Paisano’s Restaurant

We held a rehearsal dinner in the back room and outside patio. The meal was great and the service was excellent. Justin was easy to work with and loved that we could BYOB. Highly recommend.

Food was great but not very kid friendly environment. No real kids menu and the waiter kept winking at me every time he came to the table. I’m sure it was to be friendly but came off as creepy.

Beautiful atmosphere. Great service even at the height of dinner service. Food was amazing, as always. Love this restaurant.

I am a chicken parm fiend and had high hopes for Paisano’s. Unfortunately, both my wallet and I left disappointed. Spending an almost $ 25 price-​tag for a chicken parm dinner must mean its good, right? Unfortunately, it was one of those cases where it looked better than it actually tasted. If I wanted a salty disaster on a plate, I would ask for one.
With every bite in both the penne and chicken, I could taste mounds of salt. Keep in mind, I am not the person that will ever complain about salt, and actually, like most people, enjoy it. This, however, was a salt abomination. Add in some nice, cold, and hard bread, and things look really grim
The reasoning behind my two star (as opposed to a one-​star) review would be that the salad was above average and the ambiance inside was very nice. Additionally, the chicken was cooked well and the cheese tasted very fresh. Aesthetically, It would be very nice place to take someone out to a date. Financially, not so much. Expect to bring a lot of money and be disappointed with the food. Maybe they had an off-​night? If the red sauce for you has anywhere near the sodium-​content like mine had, make sure you don’t have a doctor’s appointment in the morning because your blood pressure will be through the roof.

The ambiance is great, the service excellent but the last few times I’ve been there the food has been just ok. I had shrimp scampi yesterday and it was a bowl of soup as it had too much liquid and not flavorful to say the least. Their prices are increasing but the quality of the cuisine is decreasing. I sure hope some improvement as it is no longer authentic Italian cuisine.

One of our all time favorite places. It’s a BYOB and everything on the menu is great. We have been coming for about 10 years. Every holiday season we get together with friends for dinner there. FYI. There is only street parking. The stuffed pork chop is to die for.

Very good service.
The food was very good.
We ordered the beef special, it was good, but too many flavors and too subtle.
The fettuccine Alfredo was great.
The panna cotta was delish.

Should have wrote this review a long time ago. The food here is A++. The customer service A++. Probably been here about 20 or so times and every time it gets better. BYOB also saves a lot of money. The flavor and specials here are outstanding. Lastly for big groups they are excellent. Sometimes in restaurants if you have a big group you will get forgotten and they’ll cheap out on dishes. Not this place. Have spent my last 2 birthdays there with a group of 15+ and they assign 2 waiters to just your table. Only annoying thing with a group that big is they make you leave a 100.00 deposit when making the reservation prior. I understand though because they are closing part of the restaurant for you and your group. I recommend this place to tons of people and everyone I send there can’t thank me enough! Go and try it! You won’t be disappointed!

Every dish is delicious, atmosphere is very nice, elegant yet cozy. Pricing is well worth the food and service in my opinion.
A group of us entered during lunch, we were given a dinner menu and asked for the lunch menu because they do have a number of different items and pricing between the two.
I usually get Zuppa di Pesce, which is always delicious but decided to try something new with the Fettuccini Mountain and Sea without wine in the sauce. It was amazing! Completely different then Zuppa di Pesce and I was very happy with trying something new. Other people at the table got the Zuppa di Pesce, Cajun Salmon, Crabmeat Ravioli with pink sauce subbing for vodka sauce and someone got a chicken ravioli (the only dish I didn’t try) everyone agreed Fettuccini Mountain and Sea was the winning dish and I agreed but each dish was great.

My husband made a reservation for Mothers day. As a recent transplant from NYC to Rutherford, and myself being Italian, I know the food! I’d heard so many good things about this place but after eating there, seems to be way to much hype. I would have to agree with everyone who complained about portion size vs prices as even in NYC you would get more for your money. As a mom and as we were paying $ 4 more per entrée (complete and total scam to exploit the holiday), I though there would be something more. We had to ask for everything, including bread, which looked like someone cut it with a spoon.
Someone gave us a gift card for this place but other then that, I’d do better making the trip elsewhere. That said, the food was okay but certainly not like home. My mother would stuff me until I couldn’t walk! Now that’s Italian!

I came here Friday night with my sister Cookie. I haven’t been here is a while. They have made quite a few changes. They have expanded and now have 3 rooms and and outside seating. They also have expanded the menu and have some very interesting choices. I had the apples and endives salad which I really enjoyed. I also had the Calamari this was a little tough, the sauce was very good.
My entrée was Strozzapreti Oxtail Ragu Pulled Oxtail meat ragu braised in red wine with tomatoes, fresh herbs, served over long cavatelli pasta, topped with sheared ricotta salata cheese. This was so good the portion was a small, but I enjoyed every bite. The service was very good. This could have been 5 stars but, have added the renovation into their pricing. Our bill for dinner for two was $ 84 (including tip) this is a BYOB so this does not include wine.

Broke the root on my tooth had to have it pulled and a bridge put in cost me $ 1200 was given a $ 50 gift certificate and didn’t want to waste it even though I new this place went down hill a long time ago was eating a shellfish dish and when I bit into a shrimp with a broken piece mussel shell of embedded in it and it fractured the tooth root which abscessed two weeks later after it happen I looked in the plate and thier were broken shells throughout they just throws the stuff together they don’t give shit Theirs no italian chef in this place all short cut cooking

When I first checked in to this place I mentioned a nice quiet dinner in Rutherford. Well that wasn’t the case. Ten minutes after I wrote the check-​in It became increasingly louder and by the time we got the appetizers I could barely hear my wife talk.
First, the bread. Two small pieces of bread wrapped up in a nice linen cloth but the bread wasn’t ever warm and butter was ice cold.
Next, the appetizer. We ordered the fried calamari that had absolutely no taste and was chewy. Not to mention the portion size was like a sample taste.
Now the entrees. My wife order the short ribs with the gnocchi. Again, the portion size was more like a lunch portion rather than a dinner and for $ 25 it’s not worth it. My entrée was recommended by the waiter which was the chicken scarpariello. There had to be at least ½″ inch of oil sitting on the bottom of my plate which was totally unacceptable. That dish was returned and at this point I didn’t want to order anything else. The manager came to our table to apologize and tried telling me that this dish was typically prepared that way with lots of oil. Yeah right! The waitress talked me into ordering a pasta dish with bolognese sauce. That was disgusting as well.
This place was a big disappointment and food is well below par. Don’t waste your money.

Awesome.
Found this place in NJ based on a recommendation. Very good homemade Italian.
Byob. A great wine shoppe is just down the street.

Two words = Hidden gem.
Went here spur of the moment with my boyfriend and they kindly accommodated us with a table without reservations in the back room and it was such a nice décor.
Our waiter described the specials of the night so well that it made me want to try it all! We started off without the fresh caprese mozzarella salad and I ended up getting the penne vodka with mushrooms (I also added extra black olives– highly recommend) that was made to order! And wow what a pleasant surprise how everything blended so well.
Towards the end I was so full. And the waiter came with a whole plate of desserts to explain to us and my oh my, I could not resist! Ended up getting the apple crumb that had the right amount of crunch and sliced warm apples in the center. A scoop or vanilla ice cream topped it off on top.
May be a tad bit pricy but completely worth it. My boyfriend and I went to grab a quick bite and ended up having a complete experience with a three course meal that we personalized :)

I’d gone here a few years ago and it was kind of bleh. I decided to give it another chance this weekend, and OMG was I wrong. Everything from start to finish was excellent. The hospitality, the setting, the service, and best of all, the food, was top notch.
We ordered a Buffalo Mozzarella and Tomato appetizer as well as the Bruschetta with Goat Cheese and Brussel Sprouts; fresh and yummy (specials). My bf ordered the Steak Special with Mashed Potatoes and Vegetables; one of the best dishes of his life. I ordered the Spinach and Chicken Ravioli in Carbonara Sauce; simply delish.
For dessert I had the Crème Brûlée and an espresso. I actually wasn’t crazy fond of the espresso, but that’s all. My bf got the Vanilla Chocolate Pudding. We left stuffed and happy.
You must try this place.

Some of the best Italian food I’ve had In a while. Beginning with the fact this is a BYOB with a liquor store 5 min walk, this place has the best apps and entrees. All pasta is made on premises which you can taste!
The bread is served with a tomato oil which is delicious. Try anything they have as a special– buffalo mozzarella, out of control delicious with nice balsamic glaze. The ginger calamari was also very delicious but a bit too sweet.
Entrée choices– can never go wrong with pasta or chef specialities. The pear ravioli is good choice also very sweet. The stuffed pork loin with mashed potatoes (special) was very filling and flavorful. But by far the best meal I’ve ever had was the short rib special served over mashed potatoes and veggies. The short ribs were melt I your mouth! I recommend.
The dessert options are ok too. I had the crème brûlée, good but not the best I’ve had.

Good service, good food, big portions, fair price.
Its a BYOB. There is also plenty of seating but it was busy on a Wed nite. Therefore, call in for reservations to avoid disappointment.
I enjoyed their Mountain and Sea Pasta. It was Porcini and Shitake in a creamy brown sauce over fettucine and grilled shrimp. It was gooooooda. The pasta is great. I think they make it the same day from scratch.
Definitely worth another visit.

After a hard day at work, I brought my family to this BYOB restaurant to have a relaxing dinner. Bread was served and we really enjoyed their house dipping sauce.
For appetizers, we had the fried calamari and pear bruschetta to start. Both were pretty good and the staff was very friendly.
Excited to try their homemade pasta– I ordered the pappardelle bolognese, mom ordered the spring butterflies, sister ordered the penne pink vodka and dad had the grouper with mussels. The Bolognese was delicious but the spring butterflies and vodka pasta didn’t seem to be made with homemade noodles. My dad thought the grouper, served in a saffron broth, was good, but the PEI mussels were not the best.
For dessert, we tried the lava cake, tartufo, crème brûlée and apple crisp. All the deserts were ok, except the lava cake which was significantly over baked. Not only was there no «lava» but much of it was crispy. We informed the waiter, and he simply apologized but did not remove it from the bill.
As a final note, this restaurant is not only a BYOB, but also a BYOTP… As there was no toilet paper in the restroom. Nice.

This place was truly a 5-​star experience, from the minute we walked in the door to the minute we left.
I had made a reservation for 8 this past Saturday night for my mother’s 60^th bday. The hostess called on Friday evening to confirm. We arrived several minutes early with most of our party. The hostess took our wine and brought it to our table before seating us. They did not give us a hard time about having everyone in the party present before seating us, as our table was ready. Always a plus not to be hassled about this. (7 out of 8 of us arrived on time).
Our party sat in a semi-​private nook in the first dining room. It was really intimate and cozy. Nico, our server, greeted us immediately and opened our wine. We sat for a bit, looked over the menu, and I laughed to myself after seeing the prices of the food and remembering how some other Unilocalers have said that the prices were too high. I would love to know what these people are smoking, especially after having received the quality/​portion size of what we got. I’ll get to that later.
The last member of the party arrived shortly after we had been looking at our menus. The bread was promptly brought out to the table and was accompanied with a dipping sauce which was tasty. We ordered a few apps for the table which were all great. For me, the most outstanding was the grilled octopus special. PERFECTLY cooked. I was truly blown away.
For dinner, everyone’s meal was a generous portion. My Chilean sea bass special hit the spot. It was served over mashed potatoes which were creamy but not excessively buttery, and done in a potato crust. I was more than satisfied with it. Everyone else raved about their meals as well. The timing was perfect. We never felt rushed, and we were never ignored despite how busy they were. Nico was attentive and I thought it was so nice of him to go the extra mile for my father (who was having a hard time reading the menu because he forgot his glasses). He must have overheard my dad say this and went into the office and brought a pair of glasses for him to use. This guy was doing a lot of running around, so the fact that he did that spoke volumes.
We had no room left for coffee or dessert, since we were stuffed from our meals. But wow, what a great experience. To the people that critique Paisano’s for their «pricey menu» I have one thing to say. If you want fast food prices, go to a fast food establishment! Olive Garden might be a better fit for you. For the quality of the food, service, and ambiance, this restaurant is fairly priced. My mind is still blown that people call this expensive. Thank you, Paisano’s for making Mom’s 60^th memorable. We’ll be back soon !