Neighborhood restaurants like Paulie's are the rea...

Neighborhood restaurants like Paulie's are the reason I never want to move to the suburbs. Every time I come here, I always see someone running into someone they know. It's obvious Paulie's is a neighborhood fave that keeps people coming back time after time.

There is always a steady crowd, and sometimes, tables are hard to come by. It's kind of an a-hole move to grab a table before you order, but sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do.

I've ordered the fried shrimp po-boy, Italian family salad, and canestri alla funghi. While I've had better poboys (I suggest sticking to Cajun places), the salad and pasta far exceeded my expectations. First of all, the portion sizes are huge. The full size salad was big enough to share, and at $7.95, it's quite a deal. The full-size pasta was also huge, and we ended up with a good amount leftover.

The menu is pretty extensive, so I'll have to keep going back to try their other items.

Every neighborhood should have a casual restaurant this welcoming, with food this rewarding.