Ristorante Paradiso – A little restaurant in Rome where older men in glasses work and romance always follows.
So I was attracted to this because it is such a niche market a very specific genre. I mean its old Bishonen (their all in their 50’s) and they all have glasses. So if older men in glasses are your thing then you’ll love this series. This series is one of those little slice of life dramas, nothing really happens and nor does it need to. We are being invited into this world to watch and learn about these characters and their lives. It’s a nice drama about a group of people who are happy in their world and are happy to share it. The bump in the road comes from the introduction of a new character into their little world. Nicoletta comes to the restaurant to see her estrange mother and blow the lid on her mothers secret to get back at her for leaving her behind. Olga (Nicoletta’s mother) has gotten re married but her husband is against divorcees and women with children so Olga has kept Nicoletta a secret and left her behind to get on with her life. Nicoletta finally has enough of her mothers disregard for her and comes to Rome to the restaurant owed by her mother’s new husband. She is shocked to find that the entire staff of Casetta dell’Orso are older gentlemen with glasses. It turns out that Olga has a bit of a thing for this and the Husband decided to make this restaurant to honour his wife and how much he loves her. Nicoletta see’s how happy her mother is and feels she’s not really ready to blow the whole secret daughter thing so spends some time at the restaurant where she falls for one of the older gentlemen there. The series follows Nicoletta trying to work out if its love she’s feeling despite the age difference while decided to pursue her own career as a chef at the restaurant. The series gives us the back story of how the restaurant came to be, how all the staff ended up their and their various relationships. All in all it’s a simple and lovely tale of people, their relationships, friendships and of course falling in love.

