Paisano's

Pizza is just beyond gross! I thought it’s authentically Italian but it’s unfortunately not

Went here for the first time today and had a great experience. Visited around 6: 30, no reservation, and a table for 2 was ready right away. The wait staff are all very kind and attentive.

The food, we ordered garlic bread, the ribeye that was on special, and chicken Parmesan with Alfredo sauce and Caesar salad. The food was really good. The ribeye was more well done than medium well, but it was still tender. The Alfredo sauce was amazing. The chicken Parm was also good.

Overall 10/10 nice cozy spot and will be back.

I brought my mom here yesterday for her birthday. The food was delicious, but the service was just not good. I asked our server twice for chili oil, and she kept forgetting. Finally, I asked someone else who brought it immediately. She almost never checked on us, and when we were done, we didn't see her for half an hour. When I finally saw her, she was socializing. I'm going into such detail so she knows why she was only tipped 10%. We had the meatballs app, chicken al pesto, and rigatoni portobello (this one was UNBELIEVABLE). I highly recommend this restaurant but get the tall, lean gentleman. He was VERY attentive to his tables and was the one who kept refilling our waters, etc.

Restaurant name Paisano's
Address116 Willowdale Ave, North York, ON M2N 4X9
Introduction An Italian restaurant famous for providing fresh and delicious Italian food and a warm dining environment

I came to this Italian restaurant with my friends this evening. There were a lot of people when we arrived. We waited for a while and then the service staff guided us to our seats. After we were seated, I was surprised by their meticulous service attitude. The service staff introduced us warmly and friendly Today’s special and daily soup

When served, the portions of each dish were huge. The three of us ordered a grilled chicken salad, homemade spaghetti, meatballs, lamb spaghetti, chicken fried steak with pasta and a meat lovers pizza. Each dish was fresh and fresh. When serving food, you will be asked if you need to add salt, pepper and cheese powder. The pasta is cooked to a moderate degree of softness and has a rich taste. The cheese powder is also delicious and the steaming pizza can pull out long cheese strings. Overall, it was a very good dining experience and I would happily visit this restaurant again.

Easily one of the best pastas I've ever had! The waitress was super friendly and incredibly knowledgeable on gluten free. She was super helpful in choosing a dish. Everything we had was incredibly tasty!

Great service. Ask for Mike. He's attentive & takes awesome photos if you ask for a pic of you and your table members (he even removed dirty plates first!) Generous portions. Got pizza this time, which was good and filling (took half of it home). Last time, I had their pan-seared salmon fillet topped with a honey garlic sauce and served with roasted potatoes & vegetables, which I highly recommend. Great outdoor patio spaces too. Quiet. Parking fills up fast in their small lot but you can park on the side streets for free.

Terrible restaurant! No cutlery given. I was at work when I ordered Alfredo Chicken Spaghetti. They did not give cutlery. Can't you people afford to give one fork? Am I supposed to eat Spaghetti with my fingers? I had to wait until I arranged a fork for myself and my food went cold. This is beyond ridiculous. Such terrible customer service. Only 3 small chicken pieces in Alfredo 0/5 starts to this restaurant. Highly not recommended

Ordered 2 pastas and 1 pizza for delivery last night. Pastas were good. Pizza was good as well, however I wished they'd put more effort into cutting the slices. Like come on what is this lol? Spending over $70 altogether for dinner should at least give you some equal slices.

We usually go there for a relaxing time and good italian cuisine, last time the chicken parm which i’ve been getting for last two years came so different with a lot of oil and the chicken was not any crispy, a wet chicken breast with too much of tomato sauce and pesto pasta for wifey came with so much oil that when she finished the pasta there was so much oil in the plate which makes you feel bad about yourself eating that food lol!

No delivery option as i ordered during their busy time, but food was amazing! After pickup, noticed my desserts were missing, called the restaurant, totally apologetic and delivered them to my door with extras as an apology. Great service! Great food!

First time at Paisano’s tonight. It’s amazing! Food was delicious. We had Shawn serving us who is extremely delightful and very nice. You must go out and try this place! We will definitely go back. 5 star place for sure!

Pizza was disappointing, i expected a home made dough but what we got looks like ready made costco dough.
I had pesto chicken spaghetti, tasted greesy, chicked pieces were dry.serice wad good and friendly.

Excellent pasta dishes and very professional service. We had the clam linguine and the alla vodka, both were excellent. Loved our waitress who was very warm and professional at the same time. Honestly could not fault anything. They did get one part of the order wrong but that can happen sometimes and so the other main came out much later than mine BUT although that was inconvenient I was happy and impressed that they did not rush through making the other main dish, which by the way my friend raved about.

Worst Italian food ever, 3 other tables before us complained or left after 3 bites and paper on top of cloth on the tables, all should have been a hint to leave.super disappointed since I was looking forward to this place because of the reviews.

I've been dining several times before COVID and I was quite pleased with the service and food. Unfortunately, this last time was a big disappointment! The quality of food was very poor and lacked flavour. The company I was with were rather unhappy about their choices and were very disappointed. The chef needs to step up his culinary skills. Three restaurant itself needs a spruce up and update!

Tim was absolutely wonderful!

The place is so cosy, and the food was just perfect!

I had the basic pizza and I think it’s the best pizza I’ve had in my entire life. I also tried their linguine al pesto, which is was really good too.
My husband had grilled salmon and he loved it!

I was hosted by someone for dinner to discuss about doing some businesses. The waitress was not respectful and behaved very selfish. He also touched the spoon and fork which we already used to eat our appetizer but didn't take them to replace them with clean one! (very unprofessional)
The food was tasteless and shrimps were served with tail and was not cooked very well.
The washrooms are located very close to it's kitchen which I don't think is healthy (the kitchen entrance was located exactly infront of washrooms doors with less than 2 meters distance).
Not a place that I want to go again for sure!
The only reason I gave 2 stars is for the private open space parking lot which is available for the restuarant customers!

We had an excellent meal there on April 21st with another couple. The service was also excellent. Last but not least, we were very happy to see that all staff was masked. It really made us feel comfortable dining there.

Talk about stingy.

Ordered the shrimp and scallop.

Pretty sure the shrimps were regular…

Those scallops had the circumference of a dime.

Lol bye…

I went to pick up an order today. They didn't give the order to me because I didn't have my bag with me. I may understand that. But the order was already waiting on the table without any hot bag or something like that. This is what I didn’t understand.

Always liked their food. They make in house bread as well as some desserts. Hope they can survive in this hard times.

Busy restaurant. Food was good but our server tends to skip on our services just because we have younger kids. We weren't introduced to the dinner special nor provided with basic olive oil and vinegar for our bread. Food was good as always though. Hopefully next time we'll be assigned a wait staff who's a little bit more attentive.

Past Sunday I decided to spent some time with my extended family and have some dinner at Paisano's. Of course I made a reservation.
When I got there with my family we were greeted properly and we had our COVID certificates checked as per government instructions.
We were seated and we were attended by a nice fellow named Joseph.
He explained to us all the specials the restaurant had and he gave us the menus in order to see what we want to order for our dinner.
From the beginning to the end of our dinner we were looked and served by Joseph and his colleagues.
The food was very good and fresh and the service was excellent.
This is not the first time we ent to this place.
It is very close to our house and the service is outstanding.
So I would say to all Paisano's staff KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK and THANK YOU for your wonderfull service and care.

Very cute and quaint family feel Italian restaurant in hidden on the quiet streets of North York. The staff are really friendly and nice!
The food had that family feel. Lightly reminded me of my time in Florence. Their house wine is easily drinkable so beware. ^. ^"
Overall, a great Sunday night experience.

The food was tasty and the service was great! The chef and owner was very friendly and welcoming. I would recommend this place.

As recently as Oct 24th, 2021 I attended a baby shower at this restaurant. We were a group of say 35.on the main floor. The Covid regulations were followed and the the shower went smoothly. Each person had a personalized order of food. I selected the seafood creole with linguine. It was excellent in flavour but rather messy to each even with a spoon and fork. The most popular item choosen was the veal dish. The restaurant owner was very accomodating to the group, allowing decoration, and providing their own dessert table. Wonderful family oriented place. I am glad that I made this place was of my first places to start eating out again.

We’ve been there many times but not sure if there’ll be another one. As hard as it may seem, the bruschetta was not fresh. The garlic shrimp made my partner sick and she only had a couple, thank God. We brought home the rest and of course threw them away after she was sick the whole night. The Italian sausage pizza it’s spicy but it’s not indicated on the menu.

Very nice portions but in my opinion the acidity of the tomato sauce was very much for my taste.
Other then that very nice service.

Friendly servers. Service slow, but a little understandable as there was only one server covering the entire dining room.

First time visiting, I had high expectations since there’s always high traffic in the area. There’s several issues with today’s visit. The first is time to receive items. Waited 20 minutes for water, another 30 min for our appetizer and another 15 minutes for our main (pizza and pasta). Second was the quality of the food. The calamari was good, but the pizza could have came from a take out pizzeria. The pasta had barely any toppings (limited cheese, tasteless tomato sauce and too salty meat). For the pasta, all the shrimp was below the pasta and covered in sauce. It was also too oily yet not salty enough. Overall as an amateur cook, I cook have spent the time making better Italian food at home.

First visit to the restaurant yesterday with my family. Amazing experience, food was excellent and Mario was incredibly attentive. Looking forward to the next visit.

Extremely friendly staff. They offer an exceptional service, making us feel welcome. Offered great menu recommendations as well as making sure to keep our drinks and water topped up throughout dining.

Their pasts and pizzas are delicious and I highly recommend anyone to visit this location if they’re feeling Italian.

Would definitely visit this location again!

Great service and food. Large portion. Lots of tables inside and outside. Make a reservation 5 days ahead for weekend table. Will come back and try other dishes.

Been a customer for over 40 years, since Bayview Village was an outdoor mall. Great pizza! The place was packed the night I went as well as on Sunday night.

The most mediocre Italian restaurant you could go to.

Located behind the Rona on Willowdale, the patio view isn't instagram worthy. I came here on a warm Summer night and was greeted by a polite hostess. We were seated at the patio and our server Tim brought us water and bread for the table.

I was already warned that the food here would be lackluster. They were right.

The food here is well below average and comes out sloooooow. They must only have 2 cooks back there. I think all the tables around us were complaining about how long it took for them to get food.

The bread I usually get at Italian restaurants are usually artisan breads like focaccia, ciabatta, rosetta, etc. The bread they serve at Paisano's is basically white bread. It reminds me of bread you get at a Chinese bakery. Sort of sweet and fluffy, not toasted. It's not bad, soaks up the balsamic vinegar and oil well.

My friend and I had the antipasto to share which was decent. It had 2 each of prosciutto, salami, tomatoes with mozzarella and a basil puree on top which was nice, and grilled tomato, mushroom and zucchini which were all cold and kind of off putting to eat all topped with some flavorless dark sauce which I assume was supposed to be a balsamic emulsion or reduction but it actually didn't taste like anything.

I ordered the veal parmesan with spaghetti and vegetables. The spaghetti was certainly made from dried pasta and probably a poor quality brand you'd get at the supermarket. For $25 I'd expect at least fresh pasta. The sauce wasn't well seasoned either and I found myself packing on the chili flakes to make up for it. The veal was actually 2mm thick while the breading and parm crust was around 4mm thick. The veal was like jerky, it was really dry. The cauliflower and broccoli were room temperature and pretty much raw. Lastly there were carrots buried under the spaghetti which were actually well cooked.

The saving grace of this restaurant is ultimately the service. Tim, our waiter was super kind and attentive even when juggling 5 or 6 tables inside and on the patio. He kept our glasses full as we waited on the food.

I'd personally spend my money elsewhere on quality Italian food or make it at home.

Through Uber eats tonight Saturday Aug 28,2022 my mother and I placed an order for 2 dishes: spaghetti and meatballs and eggplant parmigiana with pasta and vegetables. Thé delivery came on time and the food was steaming hot the way we asked and very fresh. When we opened the containers we were speechless on the size of the meal. It was very generous portions. From the spaghetti and meatballs we split it between the two of us my mother and I. We were so fool that we couldn’t eat the eggplant parmigiana dish. We will have it later or tomorrow. We always enjoy eating at the Willowdale location whether it’s at the outside patio or inside the restaurant.

This is our second time ordering delivery take out and we will continue in the future.

Terrible food got the spaghetti and took 2 bites. The waitress was rude and forgot my drink after mentioning it twice. I do not recommend.

If I could give 0 stars I would. We got sick from this place the food tasted absolutely horrible we couldn’t even finish our meal. We heard the waitress making comments like “that’s not my problem” when a staff member mentioned someone got the wrong order. Another waiter killed a fly on the wall with cloth napkin in front of us and we saw one try to will one with a pair of tongs. We were on vacation came all the way from Montreal and that place max is sick the fist night. Overall, Rude staff, nasty food with nasty attitudes.

Food and service are consistently good, and my friends and I have dined here many times. The fettuccine salmon is the best!
Also good ambiance.

No COVID-19 Safety Measure

My husband and I was hoping we can enjoy a nice meal at your restaurant. We had gone to your restaurant before and we enjoyed the food. However, when we arrived on Aug 3 at dinner time, we saw a few kitchen staff were not wearing mask or any face covering!

We communicated our concern to one of their server, Jessie, and tell him to ask the kitchen staff to start wearing a mask. However, he replied rudely and said “last we check, kitchen staff are not required / mandatory to wear mask”

So I showed him the ministry guideline on my phone (link attached). He replied rudely “I don’t have time for that. ” He then further said dismissively “you can leave if you don’t feel safe. ” So my husband and I left.

When I got home, I wrote to the resturant owner hoping that s/he will do the right thing and be compliance to ministry safety guidelines, but received absolutely no reply. Therefore, I am writing this review here to keep everyone safe in my neighbourhood. Do not go and dine at this restaurant. They are not compliance to COVID-19 safety measure.

On the day we were there, only their servers wear mask but not their kitchen staff. It's very deceiving.

All the food was good. I took off a star because it took 30 minutes before our order was taken even though the restaurant was pretty empty inside. There was only one other table beside us eating.

We ordered the veal cannelloni, penne a la vodka, and chicken Alfredo. All of the sauces were one-dimensional, but the Alfredo was easily the worst I have ever tried. I've had better Alfredo from the food court at the mall. They also had a sewer back-up while we were eating. None of the servers mentioned it; I had to find out by wading through an inch of sewage on my way to the bathroom. Of course these incidents can't be predicted, but you have to at least inform your customers of the potential hazards. Very disappointed all around. Would not go back and would not recommend.

I'm not the biggest fan of their chicken pesto pasta. It wasn't as flavorful as I expected it to be. Their cheese bread was divine as well as the calamari.

Extremely rude manager/owner. The level of disrespect towards Uber Drivers was shocking. Apparently, an insulted delivery bag (not specifically designed for pizza, but that can still fit the pizza and other food) was unacceptable. In over 4000 completed deliveries as a 100% rated driver, this is the only business that had an issue. I still can't believe how disrespectful and rude the manager/owner was.

I don't care how good the food is, this Paisano location deserves no business from anyone.

Food was excellent but the service was hit and miss. We were never sure exactly who was our server and service was slow. Patio was very nice.

I've eaten here several times pre-pandemic and food was delicious. Today on Mother's Day I had a craving! I waited and watched while 2 drivers arrived, waited and left without my order, it was still being"wrapped up" and then 2 hours after I placed my order and 1 hour after it was expected, it was cancelled. So very disappointed and hungry and noone answering the phone, for even an explanation. 5 stars for the in person food and dining, 0 stars for tonight.

The food was fantastic! How did I not discover this gem earlier!
The waiting time could be longer than anticipated but it si well worth it.

I went for a walk and decided to try this local restaurant, because I moved to the area a year ago. It was busy for a Wednesday evening, but we need to remember everyone wants to dine out after a long time in lockdown. Good Italian food and I will probably go back.

Great service and amazing food! This is our go-to Italian restaurant and have never been disappointed.

This place was highly recommended to us by a friend of mine who ate three years ago. The food we had last night however was easily the worst food I have ever eaten at a restaurant. The chicken parm we ordered was literally burned and charred (see pictures). The fettucini was not mixed with the alfredo sauce and instead was clumped in the center, I had to mix the alfredo sauce myself. The poor chicken breast was almost paper thin, dry as can be and as I mentioned above, burned nearly to a crisp. That being said, our server was super nice, but the service itself was nothing to brag home about. I would not recommend this place to anyone! Unless of course you like burnt and charred chicken parm. See pictures for reference to what I'm talking about.

Your spaghetti bolognese gave me and my dog food poisoning. Not only did I have to seek medical attention, but I also missed a day of work.

You can get a wide variety of surprisingly good and decent quality Italian food. The service was okay.

It was my first time visiting this location, and I would say that it was my best decision till now. The vibe was so positive and on the top of that staff was incredibly nice and responsive. We ordered couple of things and honestly all were mouth watering. Here’s are some picture from it. Must visit this location and try their food.

The food is very good. We order a salad and a grilled calamari to start, a pesto sauce pasta, and a pizza for the entrée. All the food we ordered was fantastic! Taste very delicious. The server is very present with good customer service.

A very decent restaurant with good food and good services. And its cozy atmosphere makes you feel good to meet with friends or family there.

We got a small table, it's a little crowded as the food came, the server was very nice to take the finished dishes away to leave more space on the table for other dishes.

A very nice restaurant! Sure will come back!

One of my favourite Italian resturants. Fresh food, and good quality. I always get the garlic shrimp which is really tasty and cooked to perfection. You can tell they make their sauce, and it's not sauce from a jar. Good service, and clean restaurant!

I visit this lovely spot often! This is my favorite place to have a bite. I visit this spot routinely. The cooking is of high quality, the staff members are polite and the charge is reasonable. I like eating in this spot over a good meal.

The food and service were ahead of our expectations. We truly liked the environment of this spot. Wonderful place to take the family out for dinner.

Would surely recommend trying this spot. Excellent mood, delicious dishes, good service. Fantastic work.

Food was excellent but service was off (forgot utensils, didnt top up water). I would definitely go back again regardless.

Did take out, very bad experience. Meatball was salty, veggies were all diced in chunk, especially garlic, not much in portion, and they packed the food in aluminium container - I thought I was getting Chinese take out for a moment. Not sure how dine-in experience would be but I suggest checking other options if you're considering take out from this location.

I've been to both Paisano's locations, I did not like the one near Leslie and York Mills at all and was hesitant to try this location but we did for Father's day and I'm so glad we did! We had the mussels marina, veal scallopini, veal parmagiano, and veal mushroom and everyone enjoyed it. The tomato sauce was delicious. We also had the tiramisu for desert, I typically don't really like deserts at restaurants but this one was excellent. It's a nice restaurant and really want to sit on their patio now that the weather is getting warmer. The only thing I didn't really like is that they don't take reservations and we had to wait a while to get seated.

I can say this place is authentic Italian restaurant although I've never ever been to Italy before) There are various dishes of antipasto, pastas and pizza. We ordered pizza Genova, ravioli and chicken carbonara. Of course each dough were homemade and stuffing were so rich amount and flavor!
Services were also satisfied.
Just I'd like to have a sangria, but definitely I will come back in the near future.

Friendliest environment within this neighbourhood, a good place to conduct business meetings, or have quality food with friends and family. Staff, and the food, are A+

It was my first time and I enjoyed everything I ordered, so did my husband. The service was excellent. I will definitely be returning

One of the tastiest lasagne I've ever had by far! Prices are reasonable! Nice ambiance and great service!

We ordered take out. Decided to give it one last try. Awful. Couldn't eat it. The York Mills restaurant is excellent. This sadly is a shadow of its former self.

We arrived at 5: 30 because they don't take reservations on Saturday. There were 3 or 4 other tables that were occupied. The service was reasonable even though they were short 1 waiter. Our server was extremely polite and efficient. Our appetizer of garlic cheese bread came reasonably fast and it was delicious. The samall caesar salad was very generous and also delicious. I had shrimp and mussels with pasta and vongole sauce.
Superb. Before we were served, the restaurant was almost filled to capacity and by the time we left, there was a line up out the door. Decore was pleasant and very clean clean. I will definitely return.

They took away all the good options such as pepper corn veal! The veal pasta I ordered was plain, lacking flavor and I had use the sauce from my wife’s dish to improve the flavor so I can eat it.

Not sure why but it was a popular dish. Service is good however, and that’s the reason for the 2 star.