Cristina's - Leominster

Service: Dine-in Meal type: Dinner Price per person: $100+ Food: 5 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 3 Recommended dishes: Homemade Pasta

Service: Dine-in Meal Type: Dinner Price per person: $20–30 Food: 5 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 5

The management and customer service were extremely lacking. This was my first visit, and after waiting an hour for our waitress to take our drink orders—without any sign of her—I decided to leave. It's disappointing, as I've heard great things about the food, but I never got the chance to try it, and I won’t be returning. I noticed several other customers who also hadn’t had their orders taken. Overall, it was a very unsatisfactory dine-in experience.

I opted for the Chicken Piccata that I used to enjoy so much, but I found it to be quite different this time. It came with two small pieces of chicken in a sauce that was very watery, resembling chicken broth. There were just a few capers sprinkled on the chicken. If I had paired the piccata with pasta, the watery sauce wouldn’t have adhered to it at all—and it hardly qualified as a sauce. There was no wine reduction and no butter present, which left it feeling very uninspiring. The first piece of chicken I tried had an odd, chewy texture, while the second smaller piece was a bit better. I finished them, but only to avoid leaving food on my plate. Overall, I was pretty disappointed with the presentation of the Chicken Piccata. A proper piccata sauce should include wine reduction and butter; using the entire can of broth is not the way to go. Next time, I’ll have to try something different, though my husband thoroughly enjoyed his Veal Parmesan. The drinks were excellent, and I had a side salad with balsamic dressing that was very good. The bread was outstanding, served with delicious garlic oil. Additionally, the restaurant was very clean.

The food lacked flavor, and the restaurant was quite noisy due to a large, rowdy party. Our server informed us that we had only five minutes to place our order at 8:35, despite the fact that the restaurant closes at 9:00. Additionally, when we requested more bread, we were told there was none left. The server noticed we had barely touched our meals but did not inquire as to why.