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Saturday, October 31, 2015
Paisano's menu up in Bethesda (Photos)
Paisano's is getting closer to opening at 4914 Del Rey Avenue in downtown Bethesda. The menu boards have been installed, so you can get a preview of what items you might order when they open. Click on the menu photos to enlarge for greater detail.
24 comments:
Anonymous
said...
They hope to open Monday. Their thin-crust is excellent.
I have serious doubts about this. That street is really dead or forgotten or both. That's a problem. Do they make things from scratch on site daily? I don't know cause I haven't been but I doubt it. Tough to make it on that block especially when they are going in where a pizza joint failed. Also, tough to compete with Mia's around the corner run by a chef/owner who knows what she's doing. I don't think this place is good enough. By the way, ate at Bethesda Mama Lucia. Didn't have their pizza but man, is that place horrible.
What a Negative Nelly. Without even trying you're saying some harsh things. Per their website, they make most everything daily from scratch. It's a local company and I wish them well in their new location.
No, I'm being honest. This place is not going to make it at least not in high rent Bethesda. In a mall food court maybe. That's good that they say they scratch make everything but I don't think they do based on others posting about this place when it was first announced. Pizza isn't that hard but somehow many screw it up. Bethesda restaurants in general, which is beyond understanding, under perform and underwhelm. The street is a problem as well which isn't their fault. Hey, I hope I'm wrong but Robert will be posting soon that they've gone out of business asking with their new neighbor, Quigley's.
I get the prior failed business, high rents, etc. Personally, I don't see how any of these high-rise buildings will have sustainable retail spaces. The amount of income required to pay the rents/utilities/fees is hardly do-able for most small businesses. There's little wiggle room for growing the businesses, and very difficult to get out of the red. My problem was you disparaging their food when you admittedly have never tried it. I'm not saying anything about their food, just that they deserve a chance. As far as Mia's, when I've been, the food wasn't good enough to deal with the sub-par and biased service.
These new places have worked hard and are excited and upbeat about their opening. And in the past year, at least one that I know of was dumbfounded by the first comment on a Bethesda blog predicting their imminent demise, before their opening.
Haven't tried it that's true but I don't have to. Places like this are uninspired, not creative and are run by people who have little to no experience. I hope they do make it though because we need great places to enjoy pizza. I can disparage all I want and you can disagree. Check back with me when they go out of business. Most restaurants, even decent ones, do. Mia's is excellent. Been there 20 times. Service is tough these days but food is superior.
Everyone wants to open up a restaurant when few have the requisite experience to do so. Our restaurants here, in general, are sub par. Why that is, I'm not sure. This place is even lower than usual. It has the exterior look more suited for a strip mall and probably has the food to match. By the way if restauranteurs are dumb founded by blog comments then they should step up their game and stop whining
Nope. More like realistic Ralph. The pizza place that was there before failed miserably didn't last a year. This will be no different sorry to inform you I wish it were not the case.
Dyer should start a feature on his blog where we can place bets on which restaurant will go under first.
I've eaten at Paisano's and it's fine. What will be difficult for them here is their location. If they instead set up shop on Bethesda Ave, they'd do really well. Isn't there another new "women's boutique and related nonsense" store going in there? They should put a Paisano's in instead.
On the topic of failing restaurants, has anyone tried the new Soup Up yet? I plan to give it a try this week, and see if it's really worth $9 for a small bowl of soup.
That's true but I don't think they are winning any awards with their food. If it was that good, trust me, people would be beating down their door. Is the other location packed or running a wait a lot? Maybe so. The soup place is another likely failure. Terrible location, soup centered menu. Who's ordering even cold soup in August? Plus, the price. I just don't see it. They won't make it a year.
Soup is on a trending up-swing. You'll notice more restaurants adding soups to their menus. A popular vegetarian option, too. As a restaurant concept it's promising.
But this location? Possibly the worst spot in Bethesda.
Agreed. I don't see how the narrower menu brings in the money. How much can this lady really sell Monday-Friday lunch, M-F dinner and weekends? That's a big rent that isn't so much negotiable to try and hit each month with a soup joint that also presumably doesn't sell alcohol but I don't know that for sure the way I look at it it doesn't seem so.
@1:14 I think that will be the only reason the soup place will stay in business longer than people expect. I bet they are getting highly discounted or even 0 rent for the first 6-12 months. That place was sitting empty and it's hard to rent, so any sucker willing to take it probably got a very good deal on rent.
So without a few thousand dollars in rent costs every month, they just have to pay labor costs, food costs, and for lots of water (soup!). Rent is what can make or break a restaurant. I think that's why some long-time but very mediocre restaurants in Bethesda (Pines of Rome comes to mind) have been around so long -- they likely own their space and it's paid off, or they have a long-term lease from many years ago.
That's true. Interesting about some mediocre places surviving a long time. I've made the argument and many have argued against it, that most places are mediocre. That aside, I actually think many restaurant owners in the area never thought about buying their building. That wasn't really done years ago. Pines of Rome, as you mentioned, doesn't actually own their boggling Doug Jemal does and that entire block is gonna go down. I don't think Tastee Diner owns their building either. That would be interesting to find out. Jeff Black is smart. He bought the building Black's is in on Woodmont. He leased their first restaurant, Addies on the Pike. Recently, they offered to spend a ton of money on renovating it, the landlord gave them such a hard time that they walked and the best restaurant in Rockville, MD period, closed. This soup lady was hustled to rent that by the landlord himself. She has a place at Union Station which might do well actually and he encouraged her to open in Bethesda which likely won't. It'll be closed in less than a year. There isn't much upside there at all.
Jemal now owns both the Pines of Rome and Tommy Joe's lots. Any renovation would probably have visage on both Hampden and Montgomery Lanes. As a long time resident, Pines is still great to me. You know, vintage great. And I love that it's an Italian owning/running an Italian restaurant.
If this place is expecting to get a significant amount of their business from eat-in or take-out, they're in trouble. That block is dead, especially now that Hard Times is gone. They probably have a better chance if they are going to be mostly delivery.
24 comments:
They hope to open Monday. Their thin-crust is excellent.
I have serious doubts about this. That street is really dead or forgotten or both. That's a problem. Do they make things from scratch on site daily? I don't know cause I haven't been but I doubt it. Tough to make it on that block especially when they are going in where a pizza joint failed. Also, tough to compete with Mia's around the corner run by a chef/owner who knows what she's doing. I don't think this place is good enough. By the way, ate at Bethesda Mama Lucia. Didn't have their pizza but man, is that place horrible.
What a Negative Nelly. Without even trying you're saying some harsh things.
Per their website, they make most everything daily from scratch.
It's a local company and I wish them well in their new location.
No, I'm being honest. This place is not going to make it at least not in high rent Bethesda. In a mall food court maybe. That's good that they say they scratch make everything but I don't think they do based on others posting about this place when it was first announced. Pizza isn't that hard but somehow many screw it up. Bethesda restaurants in general, which is beyond understanding, under perform and underwhelm. The street is a problem as well which isn't their fault. Hey, I hope I'm wrong but Robert will be posting soon that they've gone out of business asking with their new neighbor, Quigley's.
I get the prior failed business, high rents, etc. Personally, I don't see how any of these high-rise buildings will have sustainable retail spaces. The amount of income required to pay the rents/utilities/fees is hardly do-able for most small businesses. There's little wiggle room for growing the businesses, and very difficult to get out of the red.
My problem was you disparaging their food when you admittedly have never tried it. I'm not saying anything about their food, just that they deserve a chance. As far as Mia's, when I've been, the food wasn't good enough to deal with the sub-par and biased service.
These new places have worked hard and are excited and upbeat about their opening. And in the past year, at least one that I know of was dumbfounded by the first comment on a Bethesda blog predicting their imminent demise, before their opening.
Haven't tried it that's true but I don't have to. Places like this are uninspired, not creative and are run by people who have little to no experience. I hope they do make it though because we need great places to enjoy pizza. I can disparage all I want and you can disagree. Check back with me when they go out of business. Most restaurants, even decent ones, do. Mia's is excellent. Been there 20 times. Service is tough these days but food is superior.
@10:26AM - Very anxious to say "I told you so."
Everyone wants to open up a restaurant when few have the requisite experience to do so. Our restaurants here, in general, are sub par. Why that is, I'm not sure. This place is even lower than usual. It has the exterior look more suited for a strip mall and probably has the food to match. By the way if restauranteurs are dumb founded by blog comments then they should step up their game and stop whining
Negative Nelly sounds right. Karma.
Nope. More like realistic Ralph. The pizza place that was there before failed miserably didn't last a year. This will be no different sorry to inform you I wish it were not the case.
Whoever made their backlit sign F-ed up big time.
The Italian flag is green, white and red, as correctly shown in the sign on the door.
Green, white and orange are the colors of the IRISH flag.
All this cuz I posted that I like their thin-crust?
Y'all are wack.
Right. As a proud Irishman, I'm offended. That should tell you something about how this place is gonna do. Terrible.
Dyer should start a feature on his blog where we can place bets on which restaurant will go under first.
I've eaten at Paisano's and it's fine. What will be difficult for them here is their location. If they instead set up shop on Bethesda Ave, they'd do really well. Isn't there another new "women's boutique and related nonsense" store going in there? They should put a Paisano's in instead.
On the topic of failing restaurants, has anyone tried the new Soup Up yet? I plan to give it a try this week, and see if it's really worth $9 for a small bowl of soup.
That's true but I don't think they are winning any awards with their food. If it was that good, trust me, people would be beating down their door. Is the other location packed or running a wait a lot? Maybe so. The soup place is another likely failure. Terrible location, soup centered menu. Who's ordering even cold soup in August? Plus, the price. I just don't see it. They won't make it a year.
Soup is on a trending up-swing. You'll notice more restaurants adding soups to their menus. A popular vegetarian option, too. As a restaurant concept it's promising.
But this location? Possibly the worst spot in Bethesda.
Agreed. I don't see how the narrower menu brings in the money. How much can this lady really sell Monday-Friday lunch, M-F dinner and weekends? That's a big rent that isn't so much negotiable to try and hit each month with a soup joint that also presumably doesn't sell alcohol but I don't know that for sure the way I look at it it doesn't seem so.
@1:14 I think that will be the only reason the soup place will stay in business longer than people expect. I bet they are getting highly discounted or even 0 rent for the first 6-12 months. That place was sitting empty and it's hard to rent, so any sucker willing to take it probably got a very good deal on rent.
So without a few thousand dollars in rent costs every month, they just have to pay labor costs, food costs, and for lots of water (soup!). Rent is what can make or break a restaurant. I think that's why some long-time but very mediocre restaurants in Bethesda (Pines of Rome comes to mind) have been around so long -- they likely own their space and it's paid off, or they have a long-term lease from many years ago.
That's true. Interesting about some mediocre places surviving a long time. I've made the argument and many have argued against it, that most places are mediocre. That aside, I actually think many restaurant owners in the area never thought about buying their building. That wasn't really done years ago. Pines of Rome, as you mentioned, doesn't actually own their boggling Doug Jemal does and that entire block is gonna go down. I don't think Tastee Diner owns their building either. That would be interesting to find out. Jeff Black is smart. He bought the building Black's is in on Woodmont. He leased their first restaurant, Addies on the Pike. Recently, they offered to spend a ton of money on renovating it, the landlord gave them such a hard time that they walked and the best restaurant in Rockville, MD period, closed. This soup lady was hustled to rent that by the landlord himself. She has a place at Union Station which might do well actually and he encouraged her to open in Bethesda which likely won't. It'll be closed in less than a year. There isn't much upside there at all.
Jemal now owns both the Pines of Rome and Tommy Joe's lots. Any renovation would probably have visage on both Hampden and Montgomery Lanes.
As a long time resident, Pines is still great to me. You know, vintage great. And I love that it's an Italian owning/running an Italian restaurant.
It's neighborhood classic I give you that.
If this place is expecting to get a significant amount of their business from eat-in or take-out, they're in trouble. That block is dead, especially now that Hard Times is gone. They probably have a better chance if they are going to be mostly delivery.
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