Paolo's Bistro?

[leilanidude]

How about BYOCS, or "bring your own corkscrew?"
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That helps pay for the glasses. Or I guess you could drink out of the bottle, Pahoa-Deadbeat style.

[snorkle]

Paolo's;

Never disappointed !
no twistage fee (for twist tops)
excellent food
good service
intimate
Free entertainment (when Paolo comes out of the kitchen and drunkenly berates a customer [not me] who unjustly criticized his meal)[]

[Chunkster]

I think $5 would cover the cost of glasses unless everyone breaks or steals them, and even the philistines in my family need glasses. (I don't drink alcohol.) Frau Chunkster would probably take her own glasses if they let her because she is the cheapest woman in the known universe . . . unless it comes to beauty treatments. Little Chunkchen isn't legal yet for public alcohol consumption, but does demand a glass when we let her have a bit. Hell, Chunkchen won't even drink Coke without a glass, but her grandmother was once seen careening down an alley in Braunschweig drinking schnapps straight out the bottle.

Meanwhile, I do want to try Paulo's, and I should be able to easily convince the Frau to leave the wine at home and have a glass of county water. Surely they don't charge for a glass for the tap water.

[HI_Someday]

Corkage fees are quite common and are usually higher than that. Restaurant profit margins are pretty thin and the biggest margin is on alcohol. So why doesn't he serve it? I'd bet because he wants turnover since the place is so small. Have a bottle of wine and you will tend to linger.

Snorkle @9:26:29 re: free entertainment. Lol! Our friend who told us about this place said when they were there and asked about decaf coffee, the waitress got a panicked look on her face and shooshed them, said "don't say decaf so loud or the chef will hear you!", then offered them Folgers freeze dried crystals decaf! Apparently asking for decaf coffee would elicit a tirade from him! She likened the situation to the Soup Nazi in Seinfeld.

[punaticbychoice]

Chunkster @ 09:41:08 07/27/2018-
Having spent time in Braunschweig (Brunswick), I couldn't
stop smiling while envisioning some "careening down an alley" there.
Traveled doing research about 1991 doing a loop from Hanover to Braunschweig
to Halle to Leipzig,Jena,Erfurt, Weimar, Eisenach, Gotha etc.,ending in Gottingen.
At that time you could still see the difference between the former DDR and FRD.

[reni]

We love both Paolo's and Kaleo's.
Recommend reservations for both. The last time we were at Paolo's , we were charged MUCH less than $15.00 per bottle corkage fee. Hope you post after your meal and let us know if he really is charging $15.00 now.....ouch!

[EightFingers]

Paolo’s is very good, problem is you don’t get a lot. I’m not a huge eater, but last couple times I left a little hungry. You can ask for extra bread and they are accommodating.
Next time maybe I’ll ask if he can double up my portions (I’d be happy to pay for it!).

[Rob Tucker]

Yeah EightFingers.

I have experienced that too. The food was great but it is the only Italian restaurant I've ever been to where I leave hungry. Unfortunately perhaps, because of that, I haven't been back there in years. But I wish him well.

[HI_Someday]

We had a very good dining experience at Paolo's last night. I have to say that (nearly) every meal we've ever had on the island has been huge. Yuge! Too much too finish in one sitting. Just had breakfast at Hawaiian Style Cafe this morning and ordered the "Light Breakfast". One blueberry pancake, egg and bacon. The pancake was about an inch thick and as big as a dinner plate! So filling I could not finish. You get a lot of food at the restaurants here...

Anyway, for dinner we split a caprese salad, split cheese ravioli and each had a main; I had chicken marsala and she had veal. We ate the first basket of bread and they refilled it quickly. The chicken was 2 medium size pieces, pounded to an even thickness, with 1/2 plate of mixed sautéed veggies. The food was outstanding and there was enough of it for us.

I was fearful of slow service (from the reviews) but it was not. We never had to wait long for anything... We decided last minute to pick up a bottle of wine at the Malama market on the way. They charged $8 for cork fee (it was screwtop). Anyway, gotta go. I'll add more later.

[PaulW]

I too prefer smaller portions, hard to find around here.
That $8 corkage fee is outrageous, but it still makes it cheaper to drink wine there than most other restaurants.