Paolo's Italian Restaurant

best place in kent more

Last week my wife and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary at our new favorite restaurant, Paolo?s in Kent. Having no reservations, we were seated at the counter, where I automatically assumed we?d be splashed with sauce, have knives and bread crumbs flying in our direction, and made to feel as if we were part of the kitchen help. Not so. We were treated to a show and dinner, watching Chef Paul Raftis do his Houdini thing with delicious pasta, fresh vegetables, and making sauces you would kill someone over. I had the chicken Marsala, {$17.95}, Saut?ed thin slices of chicken breast with Marsala wine, pancetta bacon, porcini mushrooms and a touch of cream. That combined with a helping of linguine with marinara, and some exquisite baby carrots and zucchini, caused me to empty the bread basket in order to sop up all the sauce left on my plate. My wife thoroughly enjoyed her lasagna. The noodles were perfectly cooked, with a criminally good layered meat sauce, with ricotta and mozzarella cheese, $13.95.I know it was great because when she wasn?t looking I?d take a swipe from her plate. All that, combined with an awesome selection of wine made a great anniversary even better. The service is outstanding, and making reservations is good thing, unless you like watching people eat in front of you. Sit at a table or at the counter, make sure you order an appetizer of some bruschetta, $8.50 or maybe the Focaccia $5.95, and plan on eating a great meal at a reasonable price. They also have a selection of desserts that will cause anyone to turn diabetic. Paolo?s is located at 23810 104th Ave. S.E.in Kent, right in front of McClendon?s hardware. Their phone is 253-850-2233 and their website is www.paolositalian more

I have been here several times and love it. Very friendly and personable service and great food more

DO NOT GO TO THIS RESTAURANT! The waitstaff were incredibly rude, most of the restaurant was empty and there were many tables set up ready to seat people. We were completely ignored and had to go up to the kitchen at least 4 times to ask if we could be seated. We waited at least 15 minutes at the front door after asking for a table and were then told very rudely that they were ""very busy"", which was obviously not true as the restaurant was mostly empty. more

horrible service, food was cold, order was messed up. took almost a hour to get our food to us. I wont be going back there! more

The Service: Our ""10 minute wait was really 20 minutes. This was especially frustrating as the table we were seated at was empty the entire time we were waiting. They have tables in the waiting area - prefect to offer waiting guests wine/water/bread. We we offered nothing as we sat staring at the empty table we would eventually be seated at. Pros: south-end location Cons: poor service more

I LOVE Paolos, there food is AMAZING!! I love the filet minon espically!! But the BEST part of my trip to Paolos was my waitress TARA!! She is was so amazing, she went out of her wait TOTALLY to make my experience the best!! She was SO nice SO fast and SO prompt, she knew EVERYTHING about the menu and made my smile over and over again. I will go back to Paolos because the food was amazing and the service was even better!!! Pros: SERVICE Cons: nothing more

First time my husband and I stopped in we couldn't get in and needed reservations so we came back a few weeks later with reservations. Glad we came back! The service was absolutely outstanding! The place is a little tiny, but still has a nice feel. The staff was very knowledgable about the wines they serve as well as the food. The baked parmesan was out of this world and paired wonderfully with the Pinot Noir I was drinking. The waitress was very accommodating by bringing me samples of two wines I was trying to decide between having for dinner and I was very appreciative since it seems not many restaurants will do that these days. My husband had the Pollo Gorgonzola, which I had a bite of and loved it and he definitely loved it. I had their evening special which was a chicken penne pasta in a tomato cream sauce with sundried tomatoes and portabella mushrooms. This was absolutely divine! I think it could have been a little heavier on the sundried tomatoes, but that's a personal preference and likely next time I have it there I will ask for them to add a little more which the waitress informed me I could order again sometime even if it was not a special that evening. Now that's service to me! The pasta fazul soup smelled wonderful and tasted as good as it smelled. Opted out on dessert though they looked heavenly. We'll so be back! Was worth the money spent for a lovely evening of food and service! Pros: wonderful food, service more

First of all, I'm an expert on Italian Food. Even done some food critic jobs in the past. Here is the review to read as I have done this professionally before. At first look, a cute place. Nice decor, little small but cozy, and the open view into the kitchen. I arrived at 6:03 Sat. night. It was busy, but there were open stools at the counter. I was never approaced to be seated. After 20 minutes, I asked a waitress to be seated - for 1. I was told to wait while they looked around. 20 minutes later, I was seated, at one of the open counter stools that have been open the whole time. It's now 6:45, I'm giving a menu and water. 10 minutes goes by and the waitress has helped everyone else at the counter, I guess I was looking lonely, because she asked if I was helped, then offered to help me. I order a calamari appetizer, and chicken parm. It's now almost 7. About 30 minutes later she tells me the calamari is coming up, and she was right. While eating it, and about finishing it, I had to remind her to bring me my salad. The bad thing about an open kitchen, is you can see everything. My salad was up before the calamari, but she just didn't bring it. 10 minutes later, the food comes. It's ok, nothing special. The chicken was somewhat dry, but flavorful. I asked for meat sauce and I can BEAT their meat sauce out of the water. The portions were small. Their vegetables were OUTSTANDING. Carrots, beets, etc. The pasta was nothing special. My Summary: Service horrible. Servers do not know how to time food delivery. Food portions very small. Nothing special as far as taste. Full of excuses for the bad service. I actually was sitting waiting to be seated when I was leaning against an open chair the whole time. Servers would stop working and chat while customers waited. If I heard another waitress talk about her shopping plans while I was waiting for service, I was going to lose it. My bill was $40.92 for a dinner that took an hour and a half! Pros: cute place, good ambience, its nice to watch your food being prepared Cons: HORRIBLE service, VERY expensive, food not the best more

I used to work at Paolo's so I've tried just about everything on the menu. I would reccomend the filet gorgonzola to anyone. The cooks are great about not overcooking your steak, and try the roasted red potatoes on the side, perfectly seasoned!! If you get a salad, order the gorgonzola dressing, it's my personal favorite. For dessert, the lemon cheesecake is available year round and is to die for, tiramisu is also delicious, it's very authentic. The zucoto is only available late spring and through summer. It's also fantastic. Pros: Great desserts, amazing sauces, great service too!! Cons: overpriced desserts more

My sister and brother in law took us to Paolo's while visiting Seattle a while back. I had the Steak Gorganzola, which was wonderful, but the Raspberry Soup was AMAZING!!! Paolo told us that many guests order it as a dessert....no surpise there. This was upscale dining without the upscale pricetag. I wish there was a place like this in Arizona. more

My husband and I love Paolo's! We have never had a bad meal. We love the employees and feel like family when dining at Paolo's. The wine dinners are to die for, and Paul's cooking classes are first class. It is wonderful to have this first class restaurant on the East Hill. This is a favorite for us to take out of town guests, just have a nice dinner or celebrate a special event. Pros: free parking more

Our family has been dining here since its opening, and Paolo's is consistently delicious! In fact, we've never had a bad- nor even mediocre- meal. Paolo's isn't the fanciest restaurant, but that's why we go so often. You don't feel out of place in a suit and tie; likewise you can pop in with your tank top and shorts and still feel comfortable. Our favorite dishes are the Gorgonzola Filet Mignon (to die for!) and the homemade pastas. The cioppino is also fantastic. Good wine list & friendly servers. Hint: Their catering is wonderful and relatively affordable. Consider them for your next bday party or dinner party. Our grandmothers' bday felt like a swank wedding reception with the antipasto spread that the owner and chef personally set up. Worth driving to Kent for! Pros: Great food, Reasonable prices, Seasonal Specials Cons: Must drive to Kent more

We ordered the cioppino and the lasagna. The cioppino was fantastic and the lasagna was pretty good. The bread was cold, thin, and didn't taste too good. But the salad was good with the Italian dressings; we had raspberry vinegarette and creamy parmesan. Overall, it's not cheap but the food is yummy. We would go back again. Pros: entrees Cons: bread more

I had a craving for some Italian, and this place was down the corner. It's a very small restaurant. The bread wasn't really that great, but not cold as someone else mentioned. Although the place was packed, I had great service. I picked a salad with Italian dressing and the Veal Marsala with pasta. The pasta was a small helping, but I did get four helpings of veal. However, I'm used to a much sweeter Veal Marsala than what I got. For the money, I'm not sure if I'll be visiting again. The food was decent, but noting special. more

I was hoping for a nice Italian meal. Sat right down and ordered promptly - $20 chef's special. 10 minutes later a basket of bland ice-cold bread arrives. 12 minutes after that the salad shows up. Then about 2 minutes into salad, the entree shows up. Very bad service delivery with lame excuses, now the food gets cold while I eat my salad. Same exact thing happened at 2 tables around me, so it wasn't just my order. Food was OK, certainly not worth the prices. Plus, as others mentioned, the wine list is overpriced without vintages. I won't be returning here. Pros: Free parking Cons: Poor value, Bad service, Mediocre food more

It is nice to have a place to eat that is local and not a chain at Southcenter. I wish they had a bar area but they were happy to seat us in the dining room for our appetizers and bottle of wine. Waistaff was nice and the price was good, food was far beyond what I expected. Great place to go in the South End! Pros: easy parking, good value, food was good more

Paolos is amazing. Every time I have been there, I have had a hard time choosing from everything on their wonderful menu and I have yet to be disappointed. They dont offer a large variety of wines, but the wines they do have compliment the meals well. Pros: Amazing food, Friendly Service Cons: Sometimes a tad noisy more

This place is amazing. It is the best Italian place I've tried in the entire Seattle metro area. They have a varying menu, with fresh ingredients. The ambience is not bad. It has locally hand-made pottery displayed, and you can buy it as well. I highly recommend it. Pros: great food Cons: busy at dinner time more

The only great restaurant in Kent, especially on the east hill. The scallops were outstanding. Pros: Great Food, good service more