Delallos Fort Couch Cafe
I love this place. It's so cute and the service is great. I never got sick here. They really do a nice job of taking care of people. But my one complaint is it could be bigger. I always feel like a table of four is too many people. We are all squished together. And I look around the room and see a large party of ten taking up most of the dining room.
The building looks so much bigger on the outside. When you get inside, there is no room. I wish these guys would put an addition on the building. I thought that they might have an upstairs to this place. Maybe it's just for parties. If they aren't entertaining a party that night, maybe they could open it up for regular dining customers. Just a thought. An upstairs may not even exist. They would make so much more money if they could serve a few more people each night.
I recommend making a reservation here. The hostesses always look at me like I have three heads when I walk in, until I say I have a reservation. Then she's nice as pie. I get the feeling you are not going to get a seat if you don't make a reservation, so I always make a reservation at least a week in advance.
Now, on to the food.
I ordered off the specials menu. The regular menu has some options that can be gluten free, but I wanted to check out a special this time.
I saw a simple preparation of Swordfish and thought I'd give it a try. when ordering, I wasn't even offered the soup as an option, so I'm guessing that the beef cabbage is not gluten free, even though it sounds like it should be, unless there is barley in it. Ok, not a problem. Salad it is.
She skipped the soup option and asked me what kind of dressing I'd like on my salad. I declined the dressing because I don't trust dressings. They have vinegar. I don't know what kind of vinegar or how good the vinegar is. So I would rather not risk it. I never minded a dry salad, as long as there is more just lettuce in it. I did have to ask for no peppers, which they did. I wish it had cheese in it. Cheese is my dressing. But I didn't ask. I'm sure they would accommodate.
I ordered the swordfish with lemon. It was simple and meaty with a lemon tang. The two pieces felt like too much, but since there wasn't mush to this meal, I ate them both with no trouble. It was juicy and wasn't dried out. The outside had a bit of a light char like it was actually grilled. And it might have been. I enjoyed it very much.
My one complaint about the food was the side of vegetables. This was a side of peas, carrots, & asparagus. It was mostly peas, which I don't like. When I ordered, I figured there would be enough of a mixture of other vegetables to offset the peas. I was wrong.
I'm kind of against baby carrots due to the processing and manufacturing practices used to make them... baby. Look it up if you don't know. I also don't think they have the flavor of real carrots. I understand that real carrots need pealed, which costs labor, but the end results are so much better. There was only one piece of asparagus in here. It was cut up to make it look like there was more, but I'm sure that only one piece made it into this dish. That wouldn't have been so bad, but it was over cooked. Way over cooked. The color of these vegetables wasn't a fresh color. Everything in this side dish was over cooked. It actually tasted like it was made a week before and reheated several times. Or maybe the whole thing was cooked & then frozen & heated back up. I understand the peas being frozen, but asparagus & carrots?
http://www.delallosfortcouchcafe.com/banquet-dinner-menu
91 Fort Couch Rd
Pittsburgh, PA 15241
