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    Paolino

    4.4 (227 reviews)
    ModerateItalian, Gelato, Salad
    Open 12:00 pm - 9:00 PM

    Order Paolino Takeout

    Paolino Photos

    Business Info

    PAOLINO ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Quiet
    Outdoor seating
    Dogs allowed

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    Recommended Reviews - Paolino

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    Mike Check Mike G
    Rebecca H.

    Decatur's Best-Kept Italian Secret and the Tiramisu That Changed My Life. If you're looking for authentic Italian food in Decatur that actually tastes homemade, Paolino is it. From the moment I walked in, the cozy vibe and the aroma of garlic and butter let me know I was in for something special. I ordered the Lamb Ragu: rich, slow-cooked perfection that practically melted in my mouth. My partner had the Chicken Parmigiana and Gnocchi Pesto, both full of flavor and cooked to perfection. We started with Blue Cheese Chips (yes, that's a thing and yes, they're as amazing as they sound). But the real star of the night? The Tiramisu. Light, creamy, perfectly balanced easily the best we've ever had. If you're a dessert lover, don't skip it. Between the warm service, romantic atmosphere, and food that hits every note, Paolino is officially on my "must-repeat" list. Whether it's date night, girls' night, or just a "treat yourself" dinner this is where you go when you want to feel like you're dining in Italy without booking a flight.

    Fettuccini Alfredo with mushrooms
    Heather R.

    While visiting Decatur for business, I tried Paoloni. It is a quaint little Italian restaurant in the midst of a beautiful little city area. The wait time was minimal and we were seated in the tented outdoor space. I ordered fettuccini with mushrooms and my friend ordered traditional chicken Parmesan sandwich. I ordered mozzarella sticks as well as a glass of moscato for an appetizer. The meal came out and the appetizer never arrived. The meal was so filling, we didn't mind, but the mozzarella sticks looked good and I wish I could have tried them. I ordered dessert to-go. I selected the ricotta cheesecake, and it was so incredible. The waiter recommended the gelato. They do have several flavors that are specialities, but I was happy with the cheesecake. I would have given it five stars if not for the missed opportunity to try the appetizer. The other food was delicious.

    Annie M.

    Cute local spot - very small town vibes I got the seafood squid ink linguini which has both squid ink and regular linguini which was interesting. I didn't care for having mixed pasta; would rather do one or the other but it was flavorful & large pieces of scallop/shrimp. The sauce was thinner than I expected and sweet for a cream sauce I also ordered the blue cheese chips & the house made chips were so crispy! I'd have liked more sauce but they definitely had an explosion of flavor The bread with dipping oil was a nice touch The staff were friendly & welcoming & they have a little gelato shop in front for dessert Parking lot was large with plenty of spots when we came for the shared lot

    Pesto Fettuccine
    Erica V.

    Let me start my review by saying that Eddie/Eddy our waiter was an absolute gem. Will be coming back just for his service. Pasolini is a tasty spot I found when looking for a last minute bite to eat. We walked in with no reservation (called ahead to let them know we were on the way) and were seated in a booth right away. As far as the decor and ambiance, it has a fresh gelato shop attached and then a gorgeous, mom & pop style restaurant with gorgeous plants and greenery all around. As a plant mom, I was in heaven and super jealous of the collection. Now on to the food + drinks: * They do not have liquor but we were able to get a glass of wine. (They offer beer as well) Food: 1. Calamari 10/10: love the batter. So light and flaky! Amazing portion and their marinara was so flavorful. 2. Caesar Salad 3/10: very average; needs more dressing or the dressing could have more flavor/seasoning. 3. French Onion Soup 7/10: delicious sweet flavor from onions and I loved the toast on top soaking up the delicious broth. I never thought I'd say it though, almost too many onions soaking up my broth lol 4. Sherry Cream Seafood 8/10: pasta is an amazing texture, can tell it is homemade. All of the seafood was fresh and juicy! Sauce was a bit sweet for me but just my personal opinion. 5. Pesto Fettuccini add Crispy Chicken 9/10: again, fresh pasta with the best bouncy texture; lacked a little seasoning but nothing a little salt + pepper didn't fix quickly. 6. Vanilla Gelato 9/10: loved the rich vanilla flavor (think more French vanilla than vanilla bean) We will be back to try more and of course to visit the best server!

    Italian Sausage Bruschetta

    Glad we tried this! We made a reservation for 6:30 on a Sunday evening. We arrived a bit earlier and tables were mostly empty, but within 20 minutes, the restaurant was full - so I would recommend the reservation if you're planning in advance! Service was great and our food was delicious. Pleasantly surprised by the prices compared to other Italian spots in Atlanta (or even outside the city). Would definitely come back!

    Wine Selection
    Fred L.

    Amazing in every way. We stopped in fire a quick lunch before a movie at Madison Yards and found our new favorite spot. We had Calamari, two of those soups, Lasagna, and Zuppa de Pecce. My wife said the Zuppa was the best she's ever had. If we had to pick the highlight, it world have to be our server, Camryn! She's so great that we both thought she was either one of the owners or a manager. She's neither. She's just that good!

    Chicken parmigiana
    Vanessa E.

    Cute restaurant! I have been dying to try this restaurant since I drove past it a year ago. They pasta is fresh. They seated us outside in the tent and our service was fast. The oakhurst salad would have been a bit better if it came with cheese. Bathrooms were decent!

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    13 days ago

    Great authentic Italian food. Very good service. Pasta and gelato were made at the restaurant and was fresh and delicious.

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    11 months ago

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    7 months ago

    Meh. Service was slow. Food was okay. But I appreciated the $5/glass wine on Monday.

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    2 months ago

    Service great . Good for lunch and work meetings ! This was my first time here I had the smoke salmon and linguine

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    The food and service was great. Great location and atmosphere. You won't be disappointed.

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    7 months ago

    Wonderful food and service. I would recommend the sausage bruschetta. The ambiance was so nice and fitting

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    Page 1 of 6

    Ask the Community - Paolino

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    The restaurant is in the same plaza as Iberian Pig and The Deer & The Dove. Parking in this area of…read moreDecatur is very limited. We usually have to circle around to find a spot, and walk to the restaurant. We came by for lunch on a Sunday. I like both the exterior and the interior design of the restaurant. The server was friendly and professional. We ordered drinks and two entrées. There was only one other table besides us, so just two tables total in the restaurant. After our drinks arrived, it took more than 45 minutes for the food to come out. The food itself was delicious. We had the half chicken and the trout. The ingredient quality is high, you can really taste it. However, the wait time was a bit too long, especially considering how empty the restaurant was. Aside from the long wait, everything else was good. I wonder if the delay was because we came shortly after they opened for lunch, but if they're open, the kitchen should be ready. Overall, the food is quite good, though the entree menu is somewhat limited, if excluding the pasta. If you're in the area, it's definitely worth trying. Personally, I'm not sure if I would come back. I'd rather not experience that long wait again, but maybe it was just an off day when I visited.

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    We had a five-star experience at La Tavola! First, our server was extremely friendly and ensured we…read morealways had what we needed. She also clued us into the fact that you can get all of their entree pastas in appetizer size! This means we were able to try more pastas as well as enjoy an app and dessert. We ordered a bottle of Nero D'Avola, which was smooth and delicious. We got the meatballs as our appetizer, which were super tender and full of flavor. We split the rigatoni alla vodka, fettucine ai funghi, and tagliatelle bolognese. All were perfection. I loved the creaminess of the alla vodka, which had a kick of spice from the chili oil. I loved the herbiness and freshness of both the ai funghi with its sage and the bolognese with its rosemary. The tiramisu was the only dish that was just ok. I would much rather have espresso drenched ladyfingers than coffee liquor. But it was still good so I cannot complain. The waitress also surprised us with prosecco with a lemon rind twist to celebrate the fact that we had just closed on our first ever home. All in all - it was a perfect evening.

    We celebrated my husband's birthday for dinner here with his parents. There's valet parking across…read morethe street at Wells Fargo for $3 with a validated ticket. Without validation, it's $20. We did arrive here a bit early for our reservation but were seated right next to the open kitchen, so it felt quite crowded and cramped. It's a very, very small restaurant and it was freezing where we sat because we were under the vents. Our server, Mary Catherine, was a treat and she took good care of us. She took our drink orders, though I didn't drink tonight. For appetizers, we started with the calamari and stuffed clams. They also offered complementary bread and olive oil basket that was served warm, yum! Our food orders came out pretty fast actually. The calamari was not your typical fried calamari - it was delicious and loved the mix of raw onions in it for that fresh bite. I'm not a fan of clams so I didn't try this, but heard it was just breading and can't really taste the clam taste. For my entree, I ordered the spaghetti pomodoro with meatballs. I had been dreaming about this since making the reservations and it did not disappoint. The pasta was cooked al dente and the sauce was wonderful. I did think the meatballs were a tad too salty for my taste and I'm glad I opted out of the freshly grated parm because I feel like that would have made everything saltier. After our meal, they brought out free dessert for the birthday celebrants. Nothing but raves were said after our dinner here and we're definitely looking forward to coming back here again.

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    Came for my birthday and highly recommend having reservations. I will say, I did call to change my…read morereservation time because the resy app only had like three time slots available (a week in advance too!!) and the person who picked up was very rude! She said we don't pick up the phones during service hours just email us, frankly, if I have to email a restaurant I don't want to dine there. And also there email was nowhere to be found on the website. Thankfully, we called back the next day (hopefully during a less busy time? 5:30, they changed it for us in two second so not sure why the other lady had such an attitude about it. Almost really ruined my experience and I was going to dine elsewhere. Started off with focaccia and beef carpaccio. The beef carpaccio was good! Although very very thin serving. We got two pasta dishes and th trout. The pasta dish with shrimp only came with five small pastas, I thought this was kind of pricey and crazy! $32 for five pieces of pasta?! The pork pasta dish was also very very salty. Though a bigger portion for $34, it was okay at best. The trout was definitely the better entree in my opinion. We also got a slice of tiramisu, and this was my favorite item all night. It was sweet and light! They also don't give any free appetizers for your birthday just fyi! The server was friendly, and came to check on us frequently. Overall, the food was okay, and the phone service was off putting. I think it's a quaint and cozy restaurant to experience once, but would def get a better bang for your buck elsewhere.

    Very weird experience. Netting out at three stars…read more The food was good. The beet salad was whatever but the beef carpaccio, polenta cakes, pasta, all good. But also insanely overpriced. $32 for rigatoni with a red meat sauce? $16 for two small polenta cakes? It was good but those are MARGINS. And honestly all of that would have been fine if the service wasn't so rushed. We were told to order everything upfront and they'd course it out for us.... And then all of our plates arrived at the same time. It was my husband's birthday and we wanted to sit and have a nice date night meal and they had us out of there 34 minutes later. That was for three apps and an entree. I genuinely don't know if I go back.

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    Sotto Sotto

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    Ooooh this place is a dream! The outdoor (enclosed) patio in the winter isn't just a last resort…read morereservation option, it should be your TOP destination. It's cozy, (plenty warm) and romantic! It was 32 degrees outside, but completely comfortably warm, inside. You truly wouldn't know you weren't inside. Any way, I've eaten my way through Inman Park but somehow hadn't yet indulged in the delectable Sotto Sotto. This might just be my new favorite Italian in Atlanta. It was absolutely delicious. Across the table (thanks to the half portion option), we tried at least 8 items on the menu! Each one was more special then the next. Our incredible server Kagen (sp?) walked us through each section of the menu absolutely perfectly. As a result we ended up ordering some of his favs from across the menu. In my photos you can see what we ordered, but my recommendation is to simply ask your server what they like and you'll undoubtably get something stellar. In a market of many, great Italian options, Sotto Sotto might just be the BEST and my new fav!!! I absolutely can't wait to return.

    Food:10/10 Ambiance:10/10…read moreService:-0/10 This place was amazing the food and atmosphere created an amazing experience for my group ,... However the server we had tonight was one of the worst experiences I've had especially for a place that is trying to sell an upscale dining environment he greeted the table by saying (after we asked how he was doing) "I'm doing f-ing horrible I'm tired and feel like sh*t we had such a busy night last night" he was not very knowledgeable about menu or drinks and his overall appearance gave very much unhygienic he also forgot to put in our food order so we waited double the time and said that since we already had appetizers and the other table did not have any food that we could wait to order food, also just assumed how someone in my group wanted there steak cooked so had to wait for that to be redone, he was all over the place and did not check in on us very often we needed things like refills or salt pepper etc. and went without because bad service I don't think he should have been working he obviously did not want to be there he also failed to mention that the kitchen was closing so we did not get to try the desserts. There were a couple of other things but don't want a 5 page review I cannot remember his name but a taller white guy with a messy bun and tired eyes. We still left a tip because that's what you do when you go out but if he treated his other tables like he did us I wouldn't be surprised if we were the only ones that tipped. I suggest not going on a busy night to get good service I guess. My group was 4 ppl 2 couples trying to enjoy a nice double date without the craziness of v-day next time we will celebrate days before. Will for sure be going back and hope you give them a try but if that's how the waiter greets himself please go ahead and ask for a different server!!!!

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