Paisano's
Perhaps the most well-known Italian restaurant in town, Paisano's first opened in 1990 in Lawrence. The restaurant specializes in dine-in entertainment and offers a romantic atmosphere. It is one of the longest running Italian restaurants in the area, an impressive feat considering how many restaurants go out of business in this college town. Paisano's large facility allows it to accommodate large crowds and hold banquets and parties. It also offers delivery and carry-out.
Paisano's is open for lunch and dinner. The lunch menu is a shortened version of the longer dinner menu. One of the more interesting items on the menu is an antipasto dish called the eggplant fritta, which includes antipasto mixed with pieces of eggplant and cheese. The restaurant also serves Italian-style sandwiches, or "grinders," which can include meatballs, sausages or peppers. Paisano's also serves pizza, many types of pasta and seafood (mostly salmon and shrimp). Guests are also allowed to create their own dish by mixing and matching ingredients and pastas.
Paisano's
2112 W. 25th St.
Lawrence, KS 66047
paisanoskansas.com
(785) 838-3500
Bambino's
Located at the south end of historic Massachusetts Street in Lawrence, Bambino's offers Italian food for patrons on a budget. The restaurant is mostly known for its competitive pricing and weekly drink specials, so many of its customers tend to be college students. Bambino's offers lunch and dinner on the same menu.
The menu includes nearly a dozen types of appetizers, ranging from hummus and mozzarella sticks to ravioli and calamari. The pasta al Bambino, one of the signature items, as well as the pasta alla zia, which includes chicken and mushrooms, are two of the house specials. The menu also includes several kinds of pastas and a variety of panini sandwiches. One such sandwich, the Bambino, has salami, pepperoni and ham, all topped with a special sauce. Like Paisano's, Bambino's let guests create their own pasta plates by mixing and matching ingredients.
Bambino's Italian Cafe
1801 Massachusetts St.
Lawrence, KS 66044
(785) 832-8800
Genovese
One of the more recent additions to downtown Lawrence has been the Italian restaurant Genovese. It is a hip, new-age-type of restaurant that attracts a younger, diverse crowd. Genovese has drink specials every night of the week, including $5 glasses of wine on Sundays, half off on bottles of wine on Mondays and $5 martinis on Thursdays. The menu consists of items for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The breakfast menu consists of traditional breakfast foods like bacon and eggs, French toast and omelets but also includes sandwiches, paninis, soups and salads. Some of the more Italian breakfast items include breakfast pizzas and pastas. The lunch menu includes many of the same soups and sandwiches included on the breakfast menu. Lunch fare also brings unique items like pizzas with toppings ranging from shrimp to pears. More types of pasta and antipasto also appear on the lunch menu. The dinner menu features all of the same kinds of pastas and antipastos on the lunch menu but adds many different kinds of meat dishes. Short ribs, chicken alla Milanese and lamb shank are some of the unique items on found on the dinner menu.
Genovese
941 Massachusetts St.
Lawrence, KS 66044
(785) 842-0300
genoveseitalian.com
