Last week, my family took advantage of the ability to all dine out together. We chose a place close to home, with a nice atmosphere and a history of good meals, but some less than satisfying experiences. Andora currently has two locations, and is opening a third soon according to their website. It’s one of the places we considered for our rehearsal dinner, but we ended up choosing a different venue.
My mother picked our appetizer, which sounded amazing on the menu:
Zucchini ribbons rolled with three cheeses, baked with sweet pepper cream sauce 8
Luckily there were only 4 of us, because there were only 4 bite sized pieces!
Very tasty, but very greasy too. Definitely something I’m planning on recreating at home, with much less fat (and baked, not fried).
Although there were some pescetarian friendly dishes on the menu, none of them interested me much – most of the fishes were fried and I’m just not typically a pasta eater when I dine out.
The Andora chicken sounded amazing, and the server said the kitchen would make it for me with a baked fish instead of the chicken. Sold!
Andora chicken [fish], fire-roasted tomatoes, artichokes, capers, banana peppers, seven pepper risotto and asparagus 18
Again the dish was tasty but heavier than expected – the description doesn’t lead you to anticipate a buttery sauce all over the dish. The fish itself (a grouper filet) was cooked perfectly, and the risotto was amazingly delicious and creamy (but I’m not quite sure where the “seven peppers” were hiding).
My father and brother both ordered filets (which they really enjoyed but aren’t exciting to photograph or review) and my mother ordered the “flatbread of the day” as her entrée.
This was a chipolte pulled pork flat bread:
Pulled pork is one of the few things I really enjoyed as a meat eater and have yet to successfully substituted as a vegetarian. The sauce smelled amazing! My mother isn’t a fan of spice so she opted out of banana peppers as an additional topping.
Overall, the food at Andora is consistently delicious, kind of pricey (but usually worth it), but the service can be touch and go. Our most recent experience was a good one, and it is definitely a place I’ll be returning to again.
Such a bummer when you’re anticipating a light dish and it comes out covered in butter!
Glad it was tasty, though. And your mom’s pizza looks amazing! I would definitely miss pulled pork if I went vegetarian!
Melissa recently posted..Call for Snacks
It is always disappointing when you order a meal expecting one thing, and are served something else. That’s usually why I tend to stay boring and order the same meal over and over when I like it
those zucchini roll-ups do look so good though, yum!
I love the idea of recreating those zucchini!
Catalina @ Cake with Love recently posted..Homemade Ravioli – Main Dish and Dessert
Looks like a great place! Sorry the meal was sub par
Matt @ The Athlete’s Plate recently posted..Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal
I’ve learned that at a restaurant no matter what the entree, I always have to ask whether or not there is a sauce on it. 9/10 even if the menu doesn’t say so, there is! I always get it on the side. I hate when fresh seafood could be so light and tasty but comes drowning in a sauce. I like to taste the fish! Pet peeve.
Caitlin recently posted..February Foodie Pen Pals
Mmm! The sweet pepper cream sauce sounds amazing!
Courtney @ The Granola Chronicles recently posted..Secret Snacks
I went to the South Hills Andora location with my husband for our wedding anniversary this past year and we were both really disappointed. For just renovating and opening, the decor on the inside is not up to par. The menu seems to favor older clientele in the sense that cooking preparations are more old school and not as inventive. I had ordered the tuna (very rare) and it was seriously overcooked. We also had made a reservation online with a note that it was our anniversary so I was optimistic that a ‘congratulations’ would at least be said to us but no one seemed to know. Not a deal breaker, but just a thought. Apparently the Mt. Nebo location is an entirely different experience but I’m hesitant to give it a try. For the price, there are tons of other Pittsburgh restaurants with a more creative menu and atmosphere for me!