Downtown Madison is full of expensive restaurants so it's nice to find one that is reasonably priced and affordable and offers free underground parking.
We went on a cold winter night and were seated in the smaller dining room with a fireplace overlooking Lake Monona. The waitstaff was friendly and attentive.
We started with a couple of soups. Both the clam chowder and chili received above average marks.
Paisans is noted for their Garibaldi sandwich and their Porta salad. The salad was very good. 3 of our party ordered the Garibaldi. This is a hot sandwich on a toasted bun. Unfortunately none of the 3 sandwiches had properly toasted buns. The top buns were warm and soft, no crunch or toast whatsoever. The rest of the sandwich was very good.
The Super Hot pizza had a perfectly crisp thin crust with hot and banana pepper, pepperoni and cheese.
This is a great place to hang out in the summer as they have a large patio overlooking the lake. Patio seating requires a food purchase.