Pizzeria Paradiso Dupont Circle — Restaurant in Washington

Paradiso is officially the most overrated pizza place in DC. I went in with high expectations based on other reviews, and was thoroughly disappointed.

Short version - profoundly rude, apathetic and disrespectful staff, as well as ordinary if not bland, low-quality food.

Long version:

Staff - We walked in and the host came around the corner. I smiled at him just to be friendly and start off on a good note. My politeness was not reciprocated at all, however. The host had such an utterly lifeless straight face that I felt his unfounded contempt for us right away. No smile, no greeting, nothing. Just one word to confirm the number in our party: "two?". Then he leads us to our table, puts down the menus and promptly walks away without so much as another word, like "your server will be right with you".

Our waitress wasn't much better. She started off nice and then seemed to lose patience as the afternoon progressed. Then she simply disappeared, and we started to get served by a different waiter. She didn't even come back to see us off.

As though that wasn't bad enough, at one point we asked to switch to the empty table right next to us. The man cleaning it also had a similarly lifeless straight face as the host, and glared at us angrily for a few seconds before saying, "...okay...", as though it was the biggest inconvenience he had experienced that day.

Food - Exceedingly overrated. If it were excellent, it might make up for the disrespectful staff. But it wasn't. The garlic knots were like shopping mall pretzels with salt and pepper. The bruschetta was plain sliced bread (not even toasted) with cheese and cherry tomatoes. The pizza - which should have been the best - was so bland I might as well have been eating cardboard.

And to top it all off, there's a 20% dine-in surcharge. I am never coming...

We were finally able to get a table at Pizzeria Paradiso after three previous attempts during trips to DC. This time the crowd was thin, although there were plenty of folks dining outside on the adjacent patio. The overall atmosphere of the pizzeria is inviting and we were seated quickly. The indoor dining is located in the lower level of an old mansion. The space was allegedly a florist shop and a bike shop/hardware store decades ago before being reconfigured for its current business. Needless to say, the space exudes character. The 9” pizzas and drinks - red wine & draft craft beer - we ordered were very good….a bit pricey for what you get, but very good. The pizza came out fairly quickly; was hot with a nice crispy crust thanks to a wood-fired oven within sight of our table. The selected extra toppings were fresh and flavorful. The server was very personable and courteous. The only downside was a required 20% service charge that was added to the bill (that’s essentially the server’s tip). An additional tip is also appreciated but not expected. More surprising (and somewhat suspicious) was that they taxed the service charge along with the food and drinks. The tax charged was 10%. Sorry; the service charge should NOT be taxed. We were glad we finally got to try Pizzeria Paradiso but most likely won’t be back. There are plenty of other places to dine in DC that don’t assess a mandatory service charge. Besides, tacking on a service charge of 20% doesn’t incentivize servers to provide outstanding service since they’ll get a tip, regardless. It also doesn’t incentivize diners to leave an additional tip when they’re being forced to pay a service fee and then be taxed for it. They would be better off raising prices and letting diners tip based on the...

Besides the service charge, which I don't agree with the pizza was good. Not much else for food selections other than a few sandwiches and salads and a very extensive beer and drinks menu. We were walking around and a little tired and thought maybe we could get some pasta and the kid some pizza but it's really just pizza. The service was fine and the place has a nice atmosphere and the pizza is good.

The service charge on the otherhand was something of a first for me. I've seen charges for large parties but not a charge with your meal of 20%. I know the restaurant will say that I could have asked for this to be removed. I almost always pay up to 20% on tips if not more, even when the meal wasn't up to par. So that's why this is a little weird with me. This gives the customer the feeling of no choice to decide if the service was ok, good, or great because you've already charged it, and if I didn't like service now I have to make a scene and ask to speak to a manager and explain to him I didn't like service and that I'd like for it to be removed. I shouldn't have to do that. So again I'm not a fan of this charge and disagree with it.

Overall the pizza is good and plenty of drinks and a nice place for date night or a...