Casa Paolo — Restaurant in Ontario

🌹 🏳️‍⚧️ 🏳️‍🌈 Rating restaurants is always difficult due to the potential for so many things to go wrong. It has been years since I last dined at Casa Paolo here in Cornwall, so I thought I would give it another go. My bi-annual craving for a proper steak and previous experience told me I couldn't go wrong at Casa Paolo. I was not disappointed.

🌹 It was a Tuesday evening and uncrowded as I stood in the entry waiting. I was given a once-over look by the greeter, and I was asked to be seated between the front doors until the couple ahead of me were attended to. It was a hot, humid day, and the entryway was not air-conditioned, so I hoped the wait would be brief, and it was. It felt somewhat odd to be asked to do so, though, almost insulting. As always, I had my tunes playing in my ear for entertainment (and just in case I needed to block out background noise). My playlist is an eclectic dream.

🌹 Asked whether I would like to dine in or on the patio, I chose inside. I don't like swatting insects and sweating into my plate as I eat especially when I am solo-dining. It is somehow more bearable when I am with a fellow diner. Gentlemen especially are quite efficient at pest removal. Inside seating is a bit easier on staff as well. Wait time for a waitress to approach was a bit excessive at five minutes considering the heat demanded a cold drink in my hands. I was not asked when seated at my table which I found a tad odd.

🌹 With a cold draft beer aperitif to keep me company, I scanned the menu. The meal I came for was on the chef's special insert and on the main menu. Oddly enough, the price differed by one cent. $49.99 on the special and $50.00 on the menu with no discernable differences. I will leave that for the mathematicians to ponder. Perhaps they should reconsider calling it a "Special". It was a 10oz New York strip loin (supposedly Alberta beef, which never impressed me much). Canadian beef, in general, is good regardless of province, and always superior to the U.S. in quality. My meal was served with warm rolls, salad, steak, baked potato, and mixed veggies. Choice of salad/soup, potato, veg/pasta.

🌹 Delicious warm rolls and fresh salad were served promptly. My first trip to the washroom was pleasant. It was close by, clean with a pretty aesthetic and fresh scent, however, I disliked having to navigate stairs. Upon my return, the entrée was served with a good presentation. The waitress forgot the dollop of sour cream I requested, so I had to ask again. It is not a baked potato without it in my world. The steak had good flavour but was a bit thin and not as tender as I like for medium-rare. A glass of red house wine helped to wash it all down (another must for me with steak). I couldn't eat every scrap but then again I am not a big eater. I suspect a larger appetite may prefer the 14oz cut instead.

🌹 One hour and 45 minutes later, I was done. The table was cleared five minutes later and I was offered coffee, tea, and dessert. I am not much for desserts. After such a lovely meal, I like to cap it off with a freshly brewed cup of coffee and a snifter of fine cognac, neat. Oddly, my digestif was served with a swizzle stick and a cherry! I am unsure what a true connoisseur of Remy Martin Cognac would think about it, but it was decorative and did provide a sweet treat when I finished. Twenty minutes later I asked for the bill which totalled $106.80.

🌹 The service was excellent overall. It was served hot and in a timely fashion. I suspect they were short-staffed (unsurprisingly for a Tuesday) because the chef came out from the kitchen a few times to help with various serving duties. The atmosphere was pleasant and quiet without loud music piped in to interfere with my playlist dutifully humming in my ears. My search for good restaurants in Cornwall continues, but in the meantime, I'll always have Mexi's!...💋 Alanis Rae July...

TLDR; If you want a classy meal, in a classy place, without being hassled all through your meal by self conscious staff wondering if you’re enjoying yourself; this is the place.

Was it expensive? For most, yes. Was it one of the most incredible meals I’ve ever eaten? Absolutely! 3 courses for two was $180 including an average tip. We went for supper during the holidays. We didn’t have to wait at all for a table but it was still reasonably busy.

I had veal and pasta with tomato sauce. I thought the portion was kind of skimpy until I started eating. The process used to make it takes a long time and it shows. 10/10

I would have liked more of the pasta on my plate though. I thought for the price that it was most certainly skimped on. 7/10.

My mother had steak. Also kind of skimpy until, yup, she started eating it. The time put into preparing it makes all the difference. It was cooked a bit beyond her liking since she likes it as rare as a restaurant is willing to serve it but, she did not feel the need to send it back since it was so damn delicious. 9/10

The potato she had with it was topped with bacon and sour cream. It was mostly potato. The toppings were basically just garnish. 7/10

We don’t photograph food. The desserts NEEDED to be photographed and sent to everyone we know! I had a crème brûlée and she had a piece of chocolate cake. The plating had lovely images of a snowman and a Christmas tree made out of dessert syrups. We almost didn’t wanna wreck them. 10/10

Class oozes from every facet of this establishment. The only real comment I can make about the very gorgeous atmosphere was that the Christmas decorations were a bit overdone. They were very busy and distracting. 9/10.

Thank you Casa Paolo for a wonderful time. I will be back again to get after the chicken...

I was having an ok experience here but my brother-in-law and mother-in-law both had mishaps in their food and drink. Food took an hour and a half but it was busy. That was fine.

Brother-in-law had two fruit flies in his drink. He decided not to make a big deal of it. It was not comped.

Mother-in-law finally got her food. Ate a lot of it. When she got to the bottom of the plate there was a hair in it.

She was purely digusted. Notified the manager. Managers first reaction was to say the food had parsley, "that's parsley"

She argued no, "the hair".

Manager acknowledged the hair and then tried to give her another plate for free. She had lost her appetite and no longer wanted to eat the food. Manager asked once more if she was sure she didn't want another plate.

M.i.l at this point was sternly replying No, she was still hungry and too disgusted to eat.

B.i.l suggested that her meal should at least be comped. Manager paused and asked if she had salad. To which she replied yes. Manager said that she would just be charged for the salad.

Handled very poorly that the Manager wasn't originally even going to comp anything. We all thought it was pretty disgusting and should have at least taken her meal off for free from the get go. Salad or not. And not have had to compromise for that.

Side Note. Food was amazing. Waitresses were great. Portions were in the small to medium size. We've never eaten here before but other places where the food was this good it was nearly twice the size. Over 50$ for this one plate here.

It was really nice but from the experience, treatment thereafter, and portion to price deal, we won't be...