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| - Having recently relocated to Queen Creek from the Chicago area, we are struggling with finding decent restaurants in this culinary wasteland. I don't need fancy; I need good food. So, RUN, do not walk, to Christina's. I just ate some of the most amazing Italian food ever (and this is by Chicago standards, not Arizona).
My husband and I started with drinks. Stick to the wine list - it's small but the wines are decent and cheap. I had ordered a cocktail and it's pretty clear they don't have a professional bartender.
The meal started with a so-so garden salad. With a little more effort, it could have been very good. We appreciated that the salads were not just out of the fridge cold.
On to the appetizers. This is where things start to really get good. There were a few calamari choices and we ordered the one with jalapenos. The calamari was well prepared (NOT eraser-like) and the jalapenos provided just enough spice. This arrived in a very light cream sauce with sweet red peppers. REALLY good. We were intrigued by the name "Pizza Muffins" and ordered those as well. I don't want to give away any surprises but order the dozen and plan to take some home for tomorrow or for the kids.
For the main course, we ordered the Amalfi Platter. This was a sampler of several menu items including veal parmagiana (there was a choice of chicken too), eggplant parm (one of the best I've ever had!), ravioli, meatballs (FANTASTIC), pasta and sausage. This was easily enough food for 4.
A previous reviewer mentioned that the carpet was dirty. It was dark and most likely had food stains on it, but as long as the wait staff wasn't serving my food from it, I could live with it. The atmosphere was OK, not any less than you would expect from a start-up restaurant. Our server Michelle did a fine job - attentive without being in your face.
Do yourself a favor - try Christina's. I hope you will like the food as much as we did!
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