Kid Review: Maria's Ristorante - Scarborough Living Magazine

By Cam O’Toole, 12

Usually I review restaurants in Scarborough but this time I was feeling up for a road trip, so we went to Maria’s Ristorante in Portland. I heard that the food there was very good. It is true!

When you walk in, it feels homey. You see Roman statues and pictures of Tony (the owner) and his family. It is moderately fancy. You can wear a collared shirt and pants but you don’t need a tuxedo. On the walls there are bricks that look aged and there are tin ceilings, which is a metal ceiling painted white with designs on it. You can hear Italian music and old singers like Frank Sinatra. It’s lit by chandeliers that are very shiny and ornate.

The type of food they serve is Italian. Before we ate, they brought olive oil and garlic cloves in a little bowl with bread for dipping. The bread was crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside. The oil was rich and yummy. The whole thing was amazing. I could have eaten it all night.

I got the linguine with Maria’s famous red sauce. Linguine is like flat spaghetti. It was very good. The sauce was delicious and it had freshly grated parmesan on top. My brother had pepperoni pizza. He said it was very good. The crust was crunchy and oily in a good way.

My mother had the eggplant parmesan. She said it was as good as our grandmother’s and hers is famous. It was perfectly cooked and cheesy and saucy.

All the pasta dishes could feed a family of four. After we ate, they boxed our food for us. The server joked that they feed you for today and tomorrow. She was right. I’ve had the leftovers for two lunches already.

For dessert, we had cannoli. It was so good I think if I hid my brother’s phone and he wanted me to tell him where it was he could just put a Maria’s cannoli in front of me and I would tell him. It was overflowing with filling and it had tons of chocolate chips. It was served with amazing presentation. It was my favorite part of the meal, naturally.

Kids would like that Maria’s has good food and nice people. Parents would like that there is good food and no TVs in the dining room. You would like it if you have grandparents from Europe or if you have always wanted to go to Italy. If it’s a special occasion and you’re feeling up for a road trip, I recommend Maria’s. It is simply the best.