Paisano's Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria — Restaurant in South Carolina

We've been coming to this restaurant for years and years. It's been one of our favorite family owned restaurants in Greenville. We love the atmosphere and the food. But recently the service and food have not been the best. The last few times we came here for dinner the servers were rude, service was slow and the food was sub par. I get that sometimes people have bad days and I also get that service can be slow when it's slammed. The last time we had dinner here was just awful. The waiter came up to us and took our drinks. About 15 minutes later she came back with them. We placed our order once she brought our drinks out. About 35 minutes later our waiter comes back and tells us that the they lost our ticket and were just now making our food. We got a little upset but told her no problem. She did bring our food out as it was ready. So at least my 8 month pregnant sister got to eat before we all did. My Dads grilled chicken salad came out next, but his grilled chicken was cold and the salad was warm. I think it maybe had been sitting up there until they realized it was for our table. When she brought our pizza out we began to dig in. The center of our pizza was not cooked and so doughy. At this point I went up to the cashier and told her that our pizza was not cooked all the way. She told us that they could throw it in the oven again for us. At this point we were just ready to leave. I told her no thank you and asked if they could bring our check. The waiter then came to our table and insisted on taking our pizza to cook it longer. She also mentioned that they were going to knock some off of our bill. When she brought our pizza back out she also brought our check. They knocked off $3.00 from our $19.00 pizza which made us laugh due to everything that happened. I know it was not the waiters fault. She even seemed like she was embarrassed because she was trying to have small awkward talk with us. What really upset me was that the owner/cook never once came up to us to apologize. They didn't have to "help" us out on the bill we just would have liked to talk to the owner since we eat at his restaurant all the time. Also, I have a pretty big family. When we eat here its at least 6 people plus. So our bill is always a pretty penny. But that night made us feel like our business doesn't matter. Which it probably doesn't...They seem to be doing just fine surprisingly . But that will be the last time we eat here. Sad to say after years and years of coming here. The restaurant has really changed since this new owner...

Please come here. However please don't have unrealistic expectations. I usually come here every Friday and see many parties come with 5/6 or more people expecting a table w/o a reservation and usually they don't get mad but in this scenario expect to wait as they only have like 3 big tables. I also see people place pick ups around prime dinner time on weekends and get mad when they have to wait. This is a small restraunt that gets way more people then they can handle usually when you have to wait an hour for your food. It's because the kitchen is making 30 other dishes at the same time. So please don't complain about the waits on weekends as long as they communicate this to you if not then that's a problem. When this restraunt gets swamped. I also see tables get mad at their waiters/waitresses when the food takes a good time to come out when the restraunt is literally full. And they have like 15 tables to attend to. Keep in mind this restraunt also has to do pickup/takeout so that's a lot of food going in and out of that kitchen and they only have so much space in the oven. So please before making a judgement/review be very mindful about what this restraunt situation is. Also there are times where even if tables are available people can't be sat because the waiters/waitresses are too busy. I usually come right before the rush so I'm able to be sat. But people need to understand that as I've see people get mad at that fact. Also if they get something in your order wrong or forget something don't take it too hard as as I mentioned before a lot of dishes they have to prepare in a short amount of time very high pressure environment so it's not negligence. And don't hold it against them especially after they fix the issue for you. I work at a local small restraunt and we experience the same thing Paisanos does. Maybe come during the weekdays in order to experience non-rushed service, and shorter wait times for food. Now I did see one guy mention that on a weekday there was no communication about the wait time. Which can be really frustrating I know. Personally I usually have either a short dark haired young boy wearing khakis or girl with glasses as my host/hostess and there always amazing about communication about things like that. But if that happened to you then that's a legit problem that you need to address with the manager. Please take my review and also apply it to other...

UPDATED REVIEW, June 2023:

I unfortunately need to update my original review as my last visit was very different than my first. Paisano’s seems to be no longer open for lunch, but my family and I stopped in for dinner one night a month or so ago. The restaurant was busy and very poorly staffed. It took us close to an hour just to put in our order after our server passed our table by repeatedly, and we finally had to flag him down to request that our order be taken. It took another hour+ to get our food. I know that a lot of restaurants are super understaffed lately, and I’m usually really patient (having been a server myself several times in the past), but honestly I would have rather been turned away than the experience we had. Several members of the owners’ family were sitting in a booth right across from us and they were obviously well-attended by the staff, so it was a little frustrating. I’m not sure I’ll return any time soon.

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ORIGINAL REVIEW:

I’m going to be honest—I love good food. But what I love even more is going to a restaurant and having a fantastic overall experience. The food was phenomenal, the prices very reasonable, the menu is extensive, and the owners were so incredibly kind, friendly, and welcoming. I originally put in a takeout lunch order, but when I got there I asked if I could sit down to eat because I actually had enough time to do so before I needed to get back to work. The owners and staff were immediately so generous and accommodating. This was my first time visiting but certainly won’t be my last. It is very rare these days that you get the “friendly, small town” feeling from a restaurant, especially in a larger city, but this place hit the nail on the head. Thank you,...