Paesanos — Restaurant in Davis

If you're looking for good quality Italian food and don't mind the wait, look no further.

I came here on a Saturday night with two friends after we were unable to get to the Sacramento location of Paesanos. We tried to make a reservation earlier but they only allowed reservations for large parties. Fair enough. We arrived at the restaurant and were quickly given a restaurant pager to notify when our table was ready. We were told the wait was going to be thirty to forty minutes so we decided to just wait instead of leaving, even though we were dying of hunger. Unfortunately, Paesanos does not provide seating if you're waiting so we ended up standing inside the restaurant hoping for our pager to go off. It took over an hour to finally get seated despite the promise of "thirty to forty minutes." To be honest, it even seemed like parties that came after us got seated before us even though they were of similar size and didn't have reservations, though I'll give the benefit of the doubt that they checked in beforehand and that I just didn't see them. Needless to say, the wait was horrendous so I was glad to finally be able to eat.

When we were seated we were told that our waiter would be with us shortly. We finished deciding what we wanted and had to wait even more time for our server to come take our orders, which was just added insult to injury. I'm normally pretty patient, but the waits that we had to endure made me want to just leave and get In n Out. Eventually, our waiter came to take our orders. Even though he took long, he redeemed himself with exceptional service. We never had to ask for him but he would always come by to make sure we were accommodated for. Iced teas had unlimited refills and he was constantly making sure ours was never empty. We also were given complimentary bread which was a nice touch, though that wasn't specific to just our table as everyone gets it.

Our food arrived fairly quickly. I ordered the baked pasta and was fairly satisfied with it. The portions weren't the greatest but it was still very delicious. I managed to finish the whole meal, plus the bread and the bocce balls even though I'm a small guy, if that's any indication of the portion sizes. My two friends had trouble finishing their meals, however. They did say their meals were delicious as well, though.

Overall, I may come here again, but only if I manage to make a reservation. If you're looking for a quick bite, this definitely isn't the place to go. However, if you don't mind waits, I think the experience here will...

NOT the place for a family of 4. We called ahead and were told we could not book a reservation. We walked in right behind another family and we wished we had their experience the whole time we were there. They were seated immediately and we were given a 30 minute wait. While waiting we noticed 3 different tables were empty. They remained that way until the tables next to each of them emptied then they were rearranged to become availavle for groups that had made reservations. When we asked, we were told they do make reservations but not for a party of 4. We were later seated at the table next to the family that walked into the restaurant just in front of us. While we waited for our waitress to take our order, they received their food, ate, said goodbye to us, and left. After placing our order, we watched as every other table in the restaurant ordered, received their food, and ate. Two of the large parties with reservations that arrived after we were seated received their food well before us. One table that really bothered my family arrived to the restaurant over an hour after we did. They were not seated until after we placed our order and they received their food before us. When we finally received our order and it was wrong. We ordered one vanilla martini and received an "absolute" martini and we had to ask our waitress to remove our salad from the bill because we never received it. We noticed when she stsrted typing on the screen there was never a salad on our order to remove. I never complain to a business. I usually just never go back if i have a bad experience. But, as we were leaving one of the other waitresses, not ours, took it upon herself to stop me and point out the manager. I was pretty sure she noticed our experience. My family was over the whole thing and went to the car while I waited to talk to him for a few minutes. I briefly explained our 2 1/2 hour experience to him. He responded with, "I'm sorry that happened to you." and we left.

Overall, the experience was so bad that by the time the food came, nobody cared anymore. In an effort to give them every benefit of the doubt, I would not recommend this place for families. They prioritized large groups over us and they also had space available for an individual or a couple adults to buy drinks at the bar. Maybe give it a try if you have a group large enough for them to care about or if you just want to...

If I want to go somewhere in Davis and be guaranteed a great meal paesanos is the place.

It does seem to have experienced some changes Prices seem to have gone up lately, they no longer bring out free bread while you wait and it does seem to have become much harder to get a seat.

If I could deduct half a star I would do it for the small fact you can’t make a reservation for two. We’ve called trying to do so and been told reservations are only for big parties and then turned up to find there’s a 45 minute wait for tables and ended up going elsewhere. It can get very busy.

They do an excellent happy hour, with lots of their apps at a lower price. I highly recommend the polenta fries and fried ravioli or any of their breads.

As far as mains go, they have a wonderful selection of pasta dishes, pizza and salad.

For salads I highly recommend the jalepeno steak salad, it’s perfect for my keto lifestyle when I’m trying to avoid the carbs, it’s not in anyway spicy, but very tasty. The steak is thin tender strips, on a bed of mango, avocado, cucumber and tomatoes. So tasty!

For pasta dishes I’ve tried a lot of them, the pork fusilli is gorgeous if you like something hot. I always order an extra side of the habanero pesto to spice it up!

Less spicy options and they do great classic carbonara and tortellini.

The cauliflower pappardelle is also super tasty, I definitely expected a lot more cauliflower based on the description on the menu but it is definitely a more pasta based dish.

Their pizzas and calzones are all super tasty and you can order any of the pizzas half and half - yes you can get two different pizzas made as one!! If I’m really in the mood for something like this I always go for the Stromboli, it’s super tasty and filled with gorgeous tri tip and Italian sausage, mushrooms onions and it’s finished with a red wine glaze!

They’re definitely on the pricier side but worth it. Especially If you compare to the recent quality of food coming out of other pricey spots in Davis such as our house or seasons ...

Service is always excellent, with drink refills before I know my glass is almost empty, they have super efficient servers and you’ll be made feel welcome there.

My partner swears their brownie is the best dessert around!

Also If you do have any special dietary requirements - gluten can be a hassle in Italian places, paesanos does have gluten free...