Cafe Cortadito

01/03/10

good food, nice people

by gaby2 at Citysearch

A friendly place with very good, if not surprising, food. A delicious tres leches cake for dessert, good coffee, and very pleasant service.

• Pros: small, friendly
• Cons: some diners get a little loud

12/02/09

Great food. So it's a little rushed, big deal... it's NYC...

by roneofty at Citysearch

The food at Cortadito is delicious. The hostess is very friendly and very accomodating. There is not one item on the menu that is not pleasing to the palate. If you eat here you can understand why there is a rush at times to get you in and out. It is too popular now that it has gotten stellar reviews from papers such as the Times. If I were the owner I would definitely move to a larger area to accomodate more people. Sorry to all those who hate the service but I'll put up with less than stellar service anytime in exchange for a great meal. I've been to other places where the service is great but the food just sucks...

• Pros: Delicious food, excellent coffee & dessert, great atmosphere
• Cons: It's now too popular for such a small location...

07/15/09

Good food...rushed service

by CSMobileUser at Citysearch

Been to this place many times,when they were starting out and had no customers or liquor lincese, Now its a busy popular place with no waiting area (place is very small). Took my husband there for his birthday with a couple of friends (party of 5). Spent $280.+ 25% tip That night(we are big tippers) we had ordered two pitchers of sangria. As we were finishing are last glass of the second pitcher the owner had one of the bus boys tell us that they had people waiting and they needed that table. I mean come on we were finishing no need to rush! Ofcourse we had already over tipped.We waited for our table! Other then that the food is great.If they read there reviews maybe they'll learn!

05/07/09

Horrible service!

by eml2 at Citysearch

I have never written a review on a restaurant before, however feel compelled to do so after the experience that I had at Café Cortadito last weekend. A party was planned in the back room several weeks ahead of time, and 15-20 people were scheduled to attend. Many members of the party arrived at the time that the party was scheduled to begin, however several people were running late. The owner of the restaurant was unreasonable from the first attempt made to speak to her that night. She would not allow any people inside the restaurant (despite the fact that it was raining and there was no one in the area where the party was scheduled to be held), and spoke to all of us in an extremely unprofessional manner. She was extremely rude from the second that we arrived at the restaurant, and the atmosphere was actually so hostile that we decided to leave and hold the party at another restaurant nearby that luckily had enough space for us on a Friday night. We were looking forward to a great evening, however the owner’s rudeness almost ruined the night. I’ve read a lot of similar reviews about the staff at Café Cortadito, so I believe that it is clear that the service at this restaurant is consistently horrible. I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone.

• Pros: Food is OK, but not worth it
• Cons: Service

03/02/09

My home away from home:))))

by kda77 at Citysearch

I am so happy to have Cortadito up the block from where I work,

I can escape from the world and have a beautiful meal presented

to me:))) I do deserve it:)) and the best service ever.

The owners have put their love into there food and atmosphere, for

valentines day i would say it was soooo romantic, all the couples around

me seemed to be just as happy as i was....

Definitely try different meals each time you go, haven't tried one yet that im not happy with.

Love this place

• Pros: Beautiful food treat yourself
• Cons: none

02/07/09

RUDE hostess, OK food - terrible value

by snwp at Citysearch

A group of 9 of us went for a birthday party. When I went to inform the hostess that the party was all there (save for the birthday girl) - she curtly informed me that the reserved table would only be held for 20 minutes and then it would be given away. This was BEFORE I was able to tell her that we were all here except for the birthday girl. Then she would only give us the table if we were out of there by 9 p.m. (We all were there by 7:15 p.m., so that left us plenty of time). This was not phrased as a request - this was phrased as in, you don't get the table unless you agree to leave at 9 p.m. Now, I have no problem with leaving at a reasonable time and I understand that restaurants need to get a certain amount of turnover in order to make money to support their livelihood and the livelihood of their staff. (I do my part to help out the restaurant business - I order lots of food and I usually tip at least 18 - 20%) But I was incredibly taken aback at the tone of her voice and the way that she phrased everything.

The hostess made me feel as though we were all unwelcome. The meal itself was fine. Food was generally tasty, although you it's not exactly cheap - entrees run from $17 - 21. (Cafecito on Avenue C has the same menu at prices that 30 - 40% cheaper.) For the prices that they charge, I have a certain expectation as to the quality of the service and this was NOT met.

At the end of our meal, the hostess showed up, and the words out of her mouth were "You need to leave. The party for the 9p.m. have arrived and you need to leave." Again, we had agreed to leave by 9 p.m., but I would have appreciated not feeling as though we were being kicked out of the restaurant.

We all spent close to $40 a person and that's not a huge amount of money, but I don't think we deserve to feel like we needed to be kicked out of the restaurant. I'm happy to help out restaurants and give them business, but she really made us feel unwelcome.

• Pros: decent food
• Cons: RUDE service, long waits and cramped seating

12/14/08

Good food - TERRIBLE service

by LisaJe at Citysearch

Granted, the quality of the dishes, including their presentation, is a bit above average here, and the decor is quite charming, as well. However, neither is enough to outweigh the downright DEPLORABLE service. We had a large group who had made reservations more than a week in advance for a Saturday night dinner. The hostess was incredibly rude to members of our party who arrived early, and when it was finally revealed that she had mistakingly cancelled our reservation, no apologies were handed out. Instead, she accused us of canceling the reservation ourselves and seemed annoyed that we had shown up at all. Needless to say, we did not wish to give our business to them, but given that it was a BYO and we had come with bottles of wine, we agreed to wait around for 30 minutes and have our group sit at separate tables. The coup-de-grace was discovering the $10 corkage fee per bottle at the end of our meal. Moral of the story: Look elsewhere - otherwise, be prepared for some of the RUDEST service this side of Manhattan. (PS - For one of the first - and perhaps only -- times, our normally generous group could not justify giving more than a 10% tip to this incredibly rude hostess/server).

• Cons: Deplorable service

12/11/08

Enchanting Little Jem

by ejcullmann at Citysearch

Wow! What a fantastic little gem of a place. Warm, cozy, eclectic and inviting. We held our annual Girls Holiday dinner here last night and we were a group of 8 and each and every single person wrote me this AM to thank me for picking such a fabulous venue. Everyone loved the food and the atmoshpere hits all the right notes. Camarones Havana Vieja was the stand out. I personally had the Churrasco which was perfectly cooked to a beautiful and delicous medium rare and served w/ a garlic/spicy chimmichuri salsa that had just the right amount of kick! Tres Leches cake was light and heavenly. Service was on point and attentive. I will definitely be back soon as will my companions, I'm sure!

• Pros: Food, Atmoshere and Service
• Cons: $10 corkage for any more than 2 bottles/table. Tough if you are a bigger group.

12/05/08

Great food, RUDE service

by mrc2008 at Citysearch

The food here is delicious - eat the ropa vieja - and reasonably priced and we all love BYOB. But I recommend take-out. The hostess/waitress was consistently rude to everyone who came in. We had a 7:00 reservation and she demanded the table at 8:30 without offering us dessert or coffee or even letting us finish our wine. Clearly they need to flip tables quickly to make money because they don't serve booze, but never have I been asked to leave a restaurant. I have also never left only 10% tip. There's a first for everything.

• Pros: Great food
• Cons: AWFUL SERVICE

10/19/08

A for food, F for service

by sjallen31 at Citysearch

We had a similar experience as "Worst customer service I've ever experienced." We have been to Cafe Coradito at least a half a dozen times, and after our last experience we will not return. We have always been pleased with the food, and as such have continued to return. However, during our last visit the service was terrible, and the nature in which the management spoke to our party was inappropriate, disrespectful, and unprofessional. We had a reservation for 10, but the restaurant had us down for 8 people. After challenging the individual who made the reservation, and repeatedly asserting that he was incorrect and had made a reservation for 8, the owner agreed to seat 10 people. One couple arrived 30 minutes late, and we were told that we had to wait until the entire party had arrived before we could sit down (despite the fact that we had an 8:00 reservation and we conceded that we would need to be up from the table by 10, as you are allotted 2 hrs). We expected to be seated when our complete party was at the restaurant, and were told to wait 20 more minutes and our party of 10 would be accomodated. After 90 minutes, as you can imagine, we were aggravated and still waiting outside. While we enjoyed the food, we were seated at a table that fits 6. Although the food was good, it was hard to enjoy the experience, and we will not return.

• Pros: good food
• Cons: not worth wasting a weekend night with poor management