Pastaio Handmade Pasta & Pizza - Royal Oak

My partner and I love this place. We come here every once in a while just because it's pricey. The food is super yummy. The inside vibes are cool. The service is a hit or miss. I heard they got rid of their pizza that makes me sad. That was one of my favorites.

Update They have a new location in Grosse pointe. The food there was amazing just with a smaller menu. Definitely go there over the Royal Oak location.

Pastaio is an excellent choice for a date night in Royal oak. Portion sizes are better than expected and everything was fresh and delicious. Our server was very polite, didn't rush us, and tended to us at the right times. We enjoyed the calamari, carbonara and the chicken parmigiano. The parmigiano has a giant piece of chicken that was fried to perfection. The complimentary bread was a plus!

The first time I came here with my husband and the food was delicious. I'm not that big of Italian, but my husband loves it. But this place was worth it, as well as the experience. The lasagna we had was what I enjoyed most, it was delicious. It was all a plus too because everything tasted authentic and also handmade! The complimentary bread, the Caesar salad, and the fried burrata were delicious as well! The service we had was very attentive and informative as well. And the atmosphere was romantic but relaxed. I would come here again and bring others. It's a very cute date night spot.

Seated by the window. Izzy is waiting on us tonight. All of their pizza and pasta is made in house. The bread here looks rather carb worthy. Looks dangerous. It was quite tasty. Ordered the misto salad, cucumber gimlet, misto frita, grilled octopus, pizza fungi, pesto beets, eggplant Parmesan, gnocchi Roma and chicken piccata. I didn't end up getting the salad requested, but the fritta misto with calamari only. $192.49 for the 4 of us. The grilled octopus was good, the garnish was better. I didn't offer the fried calamari. The only thing on the menu close was the fritta misto, but that has eggplant and shrimp. This was just fried calamari. Either way it was okay, the dip is tomato sauce, was a tad bland.The pizza fungi is so yummy. I could have eaten the whole pie on my own. The eggplant Parmesan was super light on the breading, it was quite good. The gnocchi wasn't too bad, the pieces were small cylindrical shape and not the gnocchi shaped I was expecting, it was cooked al dente, maybe a tad too hard for my liking. The pesto beet was quite good. Big beet chunks. Slippery, lost one on the floor: Then chicken piccata was okay, sauce was good, nice balance of lemon and capers. I can't say it blew me away though. The pizza fungi was definitely the best part of the meal. Service was really good here, definitely take good care of you during your visit.

Home made pizza and pasta, and you can taste the difference. Got cheese pizza, shrimp arrabbiata, beef raghu. All were medium-small plates but were flavor-packed without being overly-salty or saucy, which I appreciated. The cheese pizza surprisingly was the winner. Thin crust with just the right amount of crunch, nice melted mozzarella cheese, soft and nice texture to the mouth. Beef Ragu and Shrimp Arrabbiata were also winners. The shrimp pasta was actually spicy, so be aware as there were some jalapeños, but it was a pleasant spice and was not overwhelming. I did not expect this but it wasn't bad, but maybe would have liked the warning. The Beef pasta was great with nice shredded beef with red sauce and square pasta that you could tell was home made. Pistachio cheesecake was a little off in that it didn't really taste like pistachio and was a bit sweet and artificial to me. Service: attentive. Waitress was nice and handled all my questions. Answers she didn't know she went and asked. However despite this she did not get my order right as I wanted the veal but she somehow heard I wanted a second beef ragu. We were in a rush so didn't want the dish re-made so just went a head with 3 dishes for the 4 ppl in our party which surprisingly was enough. She apologized appropriately. Manager/higher staff also came around and made sure our food was good. Ambiance: Dim/dark. Quiet despite some chitter-chatter. Good seating inside and outside and downstairs and upstairs.

I was truly hoping to like Pastaio more, as I've long wished for a good Italian place in Royal Oak or Ferndale, but it unfortunately fell a bit short of expectations.The building is nice but it felt a bit too loud to have a pleasant conversation. Food was alright but not great -- definitely nowhere near the level of the better Italian places in metro Detroit like Cucina Lab Torino, SheWolf, or even Cantoro. Drinks were hit-or-miss. The "Tommy Gun" I ordered tasted like 90% tequila -- definitely not worth the craft cocktail prices they're charging. My wife did enjoy her "Vendetta Falls," though.The service, however, was probably the most disappointing part. We ordered 2 table-side pastas on our table, and they made one but completely forgot to bring/make the other one, and the server didn't come back for at least another 20 minutes. Most of us were almost done eating our meals by the time they even realized one person hadn't been served, and at that point they rushed to make her pasta, which turned out terrible. Everything felt slow and disjointed, and it definitely didn't feel like a "nice weekend night out" kinda dinner place.The search for a great Italian place within walking distance continues...

I really enjoyed the atmosphere!The food was delicious but the customer service was totally fantastic.

So frustrating when the business owner posts photos without labels or descriptions. Very counterproductive to getting people into your restaurant

We visited this new spot in Royal Oak for a date night. While there was a wait in the main dining area, we discovered additional seating on the third floor, which also had a rooftop bar. The food was decent; I enjoyed the pasta, and my fiancé had a pizza that he liked. Service was okay but not amazing. My honest opinion would be a 3.5/5, but overall, it was a nice experience.