Maria’s Italian Kitchen Northridge

Came here on a whim. At only 3.5 stars it was a risk. Definitely surpassed our expextations! We had a cheese pizza as an appetizer & that was cheesy goodness! We also got the chicken parm, chicken florentine risotto & chicken florentine. ALL EXCELLENT DISHES! They tasted as if they were made in our homes. So impressed! Our waitress who goes by «Pepsi» was on top of everything we needed! If ever visiting the L.A. area again in the future, we will certainly stop in! Thank you guys!

This place is somewhere between an Italian restaurant and a fast food joint.
The food is hit or miss half of the time I’ve been here it’s been good, for the other half they couldn’t gotten a damn thing right.
To the chef, When you’re putting ricotta cheese try and spread it around so when the person doesn’t doesn’t bite into a center patch of a giant scoop of cheese. Also chef realize that if someone is paying $ 20 don’t burn the calzone if you do concert and make another one!
The reason why this critique of the cheese made it is because we ordered a few of these calzones and all of them have the same problem one nasty giant heaping scoop of Ricota cheese in the middle. None distributed throughout. If for whatever reason you decide to make it a take-​out order be sure you have some for Bread because they sure as crap won’t offer.
Overall this place is nothing special nothing to write about it is definitely not worth the price !!

The food here is nothing remarkable quite honestly but the familiar Italian flavor is there and the menu offers all the Italian favorites that people crave or want from Italian American restaurants. I actually like the calzone here best out of anything I’ve had even though they don’t put a lot of ricotta in it and it is heeeeavy on the mozzarella. The bread they serve with the meal is straight fire, I must say. But go to Maggiano’s or some of the local Valley joints for a better take on Italian food. This place is maybe a half or 1 full star better than Olive Garden IMHO.

First and foremost, i love this place!!! Ive tried their salads, their pastas, pizza. Pretty much, EVERYTHING! ITS SOOO GOOD! I’ve literally been knowing this place since I was 8 years old. My uncles are the top notch Chefs at this place. I know they value feedback and customers. I love the enviroment is nice, relaxing, and romantic as well. I would highly recommend this place. I took my coworkers about 3 days ago, and they loved the place!

Never enjoy being harsh, but really — this was sub-​par for any Italian restaurant worth its chops! Dined there last night with Dear Hubby and Adored Grandson. We’ve had better tasting food at other venues, mostly for less money.
For us, it IS about the value, and it was lacking at this Maria’s. It shares a big parking lot with a host of other businesses, so we had to park a bit of a distance away. The outside appearance of the storefronts in the shopping center is a total hodge podge.
Maria’s has an outdoor dining space, which is great in warmer weather. However, the view of the uninspired parking lot isn’t the greatest. We proceeded inside. We were greeted quickly and offered a booth toward the rear of the main dining room. The interior décor is kitschy fun. Not quite as over the top as a Buca di Beppo, but they are definitely trying to channel East Coast Italian restaurant roots.
So far, so good. Then it started going downhill. The olive oil with balsamic vinegar they brought to the table for dipping fresh bread had more oil underneath the plate than on it. This I discovered when trying to move it more centrally for AG to share. We had to ask for extra napkins to sop up the mess. The warm bread out of the oven was rather disappointing. More crunchy than fluffy, so it didn’t absorb the olive oil very well.
We ordered pasta dishes. They were all bland and uninteresting. AG normally devours Fettucine Alfredo. He had some and took the rest home, saying he wasn’t that hungry. I sampled his dish and found it to have no distinctive flavor. Nothing to excite his tastebuds.
DH had the meat ravioli with meat sauce. It definitely had a lot of meat, but the tomato /​garlic /​basil part of the sauce wasn’t anything to write home about. Ditto with the marinara sauce on my heavy gnocchi. I’ve had light as air gnocchi other places. This was not in that class. Brought most of it home, where we’ll doctor it up a bit before I have the leftovers.
Other Italian restaurants will bring around freshly grated Parmesan. Not Maria’s. Nope; they have the obligatory shaker with some substance that passes for Parmesan. And ours was almost empty. The server didn’t bring us a new one when we asked.
$ 63 for 3 people to eat mediocre pasta? Not good! One beer, one Sprite, and a glass of water were the only other items we requested. Definitely not a good value. Mamma Mia, Maria!

I usually love this restaurant and will be back despite my last experience. I went in with my family for dinner the day before mothers day. It was a bit more crowded than usual. I wanted to try something new so i gave the raviolis with meat sauce a try $ 15.99. I was pretty excited for some real italian raviolis. Well… When i finally got my meal i looked down at a measly 9 raviolis each the size of an oreo. I ate them all within 5 minutes and was starving. Every other person at the table had 80% of their meal left when i finished. Ended up eating a portion of every other meal at my table which were delicious. While the raviolis were alright they did not blow me away and the meat sauce was more sauce than meat. Definitely felt shorted for the price and left hungry. Next time ill be going back to the crispy sesame chicken

Very good place for Italian food we whent last Sunday and order calamari then we ordered linguini with clams and the florentine risotto very tasty ! We definitely will come back and try other options.

Very convenient if you want to have a comfortable fast service not so bad Italian food in Northridge this is the place. I can’t speak for other locations but this one definitely you can take your date or family.

Thursday nights at Maria’s is my favorite. You can hardly go wrong with «bring your own wine night» aka «no corkage fee». The pepperoni calzone NEVER disappoints and the Ceasar salad is very fresh and tasty. Usually the wine, bread and cheesy goodness of the calzone or pizza are the highlight but tonight it was Kyle. Kyle was on point with attentive service all night (even though we were sitting outside where you sometimes tend to be forgotten). He was unfaced by our request for more water, ranch, please turn the heater on, please turn the heater off, can you turn it back on? can you bring us back the menu?, etc.
Besides the calzones and pizzas I give the food 3 – 1 ½ stars (pizza and calzones I give 4 stars) but definitely 4 for their great staff… bus boys included!
Two thumbs up for Kyle! =)

I ordered the meat lasagna. My sister ordered the meatball sub with Italian fries. Our order took long because they have to bake the lasagna. The waitress said it would be 15 mins… it actually took 25 mins to get our food And then she said the fries are taking longer than normal. So 30 mins for french fries that tasted like they were previously frozen.
While we waited for our food not once did our waitress come and check if we needed water or more coffee or anything. I saw all the other waitresses being very attentive to their customers except ours. However she was friendly when she brought out our food.
Would I go back? No, the food was mediocre.

I had a wonderful dinner for Easter Sunday. This restaurant has been around for many years. Original home cooked recipes that were past down from generations. I’ve always enjoyed this restaurant and have come here for many years. There are very few mom and pop type establishments of this caliber. Great food and at decent prices.

Went to Maria’s last Friday with a friend who wanted to take me to her favorite Italian restaurant. The ambiance is cozy and relaxed. We had pizza, risotto, and salad which was excellent. The service was great. The manager Cody was very attentive and kind. Will definitely be back.

I came into Maria’s a few weeks ago with some friends for lunch. It is conveniently located across from CSUN. Me and one of my friends shared a calzone and honestly it was the best calzone I have ever had in my entire life and huge so it’s a good thing to get and share with someone. The service was great, our waitress was really friendly, and the manager stops by to make sure everything is good too. Overall I had a great experience and would definitely be back!

My favorite go to local Italian place! I almost make it a destination whenever I’m in the area. Staff rocks and my Chicken Michelangelo is nothing short of what they dish up in Italy. Hands down best Italian chopped salad ever always add a scoop of tuna. Yum! Coming back next week for more. This time lasagna baby.

When we walked in today we were greated by a very friendly female server. I had to use the ladies room, and while walking towards it, I noticed one of the (male) cooks walking out of the ladies restroom. I was disgusted when, to my dismay, there was urine all over the toilet seat. I also noticed the dry sink, which meant that not only did the cook piss all over the seat, in the girls bathroom, but he didn’t wash his hands. I will NEVER walk into that restaurant again. And I’ve been eating there for 20 years. So dissapointed.

I heard great things about this place and was looking forward to trying it. The food was average and not worth the price. The customer service was horrible and the wait just to order took a long time although the restaurant was not crowded. I won’t be back.

went there last night with my girlfriend and her 2 daughters, they both go to CSUN. College students are short of money and always hungry, they like everything, they eat everything, so if you ask them, the food was great :)
But indeed, it was. We had a Hawaiian Pizza and a salad, the girls both had Spaghetti with shrimp and we all like what we got. The Pizza was great, not too thick, not too thin, just the way we like it.
The restaurant is nice, they have am outdoor seating area, but we decided to sit inside, it was too cold yesterday, well too cold for California, people in Minnesota would sit outside in shorts :)
The service was good, our waiter was nice and friendly and always checked on us. As soon as he realized that we have hungry college students with us, he brought more bread :)
It was a pleasant evening here and we will come back!

My spouse and I went this past Saturday night. The restaurant was a bit crowded. Upon arrival the table next to us was still uncleaned. There was a long wait for the bread. I asked about a recommendation on the food and was the told the penne pasta with olive oil, spinach and mushrooms was tasty. Upon ordering it, I needed an extra side of marinara to fit the my pallet’s taste.
I hold no blame as this used to me my mom’s favorite Italian restaurant. Every restaurant has a good and bad day. Staff seemed helpful and on their toes.
Rosalyn K. Tedx Coach

Is it me or u have to ask for bread… or everyone else was serve except us… not that I was craving bread but felt left out…
Small portions r really small so… don’t order small if you are hungry
Food is average. i had better pasta made by others at home than this place

I’ve dined-​in and ordered to at this location several times, and usually have a good experience. During my most recent, we ordered a few dishes and shared.
–spicy shrimp risotto: delicious, but gets a little too buttery and rich towards the end, I would still order it again. Also, the dish is not spicy in any way.
–meat ravioli: simple, but tasty
–linguini with clams, red sauce: Probably mg favorite dish. The sauce has a nice kick to it, and the dish comes with a vey generous portion of clams.
–minestrone: the worst I’ve ever had. Tastes like cabbage water with salt.
With the exception of the soup, we had a good experience. Will be back.