PAESE Ristorante — Restaurant in Toronto

We unexpectedly went to this restaurant for dinner on a Saturday with 6 children and 4 adults after a great interactive VIP experience at Bubble Planet. The restaurant looked promising and was close so we dared to take our kids in. We were seated on a covered patio, which was nice, but when I went in to use the restroom the young gentleman server assumed (probably because they don’t seem to have a lot of Asian clientele) that I was some drug addict or degenerate said out loud in front of the patrons sitting nearby that there is no vaping or smoking etc in the washroom. I was taken aback by this and noticed the snickers from the indoor seated patrons. I was desperate to use the washroom so I brushed it aside. The words bothered me all night and then I realized that because I was only wearing black Lululemon and not dressed up for a local suburban restaurant that he didn’t feel I belonged. Had I realized sooner and had I been the host, I would have left and taken our business elsewhere. That said, the server we did get was friendly and attentive (probably because they wanted us out too). When she realized we had happened on their establishment and that we had been to an interactive exhibit (she asked about the VIP tags on lanyards), she seems to let her guard down. The food was ok. The focaccia looked promising, but was hard like they just took it out of the freezer and partially defrosted it. The kids were so hungry they ate pizza and mushroom calamari for appetizers and pasta for main course. They had cookies, a slice of cake and ice cream for dessert. The adults had mushroom pasta, liver, chicken and branzino. I was surprised by the pricing for their branzino. The person who ordered it said it was good. Looking back it was a decent restaurant for a spur of the moment dinner, but had we planned for a dinner with the kids we might have made reservations elsewhere and been better dressed. Main point, don’t be judgmental of a person’s appearance and embarrass them. You may be surprised what they do for a living, how smart they are, their degrees and the word they spread about the establishment and the treatment...

This review is based on booking the restaurant for group parties/events...

Pros: food is good the private room upstairs is really private so you won't hear a lot of noise from the crowd in the restaurant and vice versa they have parking and also street parking is available service was good. Drinks are always filled.

Cons: for any group of more than 40 people for a sit down dinner educational event, i think, the place is too small especially when doing presentations. There were a couple of tables that are separated from the main room so during a presentation it was a bit challenging to reach all the crowd. the servers do not seem to communicate with each other. Our table asked for to go desserts and another server came with a plated dessert and told us the desserts were already plated which is fine but our main server came a minute later with our to go desserts and told us "i thought you want your dessert to go" .. of course if it was already plated i wouldnt want the server to go back and to get it to go so i accepted the plated dessert.. the servers were really nice and accomodating.. it is just that one server who seem a little overwhelmed and started passing plated desserts around and not giving other people options to take their dessert to go.. he was still professional and polite but i think having a server responsible to a specific table or tables is ideal in this case due to the fact that yes they are helping each other but they weren't communicating with each other..

I still recommend the restaurant if you have a group of less than 40 or if it is not a sit down dinner event... based on the review from my colleagues the kale salad was so so.. and taste "healthy" i mean it is kale salad...

I had the meatball for my appetizer it was delicious... my other colleague had the mushroom soup and it was really good as well...

For the entree, the black cod was exceptional. It was cooked really well. My short ribs was also good.

The desserts are good as well... no complaints...

Value is often determined by what is desired and/or required at the time. PAESE Ristorante NAILED it!!

A long, rushed, frustrating day resulted in the knowledge my need for food was i.m m.e.d.i.a.t.e or heads were gonna roll. While some may find a drive through a reasonable solution I would just as soon carry out a rampage than shovel that pure poison imposter into my system; besides the results are virtually the same. Consider the need to douse an out of control fire, but the only liquid available is gasoline. It's terrible idea. Same concept.

So I googled.

PAESE was about 7mins away from me, my next meeting was in 28mins and also 7 mins away. That's some drive-thru math right there...

I turned up at the wrong door dressed for a construction site. I think I looked desperate, possibly a bit unhinged, but Tony looked amused and unperturbed and led me through the kitchen for a fast pasta and a glass of wine.

As requested, so it was delivered. I had a beautifully uncomplicated dish of succulent shrimp, oil and garlic on what I think was hilarious nod to the situation -pappardelle. Never my choice of pasta, but it was soft and satisfying, yet robust and just delicious.

To be fair, the wine wasn't what I would be thrilled to pay $20 /glass for, BUT the gracious server arrived with it in his hand and it was there, and it was ok.

In fact, everything after that was ok. So thank you, PAESE people...saving lives one pasta at a time!!

I look forward to returning with hours of time to experience your offerings in a civilized, ladylike manner. And to any who read this, I suggest you do too. Solitary dining is a great pleasure when the company of the food is...