Cotenna

Great restaurant, hard to get a seat but very pleasant once Seated! Great wine and very nice service!

Amazing food and service at a great price. We did a wine and pasta deal and they gave us a huge second glass after a mix-up with a pasta order that they had out in only a couple minutes.

This was my most terrible restaurant experience for a long time. Where do I start? The place is small and clearly the owner is willing to make as many bucks as possible out of it, to the point of sitting so many people that the place is just totally uncomfortable and noisy to the extreme. We're all used to busy and noisy places in NYC venues, but this place is way over anything you can expect - so noisy and packed that it really makes you wonder from the first minute you get in why you're inflicting this to yourself. And by the way, despite the 20% mandatory gratuity, you're handling your coat and bags yourself and no, don't expect a coat rack (ok if you look for it you'll find a hook under your table so that you can spend your evening stepping on your coat). At this point, you're thinking the food must be amazing for so many people to be here. You receive a menu that has some hand written additions - the so-called "specials" - and very quickly you get plates and bread (I believe this is the part that is supposed to justify the mandatory 20%). Most of the food was disappointing: we ordered pasta carbonara - a classic italian recipe - that was part of the specials of the day. The carbonara was made with cream and onion, which would give an heart-attack to any italian grandma. But the worse part is not that it was not traditional carbonara, but that it just had no taste. The sauce was sugary and I'm pretty convinced that there was not a single ounce of parmesan in my plate (oh and I did not mention that of course neither parmesan, nor salt, nor pepper was brought to the table - I guess you need to be at 30% gratuity to expect such luxury service, and I did not mention either our struggle to get a bread refill). We also ordered another special - that from the description and expected price we believe would be a risotto with some osso-bucco meat and sauce. It turns out it was a full blown osso-bucco along risotto- another major italian classic for which I have strong expectations. The cooking of the meat was good, but the sauce and risotto very disappointing: the sauce had the taste of canned tomato paste (tip to chef: add orange peel to the sauce and you'll turn your second rate osso-bucco into something much better), the risotto was flavourless (again, it does not seem there is parmesan in the house). The biggest (bad) surprise turned out to be the bill, and this is where the bad restaurant story becomes a shameless rip-off: the menu is structured into several categories, each having a single pricing printed for all the dishes of the category. You would therefore expect the handwritten addition in each category to have the same price as the other dishes listed in the category - or, you think, the price would also be written if it was different. You're wrong, and your expected $12 risotto becomes a $27 dish on the bill. Beyond this, all wines are very expensive, a mix of over-priced basics and possibly good wines the food does not deserve. So if you have a bit of expectation for either the food you eat or the honesty of the places where you go eat, STAY AWAY from this place.

I don't know where to start... The low price of pastas hides a very high price of wines. A very standard White wine will cost you the price of an excellent wine. The specials are written on the menu with no price which makes think it is the same price as the rest. However it can cost you $30 when the pasta is $12! 20% tip included in the check. In the end we paid $140 for a really bad quality dinner. To conclude, the restaurant is really over crowded. It is so full that it is really uncomfortable. An awful place to avoid !!!

Overall this place is over-rated.
Yes this place looks nice and the first impression is very good, BUT
1) The space is way too small. You don't want waiters and people waiting for a table to push you in the back when you eat
2) The food was not very fresh, not super tasty and not warm enough