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Paolo's Trattoria
Rating Details »
Category: Restaurants [Edit]
Neighborhood: Charlestown251 Main St
(between Dunstable St & Lawnwood Pl)
Charlestown, MA 02129
(617) 242-7229
- Nearest Transit:
-
Community College (Orange)
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good for:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
17 reviews for Paolo's Trattoria
For an Italian joint in an Irish neighborhood, I gotta say, I'm impressed.
We ordered delivery: a spinach salad and two pizzas: one pepperoni and one margherita.
The salad was amazing. Everything was fresh, and it was plenty big enough for two of us to share.
The pizzas were traditional thin-crust pizzas. Again, fresh everything and cooked to perfection. Even my 11-year old gave his approval.
I'd give it 5 stars, but I'm holding out until I sit down for a meal there.
I really used to like this place, but it seems to have gone downhill over the years.
Before my last Paolo's visit, the service was always attentive and efficient, and food excellent. However, this time, the service was terrible (forgot to bring our bread, forgot to bring straws, serving spoons, etc.) and my pasta with clams, mussels, shrimp, and scallops was pretty bad. The pasta itself was lukewarm, scallops were fishy, and clams were sandy! Ew.
I'm hoping this was a one-time occurrence, but after this experience, I'm not sure I'll be going back anytime soon. If so, I'll update my review, hopefully for the better! This was a great neighborhood spot and one of the few good restaurants in Charlestown.
I may be in love! I really like this place. I tried once before to eat here, and it was just about 5pm, empty and none of the lights were on, so I put it on the back burner for some other night. The night came last week!
What a cute little place this is! I love the fusion of sports bar with fine dining. It was made for the little construction worker with a healthy appetite for good food, just like me. I got to enjoy one of the better plates of shrimp scampi and glass of pino grigio while I watched the sox battle it out with the yankees across the room.
The waitress was really nice, we got there late after work, but they reassured us that they served food until 10:30, so not to worry. We stayed a bit late, hopefully not upsetting anybody, so we could finish our wine and watch THAT much more of the game.
There are all kinds of cute twinkly lights all over the place, and the color of the place is warm and inviting. The food is priced well for the portions that you get and the taste of the food is well worth a return visit.
I love this place!
its small, cute, and serves some AMAZING food
Great neighborhood restaurant! Being a new resident of Charlestown, I was super stoked to find this place. The restaurant is very cozy and has a beautiful tin ceiling. Our server was very friendly and knowledgeable about the menu. Decent wine selection, though I wish they had at least one sparkling by the glass. Also, no liquor here - just beer and wine.
Fresh bread started us out and it was really good - along with olive oil for dipping. I ordered the eggplant appetizer which was awesome - roasted eggplant stuffed with the perfect amount of ricotta cheese, topped with marinara and mozzarella. We also ordered the grilled calamari - really small portion. Grilled shrimp skewers was a special of the day and well worth it.
For my meal, I had a great dish of penne with asparagus, sun dried tomatoes, onions, and mushrooms with a not-too-rich pesto cream sauce. Hearty (but not too piggish) portion with plenty to take home, not for my lack of trying. I was very happy eating my leftovers the next day. Also on the menu are wood-fired pizzas, numerous pasta dishes, seafood and meat. Everything looked so good! And very reasonably priced as well.
BE SURE to save room for the tiramisu - a perfect ending to a stellar meal. I will definitely be visiting Paolo's again soon.
One of my favorite places and it's right around the corner from me.
The food is amazing I like the Chicken Parm but my favorite is the Pizza. I find the quality is consistent, the staff and service very good.
This place is okay, not a serious dining establishment, but let's be real, this is Charlestown and there isn't a lot of choice.
Food was decent. Large portions. Heavy on the sauce and pasta not that great (I thought with Italian food you should emphasize the good pasta which is just accompanied by the sauce). Wine list was paltry (no prosecco?).
And what's with the tv in the corner broadcasting sports?
Treat this place more like the casual cafe/bistro/trattoria it is and not a dress up night out and you'll probably like it.
This place is a hidden gem! I eat out about five nights a week and get tired of the same choice's for Italian food. Paolo's not only has a few creative dishes, but their ingredients are high on flavor. I recommend the fig mix green salad with Chicken Bana Stana. It's super savory and filling. Or if you aren't that hungry, a small pizza and salad is perfect for dinner (and possibly lunch the next day). Thin crispy crust with the right amount of toppings won't leave you filling overstuffed and gross. Great for local take out or dining out on a week night. It's not really a "date" place though.
Rating system: 1 (lowest) - 5 (highest)
Price: $$ Affordable and not expensive. I think their menu run from $9-$20.
Atmosphere: 4
I liked the interior since it gave me a rustic feel. Keep in mind that this is not a fine dining experience. I believe this is a family owned business.
Service: 3
Very attentive waitstaff and quick in seating during the weekdays. On weekends, there might be a wait. Reservation/Call Ahead and delievery is available. The waitress I had rushed my table to order which is one setback in this area.
Cleanliness: 2
Only because I swear I can smell the bathroom from the entrance. The tables were a tad sticky.
Appetizer/Entree: 4
Eggplant blanket (forgot the name of the appetizer). Thin sliced eggplant with little crispy breading rolled with ricotta/mozzarella filling and top with red sauce (marinara?). Sauce was thick and had great texture; not watery at all. I love this plate and have ordered it as my main entree with pasta.
My other half had a seafood entree and he claims it's a 4 star.
-Alcoholic Beverage: I did not order any, so no rating in this area.
Attire (no rating):
Absolutely casual attire. But I do not think flip flops, muscle tees, or frayed clothing would be a good idea.
Overall: I would definitely come here again with a small group of friends.
Great food, cute atmosphere and great service. Portions are HUGE and flavorful!!! The chicken parm and Chicken Bana Stana are two favs. They also have wonderful salads. I believe they now deliver which is a HUGE plus.
(sorry Yelp but) I read about this place on Phantom Gourmet's website and decided to check it out.
It was a busy Friday night, around 8pm. Despite the hustle and bustle, the waitstaff was VERY friendly and pleasant. The host brought us a glass of wine while we waited to be seated at a table.
Dinner was a delicious and good-sized antipasto ($14) followed by awesome brick-oven pizza. Really some of the best pizza I've had in town. I think it's the provolone they use in place of mozzerella. Gives it an awesome flavor.
I'll go back for sure. Ciao for now...
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++
Went back last night for dinner and it was excellent. I was with 8 other people and all plates were empty at the end. The chicken con pollo (chicken, pine nuts, sun dried tomatoes, penne and asparagus in a pesto cream sauce) was awesome- and a huge portion! Grilled calamari were also quite good. I also tried the chicken marsala...also a massive portion and done well. Tiramisu was also a hit. And the main thing I come away with from Paolo's is the reasonable prices. Everything was under $24...most entrees under $20.
A fantastic low key place to get real good italian food that's downhome with enough of a twist to make it exciting.
Brick oven pizza, brick oven focaccia, homemade pasta and the best bread pudding I ever had. Prices are reasonable and service is good.
Must visit.
To some, 3 stars might be bad. To me it means, "This place is okay, you should try it yourself and see what you think." I often feel like I should bump something to 4 stars just to make more appealing to others. But then I think about the point of Yelp and how blunt honesty is the most helpful type of review you can write. So if a place is just okay, then that usually means that I don't have too much to say. On the other hand though, it also means that I would willing and wanting to go back to that location a second time to see if my experience is different. I also think that 1st impressions are important.
We came here in a whim whilst in Charlestown. The place was packed for a Thursday night. There was a party there (graduation perhaps?) of about 15 people that really filled the place up. Despite that, they were able to find us a table immediately.
Paolo's is charming with its exposed brick and black and white photos. In the corner to the side of the bar is a flat screen TV showing the latest sports. You couldn't hear the TV but just see it and I thought it was a neat thing to have. This is not really a bar type of place at all, but rather a full on nice restaurant so the TV was unexpected.
The menu consisted of your standard Italian type fare. Lots of pastas, some pizza, Caprese salads etc.. The bread basket is standard I settled on the butter squash ravioli while the man settled on pizza.
One thing to note that I really liked: They offer half sized portions. I often find that when I eat out, I can't finish all of my food. When eating pasta I especially try not to eat it all as we all know that most restaurants give us way more in portion size than what we need. I happily ordered a half sized portion.
The half sized portion turned out to be a good amount of food for me. I left a still a little hungry, but to me that is better than being so stuffed that you can barely move. The cream sauce that the ravioli came in was really great and super buttery. If you don't like things to taste overly buttery, this may not be the meal for you. I liked all that salt and butter though. I was disappointed in the ravioli itself. It was still hard and nowhere near soft enough. I don't know if this was intentional (I am not a food expert by any means), but for me it felt undercooked. I like my pastas to be really soft. On a side note, the fiance said that he liked his pizza (although I did not try it).
The service was meh. We weren't planning on spending tons of money there, but just getting a meal and I think our waitress felt that. She was timely in getting to us and checking on us, but wasn't overly friendly.
Another thing that surprised me was the bathrooms. Usually the bathrooms in "nice" restaurants also tend to be nice. Not just with cleanliness, but with a little decor and charm. This bathroom wasn't the cleanest (although it wasn't foul either), and had no charm or decor to it at all. Restaurants get bonus points in my book for great bathrooms.
So overall, meh. But please, try it out for yourself!
Just moved to Boston and needed some food. It was suggested we go to Paolo's for Pizza. I had the Gina Pizza which is tasty sweet sausage pizza with tomato sauce and delicious Mozzarella that didn't taste like store bought crap. It was sublime oven baked Pizza. Service was good despite the place being packed and having only one waitress on staff. And Charlestown is really a pretty area.
An ok place in c-town if you looking for something resembling italian and don't want to venture into the north end. I've eaten here a few times and the food is decent but it might be a little over-priced. Portions are usually big though!
Well...this place advertises a lot and it seems that the people of Charlestown think that they have no other place to go for Italian/Mediterranean food. The place is absolutely average and the prices are not.
Just checked out Paolo's for Winter Restaurant Week and I must say I was impressed. I'm not usually the biggest fan of Italian, but Paolo's served up rich dishes with many flavors. Of course I went with the $30.00 3 course menu and the meal started well with the presentation of my Insalate Caprese. It was served as a round stack of tomatoes and mozzarella, although it wasn't the most flavorful Caprese I've had my father's Crabmeat Stuffed Mushrooms more than made up for it. There is a dish on the regular menu called Chicken Bana Stana that I read about recently in The Globe and my girlfriend being the chicken fiend that she is went with that and Grilled Calamari to start. I really loved the Calamari, I'm so tired of the same breaded and fried style and it was very refreshing to have light a flavorful Calamari that I could really taste. And the Chicken Bana Stana lived up to expectations with a rich and flavorful sauce that went perfectly with the sweet potatoes prepared homefries style. My main dish, the Squash Raviolis was also exceptional with tender home made pasta and a rich and tasty white sauce. For dessert I got the Tiramisu, which was OK, but my father's Chocolate Mousse was exceptional with little chunks of chocolate mixed in and great cookie for dipping. On top of the great food I really loved the intimate, neighborhood atmosphere. The uneven brick wall on one side has so much character and the copper roof is beautiful. Overall, I highly recommend Paolo's if you want great Italian with out dealing with North End parking woes.
