Maria’s Italian Kitchen-Woodland Hills

Good place for Italian food. My favorite is the barbecue chicken calzone. Excellent. Spaghetti and lasagna are great too.

Very disappointing visit to Mari’as. I usually go to the one in Encino and I never had a bad experience there. However, Woodland Hills is a different story and I don’t think I will be back to Mari’as. Service is horrible. First of all we had to wait for our server to acknowledge that we were there, waited a long time to take our order and the food also took for ever. The food was decent (2 stars) but I was already mad for the service and they were not even busy.

Nice cozy place, fast and friendly service. Food was very authentic and delicious! Will be coming back for dinner in the near future.

My co-​worker wanted to go there for lunch. They dont have a lunch menu so its pretty pricey to go there for lunch. I got chicken michaelangelo and it was so dry and just didnt taste like anything. It wasnt cheap either. My friend got ravioli, she said they were okay. Service was good. The waitress constantly checked on us and refilled the drinks. So two stars is mainly for service.

Maria’s has always been a favorite for my family. We originally went to the Agoura location but ended up moving and going to the Woodland Hills location. All the employees are super friendly and very welcoming. Their food is always extremely consistent which is something I find really important in a restaurant. I recommend their Meat lasagna and Chicken Piccata. Those are my
favorites. Everything on the menu is great and every month they change their «chef creations»

Seeiusly over this place and how they think they can screw up orders and charge you an arm and a leg! I will never order from here again. They charged me $ 22 for a gluten free pizza with the exact topping asked them to hold.

Well we tried this place again tonight. I could not understand how it’s gotten worse. The service was terrible respectably with a half empty restaurant and 7 servers on duty. The food came out and for some reason the kitchen decided that charredBaltic was a delicacy one should have in their pasta. The waiter did not seem to care and of course the extra sauce we ordered never came for the chicken Marsala. This place has come to an all time low in quality and service. This will be the last time we ever go to this location. Manager didn’t even seem to care a dish was returned to the kitchen. If you want mediocrity, then you should come to Maria’s.
I have been going to Maria’s for at least 14 years. I have seen the decline in not only the food quality, but the portion size they serve you. I ordered the sesame chicken for lunch. The portion was so small and burnt, that it made me very sad. A place that we visit frequently has lost the urge to be a quality restaurant. I should mention that it would be the Woodland Hills location I am speaking about. I have had the Agoura location and it was much better quality, but not by much. I am not a food critic, but I know when a restaurant has lost interest in the standards it had set for itself.

We like Maria’s kitchen but the service and food is inconsistent. When it’s good it’s good and when it’s not it’s not. Yesterday we where there and it was not busy, there were many open tables but the service was so slow it was unbelievable. We had to ask to place our order waited for a very long time for the drinks and even longer to get the check which never came and we finally got up and paid at the cash register. I will have then think long and hard before I decide to go back.

OK here’s the deal– I LOOOVEE Marias! It’s been my favourite restaurant ever since I was little. However, the inconsistency of this particular one is severely disappointing. This review is NOT based on the service, as it is good, but hey people don’t go to a restaurant for the service, they go for the food. Let me say that I’ve been to this location a bunch of times, as someone dining in, and as someone taking out. Every other time the dish is not the same dish as I’ve ordered before. I’l be craving a dish from this place, I’ll be SO excited to eat it and by the time I open it I already know it’s not the dish that I love. As someone who practically considers eating as a hobby, this pains me.
What’s up with that? It doesn’t make any sense. One time I’ll get a perfectly executed risotto– the next I’ll get some dry rice (risotto is supposed to be creamy. dear lord.), or worse, rice drenched in a bunch of cheese (which I didn’t even think was in the original dish?) topped with a huge chunk of chicken. So ridiculous. Please fix this! I love the food but maybe you guys have a chef who needs to be fired, haha.

I really love this place. It has been years since we went and we decided to go last night. I forgot how small and comforting it was in there! Feels like you are at your relatives home! We just so happened to go on a Wednesday and were suprised to find kids eat free. We also were there at happy hour so got a discount on appetizers and drinks.
Food: the rosemary bread is so delicious! We got bruschetta and calamari for appetizer. Both were good. My husband got the chicken Parmesan and I got the gnocchi with pink sauce. We left satisfied and happy we went as we will be going more often and not letting years pass.

Stomachache after it for 2 days… do u think i would try it again?
if i want any italian food i wouldn’t come here
the only good thing here is the garlic bread

LITERALLY — the worst italian food I have ever had in my life. LITERALLY.
I didn’t know one could actually make bad Italian food. I don’t have high standards. But this was Bad.
The spaghetti was just an oily, overboiled mess. It looked nothing like the pictures posted. I woulda loved to have what they’re having. Other food at the table looked equally unappealing. I was cautioned that they had some new staff. I wasn’t aware that they were new to the entire concept of cooking. Idk, some of the pictures online look pretty good. All i can say is that experiences may vary…

My mom recommended this place to me and I decided to do a takeout order. Seemed simple enough. Order online show up 25 mins later and you’re done! But when I arrived to pick up my food, I noticed they only made half my order. Their excuse was they had trainees who read the order online incorrectly. What am I supposed to do with that tidbit? They then forced me to wait an additional 25 minutes so they could prep the rest of my order while my other food sit around and get cold and dry. Not only do I hate the lack of professionalism exhibited, I also hate cold food. They made no offer to remediate the situation besides a cup of water while we waited. Their lackadaisical attitude is all I’ll remember about this restaurant. Even if the food was decent. The service was not up to par with what I expected or paid for.
Also they didn’t include any utensils or napkins. Cherry on the top.

I got persuaded to come here again, now it official the food here is no good.
We were trying to think to idea’s for dinner and he wanted pasta but wasn’t liking anything I was suggesting. He said lets go to Maria’s – I informed him I had tried the one in Sherman Oaks twice and wasn’t a fan. (Clearly he wasn’t up to par on my reviews because last time I checked; I wrote a not so stellar review for it.)
He continued to suggest that Calabasas was way better and different. I wanted to keep an open mind… so I conceded. We show up and get seated immediately outside (the weather was nice so I couldn’t complain). Our waitress was very nice and attentive. They gave us breadsticks that were hard and over seasoned. We ordered a Cesar salad – that was the only ok part. And lastly, we ordered pasta Pomodoro – not good at all, the chicken was burned, it lacked flavor, and they don’t give you fresh parmesan cheese.
Another disappointment – considering the service was good and the atmosphere outside was pleasant, if the food is decent what’s the point? There is none.

Here for lunch with 5 buddies. They gave us a nice sized round table, which is great for group conversation. They start you off with a bread basket filled with a flavored foccacia bread. Wow — that was good. Unfortunately, things peaked with that. Three of us ordered the BBQ chicken salad. We all agreed it was fair, rather bland. BBQ chicken salad should have some kick. I actually think they forgot to put any BBQ sauce on it. Service was good, not great. Our server made sure the glasses were full and the bread basket replaced when we asked after it was empty. She was covering a lot of tables and working really hard. It may not be fair to condemn an Italian restaurant for a mediocre salad when you didn’t order an Italian dish. But you really can’t give it praise for just mediocre. I won’t come back for a lunch.

After a long drive on the panoramic Mulholland Drive, if you’re heading east to west sure you’ll want to stop by this cosy italian place with nice music and very welcoming staff.
Food is really good, and if you’re in the mood for something unusual, go for a calzone, it’s a bit like pizza but wrapped in a focaccia bread.
They also give some complimentary focaccia as a starter. So don’t get any starter and you will actually save on that one :)

Just ate at the Maria’s in Encino, and ordered the bbq chicken salad… The HALF order in Encino was the same size as the FULL order at Woodland Hills, and it had a lot more chicken. So now I really think the manager in Woodland Hills is full of it when he claimed they weigh every single ingredient in every single dish, and I KNOW he’s really full of it when he says the dishes in Woodland Hills are prepared the same was as in Encino. Encino is 5 Stars — quality, quantity, service, etc. Woodland Hills… Eh. Two stars for quality being generous, but zero stars for quantity and the manager BSing just to save face because he’s trying to save a buck on food prep.

I was impressed almost all the way around, which is saying something given this is just a chain Italian restaurant. But really, when you’re running a cookie-​cutter shop, the effort is what puts you above and beyond, and the effort was very much there.
My wife and I called in an order to pickup of food for 4 people, and they said it would be about 25 – 30 minutes.
Unfortunately, we were passing by, so we just decided to stop and wait, rather than go to our destination and then come back.
While we waited a very attentive server hooked us up with some free bread and olive oil and we got to enjoy that tasty treat at the bar. He got us some water, too, also on the house. I realize this is a small thing given we spent some $ 80 on food, but rather than just letting us sit in a chair and ignore us for a half hour, this went a long way.
He also went into the back and sped things up in the kitchen. I’m not sure whose food came out 5 minutes late because of us, but he got ours out in about 20 minutes, which meant we only had to wait at the restaurant for maybe 10. Great job up front!
The food itself was good; sort of unexceptionally decent. And that’s what you should expect from, again, a chain Italian restaurant. I had a pasta with sausage and red sauce. My wife got some sort of creamy thing that I chose to ignore, and the rest of the crew split some salads with special chicken added.
Everyone was satisfied and we were super impressed with the service.

Upon walking in I waited at the hostess booth for about 3−4minutes which wasn’t a good sign.
Eventually some one came and there was also a large party of people behind me.
Eventually someone came and took me to my table (I went alone).
Waitress showed up right away. I ordered a mimosa which was very small and didn’t come with the usual «pour your own». I had already decided what I wanted before coming here so I let her know right away and ordered.
Eventually they sat a couple next to me with a baby. I was in the corner and there was no reason for it. There was plenty of room in the restaurant for them. I was a single person trying to have a good dining experience. DONT PUT KIDS NEXT TO PEOPLE ALONE.
Anyways… I ordered meat lasagna and Capri salad to go.
My food took about 30 minutes which I found pretty long. But I was willing to wait since I really wanted to try their food.
Well good thing I did. The food was fantastic.
The lasagna was layered well and baked properly. The corners were crisp but I took them off. The rest was perfect. The bechamel was pretty basic and I wasn’t impressed. But the meat sauce was quite tasty. It was definitely sirloin beef and seasoned properly. The pasta (lasagna) was cooked well in some good salt water for sure.
I ended up finishing the whole thing.
Prices were good and my experience with food quality and service was top notch. Minus the young couple with a child.
Overall…
Food: above average
Décor: updated and nice.
Customer service: top notch
Cleanliness: very clean.
Bathrooms: N/​A
I went here on a Sunday around 3pm. It wasn’t full and I enjoyed the atmosphere. I would definitely recommend this place to any Italian food fan. The food is good and the service is great. I can’t say much more than that:)
I would of put 5 stars if there wasn’t a young couple with a baby and my food didn’t take 30 minutes.

Brussels sprouts are back on the specials menu! Browned butter balsamic heaven with pancetta and pecorino. Haven’t had better sprouts anywhere else since they got dubbed with trendy favor. (Cooked tender throughout with the right crispiness on the outside – no unsavory chewiness)
Trying the curry carrot soup tonight just confirmed for me that every creamy soup they make is delicious with the right hint of sweetness that just sings with the rosemary bread. Bread was on the salty side tonight.
Classic half-​order spaghetti and meatball was a win as usual. Bright, flavorful marinara on al dente pasta with a dense, hearty meatball.
Would have definitely tried the affogato (specials menu!) but was stuffed. Couldn’t stop with the sprouts. Service is great as always! Okay. Yep, that’s all.