Paul’s Pasta Shop is a small Italian restaurant serving homemade pasta products located 8 minutes away from campus in Groton, Connecticut. If you are looking for quality Italian food served at a reasonable price, then I highly recommend this restaurant. Established in 1988 by Paul and Dorothy Fidrych, Paul’s Pasta Shop has quickly become a local favorite for those who reside in the New London and Groton communities.
If you visit the shop’s website, the owners state that they intended the shop to be, “a restaurant you can go to and expect a well-prepared meal consistently made using fresh pasta and quality ingredients. Our vision leads us to serve generous portions at reasonable prices in a welcoming friendly environment.” This is exactly what my experience was like when I visited.
The menu contains a variety of assorted pasta dishes, but it remains relatively concise, which in my opinion is a good thing. Many restaurants tend to overcrowd their menus, which creates a trade-off between quantity and quality when they sacrifice the advantage of making a few dishes very well, and instead opt to create an overly diverse menu. Paul’s Pasta has found a good equilibrium between the variety of dishes they offer, while also cooking each one with the care.
The shop is located right next to Ken’s Tackle Shop on Thames Street and provides plenty of parking spaces for students and residents in the area. The shop has the looks of a home from the outside and feels like home from the moment you walk inside. The low lighting and familiarity of the checkered tablecloths in the restaurant add to the ambiance. Upon entering, the employees are making fresh pasta to both sell and cook for customers. I visited the shop around 6 pm on a Thursday. (Expect the shop to be relatively busy and be prepared to wait anywhere from 10-20 minutes to be seated.) Unfortunately, customers are unable to make reservations. Paul’s Pasta uses a first come first serve policy because of the restaurant’s small size. The restaurant is very lively, with seating inside or outside on the shop’s patio where customers can enjoy their food and drink overlooking the Thames River.
I chose to sit indoors as fall evenings tend to get rather cold, but the outdoor seating during the warmer months is always a good choice. I decided to order a large portion of the Pesto Gemelli. This pasta is based on the Italian word for “twins” and almost looked like DNA. In my opinion for a pasta dish to be good, there are two things that need to happen. First, the pasta must be cooked al dente. This Italian phrase roughly translates to “to the tooth” meaning that the pasta must have a bite to it. After all, no one likes to eat soggy pasta. Second, there has to be just the right amount of sauce –– not so much that it drowns the dish and not so little that you can’t even taste it. For me, Paul’s Pasta met both of these criteria. The Gemelli was al dente and the sauce coated each piece generously. All of the large portions in the hot pasta menu cost $13.50 which in my opinion is a very fair price to pay for fresh, handmade pasta in such large quantities.
A large may prove to be quite a bit of food for the average person, and if that is the case, a smaller portion can be made for the price of $8.50. Each meal is always served with a basket of fresh garlic bread, which compliments most of the dishes on the menu to enhance the customer’s experience. Lunch and dinner specials are also served and change on a daily basis. Along with hot pasta, soups, salads, and sandwiches are also offered with bread delivered fresh daily and locally made desserts. You can call the shop and find out what the specials are or you can visit and see for yourself. Takeout is also offered: all you have to do is call the shop ahead of time and your order will be there ready for pick-up.
Overall I was very pleased with my experience. The wait was not that long when I first arrived and the staff was very kind and welcoming. The food was served in a relatively short amount of time and both the quality and the quantity of the meal were very high. I would recommend this shop to anyone if they want to go out to dinner with their friends and family and have some great homemade Italian food.
Buon appetito! •
