Excellent Italian cuisine. Food is great and so is the chef Rocco and Serg. Service is great.

We have been to Pauline's several times in the past few months. It is simply the best Italian restaurant in the NY/NJ area. Chef Rocco delivers every time. His food sings to us each and every time we go. The baked clams and Pauline's salad is a great way to start. You will sop up the delicious clam juice with gorgeous bread. It is to die for. They offer new and spectacular specials as well for apps and mains. Don't miss the angel hair with lobster in pink sauce, or the shrimp scampi with asparagus. So many other incredible dishes - chicken, veal, pork, and fish cooked the way you want it. Chef is so accommodating and flexible. Dessert is magic - tiramisu, chocolate yummies, gelato - oh my goodness. It is heaven. Don't wait - go to Pauline's. It is simply the best!!! read more

Great authentic Italian food. The pistachio gelato was amazing and fresh made. Pasta was also fresh. Wonderful meal and will return soon read more

Pauline's Restaurant - Stuffed Filet mignon special - Italian Near Me - Matawan, New Jersey

Simply the best by far. Great service, great ambiance and above all, great food! Highly recommend this intimate Italian restaurant

Food is good. Workers rude with attitude. Only giving 2 stars because I like the food read more

Awful. I'm still coughing up the grease from the Zucchini ricotta flower appetizer, My Salmon was drowned in the awful sauce, and mushy. I had 2 decent small potatoes the string beans taste less and undercooked.The mussels had taste but more broken shells than I prefer.My BF was just as disappointed in his so called Veal parmigiana, veal it was not.Overall an D-. We've had been there before not bad. Do better.Service was ok. read more

Been coming to this place for years. BYOB. Family owned and operated. Amazing high quality authentic Italian food. Every night there are an array of specials. Place is a 10/10 read more

It's a family affair... We were a group of 15 for our bimonthly supper club. Pauline's is an Italian BYOB that's been around since the mid 70's. Initially we were going to try them over the summer. But they were on vacation that week. Two rooms in this restaurant. A smaller one off on your right. Our's was the main room with about 15 tables. Our server Paula, couldn't have been nicer. Believe she's the daughter of the original owner. With a group that size we shared several appetizers. Outside of those antipasto for 2 apps our favorite were those fried zucchini flowers. Sorry no photos cause they went real quick. :) At our end on the table, most entrees were off the daily specials. She had the stuffed Pork chops. I in turn couldn't resist the beef braciole (small piece) over penne pasta. That braciole is something that you don't find at Italian restaurants much anymore. I thought it was pretty good. Two or three of us ordered this and we were all in agreement. Dessert, no chance. Just cappuccinos & coffee for our table. Cost per person with a tip $62. USC#17 read more

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Once again dinner did not disappoint. Even though there was a special holiday menu...there were so many dishes to choose from. Everyone is so nice. Great dinner with my family. read more

Pauline's Restaurant - Red snapper oreganato - Italian Near Me - Matawan, New Jersey

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the owners are always very welcoming and work in the front. as well as the kitchen. they are always very pleasant and the food consistently good. the veal, if you like that is always great. special dinners could be pricer but again delicious. a great place to go on a regular basis. read more

Good was just awful taste terrible Unappetizing and spices were off Quality just not there read more

Just ate there, service and atmosphere were great...wanted so much to love it. Why the hell did chicken Marsala look boiled? Sauté I butter and olive oil, get some color and continue. Sauce was delicious, just sauté the freaking chicken! read more

Best Italian food on the east coast. Delicious food, great service- make a reservation they get busy.

I highly recommend Pauline's , fantastic service, friendly makes you feel like home. Ambiance the best Food off the charts, I had a modified special Black Rigatoni with lobster and filet mignon in a light pink sauce. Thank you Michael & Maryann for inviting us. Ralph Ciallella Michelin Food Critic read more

Overall excellent freshly prepared food, fair prices, and attentive service! A great neighborhood Italian eatery.. it's one of those places where you want a standing monthly table for you and your family/friends.. enjoy!! read more

We love Pauline"s. From service to old school interior. Portions are big and prices comparable or less. Service is wonderful. One of my favorites. read more

This was a late Mother's Day dinner. So I heard the baked clams here was the bomb. Ordered it. It was good. Have to admit I've had better. We were a total of 7 people I ordered chicken parmigiana. It was also good. Not great. I tried the stuffed pork chop. That was good. Grilled swordfish. Also good they had some fresh pasta which I enjoyed. Good local food. It's BYOB. And the charge extra if you use a CC. Which Is kinda messed up considering most people pay with a CC If I come back I'll bring cash read more

A group of 6 friends just spent a delicious evening at Pauline's. Promptly seated and served fresh bread with oil and butter and a water bottle. It's a BYO and our bottles were properly treated. Specials were announced and prices were given when asked (more on this later). Everyone was impressed on the presentation of the appetizers and the portion size (much more than adequate). We ordered 2 specials of the evening (one veal and one lamb shank- which we unfortunately had to change to two veals since they were out of the lamb-at 6:45PM?), 2 veal franceses a snapper and a Zuppa de pesce. All were very pleased with their dinners. We ended with espresso and a few desserts. When I checked the bill, the veal shanks were billed $10 higher (each) than quoted originally by our server. When brought to their attention the bill was graciously and quickly adjusted. It was a wonderful dinner amid pretty surroundings with acceptable noise levels. We will return! read more

Love, love, love this place! Have been going there for at least 10 years on and off. Rocco( the chef) is always so friendly and comes out and greets us when we come. He always remembers that my husband is a steak person and always makes something he loves! We can't go very often but when we do he always remembers us and makes us feel very welcomed. His staff are always friendly as well. The food never disappoints!! read more

Pauline's Restaurant - Filet mignon with shrimp - Italian Near Me - Matawan, New Jersey

Great place. Excellent food &service. My first there definitely going back. Fantastic menus and extensive chef specials.

The night we went we had a waitress that could not be bothered with our table. She messed up our order then blamed it on us. We had people with allergies and special dietary needs, we asked before ordering if special orders would be a problem and we were told no, then got charged 12.00 per special order up charge for each special order. If we had been told ahead of time we could have ordered accordingly. Overall food is ok, but when service is poor it ruins the meal. read more

Second time here in recent months. The food is good to very good. I don't remember what I had last time Appys: Yellow pepper stuffed with ground beef. My wife loved it, not my thing. Entrée: I had a lobster special with fettuccini and asparagus. I enjoyed it, but I would try something else next time. My wife had pappardelle with shrimp and filet. The filet was not the greatest quality. Desert: I had tiramisu, didn't think much of it. All and all I enjoyed my meal and will come back again. read more

My husband and I had dinner here last night. The food was simply magnificent from beginning to end. We ordered the house specials for that evening which was the rack of lamb w/cognac mushroom gravy and the stuffed veal chop w/proscuitto, broccoli rabe, mozzarella. Both came with ​​vegetables. For dessert lemon sorbet and cappuccino. This is a cozy family owned and run restaurant. Each and everyone of them went out of their way to be helpful for your every needs. We will most definitely be returning to Paulines Cuisine. read more

No,no,no! Overpriced tasteless food floating in grease.Wilted dirty salad and extremely poor presentation. read more

Pauline's Restaurant - a plate of pasta with shrimp - Italian Near Me - Matawan, New Jersey

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Best Italian restaurant in the area! Being in the business since I was a teenager, it makes me sad that I just discovered this place. Well done on the food and service and we can't wait to go back! read more

VERY unprofessional. Requested to view inspection report and the owner was EXTREMELY rude ( Which legally they HAVE to provide) as per NJ 8:24-8.13 Public availability of inspection records (a) The most recent inspection report shall be maintained by the operator of each retail food establishment on the premises for review by the public, upon request. Inspection reports shall be maintained on the premises for review for a minimum of two years. (b) Records of inspections of retail food establishments maintained by the health authority shall be made available to the public upon request. Obvious they have something to hide. Highly suggest other yelpers request to see the FULL inspection report. 5 Monmouth Court Matawan NJ 07747 read more

This BYOB is the perfect spot for homemade Italian dishes. The chef uses authentic recipes from Italy! We had the lasagna & eggplant parmigiana...2 staples that you usually don't order from a restaurant unless you know they're good! We can tell you, we made the right choice! Cute atmosphere in two different rooms...we sat in the fireplace room & our waitress was wonderful! Highly recommend Paulines to everyone young & old! Xoxo read more

a restaurant where they took the time and effort to create a wonderful cozy ambiance. a family run business where the wait staff is friendly helpful and hard working. Ticking another big box, this restaurant is a BYOB. a neighborhood happy spot with fair prices and food that hits most of the high notes. it all started out properly with a loaf of hot bread wrapped in a towel. that's how you start a meal. the olive oil on the table was greenish and of a high quality which was my second upside surprise. my wife and I split a penne alla vodka which was very good. her salad was huge and fresh. my veal saltimbocca was wonderful and the flavor profile excellent. they work their butts off here and pay attention to the little details giving a great qpr to the customer. CAN'T WAIT TO GO BACK. And you won't ever feel rushed. Just go! read more

Love this restaurant! First everyone is super nice ! This reminds me of the old fashion restaurants I use to go to in Brooklyn when I was a kid. Never thought I would find a place with such good food in Matawan . Skip the scene restaurants in Old Bridge and Marlboro and Manalapan and head here. The salad was delish and enough for four . The eggplant was so tasty as was everything. Best Italian food I have had in this area and have lived here for over 40 years. Took me forever to find this place but it is a gem! read more

Pauline's is an authentic BYOB Italian restaurant run by a very personable husband and wife team. The menu is large and there are many specials. We had the Pauline's salad and it was super delicious, as was the veal chop. I highly recommend making a reservation as they get very busy on weekends. read more

Excellent food, service and ambiance. Serge is an excellent cook and host. The ambiance is beautiful and we had our son's rehearsal dinner there. read more

We have been eating at Pauline's since the day the doors opened. One of our favorite Italian restaurants. Being Italian we are Fussy where we eat Italian food. Food is made fresh to order, never frozen. Excellent for groups and for a party. We have never been disappointed in the food. Service is very good and always accommodating. BYOB read more

First, let me say it tastes like my family used to make. So, let's start that right off the bat. Second, the only reason(s) I can't give all five stars, is because 1) the length of time dinner took. And 2) the lack of understanding about the "specials." Let's explain.... you can get sharing size or not, but we weren't told. No biggie. But then there are NO exceptions to special items, so if I wanted Gnocchi with a salad instead of whatever, I couldn't add it. Or, if I wanted to add broccoli to something, even with an additional charge, I couldn't. Seems a bit strange. I mean, I didn't ask to change sauce or meat. Dinner took forever. We were there probably just under three hours. When we got there, there was no one there! The server was nice, but not very knowledgeable, so maybe that added some time? But three hours for a basic dinner and appetizers is way too long. It was a weekday! And only three of us... I will definitely go again. The food was very good. read more

One of my boyfriend and I's favorite places to go to eat. The food is homemade and so delicious. (I am 100% italian so I know authentic italian food when I taste it). The staff is very nice and even knows our names by now. It's a BYOB and the food is reasonably priced. They give large portions and always have specials that are very tasty. It does take a little while for the food to come out but that is because everything is made from scratch. Nothing is frozen. So to me, it is so worth it. This is a good place to go with you have dinner plans and want to hang out for a bit. Not really a place for a quick bite. Love them though. Need to go back soon. read more

Wow! Exactly what we've been looking for! A truly great local Italian restaurant. Went here on a friend's recommendation. Only thing I regret is living here this long and not coming here sooner. My son had the special baby lamb chops. Cooked perfectly medium rare, and quite flavorful. ( I stole a bit). My daughter had the linguini and clam sauce and loved it. I had the Veal Stephano. The veal was tender and the sauce was creamy, but not too rich. The Burratta appetizer was also very good. I would certainly come back here. Definitely as good or better than any of the Italian places in Red Bank, without the wait or the drive/parking issues. read more

Paulines is the kinda place everyone wishes they had in their town. Great food, friendly service that makes you feel like family. Lucky to have them close by and reminds us of times when relationships and loyalty meant something. read more

Lived in the area for many years, came here about 15 years ago and was not impressed. Came again and wrote this place off. About a year ago decided to try it again and the food was significantly better from the way I remembered it. We started to make this a twice a month restaurant, food was really good as well as the service. We liked that they offered a pre fixe weekday menu, decent selection and portions. Price wise it was really good, appetizer and main with pasta. Returned recently only to find out they discontinued the pre fixe menu, ordering from their normal menu was not a problem. They are a bit on the pricey side, which we already knew. We ordered an appetizer and our meals. Food was on point. Received the check only to find out they implemented a service charge for credit card processing. Seriously? Now I am getting nickel and dimed from my local Italian joint! Maybe this a sign of a struggling business. This was the nail in the coffin for us, if you accept credit cards you need to accept the fees that come with them. I would rather they increase their entree price a bit to absorb these charges rather than smack you in the face with them. A ton of other restaurants in the area to go to, and they don't charge you any fees to use your credit card. read more

If i could give Pauline's a ZERO i would. I had been to Pauline's once before and thought it was ok, it wasn't that great. But to be fair, i wasn't feeling the greatest that night. I went there last night with my wife and 3 other guests. Two ordered Penne with Vodka, One ordered Shrimp with Alfredo, i ordered Chicken Frances and i don't recall what the 5th person ordered. I immediately tasted my chicken and was shocked to find it tasting as if it was boiled chicken with a lemon butter water sauce on it. It was hard and tasteless, not to mention the fact that there was only 1.5 pcs of very thin chicken served on the plate. I mentioned it to the waitress and asked her for a more buttery/lemon sauce to which she gave me the same watered down liquid. At tgat point i pushed the plate away. the other dishes had similar issues where the Vodka and a Alfredo sauce were watered down as well. We mentioned it to the waitress as well and she just said "we make ours different from everyone else" which means they probably add water to their ketchup too. Lol I won't be going back that's for sure. 2 experiences both not good. read more

My husband and I have been going to Paulines's for years. The food is always good and the service is always wonderful. I have to say I was so disappointed tonight when they charged us an extra $1.98 because we used our debit card. I understand that everybody pays more money in fees I would've much preferred to see them increase the amounts of the dinner than see an individual charge to me for paying with my debit card. I am very disappointed!!! We come after a long day of work to enjoy a nice dinner. I don't need to be nickeled and dimed by my friendly Italian restaurant. Increase your fees by a dollar a meal and get over it. read more

The service was great, it was taking quite sometime for the food to come out, but it's ok. The main concern though was the food served were tasteless:((( For the price they offered, I would rather dine in Denino's or take out from Esposito's read more