Review: The Naked Grape in Sewickley

Capture from The Naked Grape’s website – click to go there. This is a review acquired by chance. My wife and I are part of a marriage mentoring class at our local church, and our mentoring couple treated us to a night out at a just opened wine room in Sewickley, PA – so we are going to treat you to the review.

The Naked Grape did an excellent job of making you feel like you walked into a very authentic Tuscan/Italian corner cafe – intimate and cozy. We were greeted in a way that made us immediately feel like family. The restaurant at this point was only open four or five days and had an unexpected rush of business which prompted them to have to be creative about accommodating us for dinner. Initially they sat us at the tasting bar, where we stayed for about ten minutes. As soon as a table for four was available they relocated us there. I found this very surprising since most restaurants would rather seat additional business and not accommodate already sat customers. This was only the beginning of our extremely good service experience. The staff was knowledgeable without hesitation on both the food and wine selections. If something was not available, they immediately were able to give comparable substitutes.

I’m just going to go over what I had:

For the appetizer we shared Giuseppe’s Piastra del Formaggio dell’Artigianale (Giuseppe’s Artisan cheese and Fruit). This contained an excellent and very complimentary selection of cheeses, fruit, and gourmet mustards. We definitely recommend starting with this and a good light wine.

For my main selection I chose Pollo alla Antonio (Chicken Antonio). This is grilled chicken breast with TNG’s special Corsican sauce topped with a Prosciutto garnish. With my initial bite, I discovered a perfectly created sauce, chicken grilled to a tenderness rarely obtained, and an aroma that made me start to plan the next time I would order the selection. All of our dinners arrived together and at great temperature for each item.

I did have time to review the wine list, which reflected excellent choices and great knowledge. SWB’s advice is to tell TNG what you plan on ordering and allow them to make a wine suggestion.

Note: The restaurant is small, so please call ahead with a reservation.

-SWB

PS – We will be back … and you need to go there.

Click here for location info.

~ by SWB on March 23, 2009.