Came in here for dessert one evening to a dim-lit pastry shop. Had the tiramisu, cannoli, and the hazelnut hot chocolate served with cream on top. The hazelnut hot chocolate was DELICIOUS! The tiramisu was also very good (had actual rum on the bottom), but as for the cannoli I might have had better elsewhere. Prices are reasonably ($3-$5 per item). The ambiance and service could be better - they really need to change the lighting in this shop (fluorescent lighting is a stark contrast to the lovely pastries they have!). read more

Great pastries! I grew up in New York and have been eating italian pastries all my life, these are maybe the best I've had. Simple cute cafe with a relaxed vibe. A great place for a cappuccino and some dessert read more

What an excellent bakery. Its the BEST cannolli I have ever had. Their biscotti is to die for. This is the real deal in Italian bakeries- located in the heart of Little Italy its hard to beat. If you are wanting dessert after a meal - you MUST stop in here. I am not a big Italian dessert girl (much rather go French or chocolate) but this place just might have converted me :) It's that good. read more

hands down, my favorite amaretti joint in town. don't expect great service (we always take our orders to go), and the decor isn't too great. But still - definitely make the trip over to snag a white paper bag (or a box!) of their amarettis. just a word of caution - the pastries are sometimes hit or miss. i've been there a number of times, and been very pleased most of the time. once, though, the cookies were slightly stale. so i would suggest buying the minimum order possible first, tasting some, and then ordering more. you just can't go wrong then. and chances are, they'll be excellent all the time anyways. read more

I buy a dozen of buttery, chocolate chipped, cherry in the middle, rainbow sprinkle cookies here for myself, oh and of course to share for under 9 dollars or so!! Treat your sweet tooth and someone else's... to these lovely cookies. read more

This is a quaint, little family run store that has an old world feel. Their cookies are delicious, and the interior of the store is something out of the old New York. In short, I love this place. read more

Stopped here for an iced coffee for myself and gelatto for a hungry child. Stepping into a dark, cool, & quiet place was more that welcomed after walking through the busy, touristy streets of Little Italy. Great selection of Italian treats and cafe. Definitely an "old" fixture in LI. Will return. read more

Have been to Caffe Roma several times when visiting New York. Great, old world atmosphere with cute little tables. Have had the cannolis several times & also gelato. The gelato is decent; not the greatest, but still pretty consistent. The cannolis and other items are not bad; sometimes seem to suffer from inconsistency. One time they'll be wonderful and the next time, not so much. Don't know if they don't turn them over fast enough or what? Still a nice spot to stop and take an afternoon snack break or to pick up dessert to go after a big Italian dinner. A side note - take cash! No credit cards. read more

Good cannoli and espresso. Nice place to sit in Little Italy. Little pricey, but you are trying to get a cannoli in little Italy... what you expect! read more

This seems like a great place to grab a coffee and get some work done. I bought some cheesecake and a cream puff. YUM! Plus, the staff is super friendly. read more

Went in to get coffee and warm up. Was shuffled around because of lack of space and I was being courteous taking very little space. My stuff were moved around. This place doesnt have any kind of charm as to call it an Italian place. read more

Not a bad place for a mid-morning capuccino and biscotti - outdoor seating, preferable to the dark interior. Capuccino was delicious as was the biscotti - tasted like something you'd find in any little cafe in Italy. Friendly, prompt service. read more

I have searced all over the NYC area and the biscotti, cookies and pastries at Cafe Roma are fantastic, they taste delicious...no one, even on Arthur Avenue makes Italian cookies this good, and the service has always been lovely. LHC read more

This place is awful. The lobster tail is supposed to be a weekend special but it was dry and the cream is disgusting. Their hot chocolate leaves very much to be desired, and their chocolate mousse cake is dry. Do not recommend the food. On top of that, the service was not good. I had to shout excuse me just to get the waitress' attention. The only good part was that when I found a gnat in my lobster tail, they didn't charge me for it. read more

Best cannolis in town! There are a lot of choices in this area but this one never fails to deliver.

Egghhh. Really, I should have known better from reviews that say things like, "Good cannoli but it was the first I ever had..." Come on. It's like if I'd never had a burger before and I had something from the 99 cent menu at McD's. Maybe it'd be passable but it's certainly nothing praiseworthy or worth more than two stars. The cannolis and tiramisu are hardly memorable, my pie crust puts theirs to shame, and to top it all of - the place is full of incredibly rude, scowling, and disinterested staff... this is what bumped my review down to one star. Don't tell me this is supposed to be what Italian cafes (or what "real" New Yorkers) are like - that's really not an excuse for shoddy service. I'm positive that the only reason why this café has managed to stay in business is because it's in such a prime location in Little Italy. Please, I beg you -- don't be one of those sucker tourists that wander in and keeps this place in business; Little Italy needs and deserves someplace better. read more

Amazing!.....being Italian I know a good cannoli....this place doesn't have one bad pastry and very well priced.

This place is more like a 3.5, wish there were half for choosing the reviews. The service was great, friendly staff. We got the server laughing nonstop and I like that she was able to joke with us. The latte was good, but wish it was a bit stronger. The cherry cheesecake was okay, I really like the cherry topping because it was a bit tart. My friend did really enjoy his tiramisu, he said it was one of the better one and another said his cannoli is delicious. read more

Worst ice cream I ever tasted. I was born and raised in Italy, that's not an Italian gelato.

There's really nothing to say here. The rating says it all. Expensive disgusting coffee, cappuccino, you name it. Who would've known an Italian place could have bad coffee? read more

Simply put, this place needs an overhaul on how to run a proper business if they want returning customers. My 2 cannolis were hard as a rock and way too sweet. The tiramisu was also way too sweet. I know baked goods are suppose to be sweet but not the entire sugar jar! At 10pm of course they were out of half the items I asked for, i guess they bake enough for the day only. I also noticed the manager/old man go behind the dessert counter and helped himself to some desserts with his bare hands, no gloves used! At least my waiter used gloves when he got my desserts! The only thing that saved this review from a 1 star was the waiter that served us. He was friendly enough to make my visit acceptable.Then again, hard could it be to serve some cakes, cookies and drinks! Try waitering in a real restaurant for the challenge! One last notice, any place that accepts only cash, no credit cards, especially in a tourist area such as Little Italy I wonder how much money laundering goes on here! read more

RUDE. To add on top of the terrible pastries and mediocre coffee. What happened to the warm Italian spirit. They try to rush you and give you attitude throughout the whole experience. read more

I live in this neighborhood and I have friends who work at this cafe. it is with great anguish that I watch tourists and others going into this place. I want to yell out DON'T. The owner is a champion at getting by health inspection but otherwise this place would have been closed down years ago. At his point, I would say eating anything with dairy in this bakery could be hazardous to your health. If there ever was a corner to cut, the owner (Buddy) has already cut it. Feraras is a little more expensive but their pasties are fresh. caffe Roma will let pasties sit out for days until they are sold. Don't believe me, check it out yourself. You've been warned. And don't miss out on their toilet. Reminds of grand Central in the 70's. read more

old school feel. i liked sitting next to a little old lady, and hearing her complain about the drugs she's on....and i mean that sincerely. decent hot cocoa, yummy biscotti. i don't know that the wait staff was surly, but they did forget that they took our order, and took it again. so there's that. but i wasn't actually offended by that. i dunno it was a cold cold day, and caffee roma was a warm place to grab a seat and a snack. that's good enough for me. read more

Escaped to little Italy today and ended up here. Our first pass through on our way to dinner just to check it out for later - the place was nearly empty, and choices extensive. We returned 3 hours later, the place overcrowded - patrons waiting for service and sitting at tables where piles of dishes hadn't been cleared, and the line was out the door for take out. The line didn't move and at one point a young service person snarled out "everyone is just going to have to wait even if you have take out". Given the tone of her voice, and the lack of customer service, we should have walked out as others had done. But I promised the kids we would bring home treats. We got our treats (no thanks to the snarly counter person), and ate them at home. We were underwhelmed by the napoleon and biscotti. The pignoli rocked. But given there are so many other bakeries that put this one to shame overall, I need never to return. To bad! read more

One of my favorite spots in NYC, Caffe Roma is a real gem. Great Italian pastries, coffees, gelato and ices. I recommend this to anyone who wants a genuine Italian pastry and coffee experience. I come here every time I visit NYC. read more

Best amaretti and pignoli cookies in Little Italy!!!! Love this place and it is always a treat to stop in for coffee and a cookie!

get your pastries to go because the service here is weird. cash only! desserts are delicious and bathrooms are for customers only.

Everything was good - we had coffee, cannoli, chocolate cheesecake, and tiramisu between us and everything was perfectly tasty. Nothing was incredibly exceptional but overall it was good service and price. Worth the stop. read more

Sorry, but more tourist bait than any good. Nice location in Little Italy and pretty setting and furnishings. However the pastries were simply boring. All showed the strain of probably being in a refrigerated display case all the livelong day. The shell of the cannoli was rubbery while the custard had congealed. The Napoleon inexplicably had a cake interior (not phyllo) which was soggy anyhow. Three sodas and three pasties managed to ring up at $35 which was steep for the equality even at NY pricing. I would not recommend going here other than for location and ambiance. At least the service was pleasant, so I feel bad for them. read more

I don't like cannoli, but this is the BEST one I've ever had - not too sweet. Staff was sooo friendly and accommodating. Can't beat the old world charm anywhere. read more

The place has slipped. Poor service. Watched in amazement as a waitress scratched herself under her T-shirt.

Great desserts, lousy service. We came across Caffe Roma as we spent an afternoon in Little Italy. The pastries and desserts we ordered were all great, but the staff there could use some old fashioned customer service training. We did our best to engage and joke with our server, but she wanted no part of it. She took our order, brought it over and that was it. An older gentleman (owner?) stood behind the counter most of the time with a scowl on his face. No one who worked there seemed to want to be there. This could be an "off the charts" place to go if they put a little effort into being kind to their customers. 5 star desserts - just get them to go. read more

This review is based on their cannoli, a big rock of an italian pastry (if you get it here) - the shell was so thick and so hard I almost broke a tooth trying to bite into it. This is by far the worst cannoli I've had in my life. The filling was also nothing special - way too sweet, and veeerrry stingy with the chocolate chips. But don't worry, you probably won't notice it because the proportion of shell to filling was so off you'll be trying to hard to bite through the shell to pay much attention to the filling. It got a double thumbs down from my Italian boyfriend as well. read more

this was one of the best random pastry shop stops we made during the trip! we unintentionally passed by on our way to chinatown, and spotted the glass cases filled with italian goodness. the amaretti cookies are to die for, and are so cheap because each cookie is so light ($3/qtr lb). it was so soft and aromatic that we made a second trip the next day to stock up. my goal is to find a place in california with cookies like this! read more

Went to NY to see family and took my Mom and Aunt to Little Italy to re-live their summer childhood. We stopped by Caffe Roma for some espresso and canollis. We had the chocolate canolli's which were Delicious! The filling wasn't grainy or gritty like you find on the West Coast. It was creamy, sweet (not too sweet) with a deep rich flavor. There was NOT a single thing wrong with this luscious treat. We also had the chocolate gelato which was equally satisfying although ice cream isn't my favorite (plus it was about 25 degrees out) I did manage steal several bites from my daughter. Unlike what other yelpers said, I found the staff to be friendly and helpful. We went during the day and the place was about half full. The server was warm and made a bit of small talk with us and I didn't notice any type of attitude towards us for being tourists. I'm even thinking about stopping by again tomorrow for another canolli... it was that good. read more

I love it here for the ambiance and old-school vibe (not particularly fabulous food/service, but that's beside the point). It's so old fashioned that I want to spend all my money here to keep the nice old man behind the counter in business. read more

This is quite possibly the best anisette cookie you will find in NYC

this place is cozy and nice. it has some tables that you can sit to enjoy your capuccino (which were very good) but the day we went they did not have water in their bathrooms, so how do employees wash their hands after they use the restrooms? maybe it was just for that day but it it continues then it would be nasty to eat there. read more

The four star is for the coffee they serve. it was very flavorful... well, the pastry or gelato is nothing special