Market City Caffe

Italian food at its peak!

I kind of wish I could somehow channel my French obsession into this restaurant by speaking in the language, but Italian is good too. Disclaimer: The menu is at least 80% italian but you can basically read it as it looks like English.

I went for lunch, and they had an amazing string quartet playing beautiful music; it was really a great bonus. The whole vibe of the restaurant transports you into Tuscany, Italy with a touch of warmth. It had a great ambiance to it.

I got to my table out in the patio, and they waiter gave me two bread sticks in a cup. When I say sticks, I don't mean like those cheap bread samplers restaurants buy in bulk from some processed manufacturer. Rather, FRESH CIABATTA BREAD! The shaped it into a french bread manner, but it clearly was ciabatta. The olive oil and balsamic vinegar are on the table so it's totally up to you on how you want to 'customize' your bread dipping if you wish. The bread was so fresh and warm that I couldn't stop eating it. I soon realized though I still had a meal to eat later, haha.

I got the panini with mushroom, pesto, cheese, herbal spices, and special sauce which came with garlic fries. The panini bread is the same bread as the free one, so that made it even better. I'm a big fan of meat, so when I saw there was no chicken or anything, I kind of had doubts, but it was really good. The number of flavors and spices completely occupy your mind. The garlic fries aren't like the ones that are smothered entirely but rather it's just a sprinkle (that's how i like it).

Great food the penne pasta and Cesar salad are great choices. Come here and sit outside on a nice summer evening. Wait time wasn't too long.
Friendly service, and atmosphere.
Definitely would come back here again with the family.

I came in and the hostess was beyond disrespectful! She wasn't taking to anyone when I approached the table and I asked to sign me in. She ignores me and her coworker stated, "she wants to sign in." She then goes on to say yea I heard, but not right now. I was appalled by how rude she was. I was like I need to wait to sign in? And she refused to make eye contact with me. She was so so rude. She then called me and asked how many people I showed her 4 fingers. She asked my name and shouted I can't hear you in a very rude tone. I walked over and because I was so angry, I said; "if you would have paid attention you would know." She then began arguing with me and I just started spelling my name, because I didn't want to deal with her negative attitude. She was extremely rude, and it's sad that she's the hostess and the first encounter people make when coming in to the restaurant

I don't have the energy to write a long negative Yelp after my experience last night. I'm gonna do it in bullet form to spare myself but help all of my fellow Yelpers know what to avoid:

- dry breadsticks
- bland olive oil for dipping
- menu lies: Chopped Italian salad had no Gorgonzola or garbanzo beans and almost no tomato
- weak, bland salad dressing. It's like they never heard of vinegar
- burrata prosciutto pizza was served cold. Globs of cold cheese atop cold dough with a little tomato sauce. Each slice of prosciutto pulls off in your mouth on the first bite, but it doesn't even matter cuz the whole cold, sad pizza sucks anyway
- ladies room smells so bad that I got dry heaves and almost lost my nasty pizza. Woulda been for the best, but still.

Two stars instead of one cuz server was nice. Poor guy -- he looked like he'd seen it all before and was just beat down by working for a dud place.

Also -- the restaurant is very pretty. If you're gonna have a crappy dinner, it's at least better to experience it in pleasant surroundings.

Located in downtown Burbank, walking distance to many other shops, foods and the amc theatre. There is indoor and outdoor seating. 2 different sections to the indoor seating. Cute authentic decor and very homey/cozy place. Loved how colorful it was even though it was dimmed in a sense. There is an open kitchen as well.

We had a party of 7, made reservations the night before and ended up getting there 30mins earlier. There were no problems with us getting there early. We still got seated right away! The waitress was great and attentive. Refilled our mimosas regularly.

Once we were seated, she asked for our drink orders and then gave us 2 things of the complementary skinny fresh long breads to start while we looked through the menu. There is so much to pick from, the menu is lengthy, therefore it took us a while.

We came on a Saturday for their $15 bottomless mimosas with entree purchase. It does not have to be brunch entrees, it can literally be any kind of entrees from the actual menu, lunch, or brunch menu. Of course just not the antipastas or from the salad bar. The waitress gladly took out mimosa orders while we decided on our entrees.

We had clams to start which I loved. I could drink that sauce it I didn't, I did dip a lot of bread in it. My party mostly went with the ravioli of the day (sweet potato Saturday's) and 3 different pizzas. Specialty raviolis change on the daily. I fairly enjoyed the sweet potato ravioli which was drizzled in a creamy sauce. My food came out last sincetjeu accidentally burnt it, so they let me go to the antipasta bar to get a plate to start. I enjoyed my pizza the most, which was the Fennel and sausage pizza, other 2 friends got the prosciutto and margarita which were also good. Nice and thin pizzas.

One of my favorite spots in Downtown Burbank. We have been coming to Market City Cafe for the last 20 years. We love the outdoor seating area the most specially on a beautiful sunny day. We always have a good time here. Most of the menu items we tried has been fresh and delicious. The salad bar isn't the same as before, less choices and not too appealing. So we skipped it this time.
Also we loved the iced tea and would come in just for that but lately it has been very flavorless and watery.
The burger is good and has a reasonable price. My kids love it. Their pasta dishes are delicious. One of my favorites is the Penne al Pollo. You can't go wrong with that.
Great customer service and free parking in the structure. Will be back again soon

This restaurant has closed down.
No longer in business. Sad to see another Burbank restaurant close their doors.

I have been here a couple of times and the last time I was in I learned why their reviews aren't that awesome. Although sitting in the patio area by the street performers was a nice way to spend the evening with friends, there were some things that make me hesitant on returning again.

I called Monday, June 5th at 11:32AM. A male picked up and I asked if they took reservations. He said yes. I put in reservations for 9 people for Friday at 7:30PM on the patio. I asked if they could make sure to have our table located near the street performers and I also mentioned we were celebrating a birthday in our party. The gentleman I spoke with read said he could put down a note to make this happen for us and I was very pleased. He also said the manager would call me on Thursday to confirm my reservations.

When no one called on Thursday I called them. According to my phone I called at 7:02PM. A woman picked up the phone and I asked if she could lower the amount of people in our party from 9 to 6. She was very thankful I called to confirm and she read back the reservation request to me to make sure they had it right. (Party of 6 at 7:30PM Friday June 9th outside on the patio near the street performers.) she also read back my phone #, which was good because they had one number off. I corrected her and that might explain why the manager never called me.

When we arrived a girl with shoulder-length blonde hair greeted us at the front. I told her we had reservations and she completely dismissed them, claiming that it is first come first serve on the patio. I explained that I had called twice and both times they told me I had reservations for the patio. She then said that it got busy and they had another party of 6 they had to accommodate.

My boyfriend immediately asked to speak with the manager. When the manager came out we explained our situation and he said he would like to know who I spoke with. Well, hopefully he reads this review to see the exact dates and times I called so he can educate his staff on how to take reservations.

I asked if we could be seated inside since apparently, (according to the blonde girl) the patio was full, but then once a space opened up outside if we could be moved there instead. He said ok, but that he wanted to check the patio first. He checked it, came back in and said we would be seated in 2 minutes.

Not long after the blonde girl led us outside to a table. It was then that we noticed at least 5 other tables completely open. There were not even used dishes on them as if the parties had suddenly left. These tables were ready to seat people! Plus, when we had arrived we had been waiting by the one entrance / exit and no parties left while we were waiting there. WTH??? We were all a bit peeved at that blonde girl.

Our waiter was fine, but he did not come around as often as we would have liked. However, he appeared to be very busy and it made me suspect they might have been understaffed. I think he was the only waiter for the entire patio section but I could be wrong. He was nice and he got all of our orders correct. We only had to send one plate back. My friend had a brown avocado, which means it's bad, in case their kitchen did not know. My salad also has a partially brown avocado but I just cut that part off.

Everyone seemed to enjoy their food other than those minor issues. Since there was a birthday to celebrate we ordered a couple desserts and one came with a candle, which was cute. The wind was blowing and the waiter had to light it three times. That was nice of him. All in all, the food was good. Our bill was over $160 (including cost of birthday slice-no freebies on a birthday here) and I left a 30% tip for my part because we did like our server and I know they work very hard.

I was torn between leaving a 2 and 3 star review, but decided to go with the 2 just because we are usually treated better at other places. We might come back here eventually and I'll update the review if we do. But I honestly don't see it happening anytime soon since there are plenty of other good restaurants out there whose employees actually know if they can take reservations or not. I guess these ones apparently need some educating.

Let me start by saying this: the food is good.

Many people seem to be leaving bad reviews for stupid, pretentious reasons, in my opinion.

FOOD: Good! pasta and pizza were fresh and flavorful. They even have handmade items. Antipasto bar has good light options too!

SERVICE: I'd say it's more of a "European" style, which I appreciate... you're checked on, but not to the point where you can't carry on a conversation without being interrupted often. If you're that annoying customet that asks for 50 midifications and whatnot every two seconds instead of all at once, you're the problem.

AMBIANCE: light and casual. Nice outdoor eating area for some fresh air.

PRICE: a litte more pricey than other restaurants, but not enough that it should deter you. You can taste the quality difference than chain restaurants. Pastas/pizzas are around $16 on average and you cna add the antipasto bar for $8.50.

We went to Market City Caffe last night. When we walked in they weren't bust for a Friday night but it still took about 10 minutes to get seated. When we did, it took our waitress a while to come to our table to take our drinks order and offer the bread. I got the salmon with broccoli on side and my girlfriend got their linguine with clams. The food also took a while to come out. The salmon was okay but it could've been cooked more and the brocolli just had no taste.

Mushroom pizza: pretty big portion for one gal. I enjoyed every single slice! The crust was surprisingly good. I'd probably get pizza here again.
I've come here several times and have tried different things each time. I've had their Cobb salad, salad bar, etc. I wasn't much of a fan of anything but the pizza.