Some places feel fancy the moment you walk in, but Senza makes you feel comfortable right away
Fine Dining at Senza in Pittsburgh
A hospitable couple serious about food is doing it their way in an intimate space in Etna.
Senza has a motto: “Senza is not a restaurant.” Yet Senza is, most certainly, a place to eat. Embrace the Zen riddle, and you’ll find that Senza’s approach makes for one of Pittsburgh’s most affable dining experiences.
The small patio and counter perched outside the Butler Street location in Etna may be modest. But the floor-to-ceiling window lit with sunshine by day, and moody chandeliers by night, catches the eye. Step inside and it’s clear that while Senza is a restaurant by any objective measure, diners can anticipate something different.
Creating a Personal Dining Experience
“We treat the space like an extension of our home,” says Matthew Manowski, who owns Senza with his wife, Jessie. Exposed brick, white-washed and unfinished wood wall slats, cookbooks upon shelves, comfy banquettes, and handsome wood tables set the tone. Mismatched plates, glasses, and flatware add to the hominess of a place that can seat up to 30. “It’s sort of disarming,” Matthew says. “People walk in and say, ‘Oh, this is so comfortable and personal.’ ” Even the large-scale abstract paint – ings are personal, created by Matthew, an artist who also has a master’s in fine arts management.
The welcome at Senza is warm. In the spirit of reciprocity, the website states that “Senza also re – quires a great attitude, like at least a B+” and suggests “if you enter our building with a bad attitude, turn yourself around.”
Combine these vibes with accessible but inven – tive dishes, and it certainly feels closer to a dinner party at a friend’s house. Only imagine if that friend were Jessie Manowski, a chef trained at the Culinary Institute of America in New York and who worked for Michelin-starred restaurants and alongside James Beard award-winning chefs.
A Constantly Evolving Menu
There’s another PSA on Senza’s website: “Our menu will change.” And that it does, based largely on the couple’s enthusiasms. “We know it might be easier to keep the menu consistent, but our creative impulses take over,” Matthew says.
Though French-trained, Jessie brings a Mediterranean flair to the dishes, with starters like creamy burrata, tomatoes, and pesto served with fresh focaccia, or a crunchy russet chip topped with salmon roe, horseradish, and dill. Main courses are small in number but cover all the bases. A recent lineup had pasta (burnt all’assassina with labneh and crab beurre blanc), seafood (black bass with carnaroli risotto), steak (ribeye with Caesar salad), and poultry (lacquered duck served with polenta fries).
There’s usually just one dessert on the menu — and it’s best not to skip it, or any of the chef’s freshly baked breads. Jessie started her culinary career as a kid baking with her uncles at Pittsburgh’s famed Barkus Bakeries. A recent offering reflects their all-American high/low culture approach: a homemade strawberry pop tart with strawberry rhubarb ice cream.
When the couple moved from Seattle to Pittsburgh in 2019, they brought with them a suc – cessful private dining and catering company, which grew quickly here. A few years later, when they came across the Etna space, they decided to expand into retail and wholesale bakery products, leaning into Jessie’s passion for the trade.
In early 2024, they dove into what became a popular brunch service before evolving into what Senza is now — an exploration of unique dinner experiences. “We saw the potential when we had the idea to do a ticketed dinner.
We are both comfortable with a fine-dining style of cooking, and these dinners started to catch fire,” Matthew says. They found that working evenings was a better fit for life with a young daughter, so they pivoted away from brunch.
Weekly Pasta Affair Nights
These days, Senza is open Fridays and Saturdays for the à la carte menu and Wednesdays for the pop – ular Pasta Affair. Matthew calls it “a super-casual eve – ning where people can come in for a stripped-down menu of simply prepared pasta dishes that you don’t find anywhere else around town.” The menu rotates weekly but always features pasta extruded in-house, along with freshly baked focaccia.
The “cult classic” ticketed Dinner Club is held once or twice a month and sells out quickly. The seven-course chef’s tasting menu includes “all the trimmings” and wine for $129 per person. The din – ner is typically single seating with the menu released the day of.
The Meaning Behind the ‘Not-a-Restaurant’ Concept
The not-a-restaurant concept stems from the couple’s inclination for spontaneity in an industry known for restrictions. “In our careers, we’ve had some restraints on how we operate, so with Senza, we started saying no, focusing only on the things that bring us joy,” Matthew explains. The word senza is Italian for “without,” which in their case means forsaking rules.
The drinks program, for example. Matthew, who has years of experience in the bar side of the business, decided to scale down to just a couple of cocktails each week. “It’s a slender approach. You may not like them, and it’s OK. They’ll change.” The wine list is, well, compact: A red, a white, a rose, and a sparkling, by the glass. Want a beer? There’s but one on the menu, called “some kind of beer.” Matthew’s theory is “there may not be a lot of options, but they are going to be good.”
An Experience Built Around Comfort and Relaxation
The Manowski method might not be for ev – eryone. (Fair warning to diners who like soft background music: The music at Senza is often neither.) But it seems to be working, drawing people from across the region. “We have a wide demographic,” Matthew says. “We’ve got a lot of young adults, people on dates, families, retirees, and everything in between.”
Above all, the owners want Senza to be a place where everyone feels comfortable. “We like to put people at ease. You can take your guard down because it’s no big deal. We have good food, and we are going to take good care of you, so you can just relax.”
Also: Tipping is forbidden. Which makes sense. What do you think Senza is, a restaurant?
372 Butler Street, Etna, 412-209-9766, senzapgh.com. Hours are Wednesday, 5:45 to 9 pm; Friday and Saturday, 5:30 to 9:30 pm. Prix-fixe Dinner Clubs held monthly; see website for timing
Story by Sarah Tuthill