Christo's Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Wallingford

There’s a last time for everything.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all bad. The good thing about Christos is that, even though they ran a commercial in which a customer was brutally murdered for criticizing their pizza, they seemed to roll back the ligitimately burnt normal preparation for a well done pie. The plain cheese has decent ingredients and is a good new haven sized pie. Burning this pizza in an evenly heated, untextured way - the way a blodget or bakers pride oven will do- ruins the developed gluten, turning a well intentioned - if a little dry - dough to a cracker and overcooks the ingredients on the top. No, a lot dry.... I’m surprised their mixer doesn’t break kind of dry. They should have a conversation with the person who designed their brick oven. Based on the texture I doubt it’s as advertised. This burning is compensated by extra sauce, which I understand is a style people appreciate. Understand is the wrong word... accept maybe? Even that seems too far... Whatever.

So decent ingredients and a few good orders earns them four stars, and the embarrassment that my family received tonight should take all those stars away, but, although Cristos doesn’t give a flying... well, you know... about their customers, I would feel bad giving them 1 star. For $36 including tip we got one margherita pizza and one garlic... I don’t know... hot dog roll. Garlic sub I guess? We knew what nastiness to expect with the garlic bread, but considering how Italian - like culturally insensitively Italian - they act, we thought they knew what a margherita pizza was.

Here’s the ingredients to cristo’s margherita pizza:

An inedibley hard crust... not even burnt just like dehydrated. Literally white and crunchier than than a full sized hard pretzel. Don’t misunderstand, it wasn’t flavorful like a pretzel. It had raw flour instead of cornmeal on it. Here’s a free one: cornmeal adds a little texture and doesn’t burn as easily as flour. Also serves it purpose of not sticking to the peel better than flour. Add a pinch of rock salt to the cornmeal and... oh wow. I digress.

Tomatoes... like Burger King and subway tomatoes... fish and pumpkin gene spliced Cisco crate-o-nasty tomatoes.

Way too much sauce, with that jarred tasteless “fresh garlic” thats suspended in weird liquid that’s sold by the gallon for $5

“Fresh mozzarella”, and very little of it, and either not actually fresh or completely obliterated by their food destroyer oven. Tasteless... more importantly, textureless.

That’s it. Anyone know what’s missing? Besides quality ingredients? Fresh basil maybe? ANY kind of basil? Nothing at all... really? Digiorno puts basil on their margherita.

And it’s fine for a third rate... dominos level establishment to try a cash grab by adding the word margherita and $10 to a cheese pizza with less cheese and some sloppy, nasty tomatoes because no one will ever order it. They don’t have to know all three colors of the Italian flag. But when you’re so proud of how your farts smell they better smell... or you’ll make $10 and lose a customer. And that’s...

I've been here before and I really liked the pizza. This time we were seated in the bar area up against the window and as people were standing between us and the bar their hair was practically falling into our food because there's just not enough space. That was really the least bothersome of the negative aspects we encountered, though. To summarize, our waitress really put a damper on our experience there. Her flat demeanor and facial expressions give the vibe that she does not enjoy her job at Christos. I ordered tea with milk on the side and she brings half and half without a word as if it's the same thing. My tea sat for quite a while while I waited for her to return and when she finally did I had to ask for milk. She acted like she didn't know if she could find any. I thought to myself why didn't she say that when I specifically ordered the milk? She came back quite a while later with the most miniature pitcher of milk I have ever seen and she told me that was all they had. I would soon discover that what was in that tiny pitcher was actually milk that had gone bad, because when I poured it into my tea it was all curdled. She came into the room quite a while after that occurred and I waved to her to let her know I needed attention. She saw me, but went to a nearby table and then left the room again. She was obviously overwhelmed with her tables. I sat there with that rancid cup of tea in front of me for way too long. When she finally did come back, I explained what happened to her and she was not phased in the least and actually appeared put out me telling her. She actually offered me another cup of tea knowing there was no more milk and that's how I drink it. I told her I do use half and half in coffee so I would have that instead. She thought she needed to reiterate to me that they only had half and half.....So confusing. All I can say is she just wasn't listening to what I was saying I guess. The few times she did come to our table, rather than just grabbing it and bringing it back with her to the kitchen like most servers do. The only time she took anything away from our table was after we were completely done eating and she thought she needed to actually ask us to take away the dirty dishes and trash. As if it's not something she should just have done once we said we were finished. It's a shame because my friend and I are huge Pizza fans and we try to hit all the places on Dave portnoy's list. We were really excited to go there but our experience was totally blown because of the poor service. And by the way the pizza and crust was very good. We got the Rustica which featured sweet sausage, roasted red peppers, mushrooms and meatballs. Personally, I think I've decided I like simpler pizzas... maybe one or two toppings the best. Christos is a solid pizza...

Title: A Chilled Letdown: Takeout Troubles and a Dash of Disappointment

Review:

I recently decided to try out the takeout service at [Christos restaurant ], and it turned out to be a complete letdown from start to finish. My hopes for a satisfying meal quickly faded as I discovered that the food I received was nothing short of disappointing--primarily because it was served ice-cold.

First and foremost, the temperature of the takeout dishes was absolutely unacceptable. It felt as if the kitchen staff had completely neglected to ensure that my meal was properly heated before packaging it. The "hot" items I ordered were lukewarm at best, and the "freshly cooked" options were chillingly cold. Eating cold takeout not only ruins the taste and texture but also raises concerns about food safety and hygiene. It's baffling how a supposedly reliable establishment could fail at something as basic as serving warm food for takeout orders.

As if the cold food wasn't bad enough, the quality of the ingredients used left much to be desired. The pasta was and is uninspiring, and the meats were dry and lacked any flavor. It was evident that little care or attention had been given to the preparation of the dishes, as they lacked any semblance of freshness or enjoyment.

Moreover, the service I received was nothing short of disappointing. Despite my complaints about the cold food, the staff seemed indifferent and unapologetic. My request for a replacement or any sort of resolution fell on deaf ears, leaving me feeling ignored and disheartened as a paying customer. It's essential for any establishment, especially one providing takeout, to prioritize customer satisfaction, but unfortunately, this was severely lacking at [Christos restaurant ].

To add to my disappointment, the overall experience of ordering takeout from [Christos restaurant ] was far from pleasant.

In conclusion, my experience with the takeout service at [Christos restaurant ] was incredibly disheartening. The cold food, subpar ingredients, apathetic service, and lackluster performance all contributed to an unsatisfactory takeout experience. I strongly caution anyone considering ordering from this establishment to look elsewhere for a reliable and enjoyable takeout experience. There are plenty of other restaurants that prioritize customer satisfaction and take pride in serving warm, delicious takeout meals that can be enjoyed in the comfort of...