Padrino — Restaurant in Milford

Padrino is part of the charming lineup of shops and eateries on the main street of downtown Milford. We visited around five when traffic was picking up, but we had no trouble parking on the main thoroughfare.

They have Coke products and a few local craft beers on tap, and several other tasty ones in bottles. They look to have a full service bar. It's a quaint spot with an extensive menu of Italian dishes, pizzas, and subs. Some good appetizers also. We started off with garlic knots, recommended by our server Tori, who took good care of us. The garlic knots were big bready pieces with a little garlic butter brushed on. Comes with a marinara that could be tastier.

I ordered the sliders, two meatball and two eggplant. The meatball was dense and tasty and had a great smooth texture. There was a bit of toasted cheese with it, and the bun was on the sweet side. The eggplant was a deep fried slice on the same bun with the same cheese. There was another cup of the marinara, made a little better by the red pepper on the table. The sliders come with choice of chips or parmesan fries. I chose the fries, once again at the behest of the bubbly server Tori. The fries were crisp and tasty, but it appeared that the parmesan part was a dusting of grated cheese. Neither enhanced the other.

My dining partner ordered the chicken and spinach manicotti. It comes alfredo, and to paraphrase Star Wars, the parmesan is strong in this one. Lot of cheese topping here, too, and the manicotti is a thick, dense, floury pasta. Gotta love parmesan to love this dish. For us, it was good, but not great.

I ordered the Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale. I was disappointed to see it coming out in a bottle, as I was expecting a draft. It had wonderful sweet bourbon tones and a smooth caramel finish. A little sweet for what I usually like, but if it had come colder I would have enjoyed it more.

I'm looking forward to sampling some other menu items. I want to try the pizzas and the other sandwiches. It looks like you could visit several times and have a good meal outing. Padrino comes across like a local place where you could come in and order your usual, and your favorite server would bring it happily.

I would also like to go back when the live music comes back. I didn't get to see or photograph the large outdoor seating in the back of the venue, but a local resident explained that the live music happens back there and it's often full of music and...

We love Padrinos and wanted to share it with an out of town guest that loves Italian food. We have been patrons here since it opened and I can honestly say this was the worst experience we have ever had. We had reservations. Our table wasn’t ready when we got there which was fine. We were asked to wait outside and were forgotten about. Had to go back in and ask if our table was ready. The hostess told us to pick a table and just go sit. Waitress came to table to get a drink order, we didn’t have menus, ask what is in draft and proceeds to rattle off the list. Menus finally show up and the hostess tells us “sorry we are getting slammed tonight”. Keep in mind, it is Covid and they are at 50% capacity. We order 3 appetizers-garlic nots, fried mezzaluna and fried zucchini- waitress pushes for our dinner order, we ask to our in apps and give a few minutes. She comes back about 10 min later with garlic nots and says, “ the kitchen is backed up 45-50 min so you might want to get your order in” Our appetizers each came out separately about 15 minutes apart. Obviously the carry out orders were taking precedence over seated customers Our waitress was MIA most of the time, we had to ask for refills of everything while we waited 45 min for our food. Once we got our food it was mediocre. Food temp was lukewarm. I ordered the chicken and spinach manicotti which is my absolute favorite dish. It is normally piping hot and bubbling. The cheese was barely melted on top and the filling was lukewarm. A friend ordered a ceasar salad that had a lot of brown lettuce and drowned in dressing. Needless to say, will be taking a break from Padrinos for a while. Just didn’t seem like there was anyone overseeing as a manager in the restaurant. Glad their carry out business is booming but you need to take care of your dine...

Typically when we meet my parents for dinner out by their house we end up at one of two places in downtown Loveland. But after an event at my dad's work which is closer to downtown Milford we decided to head somewhere new (at least for us). Padrino has been serving up affordable Italian food on Main Street in Milford for at least the last seven years.

We arrived a little before 5:30 and our group of six were immediately seated at a table near the door and within view of the small bar area. We just beat the rush and there was quickly a wait for tables and the bar area became overcrowded with those waiting for a seat.

My wife and I decided to split a couple of dishes. First was the Padrino Special pizza with a ricotta base, sundried tomato, artichokes, marinated chicken, tri-colored peppers, red onion, olive oil, basil and house cheese blend ($18 for the large 15"). This was an excellent pizza with tons of toppings and a great flavor combination.

We also ordered the Dark Star Chicken Pasta with grilled chicken, banana peppers, red onion and fettuccine noodles tossed in a spicy Dark Star cream sauce ($12). I really enjoyed the made in house sauce, which is available for purchase for use at home. However this dish was a little short on the pepper and onion mixture, which I think could have really sent it over the top. With that said I still enjoyed it and would definitely order again.

Our kids also had plenty of choices on the menu with pizza, various pastas, and even grilled cheese and chicken tenders. There is definitely something for everyone. I hope that we return to Padrino again in the near future for another family friendly and...