Dinner at Christo's

Having heard rumors that Christo's was home to the best pizza in Salem if figured I'd give them a try. Pizza is of course the topic of serious debate and having lived in New York City I'd like to think that a few great slices have passed across my lips!

Five of us walked into the restaurant that had a pretty good buzz..clearly Salem is excited that new dining options are arising. The first thing we noticed was the heat, the whole room felt like an oven, much hotter inside than out. Hmmm....come august this would be unbearable

Sat down, water appeared promptly..thankfully. Quick perusal of the menu, the usual pizza, selection of salads, appetizers a few entrees, pasta. I thought this looks great, simple, something for everyone, so far so good.

As our waiter came over we'd already made some decisions and some involved pizza. "Welcome to Christo's, just want to tell you we have no small pizza's left" Hmmm..pizza place, running out of pizza, are the doughs premade? Brought in from outside? Strange!

Another waiter comes over, "problem solved, small pizzas are now available"..

First waiter returns, we try and order a small pizza, "Sorry we are out!" "Are you sure?" He was sure. We are now a bit annoyed but he tries to make things right, "I'll bring a larges for the same price as smalls"....Ok we think, but he senses our irritation and in a bewildered tone he echos our thoughts, "I don't understand why we can make a large but not a small" Neither could we as we watched the cook spin dough in the air.

Appetizers were fine. House salads were exactly that. Caesar salad had a strong garlic taste, a hint of anchovy, creamy texture to the dressing, a hint of lemon and the right amount of cheese. Sadly, the flavor was marred by the fact that the romaine was soggy. If I had to guess I would say that the salad had been scooped out of a premade batch that had been sitting for a while in the heat. No excuse for this.

Bread with a white bean salad was the best of all but needed just a bit more acid. A touch of lemon or vinegar would have brought this to life.

Food arrives, pasta with mushrooms, cured ham, onions in a cream sauce. The verdict..OK, somewhat bland, ham very dry and mushrooms tasted like they had been dried and reconstituted. Portion size enormous!

Veal Marsala is tender and accompanied by a well seasoned sauce. Side was risotto which was barely palatable. It had a strange metallic taste and unpleasant texture. Appeared to have been scooped out of a bucket and reheated. Bad, bad, bad

Pizzas were OK, some thought they were quite good, others thought the sauce was lacking in salt.
Crust was chewy with a crisp underside. Toppings were a bit stingy. Certainly not anything I would rave about but not disappointing.

Desserts were clearly brought in from outside. Creme brulee that was fine, a flourless chocolate cake that was very rich and not overly sweet and a limoncello raspberry dessert that also was acceptable but would have benefitted from being completely defrosted before serving

Was this meal on the whole good? No, not really. Was it a victim of opening week jitters? Perhaps it was. The pizza confusion was a farce. I'm still waiting to understand the logic. Soggy salad, no excuse. Risotto is a dish that needs to be made a la minute so I can't imagine a worse side dish. Simply a bad idea.

To their credit they did try to make things right, desserts were comped and the prices were adjusted. Did this want to make us return? Not sure, certainly given the lack of alternatives we probably will give them another try but we hope to see improvements