Across the street from the upscale Cork Factory apartments, but close to Downtown and to other Strip District restaurants, Cioppino seems designed to strike a balance between power-dining in the style of upscale steakhouses and the casual, repeat meals one enjoys at a neighborhood restaurant.

Cioppino enhances its draw with amenities such as the separate cigar bar, the large televisions in the bar room (different from the cigar bar), and the well-appointed happy hour ($5 select martinis, $5 wines by the glass and half-off draft beers). And for the most part the restaurant is a lovely setting for any occasion. A gorgeous tin ceiling is slightly encumbered by a frame of less attractive but more acoustic panels. The main dining room is filled with rich autumnal colors, lots of warm brown wood and rustic arrangements of natural materials. It's so polished, in fact, that it's more like the Pottery Barn's take on Tuscany than an actual Tuscan restaurant, but it's pleasant all the same.

Cioppino does a very credible job of turning out some classic steakhouse dishes. Shrimp cocktail ($10.95) was excellent and reasonably priced -- four large, perfectly seasoned and chilled shrimp served with a cocktail sauce aptly described as "zesty." The standout of the dessert menu was a well-executed, balanced lavender citrus creme brulee.

The wine list focuses primarily on red wines, especially cabernet sauvignon and meritage blends, but it is organized in a somewhat confusing way, both by varieties and by country of origin. Markups also range fairly widely (or at least seem to -- the wine list lacks vintage date), so diners with Internet access at the ready may be able to benefit from hidden deals.

Happily, the menu (and wine list) also display a strong Italian influence and include a fair number of more interesting options than the usual steakhouse fare. The price spread is also surprisingly wide, with many appetizers under $10 and pasta entrees for around $15.

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Cioppino

2 stars = Very good
Ratings explained

2350 Railroad St.
at The Cork Factory
Strip District
412-281-6593
cioppinopittsburgh.com

• Hours: Monday-Saturday, 5-10 p.m., Sunday, 4-9 p.m.; "small plates" available 4 p.m.-12 a.m. daily
• Basics: This new Strip District restaurant offers a mix of influences from steak houses to Italy to San Francisco. Upscale enough for business or special occasions, the atmosphere is also relaxed enough for a casual dinner.
• Recommended dishes: Crudo of fluke; cocktail of shrimp; country pork pate; frisee, bacon, goat cheese salad; farmstead cheese plate; tomato & cheese; riccolina & rapini; lavender citrus creme brulee; elderflower cocktail
• Prices: Appetizers, $4.50-$11.95; entrees, $13.95-$46.95; desserts, $5-$8; wines by the glass start at $8; by the bottle, $28
• Summary: Wheelchair accessible; smoking permitted in adjacent cigar bar; parking validation available for parking garage at 25th and Railroad streets, valet parking Wednesday-Saturday evening; credit cards accepted; reservations strongly encouraged on weekends and to ensure seating in main dining room; corkage, $15
• Noise level: Low to medium-loud

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Charcuterie has more than a token role, with options including conserved pork ($6.95) and a repeated special of country pork pate. The rustic pate, studded with bright green pistachios, was served with toasts, mustard and a pile of pickled vegetables. The pate itself had good pork flavor without being overwhelming, and the mustard added just the right zing. The pickled vegetables were great in theory but were a little too pickled in practice. Still, I would order this dish again.

Crudo of fluke ($8.95) reflected the benefits of both the highest-quality ingredients and excellent technique. The mild flavor of thin slices of fluke was enhanced by a light dressing of lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil and salt. A scattering of minced parsley (thankfully kept far from the rim of the plate) added more color than flavor, but the contrast was pleasant to the eye.

A special of bay scallops with squash dressing, frisee and "pickled" beets ($15.95) was one of those dishes that narrowly missed perfection. All of the components were quite good, but they weren't assembled in any way to become a complete dish.

Though it proved to be as simple as it sounds, tomato and cheese ($7.95), a dish of stewed tomatoes and a fresh, fairly mild goat cheese from Firefly Farms, was a comforting and satisfying starter on a bitterly cold evening.

At the moment, entrees don't live up to the promise of the appetizers. There are some creative twists and lots of appealing ideas, but they're hindered by inconsistent execution.

The best pasta dish I sampled, the riccolina and rapini ($13.95), had lovely flavors. The bitterness of the rapini, the dense saltiness of the smoked bacon and the sweetness of a roasted pepper pesto balanced each other beautifully.

Linguine with clams was supplemented by a heavy pile of sauteed mushrooms and leeks veritably oozing butter, overwhelming the delicate flavor of the clams.

At a late October meal, I was surprised to see several fish dishes still in their summer iterations. Salmon was paired with risotto, sweet corn broth, basil and cherry tomatoes, and tuna was served over arugula, grilled eggplant and roasted pepper-olive oil. The fish was cooked and seasoned well in both cases, but the summer flavors were a pale version of what they could have been a month or two earlier. Not every restaurant needs to change its menu every day, but once summer is over, summer menus need to go.

Beef is far from the primary protein on the menu, but because steaks make up the most expensive options, they should be top-notch. A porterhouse (24 ounces, $46.95) had an uneven crust and had been sloppily butchered so that it wasn't nearly the same thickness across. Consequently, while the main part of it was perfectly cooked, several inches of the tenderloin were more medium-well than medium-rare. More problematic were the potatoes, roasted with diced pancetta that was noticeably burnt. Even more worrisome, the gentleman next to me ordered the same steak and his potatoes also were garnished with scorched pancetta.

The cioppino ($27.50), the restaurant's signature dish, was a little disappointing. The variety of seafood in the stew (branzino, snapper, scallop, shrimp, dungeness crab, mussels and clams) was all cooked well, which is a solid feat of timing; but the dish lacks the distinctive influence of fresh Dungeness crab. The broth had an unpleasantly strong, almost saline taste that suggested either a poorly made fish stock or perhaps over-reducing.

The food is for the most part reasonably priced, and so the need to end every price with a fraction of a dollar doesn't seem appropriate at this style of restaurant.

And while servers were efficient and professional, they were also a bit robotic, perhaps influenced by the somewhat corporate atmosphere. Rather than simply look down at their notes they strained to recite lists of specials or the ice creams offered that day. One server walked 360 degrees around a table to hand me a dessert menu I was already reaching for; when asked for more information about the cioppino, we learned only that its contents included one and a half ounces of branzino, three shrimp, a scallop and about seven mussels, etc.

This restaurant clearly has a good business plan, and it's run by a very professional crew. I have no doubt that staff care deeply about the food and about their jobs. But at the moment, Cioppino is a little too much polish, not enough passion.