22 West Pomfret Street
Carlisle, PA 17013
717-249-9580
Piatto Website
June 2009 Update: Piatto was named as one of the best restaurants in Cumberland County according to Central PA Magazine readers… Congrats! [Editor]
Piatto was opened by Ross and Mary Morris in May 1998. The restaurant serves authentic, traditional cuisine from all twenty of Italy’s distinctly different regions.
Located in Carlisle’s historic district in a Victorian era home, the restaurant offers casual, affordable dining nightly beginning at 5 pm.
Outdoor seating is available May – September.
Related restaurants:
Trying to find a non fast food restaurant in Carlisle on a Sunday evening is very difficult. We happened across an interesting eatery and decided to dine. The building / decor was lovely and the courtyard nice and relaxing.
There were four of us, my wife,daughter and sister in law. We expected a decent meal.
My wife’s salad was wilted and past it. Not local greens, from a box. My crab balls were devoid of crab, just three times deep fried bread balls. Both dishes inedible. We figured the restaurant would redeem itself with the mains.
Three of us had pizza. Burnt crust and soggy. How can something freshly made be both of these things? My sister in laws pasta was bloated as it had been sitting in water (pre-cooked) and a course texture. She said “At least THE scollop was not over cooked!” not bad one scollop in a $19 dish.
The waitress was notified and sent out the CHEF? I think my 12 year old daughter knows more abut food preparation than her. Of course she was sorry our dinning experience was not up to expectations. “Of course the pizza was fresh she cooked the crusts yesterday” Hello!!
We asked for the offending dishes to be removed from the bill. The bill came back with one of the items on the menu. I spoke to the bar manager and to his credit removed the offending item.
I mentioned to the Bar manager that it was a pity the food was not up to the level of the ambiance and decor. I did mention however the iced tea was very good.
We left unimpressed. I am no Gordon Ramsey and have never in the past complained about food in a restaurant but in the same token I have never been served such substandard food.
I would hope these folks would live up to their hype of using fresh ingredients (not fresh from a can like the pizza sauce). Carlisle is smack dab in the middle of a great agricultural region. Surely fresh ingredients can be found locally.
Lastly, my wife made a salad with local salad greens from our local farmers marked up here in the Laurentian region of Quebec the day before our dining experience and spent three days in a cooler before being consumed at lunch today on our way home. Perfectly fresh.. Food For Thought!!
We went to the restaurant on a Saturday evening. Since we were both not hungry, we decided to share one appetizer and one entree. We ordered Insalata Caprese for appetizer and Fritto Misto (mixed fried seafood) for entree. The salad was ok. However, the mixed fried seafood was horrible. First, my wife bit a an oyster piece and she told me it was not fresh. We called the waitress for her to bring the dish back the the kitchen. She brought us the menu and asked if we wanted to order another entree. We decided to leave. They still charged us with the salad. I told the owner that given the freshness [ed] food they fed us, I should not have to pay a dime. He still insisted on charging me, so I paid for the salad and left.
No second time at Piatto for us.
[rant removed] …the food at Piatto is as pure and good as it gets…made by the best chefs/platers as it gets. it’s very hard to feed people the best food available, in downsized increments [and leave all patrons happy <-- Editors Paraphrase, removed rant ].
Not as enjoyable as in the past. My last meal at Piatto was only enjoyed by me. Sometimes the fish isn’t the way to go. I have always enjoyed their Piatto salad and lobster ravioli but the prices keep going up and I seem to be getting less for what I am paying for. Hopefully I’ll find someone who will want to go again. I do enjoy the decor and they have done a nice job enclosing the porch area.
The food is okay, but rather overpriced for what it is, especially considering the location. I don’t mind paying for good food, but I expect high quality. I ordered the salmon, which was terribly overcooked, and they had run out of their basic sides, like the roasted potatoes. How do you run out of something as basic as a potato? And their idea of presentation is laughable. But the tiramasu was fantastic – it was acutally the best part of the meal.
The atmosphere is okay, but a bit bright (lighting-wise) for a restuarant trying to be an upscale, intimate place. The waitress was nice when she actually came to our table, which wasn’t often other than to bring us the dishes. She rarely checked on us and it wasn’t as if the restuarant was that crowded.
Overall, disappointing. I will not go back.
Clearly the best restaurant in Carlisle. BYOB. Ross is on top form and does not allow menu to go stale.
I’m from Chicago and have been in Carlisle for some time now. My wife and I came to Piatto for 2 reasons.
1. A local co-worker recommended it.
2. Having visited the Piatto website, I noticed that the chef is extremely picky about choosing fresh real ingredients. In my experience, a dish can be only as good as the ingredients used to prepare it. I figured, if the ingredients are fresh, Piatto is 2 steps ahead of most restaurants I’ve dined in.
Long story short, from my first bite of the house salad and her first spoonful of soup, we were hooked.
The ingredients were not only fresh, they were carefully chosen to complement one another and create a multitude of flavors in our mouths.
The following day, my wife and I ventured to Philadelphia to eat at Morimoto (Iron Chef). It sucked on entirely new levels of sucking. The decor was too Euro Urban Chic and the food/drinks were hopeless bland despite the complex nature of each.
In that regard, Piatto hits a home run on all counts. The ambiance is pleasant, but not distracting. You notice small details about the age of the building/home and decor, but you’re not smacked in the face by the style. The service was pleasant and more than happy to make small talk with us. Further, at our request, the chef (Ross) came out to speak with us about local hot spots and his meal.
Coming from a place with a healthy variety of great food, all I can say is, I wish Piatto were actually in Chicago. We would have a new low key place to dine in that would guarantee a great experience.