IL Paesano Italian Gourmet Food and Wine Market — Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale

Greedy management and hidden price gauging make this restaurant Child Unfrendly and taint what otherwise would be a great experience.

This is a tale of two extremes. This restaurant was about to become a regular haunt for me because the food was, for the most part, pretty darn good. Where this was all undone was in the gauging of the prices.

Firstly the majority of the seating is crammed and on shared tables. Decor is limited but charming enough but you are dining in a deli with barely enough room between the back of your chair and the shelves of deli foods (most of which you can buy in any decent supermarket). This cram them in and low cost/low comfort seating approach is fine - if the prices follow this mentality.

Secondly they dont have menus - this is a concept adopted from the authentic small trattorias in Italy where the menus change constantly driven by what products were available. Initially I thought this was a nice, if not slightly gimmicky, touch but later I was to learn the real intention.

We ordered Antipasto to start. Then my wife ordered a mushroom pasta and I ordered braised rib. As stated before there is no menu so options are read to you without prices. My wife also ordered a Mac n Cheese for our 4yo boy. I also selected a $30 bottle of wine. [Note: contrary to some other reviews the wine prices are NOT supermarket. The $30 bottle I ordered retails for under $10 - this level of markup is however normal and acceptable to me]

They didn't have mac and cheese but they said they could bring something similar.... I must have dinner at over 50 different Italian restaurants with my boy and never has this been an issue.

When we got the cheque the penny dropped.

Our dinner overall, with a shared starter and dessert, was $160!! The mains were $20 for mushroom pasta and $30 for a single rib. They were definately at the higher end of what I would expect to pay but still bearable.

What ruined everything was the cost of my 4yo dining in this deli. For a small bowl of pasta, a small juice and a single scoop of ice cream was almost $30!!! The punch in the guts came when I, genuinely thinking a mistake had been made, raised the price of this kids meal was told that was it and they had already given me a 10% discount off the pasta!?!

It was one of the owners/managers I was dealing with too and they were not in the least bit concerned about this obvious price gauging and were far more concerned about squeezing in even more people the following night.

Success has got the better of these people and now they are just cashing in and screwing their customers - my recommendation is to go elsewhere and have a nice meal in a restaurant with ambiance, comfortable seats, private tables and, if you have kids, a family friendly menu and...

Home made Italian food is hard to come by. But what if you wanted to add a gourmet zest to it? What if you had a gourmet chef Italian grandma? If you are in search of that oddly specific vibe, taste and presentation this is a place worth checking out.

I was able to get a octopus appetizer, a meat sauce pasta (as well as samples my friends dishes) and had a mocha for dessert.

The octopus was cooked very well, I liked it's presentation which I would compare to getting a large turkey leg at a carnvival. Just a bit ol slab of tender and well cooked octo tentacles with a healthy splash of olive oil. A nice seared exterior and an freshly sea salt inner meat.

My pasta was delicious, had a very home made zest to it. Not a sweet tomato sauce but more of a slight zing with the satisfying noodles. My friend picked the best dish though having the pear pasta with a sauce that had me sliding bread across his bowl. The crescendo of the pear flavor was so nice with the introduction of the cheesy white wine infused sauce. The noki pasta also made an appearance in my meal and delivered a nice, warm and grainy potato bite.

The mocha was great as capping off my meal with a warm and sweet end.

I would love to come back with a friend again, but preferably a date. One idea that I think would make for a splendid meal would be to get an appetizer and bowl of pasta to share with one friend of get two dishes to share.

One big negative I have is the price. I don't mind that it was expensive, that is to be expected with the high quality of food but there is no menu displayed early on showing the prices. The price of your dish is ultimately going to be a surprise (unless you make the awkward ask when the waiter let's you know what's on the menu). Also are these prices changing? If I came tomorrow will the same dish I ordered be the same price? I do recommend this place and again fee the price was somewhat reasonable but I will ask for an estimate the next time I'm here. In some ways I do feel this situation tampered with my experience. (Check...

I am writing to express my extreme disappointment with the appalling treatment my family and I received at your establishment today. As we were walking into the restaurant, my 7-year-old daughter, fascinated by a motorcycle parked outside, asked me to take a photo.

To our shock, a lady from the restaurant aggressively confronted us, screaming that we were not allowed to take pictures of the motorcycle. Her behavior was not only rude but highly disrespectful, especially considering my young daughter was present.

This incident has left us feeling humiliated and unwelcome. It's disheartening that our family dinner was marred by such a distressing encounter. Needless to say, after the way we were treated, we have no desire to patronize your restaurant further.

I urge you to address this matter promptly to ensure that no other patrons experience the same level of disrespect that we did.

Sincerely, Vanessa

My response! Initially, I was unaware that the motorcycle was reserved for a guest, as it was parked in front of your entrance and seemed like part of a setup for guests to take pictures. I've visited numerous Italian restaurants with similar arrangements to welcome patrons.

It would have been appreciated if your employee had approached my 7-year-old daughter with education and courtesy, rather than raising her voice. This incident prompted us to leave your establishment. Our decision was not based on any wrongdoing on our part. As an American citizen familiar with the rules of this country, I perceived this situation as discriminatory.

Regrettably, I cannot recommend your establishment, especially in light of this response justifying mistreatment from an employee. We opted to dine at Angelo's, where we received exemplary treatment and...