Have eaten here twice now and both times the food and service has been excellent. Â Great Italian food. Â Only drawback according to my wife (who liked her meal very much) was that there weren't a lot of "lighter" options. Â My meal was fantastic and both my kids devoured their meals, too.
Review Source:We went to Cristina's for the first time during restaurant week. It was also Friday night so it may have been busier than usual but I was a little disappointed in the food quality. I got Buffalo wings, beer battered haddock, and desert nachos and my fiance got potato skins a bacon cheeseburger and the desert nachos.
The best part of the meal was by far the desert nachos. Tasted like fried dough and ate like nachos. Perfect blend of flavors and served warm.
Most of the other items were merely ok. The potato skins were just meh and I thought the potatoes tasted a bit funny. The bun on the cheeseburger had one of the hardest crusts I've even seen and made eating it difficult. The haddock and fries were probably worst of all. They were soggy and limp and seemed like they'd been dipped in water after being cooked. Very mediocre texture.
The service also left a lot to be desired. Our waitress had two or three tables in our area and it seemed like she would only check on one per trip to our corner. If I had asked for a refill and the table next to us had an appetizer coming out she'd bring out the app and not my drink. She would bring things to another table and not check on any of the other tables, leave, and come back a minute later and check on one of the tables. Pretty slow service that there were OBVIOUS fixes to.
The ambiance of the restaurant was great and seemed really intimate and inviting though. My fiance and I think we'll try it again some time because we think it may have been a bad night but initial impressions were underwhelming.
LOVE CRISTINA'S! Â The food is always great....eggplant dishes are fantastic! The bread and olive oil is yummy and the sauce is wonderful! Â Most of the dinners are really delicious, of average size proportion and very reasonably priced. Â
Christina and her staff make you feel welcome and are very attentive to every need.  This place beats a chain restaurant hands down.  They really care about their customers and make you feel like you are part of the family.  The main dining room is a little loud but  I can't say enough about what a nice dining  experience Christina's is!
dinner recently....sat in the bar and talked with freddie who was very interested in the golf on tv, think is is a hugh fan......dining room ok, not too crowded, drinks were good, the olive oil and bread very good as it actually had some seasoning, chicken parm very good, salmon very good. wine selection ok and covered a broad spectrum of prices....a nice experience and service was very pleasant and attentive (kept my water glass full!!)
Review Source:We decided to try Christina's on our way to another restaurant tonight. Â We enjoyed the bread with oil and the salad. Â My husband got the creamy chicken soup which looked like a pot pie filling and didn't have much flavor. Â
For a meal, I had the Chicken Parmesan with homemade pasta. Â The
Chicken was good,but it had not been pounded thin so it was too thick for my liking. My husband and I both agreed that the red sauce was too thin and not very flavorful although he enjoyed his Veal Parmesan. Â
We both agreed that we would dine there again and try other menu items. Â Our waiter, Chris, was very good. Â Overall, an enjoyable meal.
We had our rehearsal dinner here back in October. I didn't get a full sense of the restaurant's layout or atmosphere because we had a private room upstairs, which was nice. If you're very concerned about atmosphere, decor, and all that, it might turn you off because it has a very 1980s-banquet hall vibe, which is sad because that might turn people off of their yummy food. My mother-in-law really coordinated this for us, so I didn't get much experience with their staff. They let us select a handful of appetizers and then I think around 10 entrees and 2 desserts for a custom menu. Everything I ate was good - the standouts being the fried ravioli, chicken cristina and the NY sirloin. Yum!
Review Source:Always a great meal at Cristina's. Â The staff is wonderful and they really make you feel like you are part of their family. Â Â My family and I have been dining here for years and have gone in with both small and large parties. Â We have had several functions in the upstairs room as well which is one of the best kept secrets in town. Â There is very little turnover in the staff which speaks volumes on how the restaurant is run.
I was surprised to read the review about the party of 14. We have dined with large parties and if you want to all sit together there are not many options for table choices. Â Maybe next time ask if you can use the upstairs function room, we have done that a few times when we knew our party may be a bit loud. Â All of their dinners are made to order and nothing is from a can. Â I have dietary restrictions and have had to ask for meals to be made without certain items and it is never a problem. Â The sauce is the best in town. Â It is simple and not overpowering. Â The portions are always generous and I take at least half of my meal home for lunch the next day. Â They have great to go containers that can be put in the microwave and dishwasher. Â That is just an added perk in my opinion.
If you want quick service than this may not be the best place for you. Â I find that it is a great place to sit and relax and many times we ask our server to wait to put our order into the kitchen. Â There are no TV's in the dining room, keno or any other of distractions. Â It is good old fashioned, homemade dining at its best!
I called the day of to make reservations for seven on a Thursday night. No problems, even when we showed up 15 minutes late.
A fantastic welcome from a great staff. The decor was pretty basic (maybe some murals on the wall would help) and the service was really very attentive with numerous refills on drinks, no problems with separate bills and lots of bread refills without any raised eyebrows.
On to the food: top notch! Absolutely fantastic! Free starter of fresh bread with an olive oil/spice mixture and they even gave the recipe when asked!
Salads were excellent with salad dressing on the side (honey vinaigrette was yummy). Â I didn't try the soups, but others said they were good.
On to the main courses. I had trouble choosing from the tempting selection, but the linguine with mussels was shockingly good. Spicy! But I had been warned by the server when I placed my order and I wasn't disappointed. I'm from the Midwest so it's not hard to get spice for me and it was enough to be exciting but not overwhelming. I had a bite of the lobster ravioli and while I don't usually like ravioli of any kind, this was fantastic!
No room for desert and big enough portions to make a full second meal. Price was very reasonable with everyone averaging about $20-$25 with 20% tip, taxes and drinks included.
I'm from California now, but I look forward to the eight hour plane ride to enjoy this local MA cuisine. Thank you, Cristina's!
A great independent Italian restaurant. Â I can be pretty picky about Italian food, and don't like chain restaurants of any variety. Â I was pleasantly surprised to stumble across this gem in Leominster. Â Its often busy on a Friday night, but we never seem to have to wait to be seated. Â Not a huge menu, but the service is good and the food is even better. Â Decent size portions, tons of flavor, reasonable prices. Â I am a huge fan!
Review Source:I was terribly dissapointed with my visit to Cristina's. After reading all the great reviews, I had to give it a shot. The menu wasn't bad but the service was less than okay and the quality of food was dissapointing.
Sometimes I chalk up my disappointments to my rather unique palate, but my palate cannot be blamed for warm shrimp cocktail. It was obviously thawed under warm water or in a microwave. At least put the little creatures on some ice! The waitress brought salads on HOT plates- cold salad on plates straight out of the dishwasher. When she threw my plate at the table, my fork fell off and slid across the table. She responded with "oops" and walked away. Dinner was salmon with some sort of sauce. Salmon was obviously farm raised and the veggies in the sauce were definitely canned variety . The food was very low quality and preparation was questionable. Combined with the fact that the restaurant is decorated like an old lady's house, I just wanted to pay my bill and get the hell out. Not for me and I won't be back.
I'm going to preface this review by stating that I come from an Italian family so am obviously very picky when it comes to Italian restaurants. Â With that being said, I would prefer going to an Olive Garden over this place any day of the week.
We had a party of 14 and called and made a reservation about a week in advance. Â They set up a long table for us right in the main dining room with one side of the table along a wall. Â Normally I wouldn't have a problem with that except that the table was close to the wall that if one person had to get up (or if you wanted to talk to someone at the other end of the table) everyone along the wall had to get up so they could get out. Â It was like a bad game of musical chairs and took some of the relaxation out of the dinner for those who constantly had to stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down........ And we couldn't move the table out any further because the other side was a main aisle.
As mentioned, we made a reservation - they knew how many of us were going to be there. Â Our waitress was beyond flustered. Â Everything took forever: getting water, getting drinks, she would forget drinks, she wasn't aware when we needed refills. Â And our meals took FOREVER. Â Yes, we were a decent sized party but the restaurant wasn't that busy. Â
The biggest disappointment was when the meals came out, the food was just blah. Â There just wasn't much for taste, everything was bland, the tomato sauce was worst than canned and the portions were on the skimpy side.
This was my first dining experience here and will definitely be my last.
We love this hidden jewel ,we have had all our special parties booked at this restaurant, never had a problem, food is always good.. we go there often to dine to , so if in leominster  yo u have to try it,  they also do catering for your party at home or rent the upstairs for private parties
Review Source:Great dining experience at Cristina's Restaurant in Leominster MA!!!
We thought we would give them a try based on good Yelp reviews!!
We called and reserved a booth.They were happy to take the reservation and we were there on time and  were seated right away by their very friendly staff .
Our waiter Brandon, came over almost right away, and took our order for beverages and brought over bread and dipping oil. The bread was excellent, and perfect for dipping. Really crusty and soft inside.
I selected salad with balsamic dressing with my meal. The salad with field greens had balsamic dressing that was home made and delicious. My husband had the home made chicken soup which was also very very good.
I ordered the Chicken Piccata which was made in a rich pan sauce, with just the right amount of lemon and butter and very, very tasty. The chicken was nicely browned. It came with roasted potatoes and green beans....All were very good and right up my alley, as I hate when my only choice is pasta as a side.
My husband got Veal Parmesan. He said it tasted just like his grandmother made it!!! .....I've never heard him compare any veal Parmesan to his grandmothers!!!. He had the home made linguine with his, which he ate all of. He never eats the pasta. He said the home made pasta was delicious.
We did not opt for dessert this go around, but am sure the desserts measure up to the deliciousness of the entrees.
Our bill was roughly around $40.00 (with out tip) which was very reasonable considering we loved our entrees.
Although the portions were not gargantuous, they were most definitely very good sized. To us, its not the quantity of food you get, its the quality of food you get, and this place was great!
Lastly, our server Brandon, was one the most polite and efficient waiters we've ever had....I made a comment to my husband early on, that his polite manners alone is good for a healthy tip. He came back at just the right times, and was right there when we needed him. He rounded out the whole dining experience.
We will definitely be back again, even though its a little drive for us, it's well worth it.
Our favorite local Italian restaurant!!! Â Food quality is always consistently excellent as are the staff's happy and helpful attitudes. Â Though we seldom bring our young son (no Mac and cheese or hotdogs on the menu....) that makes it extra special for us too as we can enjoy a glass of wine and savor every bite without distraction....
Review Source:I've only been there for breakfast since I live out of town, but each time I've eaten there, I've been quite pleased. Â During my most recent visit I tried Cristina's quiche ... mmm ... bacon, tomato and cheddar; it was cooked perfectly - not too firm, not too soft and no brown crispiness around the edges! Â My mom - a regular at Cristina's - had an egg sandwich, which was a new item for her, and she said it was really good and really substantial. Â The coffee's always good and keeps coming as often as you need and Cristina's baked goods (even the day-old ones) can't be beat. Â The spice donuts pair well with coffee. Â As I said, I've never been there for another meal, but the breakfasts have been five-star experiences for me so far. Â I think my mom would agree too.
Review Source:Nice place. Dim lighting, average beer selection and great bread and oil to start. Eggplant Parma was average. Chicken broccolli Alfredo was average. Calmari pasta with garlic sauce was average. Appetizers were a stuffed mushroom that reminded me of beefaroni. Â Overall a good local italian place.
Review Source:We won a gift certificate to Cristina's so we decided to try it on Friday night. Â We were warmly greeted at the door by the hostess. Â The waitress came right over and took our drink orders. Â Their wine selection wasn't great, but that was our only complaint. Â Dinner was fantastic. Â I had the risotto of the day. Â It had prosciutto, chicken and peas. Â It was very good. Â My husband had the pork tenderloin with balsamic glaze special. That, too, was delicious. Â The house salads were very cold and crisp. Â All of the entrees that passed our table looked amazing.
The atmosphere was a little dark ( a perfect place for a secret meeting).
We look forward to going back to Cristina's.
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