Pizzeria Paradiso - Georgetown

at1234

Maryland

4.7/5  rDev +7.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | food: 4.5 | $$

What a cool little place nestled in the heart of Georgetown. I work at a respectable beer bar in Columbia, and I am in charge of what beers we carry, and we too have been considered to be a bit pricey. People simply don't understand the cost of some products, and that it is stupid, and not beneficial for the establishment to not charge the beer accordingly. So with that said, their pricing is spot on. Pizza here is delicious, with fresh ingredients made from scratch, you can't go wrong. Draft selection is nice, offerring 16 unique beers, but what blew me away was the bottle selection. Impressive! Overall the highlight of the evening was the service. The place was busy, but the staff kept their composure. And it seems as if everyone is on the same page on keeping everyones beer glass full. I had not one, but two food runners ask me for refills, the host, and another friendly female waiter check up on me to see that a beer was on the way. Kudos to the management if that was their intention on training the staff on the importance of refilling a guest's glass in a timely manner. Overall I will return, and I highly recommend anyone who visits Georgetown to stop by for a brew and a pie.

10-08-2009 15:56:31 | More by at1234

drabmuh

Maryland

3.9/5  rDev -10.8%
vibe: 3 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$

A pizza joint in Georgetown. I would consider this place the type of bar where you have the advantage of also having good food, but apparently i was in the minority. As I surveyed the room, most people were eating and not drinking beer. I was the opposite. There were about 160+ beers on the menu and about 15 on draft. No crap on tap as well. A nice selection of interesting release beers from the US and some interesting Belgian and German brews. A mix of ales and lagers (although ales were favored in the spread). I had a few ales that looked interesting. The wait staff was helpful a lot and attentive. I ran up quite the tab here, but this is my fault. The prices were overall reasonable. There weren't a lot of textiles in the rooms of the restaurant, so the sound of everyone chatting fliled the room and did not fade. Very loud. It is a restaurant that happens to serve good beer. Worth a look if you are in the area. Very nice.

08-26-2009 04:44:33 | More by drabmuh

slander

New York

4.63/5  rDev +5.9%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | food: 4.5 | $$$

SAVOR in six hours and counting, we've already checked out of hotel A and checked into hotel B. Phil's going to hit some of the salon sessions and I'm going to head over to my adopted parent's place off Lincoln park, maybe grab a beer with Schnickel Fritz Mike & Dicke Frau Davida, but first we're going to get our lunch on. I remember remembering Paradiso from last year's post event wanderings; you'd never know there was a serious beer scene hiding there. An unassuming pizza place on the strip maybe, but walk to the rear, and down the rabbit hole...

Seemingly, a pizza shop like other pizza shops; about 2 dozen tables seating through 2 rooms and a small bar with 4 taps just inside the door. But spy the secret staircase down to the basement bar, well played. Small tight room and a half with a 13 stool "L" shaped stone based copper topped bar under the stairs. 2 coolers of bottles behind the bar over a brick wall, glassware on the counter there and more cooler space below. Some portions of the barback plastered with stickers, labels and light signage. Yellow painted walls throughout mostly, with bits of brick over stone block. Tile floors, slat wood ceiling over the bar with sunken spots, and the adjacent seating area, wood rafters overhead with tap handles sticking out of them and mounted Bali mason jaresque lamps. The walls done with a few De Dolle posters framed, light brewery prints & mirrors, and a length of the crown molding holding a dozen tap handles extending out, plus a few black & white vat photos and a great framed DC newspaper weekend section piece showing bar manager Greg's face over the tap handles. A dozen + tables, mostly 2 seaters, a single hightop, and a pair of cushy chairs around a coffee table up front a small fireplace, cherubs to both sides and pizza pieces on the mantle above. A funny cart of sorts sits in the middle of the room housing stacked wood, seemingly dangerous there.

They sent us a little bowl of mixed olives for starters and I was going to try one for the second time in my life. I asked Phil which one I should have and he could/would offer no help opinion anything whatsoever, so I didn't try an olive for the second time in my life. See how he keeps me down. Looking over the menu of salads (no), Panini (maybe) and pizza (yes), I opted to make my own pie but not really. What I did was to come up with the specific toppings and then told the guy and he had someone else make it for me but the artistic expression of garlic, pine nuts and pepperoni was my own, and could I have that very well done, please, thank you. The pizza was excellent, great dough, fresh ingredients, and I'm glad I only ordered the 8" as it was more than enough.

16 taps in all; 12 on the tower on the bar here and the other 4 are served from upstairs. A good mix of a handful of Belgians (De Dolle Dulle Teve, Saison Dupont, Witkap Double), and micros across the mid-Atlantic & New England regions (Duck Rabbit Porter, Clipper City Loose Cannon IPA, DogFishHead Burton Baton, Stoudts APA, Southampton Double White, Brooklyn Intensified Coffee Stout, Ommegang Rouge, Allagash Confluence), and not (New Holland Full Circle Kolsch, Great Divide Belgica, Lagunitas Undercover Investigation Shutdown Ale, Avery Ellie's Brown, Stone Levitation), and a single cask beer on (Flying Dog Dry Hopped Gonzo). Yes, I'm drinking the Allagash Confluence laughingly (which by the way, does not suck), and a second beer now, it's going to be the Omme Rouge, because because.

And then there's that bottle list, broken out by style holding just shy of 200 bottles, more than ½ of them Belgian and Belgian style. They've got all the goods. I mean, a nice 'lil collection of lambics, fruit & gueuzes geeses; nearly a dozen and a half of them (Fonteinen, Cantillon, Hanssens, Oud Beersel, St Louis, and Lindemans Cuvee Renee). A very serious beer list. Now, I've read where some people have been complaining about the prices here, but in my only opinion that matters, most things are reasonably priced. From the $35 Cantillon St. Lamvinus to the $9 lovely Orval, right where she should be.

Greg just came by and spotted me scribblin' my little serial killer print, subtle I'm not. Guessed we were in town for SAVOR, and got talking a bit. He's good shit and knows his game, he left and returned with a Mikkeller Nelson Sauvin Single Hop IPA in hand. Nice! You know, we should talk to someone about keeping him on full time. Then he busted out an Orval to split just as we were looking to go; don't wanna be disrespectful and whatnot (to him or lovely Orval), so we stayed.

A better than good beer scene, and really damn kickin' pizza. Go see when in DC.

07-15-2009 02:57:24 | More by slander

TLove

District of Columbia

4.28/5  rDev -2.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$

Atmosphere is pretty good, however, being there 2 times now, your enjoyment of the environment will most likely depend entirely on when you choose to go. For those of you who go at 8 on a Saturday evening are likely to get slammed with lines. After all, this is a prime location in G-town. Beer quality is top notch. Great microbrews and Belgians on about 18 taps (half of which rotate weekly in the summertime). The bottle selection (80-90, according to the waiter) is really enticing as well. Rare bottles are kept to a minimum to keep prices reasonable (if you want rare, go to Granville Moore's and similar dives). I had pizza and appetizers, both of which were a touch dry, but certainly paired well with my Silly La Divine. Service was pretty good. The server was knowledgeable about the beers at hand and encouraged us to try the flights.

Very good. Will certainly go back again.

07-13-2009 11:54:22 | More by TLove

BgThang

Texas

2.68/5  rDev -38.7%
vibe: 2.5 | quality: 3 | service: 2 | selection: 2.5 | food: 4 | $$$

I am dissapointed in the place. The night started out with a very long hour wait to get in. I called a head of time to see if they had a particular beer and they said they were out of it. (When I ask for it at the restaurant they had it) This was fine because they have 30 + taps and 250+ bottles. We get there we wait in the hot ass sun 97 degrees with high humidity. This was fine we waited patiently. Then 2 college guys come in and get a table right away after they were told there was a 45 minute wait. The bartender right in front of us told the host that they were her friends and they were willing to sit at the bar. Which we were too and had already been waiting an hour. The place was crazy packed and hot inside due to the brick oven in the middle of the place. After complaining to the manager he got us a table right away. And comp'd us our first drinks. Now the waiter says the cooling system is down and they are not serving draughts because being hot they are foamy. There bottles are all priced 20+ which sucked because I was really wanting to try some of the beers they have on tap. Was a very pain in the ass night going here. everything that could go wrong did. I am sure this place would have been better reviewed under lighter crowd conditions. I will not go back and put myself through this. I give props to the manager for trying to make things right, but there were too many wrongs.

06-29-2009 05:58:49 | More by BgThang

dirtylou

Washington

4.28/5  rDev -2.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$$

visited this joint on night #1 of a 4 day bender in DC. stopped in around 6pm with BLACKIE and probably stayed till about 9, splitting time between the downstairs bar and upstairs eatery

place was rather dead at 6pm but became increasingly crowded within an hour.

there were probably 20 taps but they seemed a bit underwhelming. i went with a sierra nevada brown saison and later a rogue brutal bitter. there really were very limited local options. They did have the duck rabbit imperial stout but i never really had the urge to drink that great beer. for whatever reason there was about 5 or 6 rogue taps, though none of them rated very high.

the bottle list is pretty great but the prices are outrageous. $20 for a victory wild devil is absurd. we did pay $25 for a bruery saison rue -also outrageous but an awesome beer

the downstairs area is pretty dark and houses most of the beer - it fills up rather quickly. upstairs is a big sunny room with a larger capacity

food situation is pretty strong. the pizza de mare (mussels and whatnot) was a little underwhelming but the potato pesto pie was great

downstairs bartender was definitely a craft beer enthusiast

06-20-2009 15:47:11 | More by dirtylou

joe1510

Illinois

4.33/5  rDev -0.9%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$$

Birreria Paradiso was the number one stop on my list for DC. I really dug the vibe at this place. It was a warm afternoon and the large sliding windows were open to the busy streets of Georgetown. It was bright and summery inside with a refreshing feel. The tap list was good with some hard to get brews on. I had my first from Oakham, on cask, and it was delicious. The bottle list was stellar with everything from Russian River to Cantillon.

The service was good. Whenever a refill was needed the servers were right there. The pizza was quality but I actually expected better. They were a little inconsistent; again, they were good though. The menu was pretty extensive when it came to the pizzas and the ingredients were fresh, simple, and bright. My only complaint is that the prices were on the high side; of course we were in Georgetown. Pints were anywhere from $6-10 dollars a pour, usually between $7-8. This is a must stop when in DC and I'd go as far as calling it a beer destination in the city.

06-07-2009 17:17:51 | More by joe1510

bmanning

Virginia

4.65/5  rDev +6.4%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$$

Birreria Paradiso (downstairs at Pizza Paradiso in Georgetown) is one of the best places to get beer in the DC area. The draft selection is always top notch - there's always a few beers on draft that surprise me everytime I go. The happy hour special (half price draft beers on Tues and Wed before 7) is the best in DC, value-wise and quality. The pizza is great gourmet pizza. And on top of all of that, there are usually some rare, hard-to-find bottles that Greg, the beer manager, picks up in his travels or has friends in other parts of the country ship to him. This is my favorite place to drink beer in DC (will probably change when Churchkey opens up in Fall 2009).

06-05-2009 20:50:58 | More by bmanning

calise1122

New York

4.65/5  rDev +6.4%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$

Been a few times, gets better each visit. I mosey in, sit down at the corner nook of the bar and proceed to talk shop with the bartender and bringer of the goods for several hours. It doesn't take long to realize that he has built this baby up... place has a strong tap list and plenty of great bottles... we had Cantillon Saint Lamvinus, De Dolle 07 Special Reserve, Drie Fonteniens Doesjal, Stone Sublimely Self Righteous, and many more.

The food is really good too, great pizza.

If I lived in DC, I would spend far to much time at this place. Just great beer, people, food, music, etc.

05-04-2009 21:13:26 | More by calise1122

llitsua

Virginia

4.55/5  rDev +4.1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 5 | $$

Came by the place the other day for their Happy Hour, where they take 50% of all draught beer and discount their pizzas and appetizers in the downstairs area. The atmosphere was great, though a little crowded (much more room upstairs, but no Happy Hour), lcoks of brick- the fireplace was going due to the unseasonable cold outside.

There were only around 12 taps & 1 cask, all were great beers- Moylan Hopsickle, Penn Pils, Witkap Pater, St. Bernardus Wit, Stone Pale Ale, New Holland Gold Cap Saison, Mendocino white Hawk IPA, Allagash 4, Schneider Brooklyn Hopfenweise, Oberon, Avery Maharaja, Troeggs Nugget Nectar and a few more, with Allagash Tripel being the cask. I had the Hopsickle, the White Hawk, the Allagash Tripel, and the Gold Cap- all were great and in appropriate glassware, as well as the right temperature (some may take exception to the Hopsickle being served in a pint glass, but that was the only issue I could see one having there. There were also a good bit of bottles/cans, including Duchesse de Bourgogne, Oskar Blues Gordon, Delirium Tremens, and many others- I'll admit to not paying to much attention to what they had bottle-wise.

As for food, when I first sat own, they brought me some olives- not the kind tht have been soaking in brine for months- really good ones of varying color, all w/ pits. For an appetizer, I had the Mozzarella Fresca (disks of the cheese w/ fresh basil and sundried tomatoes), and it was nice. For a pizza, I ordered an Atomica, and it was outstanding- one of the best pizzas I'd ever had!

The wait staff was attentive- it seemed as though I had a bunch of different people waiting on me, but it wasn't chaotic or anything; I never had to wait long to get something else.

Foodwise- the prices were reasonable, for beer, maybe a little high (none of the draught beer they had was less than $6.25, with some pushing the $9 range). It's DC- beer is expensive, so I'll just give then two dollar signs. The cask was only $7.25, which is very reasonable to me, considering it's a high-grav one (exceptionally good, too!).

I must say I was very happy to have visited this place, and will certainly be back again (presumably for a happy hour). For visitors, the closest Metros are Rosslyn and Foggy Bottom (both Blue/Orange- there are no trains that stop in Georgetown) and each are about a mile away. I feel it's well worth the walk, even in 40ish degree rainy weather as I did. I would recommend Paradiso to anyone who find themselves in the DC area that likes good beer, even more so if they like pizza.

04-16-2009 20:27:08 | More by llitsua