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It was my second time here and even though I had a bad encounter with the pizzaiolo during my last visit, we were obliged to come again since the choices for dinning at 11pm is limited in Champs Elysees.
Pizza Pino is probably the most tourist oriented restaurant in Paris, serving pizza and pasta, an Italian place spread on two floors, fully loaded with an international clientele of which the majority are from the Arab world.
Like a machine, the staff don't care to smile and make you want to come back, since their clients are just passing through the capital and probably won't be coming here again.
Dinner starts with a bread basket. Three balls of bread, extremely chewy and served without butter. A Parmesan sprinkler made it to the table while we waited for the pasta. Tonight was pasta and pizza night to have a clear idea of the food. I remember the pizza as being acceptable.
The place is decorated with Italian touches. Under a low white ceiling is a large room with walls painted is light red and brown while chandeliers hang from above. Two pizza ovens work non-stop, one on the ground floor and another on the first. Pizzas are thrown on plates while waiters cut them into eight pieces.
The average food:
- The carbonara is served on a round plate that's not too clean or appetizing, a bit dry, but generously filled with bacon cubes. Tagliatelle pasta mixed with cream, a bit over-cooked, not al dente and overly creamy and lacking finesse and knowhow. Not something I'd order again.
- The four cheese penne is served in a salad bowl, a strong cheese flavor where blue cheese covers everything else, it's the same overcooked pasta with a cover of cheese. Chunks of oven cooked brie, some blue cheese and a bed of cream. It doesn't look appetizing, but the taste is not so bad.
- The Chef Pizza, for €18, is generously covered with slices of merguez sausages with an egg probably used as a decoration on the dough that's undercooked and too soggy. Shocking, because last year this dish was far from this commercial offering that's cooked without love or dedication. Sausages filled with garlic and undercooked dough. That's bad!
I surely don't recommend Pizza Pino anymore... Sloppy service and average food.
