Classic Italian pastas & hearty meat dishes pair with wine & cocktails in tiny digs with a bar.
Neena Rouhani
One of my favorite Italian restaurants in the city. Everything was delicious. We ordered the specials — black truffle gnocchi, beef lasagna, mango goat cheese salad and creme brûlée. Great service and ambience. Small space so it can get loud.
… morePaolo Lannitelli
We would especially like to highlight Venera for her outstanding service. She was incredibly attentive, warm, and professional, making us feel genuinely welcomed from the moment we arrived. Her knowledge, kindness, and attention to detail truly enhanced our dining experience.
Excellent service like this makes a big difference — thank you, Venera, for making our visit so enjoyable. We look forward to coming back.
… moreZiad Iskandar
Great spot and atmosphere. You get decent food and nice servings. I would avoid the red wine selection by the glass, they very kindly replaced a glass I didn’t like with another wine while I did not say anything it was just as bad. (Valpolicella and Super Tuscan) the white was decent Vermoentino)
… moreJennifer Power
A wonderful dining experience from start to finish. The atmosphere is warm and welcoming, the service is attentive and professional, and the food is beautifully presented and full of flavor. Every detail is thoughtfully considered, which really elevates the overall experience.
Highly recommend this restaurant for both special occasions and relaxed evenings. We will definitely be coming back.
… moreCheryl Doustan
Cotenna was an outstanding dining experience from start to finish. The atmosphere is warm, inviting, and effortlessly elegant—perfect for both a special night out or a relaxed, elevated dinner.
Our waiter, Alex, truly made the evening exceptional. He was attentive, knowledgeable, and struck the perfect balance between professional and personable. His recommendations were spot-on, and he made us feel genuinely taken care of throughout the meal.
The food was phenomenal. The lamb chops were cooked to perfection—tender, flavorful, and beautifully seasoned. The ravioli was equally impressive: rich, delicate, and bursting with flavor, clearly made with incredible attention to detail and quality ingredients.
Every element of the experience—from the service to the cuisine—was top tier. Cotenna is a place that delivers consistently and thoughtfully, and I can’t wait to return. Highly recommend.
… moreAlanaSophia
Good food, friendly servers, nice vibe. Came here is august and sat on the patio for dinner. Had the octopus salad, lamb chops, olives and feta, and bruschetta. Lots of different pasta dishes. And chocolate cake.
… moreNghia Le
My first Italian in NYC and they did not disappoint. The seafood salad was pretty good but I would love to have a touch more acidity. For entrees, we had meatballs spaghetti and the lamb shank risotto, which was cooked to absolute perfection. For dessert, we had the lava cake and the ricotta cheese cake and they were delicious!
… moreSeiko Rosen
The food was so good. We ordered Grilled Octopus salad, Bucatini with pesto, sun dried tomatoes and burrata cheese and branzino with lemon sauce and all of them were on point. Portion size was good. The service was excellent. The noise level was a little high inside. So we opted for eating outside and then there was lots of traffic. And they had no coffee or tea. Otherwise it was excellent.
… moreReinaldo Kibel
Beautiful boutique Italian restaurant with seating for 14 and a few bar seats. The appetizer specials were amazing. The salad was good the main entre was good as well.
… moreKimiko
One of the best meals of my life! As long as you skip past the questionably and confusing hostess…
We made a reservation for here at 5pm and arrived on time. The inside is very tight, and super tiny. The minute we are seated inside, the hostess tells us they have a large party and that we need to leave in an hour – that’s doable as long as the food gets here quickly. We then proceed to wait 15 minutes to actually get our orders placed as the hostess does not take orders and is pacing back and forth as the place got more crowded. I really don’t know why she told us to finish in an hour when we had a reservation? We then heard her tell another group that the large party was arriving at 7:30! why were we being rushed at 5??? But regardless of this weird situation – food was phenomenal.
We had the Caesar salad, octopus salad, crab cakes, bruschetta, house seafood pasta, and truffle gnocchi (my favorite). I cannot stop thinking about this particular meal. I’m definitely coming back!
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