Michelina’s

A wonderful place to have dinner. The food was superb and the service to match. Served immediately after being prepared. Did not sit under warming lights. We had the sea bass over linguine with a delicious sauce, not too heavy just perfect. After the dinner the waitress came out with a cordial to send us on our way. It was on the house. A very pleasant surprise. I look forward to a return visit.

First time there after seeing on Check Please AZ. Service extremely slow. Very noisy. Was very busy Sat. night. After 15 min with no one asking us for a drink order, had to ask a busboy to find our waiter. We had the fish special and the Veal Parm. The veal was average at best with average pasta side. The red sauce was good. The Fish special sounded good but was average at best. My wife and I agreed that we would not go back.

We thought we’d try it for Jamie’s 17^th birthday after seeing it on Check Please, service sucked. Forgot our hosts beverage and compd it, thank you. Food sub par. Never going back. Tutti Santi 10x better for the price, service, location.

As I gave a presentation early in the week on Memorable Customer Service. A woman mentioned this place. I am delighted by the food, and especially the service! Wonderful find. Support local business, and having amazing cuisine makes it easier.

After seeing so many 5 stars on Unilocal and craving some good italian food, Michelina’s was a no-​brainer. Arrived right on time with a 6:30PM reservation and they took us the moment we arrived. The place looked nice with white tablecloths and beautiful fresh flowers throughout. We sat on chairs that were so comfortable that we felt the owners really considered their customers’ comfort. We ordered a house chianti which was delicious and were provided a bread basket that had the most delicious bread. I don’t know for sure but it might be from Noble Bakery. We made a mix of olive oil, salt and pepper on our appetizer plates and had a dunk-​fest with that great bread. All entrees come with a salad which was fresh and had the most delicious balsamic-​based dressing. I’m not crazy about balsamic but this dressing was really good. It took about 1 hour for us to get our entrees but we realized that home cooking along with the crowd made for a slow turn-​around. Hubby ordered Halibut Puttanesca, one of the special, which was accompanied by a little pasta. I ordered the Chicken Sorrentino which also came with pasta. I have one word for both dishes. UNDER-​SEASONED. My husband was silent while eating… that means one thing… either it is so delicious he can’t stop eating… or he is trying to cope with an unsatisfying dish. So I asked, how is your halibut? He said OK. So I asked a more meaningful question: Would you order it again? To which I received a quick, NO. I asked to taste his dish. I thought the puttanesca sauce was good although a little vinegary. The halibut was almost without salt. I might even venture to say that it had no salt. Saltless halibut takes like nothing. Any food without salt is tasteless. Either the cook thought that the capers and olives might over salt the dish or s/​he is cooking for people with high blood pressure. I really hate tasteless fish.
My dish suffered from the same ailment. The chicken had no salt, the eggplant in it had no salt. Only the proscuitto in the dish had any salt. Did the cook think the proscuitto’s saltiness would be imparted to the chicken and the eggplant? Not so my dear, not so. So I ate the pasta which accompanied my dish and that was it for dinner. Glad I ate bread at the beginning of the meal as well as the salad. You might say I had a vegetarian meal. The Service provided by Joe was spot-​on. Otherwise, it was a disappointing meal for both of us.

A very good Italian restaurant near where we stayed during a conference in Phoenix. I would say very old style Italian as it was very dimly lit and had that ambiance about it that definitely is not modern or fast food bright and slick. The food was very nicely done and the service was impeccable.
We tried the Oysters Michelina, supposedly inspired by a dream of the chef. They were outstanding, one of the best baked oyster dishes we have tried and it’s hard to beat what you find in New Orleans. I had my reservations since Phoenix is a long way from the ocean. The chef should keep on dreaming.
We stuck with the classic Italian dishes. My lasagna was very good and my son tried the veal parmigiana. Wonderful house bread and butter and a glass of house Chianti rounded out a perfect Italian meal.

Interesting soothing décor makes me feel at home when growing up as a first generation Italian American. Both parents from Napoli Chicciano and Ischia.
Cuisine reminiscent of home

Terrific meal, family owned, the cook came out and talked with our group!

My daughter and my first time here. AMAZING!
My daughter keeps on saying that she hopes to be engaged here! (me too! Haha)
Food, wine and ambience is wonderful.
We are from NY and very reminiscent of a NYC/​Bronx mom and pop establishment.
Plates are clean!
Will be back!

After hearing from my parents how amazing this place was we decided to give it a try. It is small and intimate and exactly what you would expect a family owned Italian restaurant to be. The food was delicious (both of us had lasagna and both of us cleaned our bowls). The dessert was amazing (cheesecake was fantastic) and the after dinner drinks were a fun touch. We will return and often. I can’t believe I never tried this place before!

I love Italian food and my boyfriend is always looking for new places to try, so we went here NYE. Dinner was amazing. It was a set menu for the holiday like many restaurants do, but excellent nonetheless. All of the staff gave the impression that they have been working at Michelina’s a long time, and genuinely happy to be there, despite it being a holiday.

We found this place through the great reviews on Unilocal.We are always looking for tasty and authentic Italian food. We split a caesar salad and I enjoyed the penne di casa… a large portion that was so tasty. This is definitely a great neighborhood find and it seems to have a great following of regulars to enjoy this great and reasonably priced food. The restaurant could definitely use an upgrade, but the food is good enough to overlook the décor (or lack thereof).

This was my first time here. The service is top notch! My water glass never empty. I had the green lipped muscles in white sauce for an appetizer. It was absolutely delicious! My mom ordered the bruschetta. It was also delicious. I ordered the special veal osobucco, which was also scrumptious. Mom ordered the angel hair pasta with grilled chicken. She said it was delicious. I will definitely be back to try more menu items.
I highly recommend reservations. It fills up fast! You can useYelp to make reservations. An hour before our reservation I received a text asking to confirm or cancel. Very convenient.

Excellent Italian food. We had the cannelloni and the lamb chops. Everything was cooked perfectly. Service was great. Everything was home made. Cant wait to go back.

Had a very good experience approximately a year ago and decided to go there for Mother’s Day. What a miserable experience!
I don’t think that they can handle a full restaurant. The service was terrible and the food was below average. The Salmon Special was very fishy and the chicken dish i ordered was dry and didn’t taste very good. Nobody at our table enjoyed their meal. We chose the worst to complain about and they did take the Salmon off the bill. The waiter said that nobody else complained about it. I find that hard to believe. As we were exiting the restaurant the fishy odor was so strong we could hardly breathe. The bread and salad were good and the fresh flowers very pretty, but the food wasn’t. It took over an hour to be served and the order wasn’t right, when we got it.
So disappointed! We all left feeling hungry.

Okay… The only reason I did not give five stars is because of the desert. Everything else was perfect. We loved the décor the feeling we got there everything was great. The food was outstanding we had to travel quite a ways to get there it was well worth the travel. We ordered the desert that everybody talk about on Unilocal the custard. We think it might’ve been the day before’s custard because it was watery at the bottom. We would not let this from stop us from going back.
Our waitress was very well spoken and was very informed. Made us feel very welcome and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Funny we read a lot of stuff about Brad the waiter and she ended up being his stepdaughter she was a great waitress too.
Feel bad I have to get four stars because of the desert but I have to be honest for my fellow Unilocalers.

There are few places in this city which can truly transport you to the country of culinary origin and Michelina’s does just that. Michelina is the owner and chef (if you couldn’t tell by the restaurant name) and she made it her personal duty to meet us with every dish she prepared and ensure its taste to our delight. She cooks all of the food and even hand picks and prepares the flower arrangements that are placed throughout her restaurant. She was born and raised in Southern Italy and knows her Italian cuisine (I know this because she took the time to simply chat with us; her passion for pleasing her customers is palpable). I will have a hard time enjoying everyday food after now tasting true quality. This is a fantastic place where my wife and I will be enjoying dinners for many years to come.

Don’t let the location put you off. It’s in a run down, dinky strip center, but the restaurant itself is very nice.
The staff was very friendly, professional and attentive. The food was also very good. Our group had the salmon, veal Marsala and Lasagna. All were very tasty and included salads. They don’t have a kids menu, but my 8 & 10 yr olds had no problem finding something they liked on the menu.
Portion sizes were just right, except for the Lasagna which was huge! Prices were on par with similar nice restaurants in Phoenix/​Scottsdale area.

Unbelievable food! The oysters Michelina is some of the most amazing food I’ve had in a long time! The family atmosphere and personal service make me feel like a vip!

On a trip to Arizona we looked for an Italian restaurant and scored a big hit !!
Probably a nice a dinner as I have had in years. We were able to enjoy our cocktails and not be rushed to place our order. Excellent salad; outstanding Banfi (from Italy) wine; the veal parmigiana was to die for!
The Owner /​Chef was the perfect host … the complimentary after dinner drink was a plus.
The prices were reasonable, the service terrific and the dinner was great.