Paparazzi - CHESTNUT HILL

You can never go wrong with pasta in Boston! Came here with family for a late lunch after shopping on Newberry street. We were seated immediately on the cute patio out front. Even though the weather was a little chilly, they had heaters on that kept us warm. We started with the warm burrata and that was a hit! It came on a fresh bed of arugula with cherry tomatoes and pancetta. Balsamic vinaigrette was drizzled on top! The flavors in this dish are to die for! I HIGHLY recommend. For main dishes we had the shrimp scampi, penne all'arrabbiata, and the special (linguini with oysters in a garlic lemon sauce). Watch out, the penne all'arrabbiata has a kick to it! On top of the great food, they also have a nice assortment of wines at reasonable prices. They serve wine by the 3 oz and 6 oz which is perfect if you want just a little something with your lunch. Our waiter was really sweet and service was great.

I came here for dinner with a friend on a Thursday night at around 8:30 pm. We had tried to go somewhere else originally but that place had a 2 hour wait and we were not about to wait that long, so we came here instead. She had been here before but it was my first time. We were seated immediately, which was nice. I ordered the risotto and the Bellini. Now, I'm no expert on Italian food so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but the risotto was SO GOOD. 10/10 would recommend. The portion size was slightly too big for me so I took home the leftovers, and I'm so glad I did because I got to enjoy the flavors again the next day. The leftovers tasted just as good as the original dish. My friend got the pollo parmigiano. I had a bite of it and it was delicious, but I personally enjoyed my risotto a lot more. My Bellini was very strong. It tasted like 2% peach and 98% Prosecco. Not that I'm complaining, but just be aware that it's mostly wine so you might as well save yourself $2 and get a regular glass of Prosecco since you can't really taste the peach nectar. For some reason my server charged me $1.01 more than my friend even though we put down 2 cards to split it evenly. I think the server might have done the math wrong or something. It's not a big deal but I just thought it was weird because that's never happened to me before. It's usually only a $0.01 difference if the total ends with an odd number (which ours did). Anyway that's unrelated to the food, which was so good that I'll definitely be back! And other than that slight mishap with the billing, my server was great.

Came here on a Saturday at 3pm. Not many people were inside but that allowed us good seating. We ordered the Calamari Shrimp Fritti and Poached Peach Salad to share. Then I ordered the Grilled Salmon and my boyfriend ordered the Cranberry Walnut Ravioli. The Calamari fritti was good. Lightly battered and flavourful. Cooked just right with a tomato a sauce. Poached Peached Salad was good too. Fresh ingredients and a light dressing The Grilled Salmon was good. The flavour was so good but was a little overcooked. I like my Salmon still a bit moist but it was more on the dry side. The cranberry walnut was good too from what my boyfriend said. It was a little sweet when I tried it because of the cranberries but savoury as well. Everything came out quick. Our waitress was helpful with deciding what to order.

Friends recommended this place but it wasn't as glamorous as they described. They served us bread in the beginning with their personal chili oil which was excellent when paired with butter. Wish the bread could have came out hot but it was still nice and soft otherwise. I got the antipasto salad and tried some of my friends Orecchiette. The service was great but the waiter ended up giving me the antipasto antipasti instead of the salad so I was pretty bummed. Everything was slightly on the salty side and the pasta was extremely watered down. Overall food 2.5/5 and service 5/5. We were a party of 9 so they were very flexible and split up the check nine ways, which was convenient. It's a great location but food is very average.

TIMING: We went here Friday night, around 6pm, and was seated almost immediately. We left around 7.15pm and there was an hour long wait... so if you are meaning to give this joint a go, definitely go earlier in the evening. (Note: This was our second attempt trying to eat here. The first time we went we were given an hour long wait as well and decided we were too hungry to wait. So definitely go early. FOOD: I think because we went earlier, the food came out quicker than anticipated. The drinks came out a minute after we ordered them (we got the Blood Orange Martini Mela Margarita and both of them are good! Note: I don't like Margarita's, and their's was pretty good. So definitely recommend them both! I ordered a Margharita pizza and it was paper thin. I thought it wouldn't be enough food but it was surprisingly enough. However, if you are crazy hungry, it probably won't be. I'd recommend pairing their pizza with an appetizer if you're crazy hungry. My bf ordered their chicken piccata w/pasta. The chicken was great! Pasta was meh. They also gave out complimentary bread although, in my opinion, they were very stingy: 1 slice each, and it wasn't even heated which made it harder to eat... however, they pair it with a spicy oil which is unique and made it better for sure! SERVICE: The waitress who served us was really nice. At the end we ordered the chocolate Torta but I guess they had a different dessert with the same name and we weren't specific enough. She was really accommodating and totally switched it out for us which mean we were no longer eating cheese cake but a chocolate mousse cake. Which was worth it! OVERALL: Even with all that food, it wasn't a crazzzy expensive bill. The food was amazing (nothing sucked , service quick and nice, and the atmosphere very romantic. Definitely recommend, and will be coming back, at least for that blood orange martini ;