The best way to describe my experience at Paisan's is totally bummed. My parents-in-law both went to undergrad at UW Madison and LOVED Paisan's at the time. Perhaps it was a combination of them talking it up and my natural love for Italian food setting my expectations too high or something, but there was not a single item at the table that stood out or left us chatting about how good it was (and if you knew my family, you would know that's strange since we almost always talk incessantly about the food we're eating while we're eating it!).\n\nManicotti was \"blah\" -- the cheese just didn't have much flavor and the sauce was boring. It somehow even tasted a bit dry... ?! The Garibaldi is the fav choice of my parents-in-law, though even they agreed it just wasn't as great as it used to be. The bread it came on was awesome, but the rest was no better than Subway.\n\nThey claim to be \"voted Madison's best pizza\" on their website, but the Vegetarian Pesto pizza was maybe just above average to me. Good flavor, but I've definitely been more impressed elsewhere. (Perhaps there aren't many pizza options in Madison?) ;]\n\nTo be fair, the toasted spicy cheese bread was pretty delicious, but was nothing I couldn't easily replicate at home and wasn't worth $9.\n\nThe location is GORGEOUS -- right on the lake -- but the rest of it was a total let down and utterly forgettable. In fact... wait... what place are we talking about again? ;]
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