Christian Michael’s Ristorante

As a bartender myself, I can say that the bartenders Vincent and Liz are truly professionals and I enjoyed my time I spent with them. There are few places in Chico where you can get a good cocktail.

Hmm. the whole restaurant has a lot of potential, but to be honest, it didn’t really spark a flame. I went here with family for my cousin’s graduation: it was packed and we had to make a reservation a couple months prior. The staff and waiter were nice and friendly, I’ll give it that, but before we were done with our food, the waiter came by to get everything while we were still eating. Maybe he was in a rush to clean tables and make more room for other customers but we thought it was a little rude. All of the food was good, nothing spectacular. I ordered their salmon dish and upon getting it, it was undercooked (one of my biggest pet peeve’s with fish.) They sent it back and offered me a crab cake while my food was being cooked; I thought that was very generous and kind of them. I think everyone else thought the food was just alright. Nothing over the top. For the minimalistic menu and the price, I’d put your money at Smokin Mo’s or Burgers and Brews down the street.

I’m extremely disappointed with this place. The service is absolute garbage. We had to wait over 2 hours for our food to arrive. On top of that, they messed up the orders. It is absolutely ridiculous how long the wait was. Will never return.

Food was amazing and our waiter was a saint. He was very patient with my dining companion, who is extremely picky and difficult to please. I will eat here as much as I can.
I also enjoy eating here in the bar. The brunch is out of this world.

My boyfriend and I visited on a slow Wednesday night. We sat in the bar area as to be able to order the small plates. We got the calamari and bruschetta to start with. Both were delicious and arrived at our table promptly (slow night). I, then, ordered the risotto and added sausage. It’s was splendid (Not able to eat it all but it made for a nice lunch the next day). My boyfriend ordered the special of the nice (a cod dish) and loved it as well. We ended the meal with a crème brûlée that was SO good. The custard was the right thickness along with the amount of caramelized sugar on top. Overall a delicious meal! The service was nice and quick. This visit definitely gets a 5star!

We 3 had a very pleasant experience here Saturday 6pm. Wanted to watch the NBA playoff game so we ordered from full menu and ate at the bar. The specialty cocktail w/​vodka, grapefruit, rhubarb bitters was very yummy. Beers were great. Bartenders are friendly, and the food was super good. One ordered a small plate for under $ 10 (pork shank over risotto w/​greens), the beef tenderloin was super good and the fish w/​pesto dish was very tasty. Total for those 3 meals, 4 beers and 1 cocktail was $ 97. A very enjoyable birthday dinner for my son, thank you.

When I visit my sister in Chico we always go to Christian Michael’s at least once for drinks and small plates in the bar. I like the atmosphere and the Manhattans (alway my litmus test for a good bar) were just as they should be. We had the calamari, margharita pizza, and caesar salad and it all tasted great. My only minor complaint would be that I asked for anchovies on the salad and only got one! Maybe they were running out — who knows? But, it was a good anchovy, I will give it that. The server was attentive and service was quick though the bar was nearly full when we arrived.
It’s been a while since I had dinner in the dining area so I can’t speak to that. The place was filling up quickly when we left about 7 pm on a Friday night.

The food here is amazing and the drinks are all handcrafted! They also have the best happy hour in town and late night happy hour from 9−11pm!

My husband and I wanted to go on a romantic date night. We decide to go to Christian Michaels. The service was a below average. Our waters set empty most of our meal. Our waitress was void of any personality. She did take out order and serve the food. She came by and ask how our meal was about 15 minutes into our meals. I told her then that everything tastes good but I was disappointed that my filet mignon was burnt and dry. It was past well done. I had asked for medium well but it had zero pinkness to it. She said sorry and she would mention it to someone. My husband had beef tenderloin. He asked for med rare and his was closer to me well the med even. I have had better Service at a diner. I won’t be recommending dinning hear to anyone and won’t be returning. Overall very disappointed!

I came here with my boyfriend and brought a bottle of Napa wine to enjoy. Corkage fee is $ 15, which is unavoidable in Chico (did my research). The ambiance was classy, and perfect to celebrate a special occasion without breaking the bank. The Smoked Chicken Artichoke Heart Fettuccini was delicious! The Beef Bistro Tenderloin was on the saltier side, but still enjoyable. Reviews seem to show that customer service is hit-​or-​miss. We both personally had a great experience with waiters at the restaurant! However. when my boyfriend called to make a reservation, he was placed on hold for over 8 minutes and eventually hung up. I then called and was able to book a reservation. All in all, we enjoyed our night at Christian Michael’s.

my husband and i celebrated our 3^rd wedding anniversary tonight. had a wonderful meal and the service was outstanding! can’t wait to come here again! Vince was in the bar, Mason was our server and Mathew was super! such a great evening from cocktails to dessert!

I tried this place for the first time today and I was surprised at how bad the service is. I don’t even know if we had a server, we couldn’t get help from anyone. Disappointing because the food was really good but I have no desire to go back here and be ignored again.

Ate here for the first time for my wife’s b-​day. We have heard good things about it but our go to place for special occasions in 5^th Street Steakhouse. I would say it is a solid 3 stars. Food was not bad and the prices are cheaper than 5^th street. I still would say overall I like the food at 5^th Street better. Honestly I don’t know if I would ever go back not because I thought things were bad but nothing was that special either.

We came here on New Year’s eve. It was really busy and we have a misunderstanding about the time of our reservation but the kind staff figured something out for us. We sat at the bar while waiting for our table and had a glass of Pinot… the wine is great!
We were sat on our table after 15 minutes, ordered the sashimi and Caesar salad for appetizers… realy great!
And for the main entrée, we both have the fillet mignon and lobters. Awesome taste! We thought we’re full but managed to order crème brulle and cheesecake with coffee. Wow! This is the first time we had a full course at a restaurant.
This restaurant… I just can’t find anything negative to say! From the receptionist, the bartender, the waiter and the crew… they all did an awesome job of making the diners happy. The ambiance is also outstanding. We will definitely come back to try other food on their menu.
Thanks to our waiter and the crew! You deserve more than 5 stars!

Wow, where to begin?
Last night was my first (and last) visit to Christian Michael’s. First of all, the group I was with had a 5:00 dinner reservation for a pre-​retirement dinner for a co-​worker. We started our visit off in the bar at 4:30 and the wait staff failed to apprise us of our table being ready. It took someone in the group making an inquiry of them at 5:15 or so as to when our table would be ready, and low and behold! It had been ready all along! This delay along with perhaps being short staffed and a sudden onslaught of patrons that supposedly had some performance at the university to get to, caused us to be utterly and completely ignored for FORTY MINUTES after receiving our menus.
Yes, you read that correctly and there are 11 other people that can attest to the above. It was like we were invisible. We received our menus and water and even after bringing it to two different employees’ attention at several points in time that we had not had our orders taken yet, it was STILL another fifteen minutes after the second apprising that we finally were helped. People seated after us received their meals long before our orders were taken. I felt like I was in some sort of bizarre Twilight Zone episode. I was tempted to strip down to my undies, climb up on the table and «whip and nae nae» and then when THAT finally got someone’s attention I would have said that I wanted to see if maybe we truly WERE in fact invisible.
After orders were taken it probably took another 20 minutes just to get our salads. All in all, we spent over 3 hours in the dining room, watching people come and go. How can a table right in the middle of a room with 12 women seated at it be so overlooked? Whatever problems/​difficulties were occurring last night, no one proactively attempted to communicate anything to us until the very tail end of night (after we had been there a total of 4 hours) when a waitress or shift manager (?) came to the table and went into a long diatribe regarding all of the reasons that things went awry earlier. Too much, too little too late and as such, actually only served as a disruption at that point.
No complaints about the food.
The only compensation offered for the very poor service provided was to reduce or eliminate the mandatory gratuity, which of course would then penalize the cook staff as well which wouldn’t have been fair to them. A reduction in the bill prior to gratuity or the offer of a gift card seems like it would have been a very simple yet appropriate gesture under the circumstances.

Dined there this evening with a party of eight. I’ll start by saying the waiter did a good job. The bill was over $ 400. We all had gift cards that were bought from C.M.and from Costco worth over $ 400. When the bill came we were told they would only accept $ 200 worth of gift cards per table-​WTF kind of scam are these people trying to pull. they are gift cards bought and payed for. The host, manager, or what ever his title is, Has got to be the rudest most condescending piece of crap I’ve ever dealt with. They finally agreed to take the cards after a phone call to Christian (bullshit). And after all that they made a $ 40 mistake on the bill. Needless to say I won’t be back and I’d think twice before buying their gift cards. And before I forget, after being treated like crap and over charged, an 18% gratuity was figured into the bill.

I would have given 4 stars except for the following…
A few weeks ago I attended a Birthday Brunch for a very special person who was celebrating their 30^th Birthday. Yes, reservations were made. Yes, a deposit was put down. The service was excellent. However, just because not everyone ordered food it triggered Management to charge $ 12 a person for every person who did not order food. Over 20 people were in attendance and 15+ people did order food. One in particular, who did not order food was a child with diabetes.
Christian Michael — you serve decent food. The atmosphere is good. The service from both servers were awesome! We paid well over the 18% gratuity. The ball is in your court to do the right thing now…
It’s not like half the party was a no show or didn’t order food… just a couple plus a CHILD who is diabetic did not eat for one reason or another.

This place is one of my favorites in Chico! Awesome food, great happy hour, amazing staff:
A+++ keep it up! P. S… a little secret is they have the BEST TACO TUESDAY in town and they have a different special every Tuesday!

I have always loved this place for their Happy Hour. I like to bring friends visiting from out of town or for a nice Girls Night Out.
The small plates menu has some wonderful offerings at very reasonable prices. There is also an impressive wine selection.
My last visit here… not so great. We had gone to a Sunday afternoon movie and then thought we’d have a cocktail and share some small plates.
The bartender seemed to be too busy with his friends checking on videos on each other’s phones to be bothered with us.
When I asked him about something I saw on the website, he told me, «that’s just a generalization… beside no one has looked at our website in like 5 years»
Really? !? Why would I have mentioned seeing something on your website unless I had actually looked at it myself?
Overall review, still a great atmosphere and excellent value during happy hour. Service, not so much.
**Update…I have gone back a couple of times since this review. The problem must have just been that experience as the service has returned to stellar. Again, I think the happy hour here is one of the best in Chico. A fantastic value and excellent selection. They have a very impressive wine selection, and an array of hand crafted cocktails. Thanks Christian Michael for raising the bar!

Dined here last night. Had a party 7. Service was super slow, food average.
FYI– * they also have additional fees for «split meals», 18% gratuity for larger parties & a wine cork charge. Check the website for all added costs*