Paola’s Restaurant

Not bad. But not exeptional, simple, Good and exelent Service. Price in the range. I mean this is madison sb

Delicious !! Ordered in & everything was great! Even the bread comes tasting amazing & fresh. We ordered the arugula salad & cavatelli with sausage & broccoli rabe! Highly recommend !!

Had lunch there today. Four of us. All agreed that it was the worst service EVER. Upon exiting I told owner and chef we would never return. Why they were not on the floor greeting quests and keeping an eye on things is a mystery.

Wonderful Italian restaurant with excellent food, attentive professional service and a warm, inviting atmosphere.
Roses and small crystal enclosed candles on the tables are a nice touch adding to the warmth, and tables are spaced comfortably apart .
Service was friendly — both the hostess and server. Food was served quickly.
I had the seafood salad, and it was perfect– beautifully presented and wonderfully delicious. Extra dirty Martini was also great, made just right and with plump fresh olives.
Definitely recommend as a restaurant to go with family, friends or a date.

Service was outstanding. The restaurant closes from 4 – 5 PM while the service staff eats dinner together. The food is fresh and made to order. Great wine list. Price point on par with Madison Ave

Excellent food and service.
Very Wheelchair friendly.
The linguini and clams was FAB!

Enjoyed a great late brunch here. Eggs Benedict cooked to perfection! Very tasty pasta as well, and excellent service!
We lingered for a while after finishing our meal and there was no pressure to leave.

We have gone to this restaurant almost every other week for the past 2 years. The food is decent but service has really slipped. Weight staff have gotten more abrupt and less attentive over time. Tonight, it took the staff almost 10 minutes just to greet us despite standing 2 feet away and having no other customers to attended to. They have become unable to seat customers on time — tonight they were still searching for a table 20 minutes after our reservation time when we gave up and left. All in all, the food is decent but they will ignore you while you are there — the overall experience is unappetizing.

Good UES Spot with Madison Ave prices.
The restaurant itself is very attractive, mellow wood and tiles.
The service is top shelf. I was waiting a long time for the rest of my party to arrive and they never hassled me about it.
The fried artichokes are SO good. They aren’t breaded, just fried, so it isn’t super heavy. Just delightful.
The Duck Pasta is tasty. The duck is in a ragu, solid pieces of duck breast. The noodles are cooked perfectly.
Prices are normal by UES Madison Ave standards, but expensive by normal standards.
I like that you can get half orders of the pasta.

Beautiful restaurant and our family has come here over the years as we have a place two blocks away. Last night I looked at our bill of $ 149 pre tip for three half orders of pasta and three cocktails and just laughed. Yes, this is Madison ave and we live here but the prices are ridiculous for the quality of food. The atmosphere is also very rushed. They will rush you out as quickly as possible even on a Tuesday night. Duck pasta was chewy and flavorless.

The restaurant exudes an atmosphere of class and wealth — aside from the food (more on that in a moment), one of the more unique features of this restaurant is the crowd: predominantly older, wealthy, cheery and jovial diners — waves of bimaxillary kisses and conversations centered on «Oh, how is [insert name] doing?», though a lone group of wealthy preppy teenagers occupied a corner (read: birthday girl wearing a sparkling, pink tiara). I did feel a little out of place, though I found it more endearing and fascinating rather than perturbing — certainly not a negative at all.
If «an Italian restaurant is only as good as its mozzarella», then Paola’s reigns from on high — excellent mozzarella appetizer, served with roasted peppers, olives, and basil. For the main course, I ordered the Pappardelle Con Ragù Di Anatra: filling, well-​prepared pasta with a highly savory, though not overpowering, duck meat sauce. I paired with a pinot noir. I snuck in a bite of my girlfriend’s Spaghetti Al Pomodoro, a well-​prepared classic. For dessert, we ordered the Crostata Di Ricotta E Cioccolato — a nice soft dessert, bursting with the taste of ricotta.
Service clocked in at average, maybe slightly above average — I do not remember having to ask for water fills. The restaurant is clean and well-​run, bathrooms are clean and well-​serviced, and the waiters attend cordially and promptly. Prices border on moderate-​high, though not out of the ordinary for the UES, particularly considering the Madison Ave. location.
There are quite a few Italian restaurants on the UES, though Paola’s holds its own and I stress the unique atmosphere. Overall, I would recommend to a friend if seeking Italian cuisine or a dinner in the area.

Classy and clubby, Paola’s is the quintessential Carnegie Hill restaurant. Prices, while high, are not out of line, especially for the neighborhood. The servers are charming and professional, the décor comfortable. Yes, the demographic skews old, but this is certainly not a geriatric retreat; on my latest visit, I saw a multigenerational family, a girlfriends’ outing, and several tables that simply oozed power – tastefully, of course.
But the atmosphere can’t hold a candle to the food, which is stellar. In particular, I’ll sing the praises of the pappardelle with the duck ragu: rich, satisfying, the pasta holding its own in the unctuous sauce. You can request any pasta in a half-​order, which I strongly recommend unless you want leftovers the next day. (And, believe me, you probably do.)

Great place on the UES. Located on the ground level of the Hotel Wales, where were we staying. Great, salads, and pasta. My husband had the Veal Chop Milanase, loved it. Nice selection of wines. Our waiter, an older Italian gentleman was attentive, and friendly. Nice atmosphere.

Ok, good things first; food was good, albeit rather small servings for $$$ but well, it’s UES. Waiter was attentive and quick.
The reason I will never (ever.) put a foot in that place again was, that they basically showed us the door after 2 hours and a couple hundred $$$ spent on dinner. When we were seated (outside) nobody told us that they needed the table back within XY amount of time. 2 hours later, the waiter approached our table to let us know that we needed to leave?! He told us that we could carry on our conversation inside at the bar. Sure enough there was a woman (Primates of Park Avenue) with a stroller impatiently glancing at us, waiting for us to leave.
Hhhmmm, wonder why she could not be seated inside…

Premise: I am Italian born and grow, recently moved to US (so I am not a New Jersey 8^th generation guy who claims to be italian). I have been to Paola’s several times: it’s simply an amazing Italian restaurant. Pasta is freshly made, most of the food is directly shipped from Italy and the staff is really professional and polite (ask for Romolo!). I personally love their dishes with freshly shaved black truffle (duck breast or pappardelle). I would definitely recommend this place to anyone looking for a real Italian experience. Their list of wine is wide and perfectly chosen as well. If you are lucky you can also meet several famous people that likes to dine in… A must try!

Came here for a late lunch and had an excellent meal! The service was great and the food was even better.
The fried artichokes were absolutely amazing– I would’ve happily eaten 3 more! Perfectly crisp and not greasy at all!
The cacio e pepe was simple, yet elegantly served with the perfect peppery bite soaked in heavenly cheese.
The apple turnover was quite good, though I wish it had been served warm. My expresso was also great!

Tonight’s meal (Bronzino) was exquisitely delicious.
I plan to eat here more often. To compliment the divine food served, was the flawless & professional servers.

I live around the corner and went here since I heard that this mediochre restaurant had a new chef.
Appetizers came within 15 minutes… fine. Mains came three minutes after the appetizer plates were cleared .
They tried to take my plate away 15 minutes later. The whole «dinner» took 40 minutes. They never even bothered to ask us if we wanted seconds on our drinks.
Carnegie hill is known for its poor restaurants but this one, regardless of the quality of the food, is the worst. I told Paola about our experience… she did not care.

Had brunch here in the summer a few times, it was lovely to sit outside. We had excellent service, great brunch cocktails and delicious food. The lobster salad was great as well as egg benedict.
It is pretty pricey but that’s expected for the Madison location, but we enjoyed the place and will definitely be back.

This is probably really only 4 ½ stars but I’m rounding up because the food is head and shoulders above every other Italian place in the same price range in this nabe. OK, it’s my parents’ nabe and not at all my favorite location, but the food here is really excellent and reasonably priced (for this area). I had the fegatini (liver) ($ 14) for an appetizer. Nice portion and very we’ll cooked. We also tried the prosciutto ($ 16?). Nice size portion served with slices of pecorino or parm. Caesar Salad ($ 12) also good.
For main courses I had the taglierini with mushrooms ($ 24). Lots of mushrooms, a few slices of black truffle and a nice portion of properly cooked pasta. My party also had the fettuccine alla bolognese ($ 22) and the duck ($ 26). All got high marks.
Wine list is good with a fair number of bottles in the $ 40 range. (Most higher.) We had the Riesling and Sancerre by the glass ($ 12 and $ 16 respectively). Both enjoyed. A red wine from abruzzo (maybe a montepulciano?) less good but passable.
Restaurant a tad noisy but that’s just the way restaurants are these days. Service excellent.
All in all a very nice – surprisingly nice– experience. I will go back if I get dragged uptown again.

Muy buen servicio. Tiene un menu muy sencillo, y la comida fue bien rica. Un poquito caro, saliendo mas de $ 130 por dos personas con vino.