Cafe Zinho

Wonderful little Shadyside Diamond. With its inviting ambience and sophisticated food, Café Zinho was wonderful. The menu is small but has a great variety of dishes to choose from and was very difficult to decide, everything sounded great. We had a rather large party so ordered all of the appetizers and they were incredible. Would highly recommend the Red 3 cheese stuffed peppers, perfect touch of spice with the excellent blend of cheeses and the Salmon literally melted in your mouth. The atmosphere and decoration was very eclectic, fun, and inviting. From the moment we walked through the door until the time we left, we felt a warm welcome and enjoyed ourselves immensely. Thank you and we will be back soon!…

A gem!. I have wanted to try Cafe Zinho for a while now. It always looks very inviting when I pass. Over the summer I was thinking of taking some friends here but decided against it after reading some reviews. Last night I decided to try it out for myself, and the reviews couldn't have been more wrong. The staff was friendly, attentive and jovial from the moment we walked in the door. Even without reservations and a full restaurant on New Years Eve they made room for us and were very accommodating. The wait staff was attentive, but not overly so. Yet, the highlight of this upscale, yet earthy restaurant is the food. Each person in my group of four ordered something different and each was truly superb. I have not had better duck anywhere in the city. I will definitely be going back to Cafe Zinho and highly recommend it to anyone for an intimate couples dinner or for a small group. I would not go here if there were more than five people in my party as the restaurant is more intimate. The combination of service, sophisticated but unpretentious atmosphere and delicious food make this a true gem in my mind. Some reviews noted the "goodwill find" decor, but for me that's what makes this place that much better. It is nice to experience fine dining in a place where you can relax, where there is a little more character than the usual, and where you can look around and see something more interesting than a blase flower arrangement.…

Charming Delightful Little Restaurant. I read the reviews on this site and I wondered if they were talking of the same restaurant that I found tucked away on Spahr Street in Shadyside. Either that, or Cafe Zinho has taken the criticisms to heart and mended their ways. The service was excellent. Yes they did make a mistake and brought us two appetizers when we had canceled one, but they were very apologetic about it. The food itself was excellent. I had snapper and my wife had the lamb and both were delicious. We shared a dessert between us & the dessert itself was heavenly (white cake with icing). Those reviewers who complained about the prices have obviously not eaten at the other Shadyside restaurants. I thought that a delicious meal for two at $50 was excellent value for money. At another restaurant around the corner, they charge $12 for a glass of mediocre wine, so BYOP at Cafe Zinho was defintely a plus. I was surprised that they don't accept credit cards, but to me, paying for food by a credit card is really moronic unless one is talking of huge cash amounts. There is something charming about paying for something you have consumed immediately and not carry a credit on it. I would go back there in a hearbeat.…

If Phyllo dough is your thing, then this is your place.. My girlfriend and I decided to try Cafe Zinho on a whim. From the moment we walked in, something just felt off. It was freezing cold and so dark inside the restaurant that we could hardly read the menus, which consisted of dishes that were just as unappealing as their descriptions made them sound. As much as we tried to find something good about Cafe Zinho, our dreams of having a good meal that evening were crushed with too-tiny plates covered in Phyllo dough. At the risk of sounding mean, it felt like we were in a refugee camp. If you make the mistake of going there, you'll know exactly what I mean.…