Cucina Maria South Philly

I visited this restaurant during the StrEats of Philly food tour, and I'm so glad they introduced us to it. The spinach gnocchi with blush sauce is truly the best gnocchi I've ever tasted. I can’t fully describe it, but you absolutely have to order the gnocchi. The restaurant is BYOB, so our group enjoyed a few bottles of red wine that we brought along. This place is definitely on my must-visit list whenever I'm in Philly.

I went for a work lunch with a group of colleagues and ordered the spinach gnocchi, which was delicious. Everyone enjoyed their meals. The desserts were also quite enjoyable, as we sampled a bit of everything. They offer a great lunch menu with some classic dishes at half the price. The service was excellent and felt very personal. I definitely plan on returning. Thank you!

I was thrilled to discover this fantastic restaurant in the neighborhood. The gravy was simple yet delicate, and all the ingredients were fresh. It had a farm-to-table vibe, especially with the house-made pasta and bread. We ordered an appetizer, two entrees, and dessert, all for under $100. I even brought half of my entree home with me. I was so absorbed in enjoying the food that I didn’t pay much attention to the decor, but I did notice the lovely fresh roses on the table, which added a nice touch.

A scene taken out of the god father, the sauce does not disrespect you! Authentic and amazing Italian, you can tell the pasta is homemade. The seafood is super fresh and that sauce…… Just put it on everything! The pasta is superb, all the seafood was amazing, the bread is super fresh and soaks the juices up nicely, and the atmosphere and size of the place makes it great for a romantic dinner.

This place may have had the worst Italian food I’ve ever had. Went for Father’s Day I definitely regret it for a $331 meal. None of the food was fresh it was barely edible. It’s hard to mess up Italian food, but here are the particulars:The fried calamari was under fried Sat ontology of what looked like last weeks mixed greens. The marinara sauce seemed like canned tomato paste with some olive oil.The porcini risotto was bitter bland probably dried mushrooms pre mixed/boxed risotto. We bit into the mushroom got mushroom water (yuck!)The gnocchi was over cooked, mushy fell apart.The bronzino was bland had no taste it’s probably the farmed version of bronzino. The parpadelle was gummy stuck to each other. Probably overcooked.The langoustines looked old not fresh. They were not cleaned properly served on a giant plate of the same gummy parpadelle.And everything was over garnished with parsley.The waiter server were 2 kids they tried but clearly they don’t know table service how to take orders because they came back a few times because they forgot what we ordered.Decor was dated, but that’s not a problem because some of the best meals I’ve ever had were in hole in a wall spots however this place has no business being open.