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| - I love Italian food. Not just any Italian food, but very good, authentic Italian food that tastes and feels like an Italian grandmother made the recipes in her Italian kitchen and passed the tried and true down. That's how Christo's Restaurant felt when we decided to make reservations and dine here for the first time on New Years Eve. We made our NYE dining 'decision' pretty late leading up to the holiday night...and thus were only able to reserve in the lounge. They also had a special menu for NYE , not price fixe that we were trying to avoid at some of our other restaurants due to all my food allergy issues. Not seeing the menu online initially worried me, but when we arrived for our reservation I was pleasantly surprised at all of the menu options. Lots of seafood! Christo's was packed and to me, that speaks volumes to its reputation. It seemed that this was a family running the place down to the lady at the hostess stand ; the bartender ; the bus boy and the random chef who came out and greeted some of the diners. Christo's has been in the valley since 1987, so it's safe to say, they are doing things right!
We were shown to our table in the lounge. A nice table in the corner. Christo's is not pretentious , but I get the impression they will turn you away for showing up not dressed appropriately. Okay, it's more of an impression. I witnessed it while waiting when two people showed up wanting a table and Initially were told they could have full service at the bar, the couple was a little intoxicated , the lady very much so.. and dressed not so well, not even very half well. Suddenly the Italian lady said that they were fully booked for the evening! Note : don't show up half conked or yucky. This is old school Italian!
The menu is not an expensive menu, at all! Most dinner entrees seemed to be average of $22-25. The table was white linen and candle lit. I liked it , already , a lot!
We started with Mussels in a Garlic Cream Sauce ( there are sauce choices with the mussels , mind you !)and wines .. the wine list is extensive ! I had Veuve Clicquot because it was NYE! A split usually is hard to find for true French bubbly .. here it is $50. Again, worth the splurge and I got 2.5 full flutes. Whew!
The bread is home made and is endless.. I recommend splurging on this. Use it to drudge up all the amazing sauce wonderful-ness of the Italian dishes. There was an ample portion of mussels! The garlic creamy sauce was heaven. Prior to arriving at Christo's I had my heart set on Osso Bucco or Chicken Piccata .. or maybe a classic Duck a'lorange ! That's tricky to find ; the two latter of my choices were not being served on this NYE. I went with the Lobster Tail stuffed with Crab Stuffing. The dinner entrees are served with both soup and salad! I have not been to a restaurant that serves one or both with the meal in many years... so this was a treat! The soup... I've never had anything like it. It was a creamy mushroom with artichokes. I'm sure that doesn't sound so yummy , trust me.. it is. I actually wanted more. The salad was another ample serving and had a housemade dressing on it. I was afraid of being full by the time my entree came! My lobster tail was very good .. I didn't love the stuffing so much , as I prefer seafood without all the 'fluff' and don't feel the need to stuff and sauce them to the gills. The pasta it was served with was perfect with garlic aloli. My husband had the Lobster Ravioli .. again I thought it was very good! The ravioli was perfectly cooked and not mushy. The sauce was light , yet rich and creamy and full of fresh mushrooms. So much to this portion, he didn't finish it!
I loved our NYE at Christo's.. we even saw someone surprise his girlfriend with getting the staff to bring out his engagement ring!! Our waiter was a little 'off his game ' .. maybe he was grumpy about working on this night. I swear he only smiled at the end of our meal... Nonetheless, everything else was so nice that I can't wait to come back here and sample more pasta from the 'normal' menu... Piccata awaits me!!!
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