Newish Restaurant in Wallingford CT
DH and I have now dined at J. Christian's in downtown Wallingford on two occassions-once for dinner, and today for lunch. Both times were were very happy with our meals/service/overall experience, and I recommend this restaurant for almost any occasion.
To those of you unfamaliar with the building, it is in a converted bank-think old-school bank type building-lots of wood, marble, stained glass, etc. They did extensive renovations and improvements (adding a sweeping staircase for example) and the overall effect is absolutely stunning! very nicely deocorated, and if you sit upstairs quite cozy and intimate (not in a bad/overcrowded way). Nice place to take a date!
I think the cuisine would be best described as 'new American (http://www.jchristians.com/menus.html
)For our first experience, we went to dinner over Thankgiving weekend with another couple, and while it was quite crowded and a bit on the noisy side it was really. really enjoyable. It did strike us as odd that they do not seem to offer wine by the bottle--but they do have nice offerings by the glass. We all enjoyed our meals and I seem to remember it costing about $80 per couple.
We went for lunch today, and they have a wide variety of lunch offerings- salads and sandwiches, 'flatbreads' as well as full entrees. Lunch today for the two of us with two glasses of wine each (Don't judge us-we are on vacation!!) was $60 with the tip (DH is a solid 20% tipper).
I would be interested to hear others' experiences, as the place has gotten decidedly mixed reviews on Yelp..
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I feel they should have the lunch menu available for those who do not want to spend alot on the Dinner menu.
The prices are way to high for Wallingford .
Then again it seems they are going for a very different crowd one that is more upscale which is ok if thats what your looking to do. -
I just looked at the menu (which seems very ambitious for Wallingford, which has traditionally been a very "blue collar restaurant" town. While a number of the menu items seem very interesting, I cannot help but to wonder if their pricing will be supported by the typical Wallingford restaurant goer (mains $22 - $30).
I am guessing that they are aiming a bit too high...
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re: lsnhc
Yeah- it is a bit pricey- but wallingford is becoming a more bedroom community, with $400 k houses being built all over the place. They are not that much more expensive than Michael's (http://www.michaelstrattoria.com/) , which is around the corner, or Gaetano's Taven on Main ( http://gaetanostavern.com/menu ), which is across the street. I think the atmosphere and food is better than at either of those places. I do hope they do well!
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