Great cozy vibe, food is great, quick attentive service.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Paolo 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.
Jennifer 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.
John
Though the restaurant closes at 11 and we were a half hour early for our 10:30pm reservations, the kitchen closes early and if we hadn't shown up when we did, we probably would not have been served. Being in the business myself, I understand what a drag is when customers show up at the last minute, and it felt like the staff was unhappy that we were there late, and it was reflected in the service and with us receiving all of our food at once.  The food was very good and the place emptied around us as we ate, although we were not the last ones there. I still give the restaurant high marks as it is one of my favorite little restaurants in the city, but the experience was not what I had previously, and I felt more of a nuisance at times than a welcome guest, until I dropped a 35% tip on the house. Funny how many changes everything isn't it?! 
julianne
Great hoke in the wall find in the west village, authentic Italian food, tight space party of 4 was seated at the bar and bartenders go behind you to make the drinks at the other end of the bar but food was great and our waitress was very attentive, they also didn't rush us out which was appreciated
Sloane Applebaum
Cotenna is one of my favorite restaurants in the city. It has the perfect cozy ambiance, and the food is delicious and fairly priced. This is my go to spot when I’m meeting a friend for a bite or for date night on the weekends. I especially love their spaghetti & meatballs… it is so so good!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Shyra
On our second trip to the City, we booked a reservation on a high recommendation. We got lost and were over an hour late. We called and they told us to come in. We had an excellent meal from beginning to end! We would highly recommend Cotenna if you are looking for an authentic Italian dining experience!
Cheryl 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.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
George Robertson
It's cheap and fine, but I don't know why it's in the michelin guide. I'd pay a few dollars more a plate and go somewhere a bit more special.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 3
Julie
We ended up across the street at its sister restaurant, Aria. Same menu, even nicer ambiance. We love them both.
Cute intimate spot. Easy to get into on a Friday night. Good prices, food was tasty and served quickly.
Seiko 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.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Seiko
Food was great. Service was excellent. Noise level inside was pretty high. So we picked outdoor. Not great with lots of traffic and the next table was pretty loud. No coffee or tea after meal was a bust.
James F Watkins
TL; DR these people took care of us, beautifully. We were all delighted.
We had reservations at a wonderful place in Midtown, believe it or not, but we were seeing a film at the Film Forum and after 20 minutes of trailers I realized I had been irrationally exuberant and canceled our reservations -- we would never have made it on time, and they were going to close, we had a late reservation.
One of our party had been at another restaurant in the neighborhood, but it turned out to be all-cash and we had already been to a cash place earlier in the day... so that was out
Cortenna was 50 yd further away. I think maybe they had just had a no-show, we got seated immediately, the staff could not have been nicer, the food was truly delicious, one of the best meals I've had in a year or two, very helpful wine captain, everything was just perfect. We were delighted with our meal, The guests were all much prettier than we were, the food was great, the wine was great, the service was great: everything was fantastic, we were seated right by a window looking at the pretty people inside and outside.
We would definitely go back. Full marks. It was a little on the dark side and I had to take flash photos of the menu, that's literally my only complaint.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Barbara
We sat outside since it was a warm evening. The food and service (we had theater tickets so asked to be finished by a certain time) were terrific!
Great cozy vibe, food is great, quick attentive service.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
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.
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.
Though the restaurant closes at 11 and we were a half hour early for our 10:30pm reservations, the kitchen closes early and if we hadn't shown up when we did, we probably would not have been served. Being in the business myself, I understand what a drag is when customers show up at the last minute, and it felt like the staff was unhappy that we were there late, and it was reflected in the service and with us receiving all of our food at once.  The food was very good and the place emptied around us as we ate, although we were not the last ones there. I still give the restaurant high marks as it is one of my favorite little restaurants in the city, but the experience was not what I had previously, and I felt more of a nuisance at times than a welcome guest, until I dropped a 35% tip on the house. Funny how many changes everything isn't it?! 
Great hoke in the wall find in the west village, authentic Italian food, tight space party of 4 was seated at the bar and bartenders go behind you to make the drinks at the other end of the bar but food was great and our waitress was very attentive, they also didn't rush us out which was appreciated
Cotenna is one of my favorite restaurants in the city. It has the perfect cozy ambiance, and the food is delicious and fairly priced. This is my go to spot when I’m meeting a friend for a bite or for date night on the weekends. I especially love their spaghetti & meatballs… it is so so good!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
On our second trip to the City, we booked a reservation on a high recommendation. We got lost and were over an hour late. We called and they told us to come in. We had an excellent meal from beginning to end! We would highly recommend Cotenna if you are looking for an authentic Italian dining experience!
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.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
It's cheap and fine, but I don't know why it's in the michelin guide. I'd pay a few dollars more a plate and go somewhere a bit more special.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 3
We ended up across the street at its sister restaurant, Aria. Same menu, even nicer ambiance. We love them both.
Restaurantji Recommends
Cute intimate spot. Easy to get into on a Friday night. Good prices, food was tasty and served quickly.
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.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Food was great. Service was excellent. Noise level inside was pretty high. So we picked outdoor. Not great with lots of traffic and the next table was pretty loud. No coffee or tea after meal was a bust.
TL; DR these people took care of us, beautifully. We were all delighted.
We had reservations at a wonderful place in Midtown, believe it or not, but we were seeing a film at the Film Forum and after 20 minutes of trailers I realized I had been irrationally exuberant and canceled our reservations -- we would never have made it on time, and they were going to close, we had a late reservation.
One of our party had been at another restaurant in the neighborhood, but it turned out to be all-cash and we had already been to a cash place earlier in the day... so that was out
Cortenna was 50 yd further away. I think maybe they had just had a no-show, we got seated immediately, the staff could not have been nicer, the food was truly delicious, one of the best meals I've had in a year or two, very helpful wine captain, everything was just perfect.
We were delighted with our meal, The guests were all much prettier than we were, the food was great, the wine was great, the service was great: everything was fantastic, we were seated right by a window looking at the pretty people inside and outside.
We would definitely go back. Full marks. It was a little on the dark side and I had to take flash photos of the menu, that's literally my only complaint.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
We sat outside since it was a warm evening. The food and service (we had theater tickets so asked to be finished by a certain time) were terrific!
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