicious but beautifully presented plates.\u00a0 Jennifer\u2019s favorite was the Pasta Roll Giovanni ($7), baked pasta layered with saut\u00e9ed spinach, prosciutto, mozzarella and ricotta cheese, rolled pinwheel style, served over Rosa sauce.\u00a0 This dish would make a nice light dinner as the portion was generous.\u00a0 I would order it along side the Stuffed Banana Peppers ($9) breaded banana peppers, stuffed with a blend of pork, veal, and beef, fried golden, served over a smoky tomatillo sauce, topped with freshly grated mozzarella cheese. I have to admit it was hard to save a few bites for our other Nightwire staff. who were off busy taking photographs while we were eating.\u00a0 Ahhh, the benefits of seniority!\u00a0 When I said ahhhh, I should have said Ahi, as in Ahi Tuna ($12) Sashimi style tuna, seared rare and served with wasabi aioli and ponzo sauce.\u00a0 This was one of my favorites and not a bite made it to the photographers!<\/p>\n

The food was flowing as the drinks were being refilled and passed around. \u00a0We\u00a0 were served Lobster Macaroni & Cheese ($15) Maine lobster lightly simmered in a four cheese sauce served over fusilli pasta.\u00a0 Definitely more along the lines of a dinner dish rather than a tapas dish because there is plenty to share for sure.\u00a0 Villa has a nice selection of seafood selections Gamberi Alla Proscuitto ($11) grilled prosciutto wrapped shrimp accompanied with roasted red peppers and a fig molasses sauce.\u00a0 I swear I used my finger to swipe up that sauce.\u00a0 Villa also offers Fire Cracker Shrimp ($10) a spicy coconut shrimp served with a tequila orange dipping sauce.\u00a0 If shrimp is not your taste- you can try the South Side Sliders ($11) premium Kobe beef served on a warm pretzel roll.\u00a0 This seems like the perfect late night bite and I\u2019m glad to know that the kitchen at Villa is open late.\u00a0 They serve food till11pm.\u00a0 The last tapas we tried was the Chicken Skewers ($8) tender chunks of chicken grilled to perfection with veggies served blackened or barbeque style.\u00a0 Joyce couldn\u2019t figure out how they grilled the chicken to perfection, moist and juicy, seared on the outside without serving burnt vegetables but this simple tapas seemed to be her favorite.\u00a0 Simple and savory always gets her vote.\u00a0 The villa menu offers vegetarian choices of Risotto Fritters, Fresh Cut Fries, Sweet Potato Fries and Vegetable Spring Rolls.\u00a0 We\u2019re pretty certain that there\u2019s something for every taste and it\u2019s so much fun to order a few things and share.\u00a0 I love ordering a bunch of things and at Villa the cost is very fair considering the quality and presentation.\u00a0 How exciting that this is in my neighborhood.\u00a0 I think I\u2019ll be a regular!\u00a0 I often find myself tired and hungry after a long work day not wanting to eat fast food- never –\u00a0 but wanting to patronize my local establishments who all seem to close around 9 or 10.<\/p>\n

Villa has raised the bar on the South Side nightlife scene.\u00a0 They feature the best DJ\u2019s in the city, an outside patio, VIP accommodations, dancing and great food!\u00a0 There\u2019s no age limit too cool, so stop by have a martini and grab a bite to eat.\u00a0 This is a fabulous people watching hot spot that provides a stimulating atmosphere in one of the city\u2019s most vibrant neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

Villa is open Wednesday, Thursday & Friday at 5pm till 2am.\u00a0 Saturday\u2019s open at 7pm and Sundays Villa opens at 2pm with tapas for a late brunch.\u00a0 Check them out at www.villasouthside.com<\/a>, find them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter!<\/p>\n

See you on the dance floor!\u00a0 And as always be sure and tell your friends from Nightwire sent you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Villa – 1831 East Carson Street – Pittsburgh, PA 15203 – (412) 431-3535 This month our review takes us to my neighborhood- the South Side where you\u2019ll be surprised to hear about a fabulous new \u201cWhite Hot\u201d night spot that serves up not only great drinks but some fabulous food as well.\u00a0 I\u2019m proud to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-172","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P8aPSh-2M","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=172"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2297,"href":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/172\/revisions\/2297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nightwire.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}