Every 6 months when I come to Mesa to visit my parents, I wonder if I will have a good dinner. This is easily the best meal I have ever had in the Phoenix area.
To be frank, I've never understood restaurants here. I have no issue with the Macaroni Grills and P.F. Chang's and other chains that seem to be the staple of eating out here; they are reliable and have good enough food. But every time I go there and see wait times of 45 minutes, I just wonder: is this really the only choice? Is good food so hard to come by here that we all have no choice but to endlessly wait to be served acceptable food in a frenzied atmosphere?
All of that has changed since we found La Calabria. Lurking in a strip mall in Gilbert is a place serving truly excellent food. After we lingered over amazing lasagna, delectable cheesecake, and great house wine for 2 hours, we left quite happy. It is true that the restaurant has the misfortune of being in a strip mall and that the ambiance suffers as a result. But the food made up for that, and the warm service (including from Clara, the owner and chef's wife) meant the most pleasant 2 hours I've ever spent eating in the area.
I guess it is quite possible that there is some amazing dining in Phoenix of which I am unaware; maybe there are other gems like this around. I tend to doubt it though; if this place were in my neighborhood of Greenwich Village in NYC, it would also be among the best in the area, and I'd be there every week.