Paulo’s Italian Trattoria

Food was what you’d expect. Nothing out of the ordinary. Service was attentive however our server seemed to keep getting in my personal space and reaching right in front of my face to service guests on the other side of the table. A few times I thought he was going to actually make contact with my face. Water was never refreshed which sucked… but the overall experience was good.

Très bon, excellent service. J’ai commandé un Beau Parmigianino, il était excellent. Ma conjointe sur recommandation du serveur. Des pâtes avec. Boulettes de viandes, c’était excellent. À recommandé, très propre.

I was in town for business and was recommended this restaurant by the B&B I was staying at!
I was eating alone, the restaurant was about a ¹⁄₃ full, and one table had about 9 people, but it took a while for the server to come to my table.
Once he did, I had a great meal; house salad with a great dressing and chicken penne with vodka sauce.
The meal was delicious! Next time I’m in town I will go back to try something else! :)

Went for lunch a few months ago and it was a pretty good experience over all. I had the chicken curry pizza which was to die for. My only issue was that the portion was very small (even though it was lunch) and for what I got which was half a small pizza and a half plate of salad it was a bit on the pricy side. I did notice that a lot of the items on the menu were fairly pricy for what you get. It is good food but nothing out of this world. Still for Belleville it is one of the better places.

I’m giving this place a 3 (A-​OK) because that’s what it is — however, in an area as replete of good food as Belleville is, this is truly one of the better places to eat.
The room is lovely — airy, with interesting colours and stereotypical white and red plaid table clothes that are perfect in their setting. Really, the best part of the place is the setting and how it’s been decorated.
The second best part of the visit was our waiter — who was attentive and service oriented.
The food was fine. It wasn’t exciting or inspired, but was good solid Italian style food. For what we received, I did find it a bit over-​priced at $ 15 — $ 20 per entrée. (I’d love to see the pricing more in the range of $ 12 — $ 16 per entrée.)
I had the cannelloni stuffed with spinach and ricotta (a special) which was enjoyable. Hubby had the chicken parmesian — I tasted it and found it slightly overcooked for my taste, but it was good. Daughter had Ceasar Salad and rated it as «fine». The Son had a salmon pasta, and seemed to enjoy it. I didn’t get a taste. :-(
They have a wood fired oven — so might be good to try to pizza if we make a return visit.
Would I recommend: For Belleville, this is a solid place to eat.
Would I return: Yes.

Eating fabulous pasta is one of the joys in life. Paolo’s delivers this and so much more in a beautifully and carefully restored building in the heart of downtown Belleville. Succulent salmon, delicious oven-​fired pizza and pasta to absolutely die for were enjoyed with a Prince Edward County Merlot from Huff Estates.
Entrees were delivered correctly without auctioning but our enthusiastic server somehow forgot the customary check back and had to be flagged down to return vegetables to the kitchen for warming. Strange too that the dipping sauce accompanying our calamari was served in one of those very small waxed paper cups that McDonald’s uses to dispense ketchup.
No matter. The food tasted exceptionally fine, I was having fun with my dinner companions and it was one of those evenings when the conversation could have lingered on well after the last drop of after dinner coffee. Do you remember who so aptly said, «I shall return?» I don’t. But I will.

I have been to Paolo’s twice and loved each one!
Had the same veal absolutely scrumptious! Great staff, waiters and everyone involved for a lovely evening. Except my date. Not so good.

Stopped in for a light dinner while passing through Belleville. Won’t make the same mistake again.
The menu has a Foodland Ontario logo, and claims that as many ingredients as possible are local. In Prince Edward County in August, that seems fairly simple to pull off. But what do we get? A mixed-​green salad that’s about 80% tasteless supermarket romaine, with some cucumbers, carrots and indifferent dressing.
We inquire about the $ 16.75 pasta with basil, pine nuts and fresh tomatoes, and the waitress has no idea where the tomatoes are from, except that they’re probably not local. $ 16.75 for THAT? So we order pizza: chicken, pine nuts, arugula, cheese. Yawn. This equally overpriced concoction has a few chunks of chicken on top of lots of mozzarella, under which there are some badly wilted greens and a few scattered pine nuts. (Why not put fresh arugula on top after the pizza comes out of the oven? I guess it would take an actual chef to think of that.)
Service is painfully slow despite the fact that the restaurant is nearly empty. It takes forever to get our bill and then to get our credit card payment processed. We can’t get out of there fast enough.

We had a very nice evening at Paulo’s tonight.
The restaurant has a nice ambiance and the waiters and waitresses were all very friendly. The food was very tasty and we enjoyed all our meals. The Mango chicken pasta was very tasty, and chicken parmigiana was good too, though I would have preferred it to be crispier. There were a lot of interesting sounding pastas on the menu which I would love to try some other time. The bruschetta was very tasty indeed.
We would go here again.

Limited choice on the menu, Shrimp Rose was tastless, Goat Cheese Salad was actually cream cheese and the baked sole was salmon. Expensive for a bad experience. It was so bad we were looking for the hidden cameras.