Article 951 of pgh.food:
Path: fs7.ece.cmu.edu!news.sei.cmu.edu!magnesium.club.cc.cmu.edu!pitt.edu!walsh
From: walsh@cislabs.pitt.edu (Alan M Walsh)
Newsgroups: pgh.food
Subject: Terrace Rm at Westin Wm Penn
Message-ID: <8639@blue.cis.pitt.edu>
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 93 18:05:42 GMT+5:00
Sender: news+@pitt.edu
Organization: University of Pittsburgh
Lines: 83


Review of the Terrace Room at the Westin William Penn, downtown.

At the request of a recent poster, I am adding my 2 cents worth to the
reviews of Restaurants featured in the entertainment coupon book.  This is
pretty much an "I don't know art, but I know what I like" kind of review,
although I may pretend at points that it's somewhat more sophisticated
than that :-)

ATMOSPHERE:

The dining room is very grand, as is the 'cocktail lounge' that looks like
some ballroom out of Gone With the Wind.  In spite of the grandeur, it
was not too gaudy, and the only thing that seemed to distract from the
view was a large mural of William Penn on horseback, fending off an
Indian attack.  This seemed to me to be out of place in light of the
otherwise quite elegant surroundings.  The room was cold.  When we
got there we complained about the temperature, and at least two
people (our waiter and the maitre'd) assured us the heat had been
turned up, but it would be a while till the room was warmer.  Several
women kept their coats on, and I was quite comfortable with my
sport coat on (there were also some people in jeans, as for some reason
they only have one dining room open now, so they relaxed any kind of dress
code, although dress/coat and tie was the norm).  The temperature was
a significant detractor for my mother and sister, who didn't really
want to eat with their coats on, but weren't comfortable in shirt sleeves.

SERVICE:

The overall service was very good.  Our waterglasses (a pet peeve of mine
since I tend to drink a lot of water) and coffee cups were kept filled
all evening.  Our waiter was helpful and a bit chatty.  My father ordered
a veal chop, 'italian style' then asked the waiter about a chinese style
seafood pot on the menu, the waiter replied "you got a good dinner sir,
don't go lookin' for trouble, you want chinese you go to a chinese place,
but you really want 100% italian you go to an italian joint"  I won't
even attempt to render his italian accent.  My parents, my sister and I
all gave the service the highest praise out of atmosphere, service, food
(atmosphere lost because it was so cold, food I'm coming to :-)

FOOD:

No one raved about their food.  I had char-broiled JUMBO shrimp over a
bed of fettucini in a garlic parsely oil - $14.  The shrimp was a little tough
although there was a healthy dose of garlic (kudos) in the oil and the
pasta was cooked just right.  My sister had a lobster + scallop stir-fry
in a candied (orange) sauce ($18) which I thought was good, but which she thought
was a bit overpowering (i only had a taste) and she ate a little less than
she would have if she really liked it.  my mother had char-broiled chicken
over capellini in garlic/oil ($14.50) and she liked it, but it was rather plainly
seasoned (compared to her likes).  my father had the veal chop italian style
($23) and liked the topping/stuffing but didn't find the meat anything
really special (a word of note, we've always had home-grown, milk-fed veal
butchered for us and kept in our freezer for less than a year, similarly sides of
beef and half pigs so we're a bit picky about the quality of meats when
we eat out).  They had a great breaded mozarella appetizer, but salad wasn't
included in your dinner and for $3.50 or $4.25 the salad they did provide
was decidedly unspectacular.  For dessert we had mud cake and cheese cake, both
of which were very good!  Everyone was served a very tasty rasberry apperitif
even those who didn't get a salad or appetizer.  the mozarella
appetizer was cut into 4 pieces when brought to the table - a very nice
touch since we told the waiter we'd all just try a little and he took the
intiative to have the chef "use some extra large pieces and cut them into
fourths.  We had one card, and even though the rules are you get the
cheapest entree free, we were credited for the maximum amount on the card,
namely $18.  Dinner for 4, with tip, minus the enetertainment card,
without alcoholic drinks, was $100.

SUMMARY:

Overall the group average rating of the place was 7/10.  the main detractors
were the somewhat less than inspiring food and the COLD temperature.  I
wouldn't hesitate to recommend it, but I wouldn't call it my favorite.

This is my first attempt at a written restaurant review - any/all reaction
would be appreciated.  Should reaction be positive, I might write up something
for Fairchild's in Monroeville, Top of the Triangle, Angel's Corner, Hemmingways
and perhaps even a modest rebuttal to Fred Hann's recent scathing review of
Minuetello's dinner menu (his experience certainly sounds like he was
eating somewhere different than me - if he wasn't my office mate i'd doubt
his veracity :-)

alan