What's more, because the new restaurant is in a shopping area, it remains open from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. There's no mid-afternoon diner's twilight zone, which is good for those who don't wake up until noon on the weekend, and just may want a substantial lunch at 3 or 4 p.m.
Or those who start work at 5 or 6 a.m. just may want dinner early. This happens to me sometimes, so when I needed dinner at 4:30 p.m., Phillip Paolo's was there.
PRICES for pastas and pizzas remain the same throughout the day and are reasonably set from $6.95 to $14.95. At the low end are simple pasta dishes such as spicy Puttanesca ($7.95) and Pasta Primavera ($6.95). At the higher end is Osso Bucco ($12.95) served with a light brown wine sauce on a bed of pasta, and Steak Capri ($14.95), a broiled rib-eye steak topped with broiled scallops, shrimp and calamari.
Diners get a choice of different pastas daily. The choice is usually between a stringy noodle such as spaghetti or fettuccine, and a tube pasta such as penne or rigatoni. The tube pastas tend to hold up better to overall heavy sauces.
Strangely, Phillip Paolo's exhibits a Jekyll and Hyde complex with its pasta dishes. To me a little sauce goes a long way. So it disturbed me to see penne drowned in cream in a dish of Spinach, Mushrooms and Cream ($6.95). Even worse was the Sun-dried Tomato Pesto ($6.95), which was almost a basil-filled "soup."
Generally, if one dish gets a heavy hand, you can expect more of the same with other dishes, but this was not the case. Chicken was tender in an entree of Chicken Cacciatora ($8.95), with pasta lightly dressed in a tomato sauce accented with strips of bell peppers, fresh tomatoes and onions. Frutti di Mare ($12.95), the seafood pasta, received similarly light treatment.
I suppose that once one gets to know these sauce idiosyncrasies, one could plan accordingly, and perhaps request less sauce on certain orders.
Pizzas measure 8 inches on a thin crust and range from the simple four-cheese Quatrro Formaggi ($5.95) and white pizza Bianco ($5.95) topped with cheese and garlic, to a Seafood ($10.95) version with shrimp, scallops, clams and crab meat.
Phillip Paolo's has done all it could to bring a touch of elegance to shopping center dining. Plates are adorned with a burst of color that comes from edible flowers and colored bell peppers, with a confetti of Parmesan.
Still, there is usually a crying baby to tell you this is a family destination. A keiki menu addresses this segment of the clientele. Complete meals for keiki run $4.95 and start with an entree of Ravioli or Cheese Pizza or another of seven choices, and end with ice cream.
Where: Hawaii Kai Towne Center, 333 Keahole St.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. daily
Prices: About $15 to $40 for two
Call: 395-5502
To recommend a restaurant, write: The Weekly Eater, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802. Or send e-mail to features@starbulletin.com- excellent;