Cafe Paradiso

I was visiting from Toronto and wanted a restaurant that offered live jazz and decent food and nice ambience. I had heard about this place from my daughter who is studying at Carleton and thought we would try it out. I happen to eat out at least 3 times a week at some very fine restaurants but have never written a review on line - I felt I needed to give my perspective after reading a review on this site rating this place at a 1. My experience was quite the opposite. First, our waiter was really quite excellent. He was attentive, but never in your face, and always there when requested. He checked on each of our courses about 2-3 min after we received them to ensure we were happy. He recommeded a very good wine that was reasonably priced and good quality - very good value. The jazz was definately much higher quality than I expected. I am a professional jazz musician and own a large arts organization in Toronto, and was very pleasantly surprized by the quality of the music. It was obviously not just a personal opinion as the entire room (which was almost filled) seemed to agree with me judging by their very sincere and warm applause after each number. The food was very good, not what I would consider excellent, but priced where it should be. The scallops were very good, the lamb was tasty, but a bit on the tough side - but still very good. My daughters fish was not overcooked and very high quality. The presentation was excellent.

I would definately go back again and would recommend it to anyone. Overall a very good experience!

I hadn't been to Paradiso in years - after we had a server who was clearly -, we sort of gave up - but decided to try it for lunch today. What a mistake! I don't understand how people can rate this place so highly. Here's what we found:

Pasta Special - overcooked pasta, almost no other ingredients. Determned by all to be inedible.

Margharita Pizza - tomato paste instead of sauce, soggy crust and no spicy oil to mask the horrid taste. Tried by all, also deemed to be virtually inedible and that Pizza Pizza has better pizza...that's really saying something.

BLT - on a croissant. Generally edible, but the salad that came wit it was not. For someone who loves salad, it was incredible to see it all left on the plate.

Service - non-descript, non-concerned about the fact that the vast majority of the food was left behind and no questions to why.

Overall: we will NOT be going back. Honestly - if I want pizza and a glass of wine, I'm so much rather go the Johnny Farina - pizzas are reliable, and the wine list so much better than at Paradiso. Our advice: skip this completely lackluster dump and go for either a good sandwich shop or pizza parlour instead.

Our service was also just as yummy as the food. We had a dark haired girl, I believe her name was Natalie and she was always there whenever we needed something. She was pleasent and was the one who made those wonderful dinner recommendations. Every question we asked, she answered in a professional manor, and seemed to be very well informed about her wines.
Overall, it was a fantastic experience! The band playing that night, to add, was just so enjoyable! We will be back again and we hope to see Natalie again!

Not the owners fault, just make sure that Marya doesn't serve you. She should go back to school or something.

Service is poor. Food is just so so. I was diappointed.

Really a great dining experience. I was dining alone, and was invited to sit in the window at the front (a nice change from many restaurants who poke solo diners into a back corner)... nice service, intriguing menu, really good food... I would go back in a heartbeat. The couple at the table next to me ordered the Steak Frites, which smelled good enough that I was almost ready to eat again!

Fresh food, nice compositions. Tasted great. Staff was very professional and courteous. Decor was cozy. Not too expensive for that kind of quality and service. It was a pleasure.

Food has been very good, service very frendly, could use a little more knowledge about wines, but overall a lovely experience