Il Cantinori

Wow. Bad food, bad service, bad review. Waiters yelling to each other across the (packed?) dining room; clearing the table by stacking everything on piles so high, I swear the waitstaff is betting on «who can stack the most»! The proverbial «icing on the cake» was when a table of rude 20 yr olds hijacked our waiter’s attention. We begged for the check sans coffee & dessert to put an end to the charade.

A classic and all time neighborhood favorite, many special occasions celebrated here! Old school but still as buzzing as ever.

Victor! Best restaurant experience I’ve had in NY! Get the pasta. KBNO! Never forget.

Service is excellent! We had a very knowledgeable waiter who was able to make wonderful recommendations. I would recommend making a reservation as this place seems to get crowded fast.
I’ve been here a few times and it truly seems like anything you order on the menu will be delicious. They always start you off with complimentary panzanella (tomato sauce and bread «salad») and its so good. Looking at the entrees I’ve had a wonderful veal chop milanese, not too thick nor too thin, and cooked to perfection. Their gnocchi dishes also always impress. Overall I would definitely recommend checking this place out.

Solid service, fresh pasta and simple ingredients all add up to a great meal. Coat check, dark old world feel, and grated cheers to your heart’s content. I found this a nice dining experience but a tad pricey for what it was. Lots of special occasion-​types dining here I noticed.

Amazing Italian food and great service. Feels very old NY and for all the Carrie Bradshaw fans you can relive her 30^th birthday episode ;)! Definitely get the pappardelle alla buttera-​sooooo good.

Doesn’t matter what the food and service are after the nasty rude bartender! Met old friends at
The bar early to spend extra time and were disgusted by him. Will find someplace else next time.

I came here with my family for my teenage daughters’ birthday. The food was well prepared and the service was great. It is not the fanciest, but it is a nice atmosphere for a special occasion. There are three particular reasons why I’ll be back:
1. Very attentive service. I purposefully didn’t ask for any special treatment for my daughter’s birthday because I didn’t want to embarrass them or seem silly, but I did mention to the maitre D’ that we were there for a birthday dinner. The staff took the initiative to place candles in their tiramisu. The fact that the maitre D’ listened and took initiative made the night special.
2. Potential celebrity sightings. Another reviewer saw Amanda Seyfried, a gentlemen who I bumped into while going to the restroom saw Derek Jeter there several months ago, and while we were there Mel Brooks had dinner at the table next to us. I don’t get gaga over celebrities but a nice celebrity sighting can make adinner more memorable.
3. Open sunday night. Il Cantinori was not my first choice (because I had never been there before), but I had difficulty finding a nice Italian restaurant that was open on Sunday. I’ll remember them for my next Sunday dinner.

So yummy great
Place for parties and great food fun place I love it great crowd so much fun

I cam me to il cantinori two weeks ago for a pre-​fixed tasting dinner and it was a lovely experience. The food is absolutely delicious and there was not one item that I did not eat or enjoy. The wine was also flowing and it complimented every dish. I would highly recommend the filet mignon or the veal. While I am not one to order beef, I tried both dishes and the tenderness and flavor of the meats made the dish unforgettable. The pasta is also cooked to perfection which is often somehow left unachieved by Italian restraints.
However, what sets this place apart from other higher end Italian fare in the city is the service. Impeccable in all aspects. From the moment I was greeted by the maitre’d to the explanation of each dish, the waiters are passionate, well-​versed on the menu, and overall really nice and professional. My only issue is that the bathrooms are in the basement which can make it harder for those that are older or have difficulty climbing stairs.

Such an excellent restaurant that’s under the radar get it has maintained its charm and great food after so many years!

I went here for my birthday with a group of 5. We had an early reservation and the service was very very slow. I was expecting outrageously delicious food but everything fell flat and flavorless.
MY boyfriend and I had:
CALAMARI ALLA GRIGLIA
CARCIOFI CON PANCETTA
SCALOPPINE AL BALSAMICO — This is my favorite dish and I chose this restaurant because they had it on the menu. It was so poorly done, dry, hard to cut, flavorless.
POLLO ALLA CARBONELLA
The rest of the table ordered many dishes and shared but most of the food went untouched.
Maybe they have a different chef early in the evening? I don’t really know why it was s poor. I also don’t know why my water glass was always empty when we were the only table in the area with the sunroof — or why the table of 6 that was sat 30 mins after us received there food first.

Went here for restaurant week,
Passed amanda seyfried outside. This is really old school italian, even the feel
Of the restaurant. It is open air which is so lovely on a summer night. Lots of staff on your behalf at the table.
Amazing complimentary focaccia
To start. Arugula and shaved beef salad was good, not exceptional. Ricotta ravioli in cream sauce was so decadent and the flourless cake was of course amazing. The vibe was families and date nights through and through. I can see why this is a nyc classic, the staff and chef are the real deal. My friend had the sole and it
Was amazing

BEST SERVICE EVER! Thank you so much!
I had a small family wedding reception here. When you walk in, it smell like a beautiful garden. And I hate admit I was one of those obnoxious customer who has no awareness of surrounding. The table was at corner, quite and beautiful just as we like it The owner was kind to offer extra table to put my wedding favors in a busy full night. We had a photographer take pictures and now when I am looking at those pictures, we are really taking up the whole space, but everyone was so nice and FOOD IS A-​ONE!
Definitely will go again and/​or send thank you flowers to the restaurant.

Great restaurant week menu. They made us feel so welcomed with a delicious, classy restaurant week menu that really sampled what a regular dinner night at this restaurant. Thank you for making restaurant week a great experience. Unlike other restaurants that make us feel like rejects ordering from a discounted menu.
Highly recommend and I will come here more often with friends and clients :)

Hurray for NYC’s Restaurant Week and Il Cantinori for being a part of it! After sifting through a million restaurants that offer the $ 25 lunch/​$ 38 dinner three-​course meal (an absolute bargain for pasta, steak, seafood), I finally came across Il Cantinori and reserved for a late Friday lunch. The restaurant was not very full, but it still offered a nice ambience. You could absolutely tell you were in an upscale Italian restaurant — the white linen tablecloths adorned with the signature olive oil and fresh roses in a glass (which by no means were overwhelming once we had stepped inside and adjusted our noses). We had several waiters, but all of them were so friendly and accommodating. They always took our dishes away and did not rush us with the check at all.
Onto the food… I had their eggplant appetizer — creamed spinach and tomato sauce wrapped in a thin slice of eggplant. It seems really small, but it is extremely hearty and delicious. My friend opted for their lentil soup — also very delicious! I also had their salmon — it was just a perfect portion. Smothered in creamy mustard sauce (also hearty enough that the cream almost masked the mustard), the salmon was perfect: soft and pink. They also have vegetarian option of pasta — head for the rigatoni, the portion may seem a bit small but the sauce is very hearty. There were string beans that accompanied this salmon, but obviously the salmon stole the show. For dessert, we tried the tiramisu and it could not have been prepared any better. Just a bit of fresh fruit and delicious cream can really make a difference for your tiramisu.
Also, did I mention that the bread is just to die for? It’s not your traditional focaccia bread — it’s a more traditional leavened bread that was airy and fluffy (I know, I had their delicious salmon and here I am raving about their complimentary bread, which they did give us many baskets of after realizing how much we loved their bread!).
Il Cantinori is definitely the star of Restaurant Week right now in terms of Italian food. Definitely a must try!

I had high hopes for Il Cantinori, having always wanted to dine here, so knowing I’d be coming from an event around the corner, I made a RW reservation.
The first problem materialized no sooner than our unwelcome-​feeling entrance– at least 3 servers watched us standing by the hostess stand waiting to be seated, and finally one asked if we’d been helped. I said no, and informed him about our reservation. He took a quick glance around, and tried to stick us us at the table beside us, by the cold door and incoming traffic, which didn’t even look completely made up for service.
No thanks — I asked to be moved to the other available front table, which they declined, so we went to the back room, which was nice… until I got a whiff of the disgusting half-​dead lillys in the giant bouquet directly next to the table. They permeated the room so strongly. They are beautiful flowers, no doubt, but they have ZERO place in any sort of food establishment — they are so overpowering and compete with the air for your attention, and greatly diminish any flavor experience you might be trying to enjoy. We had already asked to be moved once, so I felt uneasy about being moved to a 3^rd table on account of their unfortunate flower décor choices.
Sadly, our meal experience (rollatini and chicken liver to start, ravioli and rigatoni main, with a generous glass of Montepulciano) was greatly diminished by the horrendous lily smell, so we asked to be moved for our final course.
The food: good, but I couldn’t help but feel they were serving leftovers or trying to clean out their freezer for RW. There just wasn’t anything that special about the meal that would make me want to come back.
Service: Rude welcome, super aloof service, (though our server def warmed up as the meal progressed). Overall, we felt like we were intruding on someone’s party, it was quite unacceptable hospitality. I felt like we were unwelcome guests throughout our meal — this place seems to only cater to regulars.
Ambiance: I have to question any management who would agree to put forests of stinking lilies all over their restaurant. The roses on the tables were a beautiful touch, but the lilies were horrific.
That’s one of the good things about RW — it makes you decide to which places you return for a «real» meal– this won’t be one of them for us.

I get the whole RW stigma and how it doesn’t necessarily represent the true quality of a dining establishment. Normally when I have an underwhelming experience I’ll give the restaurant the benefit of the doubt. This is not the case here.
So I’ll get the standard points of experience out of the way and then explain why I won’t be returning.
The décor: Quite lovely. Real flowers on the tables which is always a nice touch.
The service: Prompt, a little aloof.
The food: Nothing to write home about. Appetizers (eggplant rollatino and lentil soup) were decent but came out lukewarm, entrees (chicken filet and veal ravioli) were salty and dry, and desserts (tiramisu and flourless chocolate torte) were beautifully presented but unmemorable in taste.
The deal-​breaker:
Upon arrival, we were immediately asked if we were with the [insert other Asian name] party who was already seated. We were not, but that’s fine. The restaurant was otherwise empty. Easy mistake.
We were then led to the back room where the aforementioned patron, an Asian woman, was waiting for her dining partners.
Throughout the course of our meal, four more tables were seated in the same area as ours. All Asian patrons. At first it seemed pretty hilarious. What are the chances; six parties in a row and everyone is Asian, right?
However, when we left, we exited through the dining area in the front of the restaurant where there were four tables of all Caucasian diners who were obviously seated after we were.
Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe it wasn’t. Maybe it was thinly veiled segregation. Either way, the whole vibe of it all didn’t exactly rub me the right way and I think my money will be better spent elsewhere.

I went into this dining experience knowing I was going to order risotto. I have never had it before but felt it should be a side dish; however, that’s seldom the case. Close your eyes and picture this: grilled salmon with a side of risotto… Yum.
Anyways, we stumbled across il cantinori because my friend wanted to find a restaurant that had good risotto because I really wanted to try it. This restaurant can make any type of risotto, you just have to ask.
We started with the insalata tricolore, it was refreshing. I then ordered a wild mushroom risotto and my friend ordered veal. The risotto was very good. I would have preferred if the mushrooms were cut a little smaller. You have to eat risotto fairly quickly because it gets cold fast and once cold, its not great.
For dessert I ordered the bread budding and my friend ordered a cannoli. I wasn’t a fan of either.
The service was fantastic. We got up to leave and everyone was so friendly and said goodbye.
They have a coat check!
Overall I rate my dining experience 3.5 stars out of 5 stars

This place is really good but I’ve never had to pay out of pocket so I can’t comment on value. Food is top notch both in quality and uniqueness; ambiance is impeccable/​location is amazing, and service is very good, as you’d expect from a place of this caliber.
I’ve had the veal milanese before and this thing is DELICIOUS. It’s a huge hunk of veal and the milanese really draws out the flavor, though note that I have no idea how much it costs so that could add to my favorable appraisal. I’ve also had the bolognese pasta and I believe the restaurant uses lamb to make and this is also very good. Other than that, their caprese is good, chicken livers for appetizers are also delish, and their desserts are also on point (the pistachio ice cream thing covered in a chocolate shell is very well done). One of the best parts about this place is their unlimited bread basket – the square shaped breads are especially awesome; they’re extremely chewy, buttery tasting, and melt in your mouth. The waiters also provide mounds of butter that they generously refill upon request.
Ambiance is great — sorta dimly lit venue with a tuscan feel, light music playing the back, and large tables (especially for this area of town) that are widely spread such that it’s intimate but you definitely get your own space and by no means will overhear any conversations but that of your own party. The tablecloths, wine glasses, and everything are also quite nice.
Service is amazing but that may be because the member of my party who I come with is BFF with the owner and everyone here.