Paradisio — Restaurant in Redding

FOOD: This place has gone way down hill since the last time I dined here about a year ago. We were served pea purée in a tiny side bowl that tasted like it had three times too much salt in it. Thank goodness, I tried it before serving it to our baby who the cook knew it was intended for. Aside from being distasteful— that much salt would have upset our baby’s stomach, increased his blood pressure and harmed his kidneys had I actually fed it to him. As far as my dish— my younger brother makes a much better Alfredo sauce from scratch (seriously) than what I was served this time, which was disgusting compared to what I remember having here the last time. Felt like I ate a half cup of flour—pasty, bland and gross. I only kept it as we had already sent back the pea purée and the cook seemed to take it personally. (He didn’t even attempt to remake the pea purée with less salt.) He instead, sent out some mashed potatoes, which we had previously notified the waitress my baby does not eat. We had originally asked for boiled carrots but apparently that was too hard for this establishment to come by. As expected, my baby did not eat the mashers (which were fine from what I tasted). No one else was in the mood for them either so they just sat on the table and went to waste. Maybe the cook just didn’t care as it was towards the end of the night and he wanted to go home? Maybe the cook is the owner of this restaurant with no one to call him out on his level of service? Seemed like that… At least the shrimp was deveined and not over or under cooked. The cesar salad was actually really good and my brother said the lasagna was okay.

SERVICE: The service got better as the night went on and people started leaving. Although it’s a small place, we had to wait a while to order each new item and had to ask for limes three times before the waitress finally provided them. She seemed a bit flustered but kept as calm as she could. She was great at interacting with our baby as the restaurant became less busy. She made a good wine suggestion, which I went with after sampling two varietals.

ATMOSPHERE: The atmosphere hasn’t changed much, it’s still comfortable in the space. The only thing that made it awkward was that we could see directly into the kitchen at the faces of the cook and other staff as they reacted / overreacted to our orders each time the waitress went in to ask permission for what we had requested. The cook also seemed to be joking with the dishwasher about what we sent back / ordered next. It honestly made me question what was happening to our food and regret choosing this place for my birthday dinner.

CONCLUSION: We still tipped the waitress almost 20% as she was kind, however we will come back sometime in the distant future or when the current cook has...

This is a very nice and classy little cafe tucked into downtown Redding. The lunch menu was very interesting and I had a hard time choosing just one item. I went with the Shrimp BTL ($13) and a small bowl of clam chowder as my side dish ($3 upcharge). They have a nice wine and beer menu and I ordered a local microbrewed IPA ($7). Everything was well prepared and was very tasty although the shrimp could have used more flavor (maybe sauteed with butter and garlic). With tip my lunch tab was right at $30 and I was pleased to pay it.

My only complaint was the service. My waitress was apparently in a bad mood or just didn't take a liking to me. I posted details here and the management reached out to me and apologized to me. He offered to make it right on my next visit and he did.

I went back again with a friend and had a wonderful visit. She started with with the watermelon salad which was delicious and unique. I had the grilled Caesar salad which I enjoyed. We had the Zen Bowl and the Chicken Dijon. Both dishes showed creativity and culinary skill. This is a restaurant that delivers in the food category even though I had a bad experience with the service once. I am convinced that it was anomaly and that the excellent sevice that I received on my secon visit is their norm. I will...

The food here was on point!!! Found it last minute and went over to give it a shot. Wow!!! We were pleasantly surprised... it's a small restaurant and we came in shortly after they opened (hours 5pm-9pm) and they were already packed!!! So we were impressed because that usually means it's gonna be awesome. The waitress and host meet us as we walked in and asked if we had reservations as it was a Friday and of course we didn't, so he offered the one table out in front of the building of the bar. We opted for the bar as it was still quite hot outside. There was a table right behind the small three seat bar, it was tight, but we managed to squeeze in. Then the food... the amazingly polite and accommodating server recommended we start with soup, which we decided to try. It was a version on Zuppa Toscana, which was sooo delish that I asked for a second serving, but for some reason they were out of it. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the main reason everyone comes there!!! Lol! So I just ordered a bowl of the beef stew soup, which was also good 'till the last dip. For mains, I ordered a Ribeye Steak and all the fixing and my friend had the ribs. Mine was great, but my friend did mention that his did not agree with him that well.. overall great quaint restaurant. Definitely worth...