Ciao Baby Restaurant

Ciao Baby Restaurant & Lounge is a 21st century, family-style Italian restaurant located in Massapequa Park, NY.

• Abruzzo Restaurant
• Italian Restaurant

Ciao Baby Restaurant & Lounge, a 21st century, family-style Italian restaurant, was originally opened in Commack in 1998 and expanded to Massapequa Park in 2003. Owned by Lenny Oliva with Executive Chef Frank Cammarata, Ciao Baby Restaurant & Lounge is where “everything is bigger and better,” says Adam Richman of The Travel Channel’s Man Vs. Food.

Donned with paraphernalia from the 50’s and 60’s, the restaurant offers tables large enough to fit all three generations of family and portions large enough to feed them. Photos of Dean Martin, Marilyn Monroe and others line the walls, while flat screen TVs hang from above showing Italian-American classic films and current sporting events. A plaque denotes the top twelve customers of the year at each location as chosen by employees based on number of visits, personality and other categories.

The family-style restaurant features “grandmother’s cooking” with appetizers from $10 to $19, entrées from $19 to $47. Guests may start their meal with a homemade Sicilian rice ball of risotto filled with ground meat, peas and plum tomato sauce topped with melted mozzarella and fresh ricotta cheese; tuna duo of sushi grade yellowfin tuna encrusted in sesame seeds, pan seared along with tuna tartare served over crispy wafers; and Gorgonzola salad with mixed field greens tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette topped with Gorgonzola cheese, fresh mangos, walnuts, plum tomatoes and onions. Entrée favorites include Gemelli con Salsiccia, crumbled sweet Italian sausage, mushrooms and steamed broccoli rabe tossed in a sun-dried tomato cream sauce served over twirled macaroni with ricotta cheese; Nonna’s old world meat platter with freshly made meatballs, hot or sweet sausage in a San Marzano plum tomato sauce served over macaroni; and seafood alla Oreganata with baby shrimp little neck clams, mussels and calamari tossed with garlic and oil and Oreganata breadcrumbs served over crispy spinach with angel hair macaroni. Desserts include: the volcano with fourteen scoops of chocolate and vanilla ice cream in a milk chocolate shell with Oreo crumbs and chocolate sauce topped with fresh whipped cream, walnuts and berries; ice box cake with homemade chocolate pudding layered between graham crackers served with whipped cream; and Cannoli with a choice of chocolate or vanilla cannoli shell filled with homemade cannoli cream.

Thirst-quenching drinks include: Ciao Baby Bing Cherry Cosmo made with Sky Infusions Cherry Vodka, Triple Sec and cranberry juice with a splash of lime juice; Marilyn Monroe made with Midori Melon Liqueur, Chambord Liqueur and Stoli Vodka with a splash of pineapple and cranberry juice; and Desperate Housewife made with Van Gogh Chocolate Vodka, White Crème de Cacao and a splash of raspberry liqueur.

Ciao Baby Restaurant & Lounge also hosts events and specials include weekday happy hour, weekday lunch and dinner prix fixes, “Wine Watch” Wednesday, “Martini Madness” Thursday, and live music on Friday and Sunday.

Ciao Baby Restaurant & Lounge is open Monday through Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., and Sunday from 3 to 10 p.m.