Marias Italian Kitchen

Got a large pepperoni pizza on Superbowl Sunday, as they were on special for 10 bucks, Super Bowl is right, the pizza sent me right to the toilet bowl. Threw over half of it out. Such a bummer. Now I know.

Consistent. Great neighborhood go-​to for your Italian dinner needs!

Back again and can’t stay away. Consistently good. The food is excellently prepared, portions are reasonably large and you are bound to have enough for the next day. The staff is attentive and always with a smile, always happy to see you. I still highly recommend the chicken piccata — especially if Darren is your server — he knows how to make sure the chicken comes just right. However… the head chef changed the grilled vegetables that come with it and unfortunately are not worthy of the selection. Either get double pasta or the steamed vegetables (which are very good) until the head chef goes back to serving the grilled vegetables they had in the past which were awesome. The meatloaf, the Hoboken ravioli, the pizza, and the salads are all 5-​star selections.
GRILLED VEGGIES ARE BACK and even better than before!!! Thank you Maria’s. We tried the Brussels sprouts tonight. I am not a fan of mini cabbages but these were incredible! The seasoning is so well done, the sprouts are cooked to perfection and grilled — you won’t know you are eating Brussels sprouts.

Good. Came here with family since this place was around the corner from the house. Had fried calamari and tried the baked ziti. Small portions. High prices. Food was good but didn’t like the sausage in my dish. Otherwise it was good. Service was great. I would like to try their pizza next time.

I could not believe the quality of food is just BAD, lower than a food truck in the valley. Prices are so high and makes no sense. We ordered spaghetti and the 14.99 for pasta plus 3.99 each meat ball. The menu doesn’t even say that. The awful nasty and with high acidity spaghetti was pricey and not wort it at all. EVERYONE GO TO OLIVIAS ON WOODMAN. Lower prices and fresh food. Nicer restaurant. Maria’s is in the toilet.

Came in last night with my wife and 2 friends for dinner. Was immediately seated and told someone would be right with us. The inside dining room was half empty. After 5 minutes of no acknowledgement whatsoever we were pondering leaving. Two other couples than got seated and were promptly helped with their drink orders. After 10 minutes we all get up to leave and a waitress comes up apologizing for the wait saying something to the effect like she shouldn’t even be there. Walked out and probably never coming back.

I took 20 people to Marias Italian Kitchen in Encino this afternoon. I cannot give higher praise to the entire staff and especially our amazing server Rafael. Serving 20 people is never easy but Rafael not only served us with a smile he did not make one mistake in bringing the dishes to our table. Our meals were delicious and I can report that each and every one of us had a wonderful time. I highly recommend Marias for anyone having a large party as they have a very nice back room that we reserved for just our group. Thanks to Rafael and the entire staff at Marias for a very nice experience!
Peter

YES! Go eat here!
Their complimentary garlic bread is amazing, but don’t fill up on that because the food is great too. Fresh, quality ingredients in here, folks.
I got a half portion of pasta and it is going to feed me three times!
My boyfriend got the meat lasagna and claims it’s the best he’s had in his 55 years on earth.
Don’t forget to add meatballs! They are the best I’ve had since my best friend’s Italian grandmother passed away. So so good.
Service was great too, albeit we did come between the lunch and dinner rushes so the place was pretty empty.

$ 15 for a full spaghetti and I get home and it’s no where near full.
Very small portion for $ 15,
Very disappointed

Ordered for delivery this time.
Very good food. Had the chicken Parmesan, it was a little (dry) overcooked but still edible. I do have another complaint — I ordered a side of meatballs and there was hardly any sauce on them at all?
I think with the amount of sauce Maria’s puts out every day that they could afford to put some extra sauce on the side for the meatballs.
Especially since the delivery fee is so much!
If you order for delivery — you not only pay the delivery fee — but they also expect you to tip the driver on top of it, so you’re paying close to $ 10 for a delivery fee!

The rosemary bread, ceasar salad and minestrone soup = a perfect lunch with co-​workers.
The staff at the Encino location can not be beat!

I had a great experience at this Marias kitchen. Our server was delightful. She was attentive and checking up to make sure we had the best service. I had the happy hour flatbread pizza and my 2 friends had the chicken carbonara. We had to go for the dessert trio, cheese cake, chocolate fudge brownie and apple pie like thing lol.

So this place is a little bit chain-​y (aka unlike the mom & pop restaurant variety), but they’re PRETTY darn good.
There’s a teeny parking lot directly behind the restaurant, however it’s valet only and their service charge is $ 4. Umm no thanks– I was able to find metered parking on Ventura Blvd. and walked mere feet to the restaurant.
They have a nice covered front patio that I can see being quite lovely. On our way out, there were a number of patrons sitting outside, despite the heat. We chose to sit inside due to the ridiculous heatwave that’s going on right now and were welcomed to a very air-​conditioned restaurant, borderline almost too frigid. Bring a light sweater if you’re sensitive to the cold!
Everyone’s food was delicious with portions being on the generous side. Definitely a good bang for your buck here at Maria’s. We had the antipasto salad, the pizza bianchi (YUM), the Mama’s meat lasagna (DELICIOUS), the spicy shrimp & sun dried tomato risotto, and the chicken parmigiana w/​angel hair pasta and roasted veggies. Pretty rare to have a corporate-​y restaurant with delicious, hot & fresh, large portion entrees, but everyone agreed that it was definitely worth returning to. Already thinking of excuses to come back and order more lasagna…

Maria’s Italian kitchen is a very good Italian place to go if you want a full Italian experience.
When my party arrived we noticed all of the old time photographs and the classic Italian seat design. It was a cozy place to have a nice meal.
The Rosemary bread that started the meal was delicious and I ended up eating three pieces. My table ordered a pepperoni and mushroom pizza and it was warm and cheesy and I enjoyed it a lot. I also ordered the pasta Michelangelo with linguini. It was a light oil dressed pasta with mushroom and spinach and it was a very clean dish. After eating it I was full but did not feel bloated at all.
The service was pretty good and the food came out at a reasonable speed. The prices are exactly what you would expect.
Overall I was extremely pleased with my meal and would definitely come back here and try some other dishes.

Great spot for a Saturday or Sunday for lunch with a few people or even a group. Great service as well.
Things to order:
Zucchini sticks
Mac and cheese
Cheese pizza

So far I’m in heaven and haven’t even ate yet. We have the coolest server in the world, Darren. The way he explained the process through which they prepare each dish is incredible, he had my mouth watering.
My girlfriend is so happy,
The service is amazing! The bread looks like something out of the movies.
Definitely adding this to my spots list!

I keep coming back. Starter bread, brocoli Limon, carbonara.
Genevieve provided great service.
Lunch special Pomodoro rigatoni — add mushrooms, peas and brocolli

I highly recommend this Encino branch of Maria’s. Their customer service and food is top-​notch. We came here for Mother’s Day
The manager was very accommodating in giving us the best seating since I have small children. They also gave us a Mother’s Day coupon for our next visit. We will definitely be coming back.

Marias Italian kitchen.
I have to admit I was a bit skeptical upon walking up to the place. It’s a very hidden restaurant but out on the open if that makes sense. I first thought this can’t be Italian it says Maria, maybe it’s Mexican?
Guess what it was. … Italian :)
Upon walking in we where greated instantly. It was on a Thursday around 5 pm. It was a full house, the asked us to wait a few minutes while a booth opened up.
Finally a booth opened up and we were seated. My boyfriend has been there once before and knew what he wanted, I on the other hand always get lasagna first at any Italian food. So we both ordered the lasagna and ordered some bread to start with a glass of wine. The food was made in a timely manner, wasn’t too long of to short.
The bread and wine got their first and the bread was super amazing!
Once the lasagna good to us the waiter warned us the top plate is really hot be careful! Lol first thing I do is touch the top plate, burned my self really bad, but then I start looking at this steaming hot cheesy and meaty bowl of lasagna! Liked very authentic and once I took that first bite I realized how authentic it tasted, compliments to the chef made an amazing dish.
Desert! I have to say is by far the best cheese cake I’ve ever had super creamy super tasty super creamy cheesy. Is a must get!
Overall I recommend anyone to come here is an amazing restaurant, family oriented although I wish there where no kids allowed. When you go out to a restaurant specially Italian you expect to have a nice mellow dinner specially on a date and when there is a child screaming it’s lungs out its pretty annoying.
:)

Came today for our first time. First let me say the manager Lou waited on us, and he gets 5 stars for his great customer service! We ate outside which would have been nice but some ass**** next door was smoking outside the restaurant the whole time we were there. I had a free coupon for an appetizer and we had the fries and zucchini sticks. They were bland, but the marinara to dip in was tasty. The bread is to die for! Don’t fill up like I did, or you wont have room for the entrée. I ordered the chicken picata which was very bland, I was disappointed. The veggies were delicious though, I opted for no pasta since I tried the bread. LOL
They give you huge portions, so I have enough for a big lunch for tomorrow left overs. The parking lot is terrible, super tiny and in a way that someone can easily hit your car. All in all i would come again, but try something with more flavor. My daughter had the fettuccine Alfredo and said it was just OK, but she liked the bread too!