Paesano's Ristorante - Plano, TX

Paesano's is an Italian restaurant in Plano, Texas, which is just north of Dallas.  The restaurant is located right off of Highway 75 and 15th Street, but it isn't something you notice right away.  It is on the older side of town, and the building doesn't look like much of anything.  I had honestly never even noticed this building before, and would probably never have gone there, but my mom recommended it to me as a good place to try and had raved about how good the food was there, as well as affordable.

So, I went to Paesano's for lunch yesterday with a friend of mine.  When you go inside, it looks a lot nicer than I expected from seeing the outside.   The inside was very nicely decorated and very cozy and inviting.  The booths were lined up against a wall, and they were somewhat private, and they had curtains on the outside that looked like they could close.

The service was very good.   We were greeted and seated promptly, and our server was extremely friendly.  The restaurant closed for lunch at 2:00 and we arrived around 1:40, but she was very accommodating and cheerful despite the fact that we probably caused her shift to last a bit longer. 

The menu consisted of many traditional Italian options, including pasta, pizza, and different entrees with chicken, veal, and seafood.  They also had a variety of wines and desserts.  They also had lunch specials, which is what we both ordered from.

There were several items that looked good, and we had a hard time deciding what to order.  However, our waitress highly recommended the Sicilian Chicken, saying it was "close to the best thing on this planet."  With a recommendation like that, I knew that was what I was going to try.  The Sicilian Chicken was a breaded chicken filet with a basil cream sauce, and it came with spaghetti with marinara sauce, and vegetables.  The basil cream sauce was a light sauce, and the chicken was extremely tender and delicious.  I'm not sure it was quite "the best thing on this planet," but it was very tasty.

My friend ordered the stromboli.  The stromboli was filled with vegetables, mushrooms, onions, pepperoni, and sausage.  As she cut into it, she remarked about how crispy the outside was.  She said she would have preferred if it had a little more meat, but that overall it was good, and the vegetables were very fresh.

Our meals also came with bread and garlic and olive oil dipping sauce, and a choice of soup or salad.  I ordered the house salad, which consisted of lettuce, tomato, onion, pepper, and feta cheese, with the house dressing.  My friend selected the minestrone soup, which had large chunks of yellow squash, zucchini, carrots, celery, potatoes, and pepper in a tomato broth. 

Overall, I really enjoyed lunch at Paesano's.  The food was great, and the service was friendly, and I really liked the environment as well.  I would definitely return again.