Cantina Cafe Ristorante

Large Portion but Great tasting food! Very accommodating staff. This is the place for me to go to if I feel like having Sicilian Italian Food!

I’ve been here for company parties and have always enjoyed the food and atmosphere. We eat in the separate room that is set up family style, with the long tables. Full bar, drinks priced average. I especially like their antipasto. The place is down stairs, lower than street level, I don’t think it’s handicap accessible. Bathrooms are so so, last company party there wasn’t any paper towels, so wet hands coming out. I’ve told my wife about the great food here and that we need to make it some day (we live about 40 minutes away).
Well, over the Christmas/​New Year holiday, we did! That experience was different from the company party ones. The major difference was we were in the other dining room, not the family style one. We got the antipasto and stuffed mushrooms appetizers. As usual, the antipasto was very good, the mushrooms were nothing special. Both of our entrees were good, and largely portioned enough for a second plate the next day.
But the biggest difference was the gnat/​fruit fly problem in this dining room. I swatted one out of the air before we even sat down, and we were swooshing them away throughout our meal. Right hand to God, one landed in my glass of water and drowned in it. There it was, floating next to the ice cubes. My wife of 22 years and I have experienced a lot together, so this is just another page for us, but if it was a first date, I would have been mortified and embarrassed. That is why I mention this here. I have never seen fly one in the other room, but there were plenty on this side.
I don’t think we’ll be eating there again. I’d still consider ordering out, but there are many restaurants in Middletown to try. Too bad, because the food is pretty good.

Make a reservation, no matter what day it is, don’t be in a rush, and bring your appetite. Meals are monstrous and delicious. You can’t beat the penne with vodka sauce that is offered as a side to each dish. The best I have EVER had. The salad, bread, and oil with spices is all excellent too. I’ve never gone wrong with any meal. The meats are extremely tasty and the pasta is always cooked perfectly.
The atmosphere is very simple and old school. It’s a great change from your typical trendy restaurant. This place is a must.

Decent Italian food. As others have said the portions are huge. Each entrée could feed two people. You get a good salad with the entrees. The dressing was very good. It was crowded when we got there and service was slow but service got better as some of the tables emptied

We live in Middletown and have been tiring of the selection. We were so happy to have a good new addition! We were with friends and ordered a selection of small plates between us. Everything was fresh and tasty! Service was friendly drinks were refreshing. What more could you want on a hot summer night!

Real Italian Resturante the owner is Italian the food is Italian come down with your entire family you will not break the bank and have a good time

I was in town for my Cousin’s graduation from Wesleyan, so our big group was trying to find a last minute reservation somewhere and this turned out to be a great decision.
They are not typically open in the middle of the afternoon (open for lunch 11ish-​1ish then reopen for dinner at 5), so there was only 1 other private party in the room with us and it also happened to be for a graduate. The waitress, recommended we pick a few main courses and do the meal family style. None of us opposed. First course we had a cold antipasto, which was a mix of meats, cheeses, pickled veggies and hot peppers. Salad came next, house salad with balsamic dressing and surprises of sliced oranges. Really good! Next up was Penne Vodka, can’t ever go wrong here. For our main courses, we had Chicken Parm and Pork Tenderloin Special. Even with 15 people, there was so much food leftover, we went home with big doggy bags. Everything was delicious and fresh, really authentic. They were also super accommodating for my boyfriend, who can’t eat gluten. They made him a personal grilled chicken parm, which he said was great. We all had espresso/​lattes, there were about 2 or 3 bottles of wine consumed and the whole meal came out to less than $ 45 a person.
Good food, great value and service. That’s all anyone can ever ask for.
The dining room is a little creepy though because its in a basement but hey, can’t win ‘em all!

I was worried about going here because of all the reviews. We went with a party of 8 of us and I was worried we be there all night.
The setting did not bother me at all. It was cozy and perfect for a special occasion.
Because we had a party of 8 they recommended we do family style rather than individual meals as it would go faster. We got salad, bread, calamari, vodka sauce pasta, chicken parm, and the pork special.
It was a TON of food. Would have been enough for double our party.
The pasta was amazing. Perfectly cooked and the sauce was delicious. I’m very picky with my Italian (coming from an Italian family) that I don’t eat Italian often out. The chicken parm was perfect. No complaints whatsoever.
Everything was good thought calamar was a bit tough. We definitely didn’t need it with all the food we had.
We were there almost 3 hours which is normal for that kind of meal and a nice chance to visit with family. Honestly restaurants that rush you out are annoying. Food was nicely paced and it didn’t feel like we were there so long. I definitely think despite all these negative reviews you should try if. Eat the way most Europeans do, slowly and relaxing. Bring your appetite!

This was the Italian meal of meals. Absolutely spectacular. I’m from NYC and you just can’t find a home style REAL Italian meal like this in NYC anymore. TONY, our waiter AND chef suggested a fest for the God’s. Don’t think twice about eating here… JUST GO.

This is my go to restaurant for good authentic Italian food. I take all of my friends here but I do give them warnings before we go but first if you are going on a Friday or Saturday make a reservation.
When you arrive you will have to look for it. It is in the basement of the Italian club across the street from the entrance to the parking garage. When you go down to the basement it get a little confusing. There is no hostess stand. You just stand in the doorway and wait for a waitress to come over. While you are waiting do be discouraged by the decorations or the dust on them. Do not be disappointed that the basement looks like a basement that was set up 50 years ago. The food will be worth it that night and probably for 2 more days after.
Now I guess the owner/​chef is the only person who cooks so even if you see a slew of empty tables in there they will not seat you until the chef is almost ready to cook for you. I waited over an hour one time with at least 4 empty tables in there the entire time. The weird thing is we sat by the door on the Hitchcock bench with the broken arm and no one invited us to walk through the dining room to the bar. We weren’t sure if we were allowed to sit there or if it was for club members only and I’m still not sure.
The wait staff is adequate. Not the best not the worst, Not good, not bad. By now your probably saying not good ambiance and not a good wait staff so why the 4 stars?
The food. Like I have said before the sauce is the life blood that runs through an Italian restaurant. If your sauce is not special your Italian restaurant can never be special. They have the best sauces starting with the good olé red sauce. We first get it with our fried calamari. A huge plate of perfectly cooked crunchy, tender rings and tentacles with the most perfect SIMPLE red sauce. It reminds me of Pepes pizza sauce. Simple and sweet.
I cannot believe I cannot remember the name of the entrée I get and I cannot find a menu online but it is veal in a brown sauce. It’s a veal cutlet with green peppers and mozzarella cheese on top. I have also had the veal parm and it is fresh and not pounded too thinly like a lot of places. It is still a substantial piece of meat. The portions are huge. I do not let larger portion sizes skew my ratings but I am so glad I get to enjoy my dinner for one or two more night later in the week. I have also had the veal parm and chicken marsala and they were awesome. even the complimentary bread is a high quality Italian bread.
I would definitely recommend coming here but make reservations. The food is the star of this place and it shines bright enough to make you forget you are in a basement.

This place is by far the BEST Italian food anyone can dream of. Everything is made as you order, nothing is pre-​made nor is the meat stored in the freezer for months at a time. You can hear the Chef pounding out the meat as you order.
Yes, there is sometimes a wait but I HIGHLY recommend that you call and make a reservation especially on weekends! If you have a reservation you will be sat immanently. You have to be patient when you come here, keep in mind that you are not at your typical restaurant… there is only one chef and he puts his heart and soul into every dish, so if you want fast, non-​authentic Italian food go else where.
I promise you that you will not have a bad experience coming here and you wont have to cook for at least two days after you leave. no one leaves without left overs.

Went here for the 1^st time on my birthday. All the previous comments about the entry are accurate and it took a minute after hanging up my coat to figure out where the dining was. This is the only negative thing I can say. This place took me back in time to eating with my family in the city.
They serve family style here, there were four of us and we had 1 app and 4 entrées. The Broccoli Rab and Sausage was excellent!
We had veal, chicken, shrimp and a pasta dish. The amount of food that hits your table is simply overwhelming. There is no way you are going to finish your entrée. You also get a side of al dente pasta that I give 10 out of 10. I ate so much of my side of pasta I barely put a dent in Veal.
If you have kids this is not where to bring them from sitting down to paying check was about 2.5+ hours (which I loved they are not running you out the door). The food comes out slow but after tasting it I didn’t care at all! I can’t believe I have never been here before!
Parking is Available next door at the court or behind the restaurant.
Loved this place I will be coming back.

Reviews on Unilocal,like life, are a puzzle.
To draw a conclusion about a particular place, one must read all or most of the reviews, sometimes read other reviews by the same author, gather all the evidence, and construct probable truths…
Obvious inconsistencies become conclusions, not by counting stars, but by reading, pondering, rereading and finally constructing a mind picture of the experience at any given location…
Reviews for Cantina are all over the board… some ecstatic… some horrible… My conclusions, based on multiple dining experiences, follow…
First, Cantina is not really a restaurant…
Many Ethnic Clubs have kitchens… and often these kitchens evolve because a group of members are just there all the time and start cooking for each other to pass the time… naturally they cook the food of the homeland… authentic, but not always great.
On some rare occasions the cooks take it so seriously that they start opening up for nonmembers to come in during certain hours and enjoy the food as well…
Under very rare circumstances, the place evolves into a mainstream restaurant…
I honestly don’t know if this is what happened with Cantina… In fact, I don’t believe so… but if you, the diner, look upon the experience here as the rare opportunity to eat at a great private, Italian American club, it may clear up a lot of the reviewer inconsistencies.
There is no Greeter, Maitre D’, or Hostess… only the occasional gauntlet of lounging members, gathered on the patio a half flight above the door, talking politics and family… waiting for you, their entertainment, to pass by…
Take the bull by the horns, walk through the entire restaurant to the back bar, find the server who looks like she knows more than anybody, greet her politely but not affectatiously, and ask if you can get a table.
Don’t expect a «dining» experience… Do expect a glimpse into the Italian/​American club life… The bar is the seat of power… The waitress was trained serving club members with whom she grew up, not at Le Cirque… If you really need something, get up and go find the server…
Don’t expect gourmet presentation or white linen… Do expect a genuine, blue-​collar, taste of the history of Italian culture in America…
The pasta’s wonderful, but since a 2-​quart pyrex dish of pasta, sufficient for a family of four, is considered a single serving, it may be unwise to order one dish for each of you… so order a couple of entrees or an entrée and a pasta and you’ll be happy… very happy… in fact ecstatic… The food is real, fresh, occasionally a little ham-​fisted, but if you know blue-​collar Italians, that’s logical…
Treat the experience as if you’ve been selected to eat with Tony Soprano in the backroom office of the Bada Bing… or invited to the wedding of Big Paulie’s only daughter…
.feel privileged
…laugh with the staff, be respectful, and if you want to complain, wait until you’re driving home…
it’ll all be worth it…

The Gorganzola Chicken made me want to stand up and do The Happy Dance! Amazing favors I have never tasted before and SO original! Even the house salad was exceptional. High quality ingredients and big portions! Awesome! My husband had the spinach roliniti and was equally as good. Best Italian food in CT!

I have dined here twice and have been knocked off my feet by the food which I think is the best Italian food outside of NYC. I was quite surprised to read some of the poor reviews but I do agree with Valerie R’s assessment of the entryway. I think I just found an empty table and sat down. Funny though my husband doesn’t like it here because of the lack of ambiance and kind of lack of attentiveness of the servers — I can get over this because the food is exceptional. You will not leave hungry! Veal wrap is the most delicious thing I have ever tasted.

Cantina, I tried to give you a second chance. My husband held out hope that our last trip was some sort of fluke. Due to weather, we postponed our Valentine’s Day celebration to ²⁄₁₆ this year. We went out around 6, on a Sunday night.
Now for those of you who have never been to Cantina, you walk in a door, walk down a flight of stairs and then have NO IDEA what to do next. There is almost a makeshift hostess area. A foyer, and a little chalkboard that advertises salad dressing for sale. But, no podium, no hostess. Then there is a narrow doorway that goes into the main part of the restaurant. If you go through there you are immediately on top of the tables right near the doorway. Do you stand there? Will a hostess ever come? IS there a hostess? Do you walk throughout the maze of tightly packed tables to go try to find someone to seat you? It’s not clear, and the staff is NOT welcoming. After hovering in the doorway for 5 minutes, my husband and I made our way through the half empty dining room to the bar area (the menus are in a holder on the wall near the bar area so seems like you should go there?)…he very nicely approached a woman and asked if we should seat ourselves or if they would seat us. Now I should say, my husband often does the talking in situations where I think it might be a clusterf**k because he is FAR more diplomatic than I am. So he was quite pleasant in his approach, yet the woman behind the bar scowled at us and then said «nooooooooo…we have at least a 40 minute wait» and then she turned around and started doing something else. So… you don’t want to take our name for the waiting list? You don’t want to explain why the wait even though your restaurant is literally half empty and it is a Sunday early evening? You don’t want to offer us a seat at the bar (there were plenty) for us to consume 2 — 4 glasses of wine while we wait for a table? No… you give us attitude and turn around to get yourself a drink and basically tell us via your body language, that no, we don’t want to serve you… not now, and not ever.
So, Cantina, you got what you asked for. We left and went to Fiore, where we got seated immediately (even though they had more tables full than Cantina did), had excellent service and wonderful food. We ordered plenty of wine and left our server a 30% tip. In the words of Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman… You work on commission (tips), right? Yeah… Big mistake. Big. Huge!
Last time we went I thought maybe Cantina had an off night since we went on New Years (even though we had a reservation)…but it is the ONLY restaurant that I have walked out of twice, and I have no intention of giving them a third chance.

Maybe it was the fact that we went on New Year’s Eve, but restaurant seemed overwhelmed.
Let’s put it this way: I’m not used to waiting an hour and a half for an entrée. I felt sorry for people who arrived after 8:30; they MIGHT have eaten before the new year.

Came here for a banquet so can’t speak to price.
Is it in a basement, yes. If you were brought up in an Italian family you’ll hardly find this out of the ordinary.
The salad is excellent and the balsamic dressing is second to none.
The bread was fresh, hot and crusty.
We had 3 entrees. The penne ala vodka was some of the best I’ve ever had. Rich and creamy without the sauce being too overpowering. Just a bit of spice and whole plum tomatoes.
The chicken stone was ok, but the chicken was a hit overcooked.
The pork cacciatore was the highlight of the day, succulent pieces of fall apart tender pork in a light tomato sauce with onions and peppers. I wanted to stop eating but couldn’t.
–1 star for the bar being a bit incomplete. Nobody knew how to make a mudslide. But for the most part, that’s not why you come here. The food is delicious.

Best Italian food outside of my Nana’s kitchen!
The portions are insane so it may be wise to share some starters and an entrée. The salad is fresh and delish. The escargot is out of this world! Throw them on a piece of bread and mange. Cant say enough about this place. It is a birthday place for my girlfriend and I now.

If someone told you that you could get homemade Italian food as good as you’ve ever had in your life but that you had to eat it in the basement of the Italian social club of Middletown would you accept the challenge? If you say no, you need to read on and you’ve obviously never been to the Cantina Café.
There are hidden gems in seeking out hole in the wall food spots, and there are HIDDEN GEMS. This place takes the cake. Unless you know the Cantina is there you’d never suspect the greatness going on in Chef Tomasso’s kitchen.
This place is so good I had my wedding rehearsal dinner here and no one left hungry or disappointed and they couldn’t believe how good it all was. The menu that day?
Start with an unbelievable antipasto course featuring delicious sharp provolone cheese, plenty of salami and prosciutto and featuring some dynamite long hot peppers. Also, great italian bread is served with it. Best. Antipasto. Ever!
Then on to a full pasta course with a delicious homemade marinara. You could stop here and go home satisfied. But then the masterpiece emerged.
Veal rollatini rolled and stuffed with mozzarella, prosciutto, and asparagus. Gigantic portions served family style, as is the entire meal. You really can eat just one even though you want more!
I’ve not run into Italian food in this state that is better than Cantina And I eat out often. Just go here if you want a great meal and plenty of food. They also do have a regular menu where you can order all the standard Italian dishes but if you go with four or more people order family style. You won’t be sorry.
To some of the negative reviews on here about the atmosphere? If atmosphere is your goal, don’t eat here. If you want to be catered to by the staff, skip it. This is old school Italian. Prices are fair and portions are huge. It’s all about the food and that’s good enough for me. Any questions?