Cotenna

West Village is an area that we had walked through at times, but we never really tried many restaurants. Fortunately, it’s very accessible from both where my partner works and where I work. They picked this restaurant at the whim, and the menu looked pretty interesting and also straight forward. I was able to secure a reservation for 5:30 PM the day of without much difficulties. When you arrive here, there seems to be a little sibling restaurant, Aria Wine bar, across the street which seems to have a similar menu. Unfortunately, I did not see a restaurant sign for this one until I stared at the menu taped to the wall and noticed it said Cotenna.

Ambiance & Service

The interior of this restaurant reminds me of a questionably cozy French bistro where the tables were very close together as well as the bar seats. Everything felt a bit quaint and snug such that if you weren’t used to being close to people post-pandemic, you would probably feel uncomfortable. The host sat us at the corner of the bar, where we had seats that were perpendicularly adjacent to each other. Fortunately, the bar counter top has enough area for all the appetizers and food. While we were eating, some diners sat next to us, and it was quite easy to make chatter with adjacent parties since people are looking at what foods you’re eating.

The service was pretty fast, though I thought it was weird how the final check was done. Sitting at the bar, the bartender brought the remote card reader and just yells out how much the total is. I would’ve at least expected to see the bill, but it didn’t bother me enough where I would make a stink about it. On the card reader, it said that the tip was auto calculated pre tax, and I did some quick math in my head to validate it.

Food

The Vermentino ($15 - rear) was a crispy, light white wine. It was pretty decent and reminded me of a very light chardonnay.

The Verdicchio ($16 - front) was a bit more crispy, bold, and oily than the vermentino above.

They gave us some room temperature bread that we can dip in our foods or use their provided olive oil and balsamic vinegar bottle dispensers.

The Tortino di Granchio e Funghi ($16) came with crab & shrimp cakes, capers, and mushrooms. I was not a fan of the mushrooms, so my partner ate all of that. The cakes themselves were just ok for me. They tasted frozen, and it also seemed to lack some seasoning. I think we would pass on this next time.

The pasta of the day (pasta del giorno) was Seafood Fettucini ($27) which came with mussels, clams, squid, and shrimp. It was served with a red sauce. The fettucini was overcooked for me since it had some mush in it, and the red sauce was very watery. The seafood was reasonable though the shrimp was a bit overcooked for me as well. I think conceptually this sounds pretty good, but I think the idea and execution was a bit careless. The sauce could use a bit more tomato concentrations to really give it some more distinction.

The fish of the day (pesce del giorno) was Branzino Al Limone ($27) which came with spinach, mashed potatoes, a lemon wedge, and a branzino filet. The fish had a nice sear on it, and the sauce had nice citrus tones from the capers and squeezed lemons. The mashed potatoes was nice and buttery.

The Tiramisu ($10) came with a side of strawberry compote. I haven’t had tiramisu in many years since my partner dislike eating coffee based desserts for dinner. This was pretty good, especially with the strawberry syrup on the side.

Final Verdict

In all, the food that we ordered tastes for its price. It’s definitely not as expensive compared to other Italian restaurants, though the entree dishes we had tonight could probably be better made at home. If you’re looking for a decent night out without burning a hole in the bank, this could be a decent place to go especially for its ambiance if you’re into a cozy atmosphere where you can literally hear everyone around you easily. I think if the food was prepared with a little more finesse, it could stand out a bit more.

Yelp Jabs

The food was unmemorable in the light of how uncomfortable the space was.

I’m not usually a huge fan of tight spaces, but some people do enjoy this type of ambiance. When I ate at bistros in Paris, you would have to pull the tables out to sit patrons in, and the tables would be literally touching each other. Fortunately, French diners don’t really care about strangers right next to them, but of course Americans will likely be a bit more concern about their space.

I’ve ordered from here using DoorDash. Just one dish, linguine with clams. Firstly, it was grossly overcooked, so badly that the texture of the pasta was just mushy and falling apart.

The biggest mistake by this Yelper was to review the restaurant based on delivery. It’s a completely worthless cause since the restaurants can’t guess how long a delivery is going to take to deliver. If my fettucini was already overcooked while eating at the restaurant, I can only imagine what it would be like if it were to be delivered.

Revisions

1. Jan 27, 2023 - Initial revision.