Coccola

Great place for pizza in Harlem!
Prices are fair and the pizzas are southern Italian style, soft crust and good personal size.
Definitely going back.

Very nice authentic Italian near City College /​Harlem, in an area where there is a dearth of good eateries. Try the artichoke appetizer, the risotto, or one of their pizzas. Accompany that with a glass of Chianti or Montepulciano, and you are good to go.

I ordered a pepperoni and mushroom pizza. I ate it fast, but not because it was good. I was SUPER hungry. The pizza was undercooked, doughy and soggy from whatever oils they use to make the pizza with. The service was slow and I was one of 2 people in the place. Any restaurant can have a bad day, but read the other reviews, it seems this place has more bad days than it should. I would avoid it.

Came here for a friend and mine’s birthday dinner. The ambiance in this place is really nice. Some nice elevatorish smooth jazz playing in the background with low lighting. We arrived at around 9PM on a Friday night and there were only two other people seated at the bar. Kinda strange.
So we get seated immediately, which was nice. The staff here was not very friendly and kind of uncomfortable talking to a group of 19 year old girls? Alright…
They started us off with a basket of bread and some olive oil. Bread was pretty good and fresh.
I ordered the fettuccine bolognese and it was… I’m not sure. Being that I was actually STARVED my brain betrayed my actual tastes. In retrospect, it was VERY salty. Very. Veeerrryyyyy. Pasta was cooked to borderline mush. Price wasn’t too bad tho so what can you expect.
My friend ordered the penne alla vodka or whatever it was called and it was very good, if not too salty as well. Another one of my friends got a skirt steak and mashed potatoes. The potatoes tasted like they were from a box. Steak was good tho.
We ended the meal with two of their lava cake things which were not called lava cakes but we all know that they’re lava cakes. THEY WERE SOOO GOODDD HEAVEN IN MA MOUTH. served with vanilla gelatto but i think it was just ice cream. They were $ 7 each so I think that’s fair.
All in all, I think I’d come back here and try something else. Maybe the experience is different during the day.

Cool neighborhood and a great spot. Outdoor dining gets me everytime and liked it.
The pizza I ordered was terrible. Just terrible. Barely eatable even. The gnocchi looked good. I should have gotten that. lol

This place is a joke. The service is absolutely terrible with corked wine and a server that doesn’t know the menu. I regret coming here.

Great food, cold Moretti on draft, super reasonably priced, and live music on some nights!

Ambience and fast, friendly service are the highlights. Hmm food was meh, at least for lunch. Felt like everything came with sad arugula and mustard (?). Left wanting a little more variety

Their delivery service it’s top notch. Very fast, abd friendly. Food arrived fresh and warm.

Nope. Done. Never going again. They just can NOT compete with all the restaurants popping up everywhere. Craving Italian? Hit Anchor. Pizza? Hut Drafthouse. The service sucks and the prices are crazy! Just spent $ 25 for a skirt steak, half the size it used to be, served with french fries. That’s like Times Square raping tourists prices. And the waiter was over it… despite us being the ONLY people there. Not today, Satan. Spend your time and money elsewhere.

Not crowded. Not noisy. No TV. No loud music. Pleasant. Reasonable prices. Rock steady regular dishes and pizzas plus spectacular specials. Just had a stewed codfish special that was so good I won’t even try to describe it.

Food was bland, had the lasagna and chicken marsala. Service was okay but nothing spectacular to make up for the food. With so many options in the neighborhood now, not sure if we will give them a second chance.

I came here a few times for lunch and recently for dinner and I always find the ambiance and the food very good. The service is also great, they check in too see if you need anything and they do it in moderation.
I can vouch for the pizzas and say that they are great. They are thin and full of flavor, I’d suggest getting a few different ones and splitting it amongst a few people to try different ones. The pasta is also well made and they have a few different choices.
Nothing on the food menu is over $ 17, most things are under $ 15
If you are in the neighborhood I would definitely check it out.

I ordered the Marinara Pizza for delivery. It was a quick delivery, but the pizza itself was not good. It was a personal size and had a soft outside crust. However, the center of the crust was as thin as a wrap. It had char spots and that burn taste that left me with a nasty aftertaste. I asked for extra sauce on the pizza but the man who took my order told me he would put it on the side. Wow, I thought personal pizzas were made to order? There was hardly any sauce on this wrap type thing. There was oregano, char burnt basil, and (my bad for ordering «the Marinara») no cheese. Garlic cloves were halved and tossed on top. What a disappointment! I will not order that again!

This is a fantastic little Italian restaurant. They have a flank steak that just melts in your mouth. And try the tiramisu too!
The ambiance is lovely and in the spring & summer– sit outside! It’s just across the street from City College which is just gorgeous to look at as well. We had coffee, salad, entrees & of course– dessert! Was around $ 65 for two.

I’m going to keep this short and sweet.
We walk in are sat immediately (good). The waiter comes over with 2 menus and places them at our table (good). He then slides out an empty chair and slams down the daily specials board on the empty chair, mumbles «it’s the specials», and walks away (BAD).
It all went downhill from there.
We ordered two cokes which, upon arrival, were syrupy and flat (bad). When we let the waiter know, he challenged us on it and told us he had just hooked up the machine and it should be fine (no cans or bottles of soda). We then ordered beers instead. When they arrived, he left our sodas on the table (but why though?).
Anyways, despite the pleas of my girlfriend to leave, we decided to wait for the food. She ordered the Quattro Formaggio pizza (passable but slightly soggy) and I ordered the Pepperoni Pizza. For some reason, my pizza was submerged under a layer of juices and oils which left it a limp mess (see picture of my plate).
All in all the service was terrible and the food matched it.

Nice looking place. I recently moved to the area and was strolling around, on my way to another restaurant when I came by Coccola and read their menu realising I was in the mood for good Italian pizza.
I was cold so I ordered Minestrone soup for the starter and Prosciutto di Parma pizza for the main. Sad to say, the Minestrone was extra bland and made of frozen vegetables. Extra blah. (I was also expecting a red soup instead of a clear.) Back where I come from they serve this kind of clear soup for a free school lunch but with meat and more flavor. Not worth the six bucks, that’s for sure.
The Prosciutto di Parma pizza had A LOT of prosciutto ham, I give you that. But it was soggy in the middle. Tasted great though.
The owner is very attentive but I felt the waiter hated me ever since I requested to switch a table because of the draft from the window. I saw him being extra nice and smiley to another customer though. She also got faster service and was done paying before me eventhought I had received the check 5 minutes earlier than her… Well I guess they are entitled to have their favorite customers like we are to pick our favorite waiters.

I am so disappointed in what used to be the new buzz in the neighborhood. The staff is constantly changing just when you’ve picked a fav. The brick oven concept is great, but the pizza is watery and slim on the toppings. Be wary on ordering the pizza for delivery. You’re most likely to get a pizza where the cheese and toppings slide to one side and off the pizza. Also on the delivery, their bound to leave something out. Their menu could offer more diverse options. They’ve had the same main core selections over a few seasons now. The salmon is my repeat dish. When not overlooked, this is the best dish. Although the piece is extremely small for the price. The bread that comes pre meal is usually very dry and sometimes stale. Oddly enough, their best bread is when they run out of bread and they bake off pizza dough pieces instead. Yummmm.
The chef/​owner is extremely nice and that’s why I keep going back. I have hope that they’ll figure it out and get it right some day. And if they do, I’ll happily come back and update my post.

Italian food in Harlem? Why not.
We ordered the amalfitana pizza (smoked mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, ricotta and arugula), and the portion is perfect for two. I’ve never had smoked mozzarella and I’m glad my first taste was on this perfect little pie. But DO NOT order the calamari it is way too bland.
I want to try some of the other pizzas on the menu, and maybe even the gnocchi.

I’m a regular here because the food is beyond fresh and authentic, the people are beyond friendly and attentive, and I just happen to be a lucky CCNY student across the street. Anyone I bring here, ALWAYS wants to come back. If you’re looking for healthy, mouth-​watering, down-​right GOOD quality food, come here. There’s literally nothing negative I can say about this place… Oh, well maybe one thing– the chef’s can’t really follow me wherever I go.
My favorites on the menu:
*Any soup on their special
*Polpette
*Tartufo pizza
*All their pizzas
*Anything that says it’s made with truffle
*CALAMARIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
*Everything is my favorite.