Last night, the Husband and I met up with some friends and headed over to Maestro’s Bar and Bistro, a quaint restaurant nestled away in Pineville.  Our friends had been there before, living not too far from the restaurant, and raved about it so we were looking forward to some good food.

Upon entering the restaurant, I noticed all the antique and homey touches (I love antiques and have a handful of pieces of furniture formerly property of two of my great grandmothers).

Upon being seated, we learned of the history of many of these antique items.  The restaurant, owned by a married couple, the husband whom is the chef, is named and in honor of the wife’s parents.  In turn, I assume some of the items throughout the restaurant belonged to them.

I debated for a LONG time on what to order.  There was an extensive wine list, but still being dehydrated from my trip to Las Vegas (the rest of the posts coming soon!), I stuck with water.  The group decided to go with an appetizer and the rest of the table also ordered soups and/or salad.  This gave me a lot of time to ponder as we didn’t order our entree until after we completed our appetizer.

To start, the four of us shared the Cornflour Crusted Calamari with a Sweet Spicy Chili Sauce.  It was flavorful and went very well with the chili sauce.  I found myself munching on this as I debated what to order as an entree.

Up next, soups and salad for the table.  The Husband ordered a bowl of the Wild Mushroom Soup.  It was warm, creamy, and flavorful.  He originally shared a tasted with me and I later ended up eating about half Yum!  (The Internet has lots of good things to say about the soups here so we’ll have to go back and try some others! Especially with how cold it’s been recently in Charlotte.)

Our friends enjoyed a cup of the same soup and the BLT salad which included bacon, lettuce, and tomato with ranch dressing and crumbled blue cheese.  Our friend really enjoyed her salad.

During this course, we were also brought out warm bread and butter.  I love when restaurants serve bread right out of the oven, allowing the butter to melt perfectly.

Two of the items I debated about getting were ordered by the Husband and one of our friends so I went with the first item that caught my eye – the Portobello Mushroom Agnolotti with Braised Beef.  They described them as pasta purses stuffed portobello mushrooms topped with beef braised in a rich red wine demiglace.  The agnolotti were heavenly! I shared one each with the Husband and one of our friends, as I planned on having a taste of each of theirs but I would have loved to eat each one myself!

The Husband ordered the Shrimp and Scallop Scampi which included shrimp and scallops sautéed in a lemon garlic sauce with spinach and tomatoes over shell pasta.  These flavors melded well together and the dish was quite large.  We ended up taking most of it home as the Husband was quite full from the other courses.  It was great as leftovers as lunch today too

The third item I debated about, that our friend got, was the Eggplant and Parmesan Ravioli.  I couldn’t remember if I liked eggplant, so I appreciated him sharing one with me.  As expected (everything had turned out well so far!) this was quite delicious.

Overall, this restaurant lived up to our friends’ raves and we were glad we were able to make it there.  If you’re looking for a nice restaurant in the Pineville area, we recommend that you check Maestro’s out!