Corso 98

AMAZING! Excellent food! I can’t say enough great things about this restaurant from their complimentary toasted bread to the owner and his family being great hosts and so welcoming. You can tell a lot of love is put into this restaurant.
If it’s on the specials — get the OSSO BUCO — you will not regret it! So melt-​in-​your-​mouth delicious. The best I’ve ever had.
The steaks were cooked a perfect medium rare. Everything was so good. Love this restaurant.

Every single pasta dish I’ve tried here has been amazing and if you leave without having the ice box cake you’ll be sorry. It’s a small BYOB place, but the service is good and the food is great.

Great food and really nice people! We were there for New Year’s Eve. My wife got the sole and I got the tuna steak. Both were REALLY good! Classy place in a good location, near Halcyon and Egan and Sons.

The food is excellent and delicious. We have dined at Corso 98 for several years and always enjoy returning. The desserts are housemade and are also delicious.

Fantastic. One of my favorite Italian restaurants in northern NJ and I’m a snob at Italian restaurants. You won’t be disappointed!

The food is delicious and the servers were so friendly and quick. My husband and I split the zucchini blossom specialty appetizer which was delicious. Then he had the very tasty and excellently prepared hanger steak while I had the yummy sole piccata.
We will definitely come again.

Food is pretty good, atmosphere is boring– carpets and horrible music but maybe caters to an older crowd. Bread they provide was fresh and tasty with lemon butter. Stuffed Artichoke app was misleading, it was only two small artichoke hearts not a whole artichoke and I didn’t taste the goat cheese which is a dominant taste so maybe they forgot it or not enough. I would never go back although I have nothing particularly bad to say about the place.

Such a great dining experience! Walked in on a whim and glad we did! Split the stuffed artichoke to start and then my mother had the Risotto & Shrimp special (truffle flavor and overall delicious)… and I had the Lisa Marie homemade pasta dish. We were in a bit of a rush because I needed to catch a train in an hour and they were able to bring everything out very quickly! Hope to return again soon to Walnut Street and bring some friends to Corso 98! Wish I had time for dessert — looked very good!

Corso 98 has become my go to place for a comfortable, well prepared dinner. The service is wonderful and accommodating. Others have said that they make you feel a part of the family and they do. It is a family owned business and it’s clear that they care about the food and the experience of every patron. For the past several months I’ve been going to Corso at least weekly, have tried many items on the menu and have not been disappointed. My appetizer favorites are the beet and frisee salad, the long hots and potatoes, and stuffed artichokes. My dinner favorites are chitarra bolognese, shrimp risotto, and scallops. I’m not much of a beef eater, but my friend had the filet mignon and said it was the best she ever had. Seeing her beef and knowing how my fish was cooked, I can say that they cook their meat and fish perfectly. My favorite desserts are the chocolate chip crème brûlée and the apple torta. The apple torta is spectacular. The crust is perfectly carmelized, the apples sweet and tart, and it’s served with vanilla ice cream. I’ve only had it once, but swooned over it the whole time I ate it.
Cucina 98 next door is awesome, too. I’ve had many varieties of their fresh ravioli and pasta. The fresh raviolis are special. They are prepared by the owner’s Italian mother and are a soft, starchy and delicious bite. I usually serve them with olive oil, pasta water, pignoli nuts and red pepper flakes.

I have eaten at Corso for 15 years. What a meal!
I return again and again for refined dining; Corso is classy and its food consistent and delicious across the board. We have vegans in our household and they are cared for along with the meat-​eaters, who lean toward the restaurant’s terrific steaks.
Wear a nice shirt, bring a good bottle of wine and enjoy fine dining. PS there are nearby spots for before or after cocktails or coffee. This section of Walnut Street is happening.

Some of the best, authentic Italian food around. The owners are genuine and the service is wonderful– very professional.
The restaurant is the perfect size. The ambiance is beautifully done and allows for intimate conversations around the table with friends and family.
All of the food is super fresh, nothing is frozen or lacking in taste. I would suggest everything on the menu. My personal favorite is the fried zucchini (forgot the proper name) but it was so delicious. The texture was perfect and not overly «fatty».
Overall, ⁵⁄₅ stars. Grazie, Corso!!!

Wonderful atmosphere. Wonderful service. Even better food. Specials are a nice additional. But the fresh pasta with mozzarella on the menu is delicious. Will be coming back here for sure.

Went there last weekend and i thought the service was very friendly and delivered on their part. The ambience was great and it wasnt too noisy for our date night conversation.
So its a bit of a tale of two stories. We ordered calamari fritti to start and tiramisu to finish. Both solid but not spectacular.
For primi piatti we had the homemade pasta telephono. This was awesome and the reason i would go back again and again. If we had stopped there i would have given 4 – 5 stars.
So for our main course we had the chilean seabass. If you have read my other reviews im not a big fan of big portions but this was small. If it was incredibly delicious i would have been begging for more. The fish however was over cooked and dry. If we had skipped the pasta i would have given it a 2 stars. The asparagus olive medley was also a bit strange.
I would go back for the pasta but skipping fish next time.

I LOVE this place! Not just the actual restaurant, but Cucina 98 has been my go to for prepared meals since I moved to Montclair. The first time we had meatballs and this chicken salad that basically seduced us. The next time we had pasta and chicken Parmesan. Then we started going on dates there and taking new faculty members and guests for dinner. Then I’d sneak there alone, when my husband was away. The tiramisu is something spectacular. The turkey mini meatballs are super satisfying without weighing you down. Unless you eat the whole tray and that’s all on you. Think about your choices. You could have had a second meal out of that. But I’m not here to judge you. I could eat the whole large tub of bolognese sauce without pasta, in one day. PROUDLY!
Anyway, dinner at Corso is romantic, no matter how many people are there. It’s like they form an isolated bubble around each table using lighting and corners of the room. Obviously you are aware of everyone around you making yummy sounds, but something about the table size, proximity to the wall and candles makes it intimate. Now the owner and staff: they make the experience even better. This is what quality service looks like. They make you feel like buddies! And if you are lucky enough to meet Mama making pasta next door, you’re made to feel like family. Go Here! Because Mama misses you and thinks you need to eat amazing food.

Wow– super impressed. Excellent service, excellent food and the price is defiantly right. They serve authentic Italian food and the service is that of a New York City Michelin stared restaurant. We will most certainly be back.

This review is for Corso Cucina
This place is amazing. The owners are so personable and friendly. The food is fantastic. I had the eggplant and goat cheese with arugula, pine nuts, and grilled onion sandwich on Ciabatta. The bread came from Gina’s bakery up the street and was divine. The eggplant was perfectly grilled and seasoned. The accompaniments were perfectly chosen. Alongside my sandwich were these big fantastic homemade potato «chips».
You can sit in the dining room but pay at the counter which is awesome since the kitchen is small and there are just a couple outdoor tables. It was a great experience all-​around. I will most definitely be back.

The Sandwiches here must be capitalized. Only like 3 or 4 tables (counting the sidewalk and the ones situated inside), so I’d prefer to keep everyone in the dark on this place. I watch locally sourced farm goods being delivered into the kitchen. Every ingredient here is fresh and tasty. Leave with a slice of the homemade crumb cake to have with coffee.

This place was incredible. The service was outstanding and only comparable to the dinner service we had at a full service all inclusive resort in Mexico. They were on top of their game. The food was also very good and very uniquely done. I had the gnocchi — it had smoked mozzarella and spinach — it was unlike any gnocchi dish that I have ever ordered. My husband ordered the steak; he loved it (his only complaint was that it was a little pricey for the cut of the meat) but the way it was seasoned made it a very good dish. We sat outside and loved every bit of our experience there. We will definitely be back!
PS. The only reason I’m giving this a 4 and not a 5 was because of the price (just a tad on the expensive side)… But as for food, presentation, and service…5 stars!

4.5 — I’ll round up.
I don’t really eat pasta. I would like to very much but it doesn’t fit my macros (#iifym). At the same time, I too blame it on the town itself that I haven’t been up on my Italian game. Montclair is UBIQUITOUS for Italian restaurants. And the fact that really good pizza is in the mix, makes it even harder to crave Italian food all the time, especially since I would choose pizza involuntarily over pasta any day. Honestly, I would have to eat Italian food almost every other day to make sure I tried every Italian inch of this town! But with that said, 16 months after becoming a Montclair resident, here we are.
So my boyfriend and I decided to try out Corso last Friday night for an early dinner. We figure if we get there before 6pm we should be able to get seats, which was true. We were greeted by a server who told us any table was free game, but the back part of the restaurant is slightly colder than the front. So we sat right in the middle of the restaurant. Throughout the whole night we were taken care of by multiple staff members, each one pleasant and informative as the next.
My boyfriend got suckered into getting CALAMARI as an appetizer, which I wasn’t too keen on getting since I’m more of a dessert person and wanted to save room for it. For our main entrees, we both chose from the regular menu; HANGER STEAK for him, CHITARRA BOLOGNESE for moi.
First things first: THE BREAD BOWL. Country bread served with a side of zesty butter and olive/​pesto paste: Thumbs up! The zesty butter I didn’t care too much for, but the paste?!? Definitely slapped that on my bread in generous proportions. (It’s usually a good sign for the rest of the night if bread bowl is already a win.)
Next, Calamari. Seasoned just right, not greasy, and über CRUNCHY. How I wish calamari was like it everywhere.
Now mains. My dish was ridiculously waistline button poppin’. The pasta was down right F-​R-​E-​S-​H. Al dente, soft, and chewy; cooked to perfection. For $ 22, you can’t beat it, especially since they give you a TON of meat, which by the way was a mix of beef, pork and veal. I took a bite of the Hanger Steak and it too was really really good. The fingerling potatoes were a little bigger than I had imagined but nonetheless very good. The steak was cooked perfectly and its drizzled sauce was full of flavor. If you love rosemary, this is your dish!
I didn’t finish my meal so that I was able to order a dessert. The inner fat child in me would have went straight A-​line for the gelato, but instead I got the ITALIAN ICEBOX. A little smaller than what I had expected for $ 8 but still very good. Can you deny chocolate and whipped cream?! I don’t think so.
TIPS: If you’re looking for a more formal setting for Italian food in Montclair, this would be the place. Two above Giotto, one above Fresco in formal dining, but not as stuffy as Fascino I would suppose. And more heartier than that new joint on Church Street with the fancy small plates.

This review is for cucina 98, the kitchen and bakery next to corso. We stopped by for some pignoli cookies but walked away with fresh sausage and broccoli rabe ravioli instead. We had the added treat of watching the ravioli being prepared right on the spot by the warmest and loveliest Italian grandma; authentic down to the little white hair cap she wore.
The ravioli was sensational.