Paradiso di stelle

Address: 10 Bastion Square
Phone: (250) 920-7266
Price: $6 specialty coffee, $2 daily coffee specials
Notes: best place to have a boozy coffee and soak up some sun.



Paradiso is pretty much a solid tradition in our household: the first day of warm, sunny weather we wander downtown and take up residence in the sunbeams on the patio with a booze filled coffee in hand. It's a pretty fabulous way to spend an afternoon, and really solidifies that the end of grey, dreary winter is coming soon!

This also has the honour of being the first place I ever had coffee. For a long time, I thought I was hyper sensitive to caffeine but for some reason (I think I was tipsy at the time) I tried some and a new fascination was born! They serve Illy coffee, which was described to me as a friend who lived in Italy as the best coffee. Not sure how it compares really to local stuff... but there certainly is a culture around it.

For a long time, the boozy coffees were cheap. Like really, really cheap. $4.50? Something like that. Then they wised up. It Might have been our fault for loudly proclaiming the cheapness. Sorry! It's still a steal at $6 these days.  To be perfectly honest we haven't ordered much else on the menu since discovering the alcoholized drinks, but the rest of the menu looks good. Especially the gelato.


Service
March 27, 2011
For a long time we always had the same barista who was super friendly, but she wasn't there today. I did see a recent photo of her involved in Japanese relief, so I think she's still around. 


Food
March 27, 2011
I have a favourite from their list of specialty coffees - The Dante which is a cappuccino with baileys and sambuca. It sounds like it would be gross, but the flavours work well together. My partner in food and life had a Diablo which is just an Americano and Grappa. The grappa goes pretty well with the coffee, but I feel like the lack of milk takes away from things a little bit.  We also had an apple gallette - kind of like a baked apple croissant, which was delicious as always.