Nino's Italian Restaurant

Small business owners represent our community because they MAKE our community. Restaurants create a driving force of employment for people of ALL backgrounds at every ENTRY LEVEL to a job! You can operate a gift store with one employee, but you cannot operate a restaurant with only one. It takes a TEAM! My brother Mike and I were most appreciative to March with the restaurant industry and our community! #godbless #Godspeed

Accountability March in Long Beach, CA

John Montijo was an experienced flight instructor for the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War I. Montijo moved to Long Beach and became one of the earliest licensed Hispanic pilots in the United States. He also taught flight instruction to Amelia Earhart! #HispanicHeritageMonth

Long Beach Gives is our city’s annual day of online giving. Since we closed our business, we have been actively helping in the community. This is an amazing 24-hour online fundraiser that provides an easy and fun way for our entire city to give to local nonprofits together, which is so important with many organizations not able to hold normal fundraising events this year us included! The best part is that the donation lines are open NOW. At Nino's and over the years, we ho...Continue reading

Wishing all the mothers a Happy Mother’s Day, but also sending out my greetings and prayers to all restauranteurs today too! I grew up in a restaurant business and in many ways, it would be impossible for me to separate the difference of being home or being there because our family restaurant was home to us in so many ways. Often, we considered it our first home, and our actually the family house was second. I took my first steps at Nino’s and I imagine I learned to speak e...Continue reading

Nine years ago... Nino's Italian Restaurant on First Fridays. Loved these nights of delicious food , amazing art , incredible music and really fun people!

We would be celebrating 61 years in business had we not decided it was time to retire after 58 years. The last two weeks were glorious having long time clients fly in from all over the country to have their last meal with us at Nino’s. We ran out of all the favorites nightly and it was bittersweet to say good bye to all those years of service, friends and cooking family recipes. Homemade lasagna, eggplant Parmesan, spaghetti and meatballs, pizza (we still have the best pi...zza crust), crostini, bruschetta, our homemade Italian and Blue Cheese dressings and our BEST fried mozzarella and fried zucchini. Of course the biggest compliments was from our customers after doing a realty TV show and trying to showcase some of the Ramsay dishes, they protested saying it was bland or couldn’t come close to measuring up to our food. Let’s be fair, realty TV is anything, but realty. So on our memory month of many thanks to 6 generations of customers eating at Nino’s thanks for the memories. See more

Wish I could have been included in this interviewed piece of former contestants. Yes, food is good and in the show he spits it out. The whole filming is done in 3 days so it’s strategically set up to follow their storyline. At one point it was so obviously out of control and staged the first night I said I would pull the plug, so they slowed it down. A lot of our customers hated his menu and screamed for our recipes back. And we did. All in all he was a nice person and yes... it is all a persona for the show. He’s good looking and charming, yes, but it wasn’t what we were told it would be and everything they remodeled was cheaply made and broke. Chairs from IKEA? Anyone in restaurant industry knows we have to have commercial grade chairs for the safety of the customers. So that was a big flop too. Table tops were uneven and a disaster to have people place a drink on top! We had to cut the tables down to remove because so heavy! When we decided to retire and sell the property, we had people flying in from all over the United States. Crying at the end of an ERA of traditional Italian food for them and their families. Nino’s was one of the restaurants that set the pathway for the way American culture fell in love with Italian eateries through authenticity, love, and quality food at good pricing. Great for date nights or wonderful for family gatherings. Hard to have a place that’s authentically old fashion in good comfort and robust dining in today’s world. Interesting to come across this article. https://m.ranker.com//kitchen-nightmares-/mariel-loveland& Carina Cristiano

My dad always believed in family first. In the 58 years of business, we were always closed on 4th of July because even though many people wanted to order trays of food especially our antipasto salad, he felt his staff should have time with their family too. He encouraged everyone to make time for family and not work on special holidays. 4th of July being one of them. He loved a good barbecue. :-) Plus my parents were SO PROUD TO HAVE BECOME AN AMERICAN. My parents loved bein...g nostalgic on this day and spending time with family and friends! Whatever you do, be safe, be kind and be with those you love! A special note to please be aware how much fireworks frightens animals. Please make sure your cats and dogs are home inside safe and sound! Also, if you can Foster the 4th, please reach out to your local animal shelter to sign up. My dad was a huge animal advocate so for us it was always a home of family, friends and pets! Check out these two heroes fostering the 4th participants. https://www.facebook.com//pcb.159327296/1593266310802158/

We want to wish everyone a belated Happy Mother's Day! As a family, we served many mother's day meals and it was always an honor to be a part of your family celebrations(Since 1958!). Thank you! This year we took mom to breakfast on 2nd Street at Pandor then to a cute clothing store, Bungalow Bay. This retail store is one of her favorites. Then off to the movies (not a good movie to even mention), then Nordstrom Rack of Long Beach followed by dog park with her grand dogs. T...he dogs love their time with her too. Then back home to have restful night and watch some Hallmark rerun. We do sometimes miss the hustle and bustle of the Nino's life, but super happy to have our family time for ourselves now too. Bless you and we wish you all the best. Cooking spaghetti tonight at home with roasted red peppers, freshly grated Parmesan cheese and a green salad. Carina Cristiano

http://www.kitchennightmaresupdates.com//ninos-italian-res Found this posted on their blog, but it’s written by me. Carina Cristiano

My brothers Nino and Mike along with my mom and I attended Mayor Ernie Kell's Funeral today. What an honorable man! He had such a rich and full life of contribution, military service, public service, business success, family, friends and humor! His celebration of life was filled with beautiful stories of a true leader of our City. He created the Promise of our LBUSD School District, he built the Terrace Center, he repurposed land when the Naval Shipyard moved out, and the l...ist goes on of his Legacy! Also included in his legacy was his thrill for life(airline pilot & race car driver), his love for the City of Long Beach, and his genuineness in compassion for others. Not only for people, but animals too! Cats, squirrels, ducks, etc. At Nino's, we had a dish named after him, called Mayor Ernie Kell. It was the most incredible garlic dish ever! His favorite. My father would always be impressed as amused with how much Mayor Kell loved garlic, so he named the dish after him. He and his wife were very good friends to my family. They were good customers and long time friends. His wonderful personality will be missed, but his Legacy will be for generations to come! We all feel blessed to have known him and to have called him friend, mentor, and Mayor of Long Beach. Thank you Mayor Ernie Kell. Long Beach is a better City because of you! See more

Thank you so much Willferrel for the shout out at today's USC commencement! We loved getting so many calls and text messages afterward. We loved your speech! As a fellow SC alum, an extra big thanks! #usc #graduation2017 #ninoslb Carina Cristiano http://www.tmz.com///will-ferrell-usc-commencement-speech/ ...

https://youtu.be/4L_yCwFD6Jo Nino's property is sold. Thank you for all the wonderful as well as interesting memories "growing up as the Nino's family." We are presently still active in the LB community. Mom with her senior group and book club, Carina with her animal rescue, and Nino and Jaclyn focusing on those with special needs locally. Carina needs to get to that book she wants to write. One day. For now, taking the time to still decompress from such a big transition.

Happy Valentine's Day! Sorry we are not here to celebrate your special night, but as a family we fondly remember all the first dates, wedding proposals, anniversaries, and just special occasions with us! Heartfelt thanks for the memories!