Pazzaluna Urban Italian

360 St Peter St
St Paul, MN
651-223-7000
https://www.pazzaluna.com/

Category: Italian

Rating (Scale 1-10, with 10 being the highest):
Food: 9
Service: 9
Ambience: 9

Recommendation: Excellent. An excellent Italian fine dining restaurant in St. Paul that is ideal for a pre-theatre (Ordway) or pre-Xcel event meal or after-work happy hour.

Pazzaluna is located across the street from the Ordway theatre in St. Paul and its excellent location serves it well. The place is usually packed when there is a show at the Ordway or an event at Xcel Energy center. Unfortunately (or fortunately!), due to the ongoing new restaurant openings in the Twin Cities, Pazzaluna, a mainstay on the Twin Cities dining scene didn’t make it on our list until recently. We like the fact that the Twin Cities has a bunch of great Italian places catering to many different occasions – whether it be casual neighborhood dining at places such as La Grolla, Al Vento, Broder’s or fine dining at D’Amico Cucina, Campiello, Osteria I Nonni, and of course Pazzaluna. The dining room at Pazzaluna is simply beautiful – a large mural adorns one wall and we love the large windows with beautiful drapes. The interior exudes romance on so many levels whether it is the beautiful chandeliers or the flickering of the flame from the open wood-burning oven. Couple the beautiful dining room with the well-dressed theatre/event goers and you have a perfect combination for a classy night out.

Their selection of wines is excellent and they are known to have one of the most prized (and expensive) wine lists in town. We had a bottle of the Santa Cristina, a Sangiovese-Merlot blend from Tuscany, which was excellent. The complimentary bread they serve with an olive tapenade is delicious. Pazzaluna has also won many awards for their excellent Happy hour where you can get half price martinis, cosmos, tap beer, wines, and Margherita pizza.

Needless to say, their pastas are excellent. Pasta Ai Sughi lets you customize your dish by picking from five different pastas and six different sauces. Meat can also be added to the dish. A simple dish of Linguine with Bolognese sauce and Chicken was excellent. The chicken was flavorful and the pasta wasn’t too overdressed with sauce. Their Gnocchi, which is a house specialty and made fresh daily can be ordered three different ways (Quattro Formaggi, Bolognese, or Pomodoro & Basilico). We tried the Quattro Formaggi and it was one of the better gnocchi’s we’ve had in town (it compared to our long time favorite at Arezzo). The gnocchi was “pillowy” and the sauce, while rich wasn’t too cheesy. The Porcini mushroom crusted Veal Tenderloin was another winner. The medallions were tender and had a buttery soft feel to them. The linguine it was served with may well have been the best pasta dish we had that night – garlic butter, spinach and mushrooms were a deadly combination. Unfortunately, the Scallops served on cauliflower puree were a letdown. We loved the texture – they were soft and velvety with a nice crust but didn’t care for the flavors. The scallops were pretty bland and didn’t have any sweetness to them. We couldn’t taste any of the hazelnut vinaigrette and we didn’t know that the “tomato confit” was actually sun-dried tomatoes. We didn’t care for the cauliflower puree combined with the really tart sun-dried tomatoes.

For dessert we would highly recommend the baked to order Chocolate Soufflé Cake with berry and mango sauce. It is served slightly warm, the chocolate is smooth, rich and dark, and the accompanying sauces and ice-cream only heighten the culinary experience. The Crème Brulee is also excellent and offers a little surprise at the bottom – a delicious chocolate ganache base. The crust is perfectly done and the flavors literally burst in the mouth. Our server was very attentive and offered excellent suggestions.

$$$. Valet parking on site for a fee.