Orlando's Family-Owned Italian Restaurant

Orlando's Family-Owned Italian Restaurant

Ciao Italia Ristorante is Orlando's longest-running family-owned Italian restaurant. The Navarra family has been serving handmade Italian cuisine since 1991. Near SeaWorld.

35 Years on Westwood Boulevard

In 1991, Josie and Antonio Navarra opened a small Italian restaurant on Westwood Boulevard in Orlando. They had no franchise backing, no corporate investors, and no marketing budget. They had family recipes from southern Italy, a kitchen they built themselves, and the belief that if the food was good enough, people would find it.

Thirty-five years later, Ciao Italia is still there. Same family. Same location. Same recipes. The restaurant has served hundreds of thousands of guests, earned over 4,000 reviews, collected 9 culinary awards, and become one of the most recognized Italian restaurants in the Orlando area. In a city where the average restaurant lifespan is measured in years, not decades, that track record speaks for itself.

What makes a restaurant famous is not advertising or social media. It is the accumulation of individual experiences — thousands of dinners where the food was excellent, the service was warm, and the guest left wanting to come back. That is how reputation is built, one table at a time, over 35 years.

The Food That Built the Reputation

The menu at Ciao Italia has evolved over the years, but the foundation has never changed. Every pasta is handmade. Every sauce is made from scratch. Every dish is cooked to order. There are no microwaves in the kitchen, no pre-made components pulled from bags, and no shortcuts that sacrifice quality for speed.

Guest favorites include the Fettuccine Alfredo, made with a real cream sauce that coats every strand of handmade pasta. The Chicken Parmigiana is breaded fresh and served with marinara and melted mozzarella. The Lasagna Bolognese is layered with beef ragu, mozzarella, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. For seafood lovers, the Risotto alla Pescatora is a showstopper — Arborio rice cooked with fresh shrimp, mussels, clams, and calamari.

Beyond the classics, the menu includes dishes that reflect the Navarra family's roots in southern Italy. The Pappardelle al Cinghiale is a slow-cooked wild boar ragu with porcini mushrooms. The Vitello Piccata is veal scaloppini with artichokes and capers. The Agnello is Australian lamb chops with mashed potatoes and asparagus. The Cernia alla Puttanesca is Gulf grouper with olives, capers, and tomato sauce. These are not simple dishes. They require technique, timing, and ingredients that most restaurants in the tourist corridor cannot be bothered to source.

The Atmosphere

Ciao Italia is casual Italian done right. The dining room is warm without being dark, comfortable without being cramped. The lighting is soft. The tables are set simply. There is no dress code — guests arrive in everything from date-night outfits to theme-park-day shorts. The staff has been with the restaurant for years, some for decades, and they treat guests like regulars even on the first visit.

The private dining room seats up to 60 guests and can be reserved for corporate events, birthday parties, rehearsal dinners, and family celebrations. Full venue buyouts accommodate up to 110. Custom menus with wine and beer packages are available for any event. The Navarra family works directly with hosts to plan every detail.