Paisan's!

This afternoon I was meeting up with a close friend who I hadn't seen for 8 months, so we decided to go someplace fun and new for us both.  What happened to be convenient and have an excellent review online?  Paisan's!  Located on 131 W. Wilson Street, about two blocks off of Madison's capital and a spacious amount of seating that overlooks Lake Monona, Paisan's location and appearance was the first thing that we liked when we walked in the door.  It was still a bit chilly and windy today to sit outside, but I can only imagine that when summer truly sets in, the outdoor patio facing the lake would be very enjoyable.  The atmosphere was very enjoyable as it was family-friendly and there was a small birthday gathering next to us.  Although the service was somewhat slow at first because of the busy lunch hour, this was easily made up for by the cheerful personality of all the servers.  

Since we were in somewhat of a rush because we each had classes later that afternoon, we did not look very closely at the menu, but chose what had been recommended to us by practically every person who has been to Paisan's: the Vegetarian Pesto pizza.  And mmmm, it was delicious!  Probably the best pizza I've ever had in Madison!  No doubt, I'll be going back to order that again.  The crust alone was a treat, but the fresh slices of tomatoes, mushrooms, black olives, and pesto sauce in the pizza were just perfect.  Even though it is a bit pricey ($13.95 for a small 9" pizza) it was definitely worth it, and we figured out that a good combination of food was to get the cup of soup (today the soup was stuffed green peppers, also very tasty) and split the pizza.  Plus, you are automatically given warm narrow slices of bread that were just as tasty as the pizza.  Needless to say, for $14 each, we were extremely satisfied with lunch at Paisan's!