After living in Burbank for a few months, I was never too thrilled with the food selection in town. Sure, there are a couple decent non-fast food places and Timmy Nolan’s offers some top notch Irish grub, but nothing else really stands out in my book. This time, when visiting my grandmother with my family we went to Ciao Cristina on my uncle’s recommendation.
A couple blocks walk from my grandmothers house, this made for an easy walk over. Despite being a small place, the beer list is impressive, boasting about 20 beers on draft. A classic Italian menu, there were many items that caught my eye. In the end, I opted for one of my favorites, the Chicken Parmesan. As a group of six, we went for the calamari as an appetizer. Bite sized, fried pieces of calamari arrived shortly thereafter with a marinara dipping sauce. The calamari had a good fried coating and were a bit smaller than typical calamari, but the taste was good. My chicken parm was well crisped, yet not overdone. The dish could have used a dash more marinara, but it was better than being overly smothered with it. The cheese was also well melted over this big slab of chicken. Accompanying the chicken parm was a small portion of piping hot spaghetti. My grandmother had a cup of minestrone, not typically my soup preference. It tasted decent, though I have very little to which I can compare this particular type of soup. The gnocchi was also quite impressive, quite fresh and covered with a nice marinara sauce.
In an area that seems a little lacking in terms of great sit down restaurants, Ciao Cristina stands out. This is a place where I will gladly return when I find myself in the Valley.
Service: 7
Food: 8
Price: 6.5
Overall: 7.5
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