Checkers

Terrible and slow service with a don’t care attitude. Ok food.
We ordered 2 pizza’s (1 pesto for the adults and 1 cheese for the kids) and 2 drinks, after 15 mins of waiting and hungry kids, only the pesto pizza showed up and 1 drink. Reminded our server for the other drink and she said ‘oh yeah, I will get it’ and got it with ice when I had specifically asked for no ice. 5 mins of waiting for cheese pizza and it was a no show, just like our server.
After asking around located hard-​to-​find server and she nonchalantly says ‘oh yeah, I will add it’
What? You didn’t add it till now? No apology?
We noticed other tables were served complimentary bread. When we asked why wasn’t our table served, the server replied ‘we don’t serve bread to tables who order pizza’
But that didn’t stop them from adding a 18% tip!
By then I was furious and when I mentioned the double botched simple order on 2 pizza and 2 drinks, and asked for the manager, the server says she is the manager and said you can pay whatever you like.
She further added their credit card machine was busted so they can only accept cash.
Paid full amount and left them a $ 1 tip.

The waiter was nice. That’s the reason for the three stars. But the food was bland. Had salad and pizza. The pizza really needed some seasoning and pizzaz.

Worst service. Pizza was super salty and chicken Marsala tasted bland. The complementary bread was decent but had to ask twice for it. Again horrible service

After many good memories of eating at Checkers, my family won’t be returning any time soon. I don’t know if the chef has changed or if we simply made bad choices, but most of the dishes we ordered were awful. My kids ordered spaghetti and meatballs and both kept complaining about the taste. Turns out the meatballs were terrible. They were sweet because they had dried currants in them! The accompanying marinara sauce was also underwhelming. The boys left the meatballs mostly untouched and the adults didn’t want them either.
Then my mother in law ordered a firecracker chicken pasta. It was inedible. It was overly sweet – as if the chef had dumped a jar of Asian sweet sauce over the pasta. We also left most of that dish on the plate.
My own linguine carbonara was delicious, but the inconsistency in the dishes makes it too much of a risk to try again. After 20 years of living here, I can say this was the most disappointing restaurant experience I’ve had in the Napa Valley.

Walked in on a Sunday evening place was quit. We ordered the bacon Mac n cheese a calizone and the carbenerra. All of them were delicious even the bread was very good. I wish there was one of these by my house. Top notch food.

If you’re looking to waste time waiting for your food and pretty crappy service, look no further — you can come here! My husband and I came here with our small kiddos for dinner on a Thursday night. The place wasn’t packed, so we were hoping not to spend a ton of time there.
Wrong.
While we were seated immediately, our waiter (Raul) took forever to take our order. Our appetizer (bruschetta) took over 20 mins to get. Someone please tell me why two pieces of bread, fresh mozzarella, and tomatoes need that much time to make? We already had the oil and vinaigrette at the table, LOL.
Thankfully, there was a woman coming to check up on us a lot, which was nice. Sometimes she was a little too on it as she would take utensils we were using.
After more time passed — including a large party of 12 or so people coming and being served with food, and a couple coming in and being served with food — our table FINALLY received our meal. I was surprised how small my piece of salmon was, but thought it was fresh and simple (not a bad thing). The sautéed spinach, however, was completely flavorless. Our kids’ pizza (regular pizza off the menu) was pretty good. My husband’s calzone was big and horrible. Note to the chef: it’s always a good idea to space out the pepperoni, not cake it all on one side so the other is completely bare.
Once our meal was done, it took an additional 15 mins go flag down our waiter, and another 10 to get our receipt back.
I don’t know what was going on. All I can say is the service was so slow, my 2-​year-​old boy got tired of waiting and fell asleep (true story). Maybe if our kids were loud and crazy we would’ve gotten better service. Our waiter never came to check on us, never offered to refill a drink, and brought a dish of butter when I asked for water.
With so many places to eat downtown, there are plenty of others who will treat you right. Don’t waste your time here unless you have time to waste.

Food aside, a 2 star is warranted because the service was terrible. Once seated, we waited 5 minutes for 2 glasses of water, another 15 minutes for 2 side salads, then an additional 15 minutes for a 9″ pizza. The waitress never refilled the water… we had to seek it out. She asked if we needed plates for our pizza, which we did. She never brought plates– we had to take the bread plates off another pre– set table. table. Terrible!!! As for food, the salads were less than average. The pizza was actually pretty good, but not worth a 45
wait.

Had the garlic shrimp and angel hair. Taste was OK but the pasta was to hot to eat. Had to wait a long time for it to cool enough. And the parmesean was not fresh but served in a shaker. I expect more than that here

Excellent service. Comfortable interior. Delicious pepperoni pizza and fresh house salad. Good beer and wine selection. Odd disconnect between the name ~ which sounds like a classic dinner ~ and the fact that Checkers is a nice little Italian restaurant. When we went into the restaurant at 5p on a Saturday, no one was seated yet. I didn’t know if the place was open. Friendly staff. Interior is so large that it needs to fill up or looks empty. Just go in. Food is solid. I watched people look at the menu and walk by. I wanted to go out and pull people in and just say, «Trust me.»

We were in the mood for Italian food. We stepped foot in the first Italian place we saw, Boskos. After being ignored for 15 minutes by multiple waiters and treated like we were invisible, we left and came to Checkers instead.
It was like divine intervention.
We fell in love with this place (and their bread). I ordered the ravioli aurora which I could honestly say is the best ravioli I have EVER eaten. My lady ordered the small napa valley salad which was surprisingly hearty and exceedingly delicious. For just $ 8, she was expecting a tiny side salad, but it came in a decent size. Dessert was a decadent New York style cheesecake with a tart berry drizzle. We finished the meal with a cup of coffee, which was delicious and brewed fresh to serve.
We will definitely come back again. Thank you for the fantastic dining experience, and for not ignoring your customers! Also, Checkers really set the bar for free restaurant bread. That bread was seriously exceptional!

Food was good but terrible service. Waited 20 minutes for the bill and another 10 for the receipt.

Great food! Cute little place came in on a nice quiet night. Ordered two appetizers and a calzone (would have a picture but forgot). Food was delicious and service was good. Will be back to try more of their yummy food

Grandkids each had Hawaiian Pizzas, very good, thin soft crust. I had pasta with creamy, pleasant white sauce and good amount of chicken, also very good.
Service was prompt and courteous, food came quickly. I was concerned at first entry as no other customers. But pleased I stuck with choice.

Have been here several times and I love this place. The salads are delicious and very filling, and the pastas are excellent.
The décor is very clean, modern, and understatedly upscale. The service was very good and the food delicious. I usually order the soup and salad, or the butternut squash ravioli. But their chicken marsala is excellent too.
The price isn’t bad — especially when you consider that Calistoga is an expensive tourist mecca. If you’re in the area, I highly recommend you stop and try Checkers. It’s well worth the time and money.

Angel Hair Pasta — ordered it because of a Unilocal review. Thought it would take me back to my Italian Grandma’s cooking. Negative. Wasn’t flavorful at all. I am not a salt person but I had to load this up with salt pepper Parmesan cheese and pepper flakes. Wasn’t impressed.
Vegetarian Pizza — Was loaded with fresh veggies but was just not flavorful enough. Wouldn’t order again.
Spinach Salad — This was OK. Originally ordered another salad asking to substitute spinach, they let me know it would be an extra $ 5 for spinach. No thanks. Ordered the spinach salad instead. The chicken that came with was cold and raw.
Bathroom — No soap in either bathroom.
Cost — Pricey.
Service — Was fine.
Overall — Would not go back and wouldn’t recommend.

Great food, well worth it! ~service is slow, be prepared. Cost is modetate, nice view of passer byers from table at front.

Checkers seems «almost» as good as Bosko’s where we had dined the previous night … but not quite. So I am keeping this to a three star review. It could have been just the difference in what we ordered. The real test would have been having the same item at both restaurants.
Checkers was not very busy … rainy night, mid week … and yet service was a bit slow.
DH enjoyed his Thai salad. I had a half order of the Napa salad with the addition of chicken. Okay, but not memorable.
The best part of the meal was the apple/​cranberry crisp with a large scoop of delicious vanilla ice cream. Espresso was «okay» … lacked crema.

I arrived just as they opened to order the 14″ combination pizza with onions and a side of artichoke dip To Go.
The pizza was ready in just 15 minutes. When I got back to my hotel, I found that it was still hot and delicious. It tasted exactly like what I had hoped… great favors, not greasy, hot and crispy but chewy too. The Italian sausage was flavorful without being greasy or overwhelming,
The artichoke dip was a great side.
I will definitely come back and recommend this place for great pizza!

Came here with a large group. The seating was a little funky. They had to divide us up into two tables. Staff was quick, friendly & efficient.
We ordered a few different pizzas for our table. Combination (without bell peppers,) veggie and pepperoni with olives. They were all delicious! One person in our party opted for a salad which she too said was very good.
Checkers has been in Calistoga for quite a while now. It’s a good stop. Reliable, fast, clean & affordable.

This was my mother’s first time in Napa, and after touring one of the wineries, she asked if we could eat steak for lunch. Enter major dilemma. We had a surprisingly hard time finding a restaurant that served steak for lunch.
Well, Checkers to the rescue! They serve steak for lunch. Hooray!
FLAT IRON STEAK
My mother and I ordered this medium-​well. Originally, when she was perusing the menu, she had this kind of curled lip thing going on that appears when she is not happy. Fortunately, the steak was good! Hooray again! My mother and I both enjoyed it. It had a good flavor. The sundried tomato garlic butter sauce complimented the steak very well. My steak was cooked slightly too long. No hint of pink whatsoever, so I’m sure I would have enjoyed it even more. It didn’t detract too much from the overall meal though. I noted that my mother’s steak was cooked correctly. The mashed potatoes and veggies were also good. The potatoes had a great flavor, and the veggies were nice and crisp.
My sister ordered the Pan Seared Salmon and she fell in love with it. She said the salmon was perfect, and she especially liked the spinach. She loved the meal so much that she was eating slowly and savoring each bite. This was definitely unusual for her, since she usually eats pretty fast.
Anyway, I’m glad Checkers was around to save the day for some hungry carnivores!