Cucina Forte

Love this place, their food, and the people. I have never had a meal I didn’t love or a bad experience. It’s a friendly, unpretentious local spot with delicious homemade Italian food. One of those spots that you go to and then later crave their food. Atmosphere is comfortable and cozy. Great for dates and with larger groups of friends and family!

Can not say enough! Had our son’s rehearsal dinner on Thursday… there were 48 of us! The food was excellent! The service was wonderful! When your 83 your old mother says it was wonderful (she hates everything) you know its good!
Can’t wait to go back again!

Came to dinner with my dear God mother to celebrate me and my husbands one year anniversary! The food is awesome. Server told us that everything here is freshly prepared and made. I don’t like all the fancy and complicated dishes so I got simply meatball and pasta! Even the pasta is homemade! We also ordered an app that’s grilled eggplant with crabmeat! Omg it was heaven!
This little old lady with white came out of the kitchen and we found out that she was the cook!!! She’s so amazing! She’s gotta be at least 65! She makes such good food!
Will be coming here again!!!

If you like real Italian food, come here! Me and my husband felt in love with cucina forte two years ago and have been coming once every other week!
Maria is the chef and she’s this sweet old lady who’s just in love with cooking and makes real good food! She’s there every night and she cooks all the food!
My husband loves her tuna and I love her meatball and spaghetti! She even makes the spaghetti from scratch! So good and yummy! And it’s always a big dish so I get left over for lunch!
The guys there are nice and friendly! They recognize us now so we chat and they are very nice to us! ;) love this place! Anytime when we feel like Italian food, this is where we go!

I’m feeling some regret over the fact that I’ve only been here twice in the past 10 years, even though both meals were excellent.
As some reviewers have pointed out, maybe it’s not the *best* Italian in the city, but honestly, what is? If there were an obvious consensus we’d all be eating there every Saturday night.
The fact is Cucina Forte has way more hits than misses on their menu, and the service is friendly and reliable. We tried a few pastas on the last visit and all were above average. Also I don’t normally order steak in an Italian spot but the Filet was cooked and seasoned perfectly, one of the highlights. And BYO of course is a (+).
We will be back.

Came with my fiancé and her parents for pre-mother’s day dinner — and the worst dining experience of my life.
To be fair, the food was really good — no complaints there. And the guy who refilled our water and cleared our table — he was friendly and attentive.
But our main server — he did not seem interested in actually serving us. After we ordered appetizers, he asked if we were ready to order entrees. He really didn’t care, because when we said that we would prefer to wait a bit more, he said it would be best to order asap because it was a busy Sat night. When my fiancée’s mom asked if she could order a half-​portion of the risotto, the server said, «we don’t generally do that on a Saturday night» — this was after we had already ordered two appetizers. My fiancée’s mom, who doesn’t like to upset people, was so flustered that she ordered the full portion salmon instead. «I felt so intimidated,» she told me. I did not have those qualms — so I walked up to the waiter and asked if we could change it to the half-​portion risotto. He refused, saying now that it was «policy.» When I asked for his manager, he claimed that he *was* the manager. I told him that I would let other diners know about this «policy» on Unilocal.He said, «fine.»
And things kept going downhill. He got my fiancée’s order wrong. She told him. Our server looked at us, said OK and left. No offer to replace the order. No apology. No nothing.
This experience left our entire party seething. For the first time in my life, I left $ 0 in tip. Apparently, the server/​manager cared more about getting us out of there than the reputation of his restaurant. And he succeeded — we hurried out after spending just over an hour for our mother’s day dinner. My fiancée’s mom wondered if we weren’t dressed well enough. I wondered if it was racism (I am Chinese; my fiancée’s family is Jewish). To this day, we still don’t understand what had happened. But I will never go back again.

The gnocchi here is the best I’ve ever had. Like little pillows of heaven. Our waitress recommended we have half with the gorgonzola and half with the red sauce, which was a great choice.
The only downside to this restaurant is the ambiance: super cheesy. I think they were going for romance, but took it a step too far. They were also playing the Phantom of the Opera Broadway recording while we were here, which is an odd choice.

Went here for the first time on a whim with my boyfriend, and we were very pleased! We went around 6:30 on a Wednesday, and only one table was filled (by a party who apparently knew the people who run the place, always a good sign), but that’s to be expected on a Wednesday night in February. Our wine was promptly opened, and our waitress listed off a bewildering amount of specials, all of which sounded delicious. We decided to order the fontina cheese-​stuffed dumplings as an appetizer, I ordered the veal saltimbocca as an entrée, and my boyfriend made his own entrée out of two appetizers, the mussels and the gnocchi (both kinds).
Our dumplings came out after not too long of a wait, and they were delicious. Plenty of tender, cheesy dumplings, a fair amount of mushrooms, and two shrimp, all in a delicious sauce. After this, we were both excited for our entrees, and we were not disappointed.
My veal saltimbocca came in the form of three healthy sized veal medallions, each topped with a generous slice of proscuitto, melted cheese, and a wonderful sage cream sauce. It wasn’t an enormous amount of food, but I was very full after eating it. My boyfriend greatly enjoyed his enormous quantity of mussels, drenched in a delicious red sauce (which we sopped up with bread later). The gnocchi was the lightest and fluffiest I have ever had, without a doubt, and well worth its reputation. I preferred the regular ricotta gnocchi in the gorganzola sauce, but my boyfriend preferred the spinach gnocchi in the red sauce. Both were excellent, but I think either would be a bit much to order as an entrée.
Overall, a very solid Italian BYOB. I would describe their food in general as «fancy comfort food», in that many of the dishes are more original than a traditional macaroni-​and-​gravy Italian restaurant (like Villa di Roma), but they aren’t the culinary equivalent of haute couture either. We will absolutely be back.

Went here for dinner on a Sat evening. The place was mostly empty but we had been eager to try it for so long, so we were happy to get the extra attn from the wait staff.
Food was pretty good
–The filet was pretty good, although the crab sauce it was in was overwhelming the flavor.
— the gnocchi Gorgonzola were excellent, get them!
— the lamb chops were flavorful & cooked perfectly. But they were fatty
Price
— quite expensive, $ 40 for a filet, really? It’s not Morton’s.
Ambience
— the décor is ok. They are trying at least. Old school charm w some fancy updates. But the NEON flashing open sign, just tacky!
— the party of 5 across the restaurant were obnoxious, to the point that we were talking about it w the table next to us. The manager & staff just allowed it, ignoring that it was distruptive to everyone else.
We won’t be back. Probably would’ve gone back again for the food but the ‘vibe’ was weird

I’m not sure why this place has 4 stars. Other than being a BYOB, this restaurant has no remarkable features. The food was very mediocre. My friends and I ordered the gnocchi, which is apparently what this restaurant is known for. The pasta was fine, but nothing special. None of us finished our meals. My plate was mostly a mess of cheese and sauce, and I could barely decipher or appreciate the gnocchi pieces.
The service started off nice, but the waiter was fairly rude to us towards the end of the meal. I assume he wanted to close up the restaurant (it was 10ish), which I completely understand, but he couldn’t have been less subtle about it. Because of his curt conduct, we ended our meal on an uncomfortable note, which made me not want to go back to this restaurant again.

Best gnocchi I’ve ever had with many, many options … Stuffed veal chop special fantastic … BYOB …

Everything was going great, until I got the check. I had ordered the veal chop special (veal chop stuffed with cheese and prosciutto with green beans) and had expected it to be priced in line with their other entrees (at or near $ 25). Maybe it would be like $ 35 bucks tops, no biggie right? Guess again. My special alone came out to be $ 48. Granted, I could have asked, but come on, $ 48! It was good, but the veal certainly didn’t warrant that price tag. Went with a few friends and we really enjoyed our experience until we were all blown away when the server gave us our check. I would recommend this nice little BYO, but don’t get burned like I did and ask for prices on their specials.

I’m a little torn about a rating to give Cucina Forte– some aspects of it are 5-​star, and other aspects of it are 3-​star, so I’ll settle for a solid 4. On one hand, I love that the funky décor and lighting give the place an authentic feel. The service is very friendly as well. I’ve had the same waitress every time I’ve been here, and she does an excellent job of remembering repeat customers. She even gave my friend and I complimentary glasses of wine the last time I was here! Very sweet of her. Although the presentation isn’t the prettiest, the gnocchi here is some of the best I’ve had in terms of melt-​in-​your-​mouth texture. However, I think the prices are a bit steep for a neighborhood spot like Cucina Forte. The last time I was here, my friend and I split a salad, an appetizer, and 2 gnocchi entrees and ended up paying 40 $ each! We searched the receipt for contributing factors to this surprisingly high price and discovered that the buffalo mozzarella appetizer we split was 15 $. The quality of the cheese, olives, and sundried tomatoes on the plate didn’t really live up to that price, unfortunately. Still, I would definitely recommend this place to anyone looking for a BYOB dinner spot near the Italian Market, I’d just advise them to ask about the prices for the specials before ordering.

The ambiance was very cute and welcoming! Overall, we enjoyed our time and meal. It’s BYO, so our large party had a great dinner! The mozzarella appetizer was great with a little balsamic added to it. Likewise, the pasta fazul was my absolute favorite (though, it is not as soupy as one would expect)– the noodles are hand made and perfectly aldente and the flavor was delicious! The spinach gnocchi were ok, and the portion sizes were quite generous.

My husband and I came here after having a bad experience at Little Fish. This is a small BYOB in south Philly. Luckily, it wasn’t too busy on a Friday and we were seated immediately.
We ordered the grilled calamari (delicious), marinara gniocchi (bland to me, but very tender– perfect texture), shrimp risotto, veal saltimbocca (both very good). Prices were very reasonable and our server, Gary was very polite and attentive.
Our only issue, and it was enough to knock a star or two was the inability for the restaurant to manage their 12 top in the same small space. It was a very loud, obnoxious group yelling over each other. Clearly, they were having a great time but it was so disruptive to our meal. Most of the time, my husband and I couldn’t hear each other speaking without having to yell ourselves. We complained but it didn’t change anything. Such a shame, too, as this really affects people’s experiences.

Ended up randomly stopping in for dinner and REALLY enjoyed the our meal. They were able to seat us as a walk in, which is GREAT on a Saturday night. Our server was very good, consistent and made sure our visit went as smooth as possible. he also kept m beers chilled (it’s BYO) which is great. We started with the grilled calimari appetizer that was cooked PERFECT! It had this great smokiness to it from the grill and wsan’t overvooked. It came with this balsamic reduction that was perfect with it. I ordered the veal saltimbocca and an appetizer portion of the gnocchi alla ricotta with tomato sauce. My wife had the crab risotto. The gnocchi were great, more like Gnudi that gnocchi but in the best way possible. It could have used a bit more flavor in the sauce, but overall a great dish. I also realy enjoyed my saltimbocca. I will say for the price ($ 24) it was a bit small and they decided to randomly add a slice of potato adn a slice of griled eggplant on my plate, not sure why. My wife really enjoyed her risotto as well.
the only drawback for this place was the noise level. there was a large group in there that were literaly screaming for most of the time. I couldn’t even hear my wife talking to me, which makes it impossible to really enjoy your meal. the server did try to quite them down, but it didn’t make a diference. I’d say great place to go get a meal but it can be super noisy so don’t expect a quiet meal. all in all, the food was good and the service was spot on.

Cute BYOB, great for girls night out, or a date. Loved the warm fresh baked bread, the homemade pasta, and the sense that I was eating in someone’s living room with twinkling mood lighting. Enjoyed the buffalo mozzarella with artichoke hearts the gnocchi was nice, but the lobster shrimp ravioli is where it’s at!

I really can’t believe we just ate at the same restaurant as anyone here who gave this place more than 1 star!
My girlfriend wanted to take me out to eat and we decided on a local Italian place which was closed and finally settled on trying this place out.
Upon entering the atmosphere was strange and there was some strange lighting situation going on. Anyway we ordered gnocchi for appetizer, spinach pasta with porcini mushrooms and the veal medallions.
Bread came out with oil and salt and pepper, which should have been a sign, no herbs or anything, salt and pepper?! Really?!
The gnocchi was fairly decent except for seeing mice running around while eating it. Yes mice running all over the dining room.
The porcini pasta was disgusting, the mushrooms seemed unclean with actual dirt or sand still on them. Tasted gross, my GF could not eat it and we said something, decided to be nice and pick another dish.
Veal medallions were gross, no where near a $ 20-​$ 30 plate restaurant, mice, spoiled mushrooms, bland veal just bad bad bad all around!
Before the new dish came out we saw more mice running around the dining room and heard they chitting making mice noises, we had enough and told the waitress we were leaving, we don’t want the new dish and that our experience has been horrible.
When we arrived it seemed like another party was having some words with the waitress also. One if them walked out and another approached the counter and was mentioning something to the waitress.
We gave this place many chances while we were there but it failed miserably. Finally we left without paying as the waitress said «just go, just leave»…horrible experience

Dining partner and I came across Cucina Forte after another well known Italian Market restaurant was closed for the July 4^th weekend, and we are so glad we did! We wandered in a little before 6pm without a reservation to a small restaurant with about 4 tables filled. We were seated with our two other dining companions. We ordered the fried calamari as an appetizer, which was hands down THE BEST either of us have ever consumed. The breading was light and crispy without over seasoning which happens often with calamari. I ordered the spinach pasta with porcini mushrooms and asparagus in a light cream sauce, dining partner had the veal medallions, our companions had the spinach gnocchi and spaghetti with clams. Service was good, our waters were constantly refilled. We all very much enjoyed our dishes. It’s a great BYOB spot, highly recommended.

I was here on Saturday night with 4 friends. Service was great. I loved our waiter. They had our table ready for us when we arrived as we had a reservation. They had so many good specials and I wanted to try them all. I ordered the assorted fish Fra Diavolo. I’ve ordered this dish at about every Italian restaurant in the area and this is my favorite Fra Diavolo based on the amount and assortment of fish. At most other places, including one offender in the Italian market, they give you a huge pile of pasta with just a few mussels and clams. Here they give you a nice assortment of fish and a generous portion. Seriously there was as much seafood as there was pasta on my plate. I’ve also ordered the mussel appetizer to go before and it was very good. I usually am not a huge fan of shrimp scampi but my boyfriend ordered it and it was very good. I tried my friend’s gnocchi and it was awesome. I love their menu and love that they give you the option of ordering either a smaller gnocchi for $ 15 or larger one for about $ 24. And you can do ½ of one kind of gnocchi and half with another kind of gnocchi. And they make everything made to order so they will even do substitutes if you request. Our waiter literally said, «If we have the ingredient in our kitchen, we will be happy to make it for you.»
Even if you aren’t in the mood for gnocchi, serious order yourself a small plate of it and you won’t be disappointed.
We also brought our own assortment of wine, beer and vodka. My boyfriend commented that «our waiter was the best bartender he ever had» because he kept our drinks on ice and had another one of my boyfriend’s beers ready for him without even asking.
The ambience of the place is very good although it can get noisy when they are packed. The employees are all really great and I love giving my business to good people.
And they accept credit cards– YAY!