Paradiso — Restaurant in Dallas

I was so excited to come here, our reservations were set weeks in advance. I looked on the website, Instagram and looked at reviews, I had really high expectations. I was so disappointed and let down. Since I do not eat beef and pork, I always look at the menu, and I did think I could eat a lot, but the options where limited. Don't get me wrong, it is beautiful inside. There are great options for photos, so if you are looking for pictures, this is a good place but that is the highlight. The only gem here was our server Misty (I think her name was, a sweet young, petite girl). She was polite, knowledgeable of the menu and attentive.

For the appetizer, I ordered the Soppressata pizza. I knew the name sounded familiar, but on the menu it said it was made with mozzarella, galic Basil and honey. Sounds delicious right? Until I overheard another waiter talking to the table next to us and said it was basically a pepperoni pizza. I called our waiter over and told her I did not know it was pork so I could not eat that, so she said she would talk to the chef to fix it. It's not like this was something that was on me, that's a clear misstep on the menu. They offer a sausage pizza, that lists sausage as an ingredient and they have a chorizo pizza, that lists chorizo, so why wouldn't the Soppressata pizza say pepperoni? Highly disappointed. The pizza I received was basically a margarita pizza, no Calabrese honey (which is why I ordered the original pizza). The pizza was delicious, the crust was perfect. The drinks, again were beautifully made, but were over priced, extremely small and lacking in flavor. Again highly disappointed.

For the entrees, I was told the shrimp pasta was not a good choice to get so I got the Chicken ($26) and he got the salmon ($28). The salmon was okay flavor wise, but the skin was not crispy. The beans were good though. But for almost $30, I at least expect crispy skin. And the chicken was so dry, I could not even eat it. I was so disappointed at this point I was ready to end my date night early and leave. Our waiter was apologetic and said that the chicken was wood fired, but that does not equate to so dry, it sucked the saliva out my mouth. She offered to switch it out with something else, but since my options were limited I did not switch it out.

Lastly, on their page (from the end of December) said Monday and Tuesday nights, they have smores, I did not see or hear of any smores there. Overall, it is a beautiful place to look at, but it is extremely loud restaurant that I do not recommend for date night, with lack luster options and flavors, that I do not recommend for foodies but a beautiful place to take photos. Even after sending my entree back, we spent $60 before tip. After tip, that's almost $100 paid to leave hungry. Maybe when they revise the menu next season I would think about returning, but I would not make the effort. If it wasn't for our amazing server this would have...

I want to start off by saying that I am a long time customer at Paradiso and have loved going to this restaurant for years. But unfortunately the past few times, especially tonight, the service was THE WORST IVE HAD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. Upon arriving at my 730 reservation the host stand was chaotic and unorganized so much so my party and I had to go up there ourselves in order to be welcomed after standing there for five minutes, when we did we felt as thought they didn’t even want to speak with us, especially after having to repeat my reservation name over three times. They took me and my friend over to a booth at the bar that was still being cleaned off as we were trying to be sat. Once seated, that is when the true issues began. Our server (Em W. at table 20 on 6/14) did not greet us for a whole 15 minutes and when she did she appeared very frantic and unorganized (I need to preference that it was not a busy night). Once she arrived and apologized for the wait, she greeted us with waters and took our drink/app orders (a glass of wine, a soda, and the burrata) It took OVER 40 MINUTES to get our drinks and apps, our apps even arrived before our drinks. When the bread arrived we notice that we had no plates OR silverware, I had to go to the bar myself and get set ups in order for me and my friend to enjoy our food. She came to take our dinner orders (which she didn’t write down, this is important) and offered us more sourdough for our cheese, which we said yes to. A handful of minutes came by and she had to ask us AGAIN what we order in order to remind her. While waiting for our dinner she stops by at our table and ask if I wanted a free glass of wine on the house (the only good thing about this evening) Our dinner eventually came out and thankfully it was correct, but it was brought out by a different person and our server never checked on us until we had finished our meal. She never asked us how it was tasting, if we needed anything, or another round of drinks. She just stopped by and dropped of the check without asking if we wanted any desserts/if it was together or separate. Upon examining the bill we noticed that we were charged for the sourdough bread she offered BUT WE NEVER RECEIVED THE BREAD. I ended up talking to manager in order to let him know about our experience who although didn’t seem that apologetic towards us did understand and ended up taking off half the bill. he didn’t have to do that, i just wanted the bread off and to let him know about the night, the jester was very nice and much appreciated. Although I do love Paradiso, I do believe I won’t be dining there anytime soon if this is the type of service they will be providing...

So I want to start off by saying that if I could give this restaurant a 3.5 I would because although it wasn't quite a 4 for me, it wasn't so bad that they deserve a 3 (I just can't give them that 4 here...). First off, I came here for brunch on Father's Day because I had heard good things. The restaurant itself is gorgeous, the decor and esthetics of the place was very inviting and modern - plus there was a live deejay who kept it pretty chill. There were also plants everywhere which gave off "I'm sitting in the garden for afternoon tea" vibes. The downside is that when there are plants and an open door for servers to go from the outside tables to the inside, that means flies and gnats are inevitable. They honestly didn't bother me but I can see why some might feel bothered by them. The server was very knowledgeable of the menu and gave us great suggestions throughout. We started with drinks called Distant Families and the If Purple & Lilac. I had the Distant Families drink which was a whiskey cocktail - it was delicious after a good stir to open it up, dry and essentially a strong drink. For me the star of our meal was the appetizer - Fried Artichokes. They were so good, evenly fried and served with ricotta, yum! After the appetizer is when it kinda went downhill for me. We had the Brie Toast and the Shoulder Hash. The Brie Toast might just be a delicacy type of meal but I honestly didn't taste that much flavor in the dish. They used pears to give the entree a bit of sweetness for the Brie in which you usually need a fruit with more tang, but honestly that's just me. Some people might like the Brie Toast but I particularly didn't care for it - my sister, for example, really liked this dish. The Shoulder Hash was good, but I felt that the pork shoulder was dry and too hard and the egg was overcooked and too crispy. Coming up to dessert we had Espresso Martinis and the Chocolate Torta which was surprising light. The dessert tasted like a brownie but was a very light chocolate cake. Very delicious. And for the folks out there who are nervous about restrooms like myself (if your bathroom isn't clean then what does the kitchen look like?), I attached a pic of the ladies room and it was very clean and well put together. Plus I'm not sure if it was just because it was Father's Day, but the menu was very limited. I probably should've asked if it was a supplier problem - which is being felt everywhere - because that's something that they couldn't control. All in all, this was a cute place to eat at but I wouldn't come back for brunch but instead for dinner to get...