MA'S Italian Kitchen — Restaurant in Burbank

This review is long overdue, and I’ll be posting it on every single review site that I can manage. In ‘23, my best friend’s dad passed away and was buried nearby. After watching him be lowered into the ground in the morning, the family wanted lunch, and by pure happenstance, we ended up at Ma’s. Not only was the entire wait staff extremely warm and welcoming, so was the bartender, the chef(s?), and the manager. Upon entering, we noticed that on the wall just near the bar were many crayon drawings, of course generally done by children, but fully on display nonetheless - a little zone of pure joy and color amidst a classy and calmer overall decor style. Because my best friend’s family and I are all the type of folk who are more than willing to be silly and engage ourselves in a good time, I politely asked the waitress for crayons for the table. I had the fully secret hope that perhaps one of the crayon creations of us 6 fully grown women (and my best friend’s husband) could be victorious in a friendly competition amongst ourselves and ‘judged’ by the staff to select a winning art piece that could make it up onto the beloved wall of joy. They had no idea of this plan, but with a purely blank white paper table cover beckoning us in, we all of course got very much into it. You can imagine how stern (though loving) the competitive vibes are when it’s 4 grown closely-aged sisters doing the same thing, right? Haha! Even if there’s no explicit competition verbally agreed upon, it was clearly there, even without any mention or hint of involving the staff! So it was ON. When the bill came, I secretly grabbed it while my friends’ attentions were occupied by colored wax sticks, and I quickly scribbled a plea on the back of the receipt, telling our wonderful waiter briefly about why we were there that day, what we’d just had to do, and then asking for the ‘judging’, with an additional request that they perhaps consider putting up the winning art onto their little joyful wall (and with a note that it’d be entirely understandable if it only remained up there for the duration of our visit, removing it promptly after we left). Maybe 10 minutes later, our fantastic waiter, as well as the manager - who had previously checked in on our meal and experience personally as a lovely bonus, even before I’d mentioned anything at all about our day otherwise - came over to the table, full American Idol Judge personas on display, checking out each one of our little drawings, and expressing to the table that whichever one they picked would be put up proudly on the little wall of joy, all the while never once revealing that I’d asked them to do any of this. The gals were THRILLED. Towards the end of the visit, they also kindly express their condolences, and that all meant so very much to the family, and to me. They handled the entire thing with such grace and gusto and love, and I’ve never been more impressed, grateful, and humbled at the kindness of complete strangers in the service industry. They didn’t have to. They could’ve simply ignored my request, or said they wouldn’t be able to do that at the moment - it was, after all, immediately before their dinner rush on a weekend. They were booked and busy, and I fully understand why. It may be a small place, but it doesn’t feel small when the people are wonderful, the vibes are stunning, and the food is immaculate. Seriously, we each had a bite off each others’ plates, and no one could decide who’d gotten the best dish. Delicious beyond reason. Amidst the sadness of the day’s events, the top notch quality of the food was what took over everyone’s thoughts for that one precious hour and a half. In the end, not only did my friend’s family leave with huge smiles, we also received not 1, not 2, but 3 complimentary desserts for us to share. I can never be grateful enough to the team at Ma’s for bringing so much joy to such a horrendous day, and to the most wonderfully deserving family. Any time I’m in the area, I’ll have zero question about where I’m dining. Thank you, Ma’s. For more...

I have come to this restaurant for my birthday for the last 4 years, along with other special occasions. I suggested to friend that we have our memorial dinner here instead of Paće in Laurel Canyon, as a nice fun friendly place for our evening. 2 of our party arrived early 2 on time one was stuck at the airport and one so delayed we told her to not bother coming. The experience was very sub par on this night "tonight" we were immediately told that we would need to leave by 8:15 and we had not even been given a menu it was only 6:30 at that time The entire nite was a fiasco. I will no longer suggest this restaurant to my studio coworkers or friends because it's not the same wonderful place I had experienced many times before. We were not told once or twice about needing to be gone (still not even having ordered food) we were told 4 times and even after exspressing that we got the messafe it continued. the server told us first then some guy with an iPad came to our table eventually being followed by the manager all telling us thier policy and that we would need to leave then all of them came to the table to tell us how we needed to be gone an a specific time The entire night was uninviting, hostile, and honestly I wish we had simply left. It's unprofessional that the manager decided to talk over me and tell me that I am wrong when after paying the bill I attempted to tell him that he could have chosen a better way to approach us in this situation. He proceeded to accused us of purposefully breaking a champagne flute when our over crowded table had a fallen flute hit the floor when a gift bag tipped over. I don't think I have been yelled at in a restaurant before tonight, insisting that I was wrong in front of all his customers with zero shame. What a disaster this night was I wish I had simply moved our party to a friendlier venue as the night was ruined even tho we had intended on a decadent night of feasting on as many dishes as our over crowded table could handle. We made a reservation for the patio requesting plenty of time for our party but we're sat inside instead and then pressured to be sure to leave by 8:15 pm as their policy is that customers eat pay and leave in 2 hours. If they knew this they should have called and informed us that they would not be able to host or serve our party as these details were listed in the reservation. I have 25 years in the food service industry from Spago, the Royalton hotel, to the restaurant 44 in NYC, I've received reviews in the New York times, LA weekly and LA times for food and service, I know how to treat customers and tonight was an embarrassment to me and to the friends I brought to what I thought was a friendly place. The manager was so insistent that he was right about whatever that he could not stop talking over me when I attempted to tell him how it could have been delt with less offensively. This was a first but it was also an Insult as our table felt attacked for our party having issues and we no intention do delay our choices of ordering but only 15 minutes into the reservation the attack began It was unfortunate, I can't know for sure that if there is a problem that it will be handled respectfully. The food however is good but sadly the owners choice to put an inexperienced person in charge of the floor has resulted in the loss of loyal customers and the word of mouth advertising that good service and good food usually brings which is the bread and butter to small establishments like this one. It's sad I'm sad and do not...

I went with my family to MA's and I was pleasantly surprised with the best scampi I've ever eaten. The shrimp was perfectly cooked so it was fresh and soft and full of great flavor with wine and butter and the pasta with it was perfect. One of our family got eggplant parmesan and another one got spaghetti and meatballs, and bruschetta chicken. Chicken was cooked beautifully soft, melts in your mouth. The young kids enjoyed their spaghetti and meatballs and even the garlic bread and knots. For dessert we tried three of them; one was an outstanding chocolate mousse with a little whipped cream on top which you could get with raspberries or not, and we got a Tiramisu and a delicious sweet pistachio cake with a little icing on top. Their garlic bread is amazing! You get lots of little pieces of garlic on it and it's soft bread with the crunchy crust I mean you can't get any better than that. They also gave us garlic knots. The only thing we could say wasn't 100% for us was that the broccoli and carrots vegetable mix was not cooked enough to be softer so we asked for them to make it softer and they did. A server will come around and ask if you want any more freshly grated Parmesan cheese on anything and they give you a lot if you want it . The portions are large. The service is incredible, our waiter was excellent and checked with us every few minutes to make sure everything was fine, they do everything with a smile. It's just impeccable.

I just wish the place was bigger as it's very popular for obvious reasons why every every table got filled up while we were there with people waiting to come in. If you have more than two people I'd say get a reservation, it's a must. This is now my new favorite restaurant I'm so glad we went there. Excellently managed and there's a big parking lot in that shopping center where it's located next to a market, and the freeway. And interestingly enough all the servers are men, and it works great. If I could ask for one thing they could include in their menu it would be for something like a filet of sole with a wine and garlic sauce. They do have a salmon dish but I don't eat salmon. But I did taste everything we ordered and all of it was delicious.

We returned a week later, last night, and tried some other dishes. The salmon was very good, comes with fresh cooked vegies and pasta. The chicken and orzo soup is the best chicken soup I have had in any restaurant in my entire life, and I am very picky and this one is like what I make at home. I have never praised another chicken soup. The butterscotch budino dessert is delicious. The service is still excellent, Seth was our server who went above and beyond always with a real smile, warmth, eager to help. When we left there were many people waiting to get in. If you have to wait or you get cold easily, bring a warm jacket or sweater. It is worth...