Cristino's Coal Oven Pizza — Restaurant in Clearwater

June 2023: Always busy during prime time hours. Still a decent place for pizza if you like the style they do, although the consistency has disappeared. I seen perfectly made pies with a nicely done crust most days, but some other days pizza the pizza is dry and overdone. Yet another time underdone and too chewy. Maybe we lost the pizza chef and now the art they perfected is no longer consistent?

And sadly. The Italian dinners have become a serious weak spot the last few months. Every dish has just not been as it was before. Maybe we lost the line Chef and the new cooks aren't following the recipes?

The Fettuccini sauce the last couple times has been very oily. Really too oily to enjoy. So this is troubling since it's now twice in a row and across several different guest's dishes the sauce lost the creamy texture and hearty flavor. It is now thinner and extremely oily. Almost like it's been premade and then reheated which drives all the oil to the top of the dish.

Also. The salmon this time was also way over sauced as it was swimming in a plate of butter, wine, and lemon juice (mostly butter). The food seems to be not timed as well coming from the kitchen either. The salmon and veggies specifically sat way too long before being served. Everything was sauced too much yet way too dry. Can't hide overcooked dry food or food that sat too long by covering it with a sea of sauce!

And finally the sausage I added to the cheese tortellini suffered the same dry fate as the salmon dish. Some of the tortellini had very dry edges. Plus the sausage is the highlight of the dish when I added it before, but this time it just added to the disappointment with it being so dry that it was flakey.

I'm close to a 2 star on what's happened now the last several visits. But I'll give it a 3 since I'm hopeful the kitchen and ownership get their act back together and bring back the amazing flavors and perfectly cooked dishes I once had here constantly.

Original 2020 Review: Fabulous Italian restaurant. Reminds me of being in the North End (Boston) with a great old cafe feel and bold fresh flavors. The Coal Oven Pizza is as good as what you find in NYC. And don't be fooled by the pizza as part of the restaurant name. This is a true Italian Cafe. The lasagna, tortellini and other selections on the menu will rival any top Italian Restaurant in the States. If near Clearwater, this is a must go-to for your Italian...

Best Pizza Margherita arround, the wings were a disappointment. Old World taste shines in this authentically Italian space!

Small spot with a good amount of outside seating space. If there's a wait. Wait. You won't be disappointed!!! EXCELLENT food, great Authentically Italian vibe, World Class Pizza and a great, caring staff! Plus great homemade Gelato and the best cappuccino anywhere.

My only ding... Disappointed in the wings. The wings have great potential but lacked flavor. They are larger then most pizza places and had good texture but needed more. Also the onions were lightly sautéed and lacked the carmelization I wanted. Anthonys Coal Fire Pizza has the italian style, coal oven topped with caramelized onions on lock. I'm not a fried, battered / sauced wing guy and really looked forward to these but they missed the mark. Owner needs to go on a counter intelligence recon mission to Anthony's because the pizza here at Cristinos is so so much better!

Bruschetta was EXACTLY what you would get at Nonna's. Garden fresh chopped tomatos with garlic. Just my opinion, it would of benefited from some Balsamic (not nonna approved) and better "toasted bread". But as for garden fresh taste.... Yum...

The Pizza Margherita is Outstanding!! Born and raised on New Haven Pizza I know a good pizza. Me and the wife talked about this and have had, pretty much every great pizza in Tampa Bay (check my reviews).... THIS is THE best Pizza Margherita in the Tampa area. Easily and hands down. A great crust shines as does the tasty marinara and quality cheese. Couldn't do this one any better. Zero flop and THIN as it should be. Not cracker thin like a lot of places and not that New York Greasey Thin. Simply perfect!!

Will be back for this one many many times.

The white pie with fig reduction and mortadella was also outstanding!! Just a great, complex flavor profile on that fantastic leoparded base. Was delicious.

The marinara pie also didn't disappoint. I was raised on Tomato Pies and if I had to make a comment on this one it would simply be I'd like some Pecorino Romano to sprinkle on top. Just a personal preference and by no means a negative comment.

Make sure to get a capucino. You won't find a better one, I promise.

Our server Lani was an all star gem!!! 10 out of 10 on how she and her boss handled an unexpected issue....

I came here with a group. Most people have been there before and they all had nice things to say. So I'm not sure if 10 people are wrong or if this was an off event, but I would not recommend. First off, the service sucks. We called 20 minutes ahead to let them know a group of 11 was on their way. We we're seated on the patio, which was fine even with the rain. We had plenty of time to look at the menu and told the SA we were ready. He could only take our wine and drink orders, so we asked for water for the table and 4 bottles of wine. The Chardonnay and the Rose came out hot. We asked for an ice bucket and he stoppped opening the wine (also, please teach this kid how to open wine! He didn't take the foil off!!) and disappeared for 20 minutes. By that point our cute blonde server took our order and the food came out quickly, but still no waters. The SA returned with 1 ice bucket and we told him we needed 2. Finally the ice buckets and the water arrived with lunch. The pepperoni pizza was so salty and greasy, I wanted to gag. That might have been our fault for ordering double pepperoni. The margarita pizza was so boring and bland (basically just bread)the only way I could eat either was by sandwiching them together. The server and sa cleared the table and took another 20 minutes to cash us out. The gelato samples was a nice touch. The Nutella was amazing! It's the only thing I'd reorder, but the strawberry tasted like vomit. At least I had warm Chardonnay to remove the flavor...