Swine And Stein - Gardiner

We live in Gardiner. For years we have eaten at Pastaz every month or two. The menu hasn't changed much, but there are always a couple of specials. Which is fine with us since we always order the same things. My partner has lasagna. I have lamb ragu. We share a caesar. It took us a while to decide that those are our favorite meals. All the food is good. The caesar is always the same, cold and crisp, with plenty of dressing, but not too much, and parmesan shaved over it. The lasagna is about six by six inches, more than enough left over for the next day's lunch. The lamb ragu is rich and, well, sheepy. It is an acquired taste. I acquired the taste as a kid. It is delicious, and there is enough for tomorrow. It comes with ziti. It is better with linguini. My dad said that if a restaurant is any good, the house wine will be good. It is, altho you can impress friends with more expensive selections if you need to. I have seen complaints on another review site about the service being slow or inconsiderate. Dunno. We are regulars and we tip 20. We get great service, but we got good service even the first few times we ate there.

I was celebrating my 5th wedding anniversary this past Friday, 11/29. I had a big night planned for my wife with dinner, concert at Johnson Hall and walking around Hallowell. Hearing GREAT things about Pastaz I made a reservation for 5:30pm to surprise my wife. When we arrived the restaurant was CLOSED for the Thanksgiving holidays. Why in heaven's name would you accept a reservation and wreck my wedding anniversary ?

Great service and food : lovely atmosphere! My only complaint is I wish they had chicken Parm and eggplant Parm! Hopefully they will expand their menu a little bit in the future! Highly recommend!

We were pleasantly surprised. When we first walked in the restaurant was empty but very rapidly filled to capacity. The menu is slightly Limited but that's not a bad thing. I had chicken marsala the proteins with cooked perfectly flavors were clean. And the presentation was good staff was very helpful and the kitchen was spotless will definitely add this to the rotation. It feels so good to try a new place and say yes we can go back here and look forward to it

Fresh made from scratch pasta make this place 1000x better than the McD 's of Italian cuisine Olive Garden. If you live anywhere remotely near central Maine, or ever come to visit want a change from fried seafood basic chains etc... check out this place with excellent, Italian dishes desserts made with high quality ingredients!! We 've had the Caesar salad w/anchovies, fettuccini alfredo, fettuccini cabonara, gnocchi entrees chocolate mousse so far in our visits. All fantastically delicious!! Large portions, very reasonable prices rustic, intimate atmosphere. Highly recommend!!