Traveled to Binghamton for my cousins wedding so Uncle Dick took everyone out to dinner. Cortese is probably the best Italian restaurant in the area. Great selection of food and drink. Good pizza and a great assortment of classic Italian dishes including desserts. read more

Cortese Restaurant - Italian Near Me - Binghamton, New York

1 and done... Not impressed... the food was mediocre at best and the wait staff rude by trying to rush us out. I don't see why this place is so highly rated... we tried it and we won't be back... read more

The entrees are pricey but the sandwiches and pizzas seemed reasonable. The service was super slow. The meals took a while. The food was overly plentiful and enough for another day or two. The bread was freshly cooked and the crust was not too crispy so it was perfect. The chicken bow tie soup was good but slightly salty. The gnocchi comes with marinara sauce which was over abundance. It was ok. The Tortellini primavera had Alfredo was on the bland side. The veggies were good. The Carmel Apple pie was interesting. It really had no crust but a Carmel layer. I loved it. Hubby hated it so I guess you have to love Carmel to like the pie. read more

The locals love their pizza. I respect it. This restaurant is par. Is par good for Blinghamton? Yes it is. It's not a mistake to go, but there certainly is better Italian options in bingo bango. If you want pizza - try tony's If you want off the boat Italian - try gratto azura If you want to be completely satisfied with a dining experience, go to J Michaels. read more

Maybe we are boring but my husband and I order the same thing every time--Cabot Pinot Noir, salad with their spectacular shaved blue cheese, steak Milanese, for him--chicken parmigiana for me, ice cream cake roll for dessert!! A favorite dinner in Binghamton!! (Sitting in a booth in the bar makes it all even better!!) read more

My mom is from Binghamton so everytime we visit we make sure to stop at Cortese. The pizza is excellent--some of the best sicilian I've ever had--and the service is always friendly. And make sure to visit my uncle's appliance store right across the street when you're done eating for a great deal on a TV or a washing machine!! read more

This restaurant has some of the best food in the area, and as far as salads go, I have never been anywhere with Italian dressing that could even come close to their's. read more

The pizza is mediocre at best. But Cortese is a family-friendly restaurant, with amazing food! (other than the pizza)

Just visiting town after 5 days in NY State and Niagara falls. Now looking for the best Italian restaurant, not pizza. Took recommendation of a former resident, corroborated by hotel staff and went to Cortese. Wonderful everything. Great Cosmo, best Caeser salad with olive oil style dressing, ++antipasto enough for two, tender veal dish, small portion shrimp scampi over linguini for my wife, good wine list (not the best but acceptable) but the best olive oil garlic bread. Server Suzanne was special looking after us and did a great job. Wednesday evening quite crowded. Happy we made reservations. Couldn't be a better choice. read more

Big mistake of picking this place to celebrate Father's Day. Everyplace else was booked. Very disappointed with their food. Order a dozen of raw clams and clams came unopened. Oyster Rockefeller came uncooked. Filet Mignon was tough and so chewy. Shrimp Scampi is way too overcooked. Nothing is right with this place including service. Food quality is not worth the price. read more

I have been going to Cortese for pretty much most of my life. I have not had one single good customer service experience. Don't recommend.

I love most of their servers, their bartenders are super knowledgeable, and the food is out of this world!!! read more

Cortese Restaurant - The twisted St. Germain....sooo yummy!!! - Italian Near Me - Binghamton, New York

I have eaten at Cortese's for virtually all of my 58 year life. Though I have been away from Binghamton for many years, I have never come back home without going there at least once. But I regret to say that after last night's meal, I've gone there for the last time. Both the pizza and gnocchi -- my staples in going there over decades -- were horribly disappointing. Cheap, chemical laden cheese must be used now on the pizza, as there was an oily film on it. Further, the sauce is watery, with a few bits of tomato that looked like they were taken from a can and hurriedly put through a blender. As for the gnocchi, it was a glue-like mess; NEVER thought I'd see that at this restaurant! Any store bought/processed version I've ever bought was superior to what the stuff was I was served last night. God love and rest Nate...glad he didn't live to see this. Of course, this deterioration wouldn't have happened on his watch. read more

Had lunch at Cortese Restaurant for an early Mother's Day celebration yesterday afternoon. We had a party of around 20 people. The restaurant split us up between two tables. It would have been much nicer to all sit together. (Probably easier on our waitress, too.) There was a variety of food ordered by the party... from steaks and salads, to lasagna and burgers. It all looked delicious and no one had complaints about their food. I ordered the Shells Vincenzo which was shell macaroni, fresh ricotta cheese, and meat-sauce, all baked in a dish. Very good! Our waitress recommended getting the full portion since the half size was kind of small. So I went for it... and exited with leftovers. Next time I will try a steak with the Milanese Style sauce. Yes, it was worth returning here! Service was okay for a large party. Overall I enjoyed the meal. read more

Talk about catering to the local's tastes. The food here was not terrible but it was on the saltier side of things. I enjoy my fair share of salted foods but I have never felt so thirsty from eating eggplant. The service is great and they reserved a table for our party of 13 people. Even though only about 2/3 of us showed up. The kitchen also stayed open while we waited for the rest of our party. We sat down right away and were served glasses of water. The lady provided me with a glass of room temperature water, which is picky but I was grateful for. Even though the cups were kind of small for the amount that I drink. The unlimited bread was a huge perk and I loved that they provided olive oil with the bread~ Our party came during restaurant week and it seemed pretty empty for a Wednesday night. But I realized that the restaurant is much larger than I had perceived it to be. Great ambiance and kind of romantic. I would recommend it for someone who likes Italian food and wants to impress a date. The first dish was a salad and garlic bread. Then came the salmon. It was delicious. I thought it was weird that they put honey mustard on top of it but it was still good. It came with a side of eggplant. The eggplant would have tasted delicious if it wasn't drowned in tomato sauce. The eggplant had so much salt in it, It could have been pickled. For desert I had the tiramisu. I can't complain about the dessert, it's always good. Overall the food was good. Service was good. I would recommend this place to people looking for some Italian food in Binghamton. read more

Decent Italian restaurant that has been in Binghamton for decades. If you're getting pizza, consider ordering "double-dough", it's an interesting spin on their pizza. read more

It sucks to see this staple of Binghamton deteriorate so quickly. I've been here numerous times prior, but this past weeks experience was enough to make sure I never spend money here again. First off, I'll say the biggest mistake was coming in when there were TWO large parties in the back, which obviously there's no way of knowing prior to, and coming during restaurant week. My family arrived at 12:20, sat down with our menus and looked them over. Our server didn't state their name, but god they were rude. No hello, how are you..just straight to "drinks?" Took the one drink order, as my family members were okay with just water. At 12:44 I got my diet soda. We finally got to put our order in then. My two family members got the restaurant week deal, and I ordered a half order of spaghetti. My family members got their apps with the restaurant week deal, and I got my salad at 1:10. I ordered the Italian dressing, which in reality was water with a hint of vinegar. I don't know how an Italian restaurant can screw up homemade Italian dressing but they definitely did. Got our main dishes at 1:30, over an hour after we've arrived. My half-order of spaghetti, which is $8.25 on the menu, was no larger than the side of pasta my family member got with their chicken parm, which that was a joke of a size itself. Spaghetti wasn't hot at all. And it was boxed pasta nonetheless. So with all our small portions, we were done eating within 15 minutes. My family members got their deserts, which if you're going to get a cannoli, save your money and hop over to Wegmans and get 6 of the same sized cannolis for 4$. We didn't get out the door until 2:10. You're probably wondering why I have all this time-stamped like a crazy person, but the thing is, we had an appointment to be at at 2:30. We felt getting there around 12:20 would be AMPLE time to have a sit down meal and have time to get to where we needed to go. Boy, we were wrong. We sat there for almost 2 hours for such a lackluster meal, and an even worse server. I get that they were busy and running around like crazy, but acknowledging customers takes 2 seconds, especially when you're walking right by them MULTIPLE TIMES and ignoring them unless they need their food delivered. This type of service needs to be traced back to management, as they clearly did not have enough staff to handle the parties as well as restaurant week. It's so unfortunate to see this place go downhill, but my family and I will not be returning, and we'll be making sure to pass this information along. read more

I had the worst dining experience of my life at this restaurant. The waiter was rude to the point of seeming to be active hostile. The bread was stale. Baked potato very uncooked. The "home made" carrot cake was not fresh. Waiter ignored my request for more iced tea. The low point of the meal occurred while the waiter was roughly cleaning crumbs off from the table with device in his right hand; he knocked over a nearly full glass of water with his left hand. Water got on my dining companion's dress. The waiter was slow to react to clean up the mess he caused. No words of apology were offered by him or other restaurant staff. Waiter acted as if this a risk one takes when dining at Cortese. Restaurant did not offer any adjustment on the bill. read more

I LOVE this restaurant! I am going with my family tomorrow and can't stop thinking about what I'm going to order... everything is amazing and the portions are big. The cocktails are fantastic and large. I've been going to this restaurant since I was young with my family - and it is one of my favorite places to go when I am home. I live in NYC and have been to some amazing Italian restaurants, but Cortese hands down has my favorite eggplant parm of any of them. The family atmosphere is warm and welcoming, the pizza is also pretty awesome and you can get pizzas to go if you're on the fly. I will probably dream of Cortese's eggplant parm and scallops marinara tonight, in anticipation of tomorrow's dinner... read more

A North side Binghamton favorite for many years, this family owned restaurant has a little bit of everything done pretty well. There are some in town here that swear by the pizza...I think it's a solid "B". Others feel that the steaks and pork chops, served with Milanese sauce, are great. I like the homemade Spaghetti served with meat sauce, green peppers and mushrooms. Service is always outstanding and a very convenient take-out window in the back makes a good choice when there is an hour wait on the weekend. read more

We had a party of 16 last night to celebrate an upcoming "50th" Anniversary, service was excellent as well as the food! Our waitress did an excellent job taking care of all of us! Will definitely return. read more

Like grandmas cooking with the sunday sauce meatballs braciole some sausage and a hunk of bread. Great traditional italian food spot!

This past weekend we went to go visit my daughter at Binghamton University. We decided to go out to dinner and my daughter asked for Italian. Since The Lost Dog was closed, we opted for Cortese Restaurant. Now mind you we come from Nassau County in Long Island and there are Italian restaurants on every other block. We are big fans of Italian and eat out often. Shortly after we paid the bill my husband's throat started to get scratchy. He decided to take a Benadryl just to be safe but by the time we were driving my daughter back to her dorm room his whole left side of his face was swollen. We rushed him to urgent care where they gave him a shot of epinephrine and more Benadryl. We ended up having to get a hotel room for the night as my husband could not drive with all that medication in him. We barely got him to a hotel room before he was fast asleep! We had nothing with us for an overnight stay as we planned on driving home. The worst part was I had to call the restaurant to find out what was in the sauce to cause such a reaction. I called multiple times and not one person who worked there could tell me the ingredients of the bolognaise sauce that my husband ordered. This is one of his favorite dishes that he orders regularly with never having a reaction before. Finally, the last person we spoke with mentioned that there is pesto in the sauce. I asked the employee to please have the owner get in touch with me as I feel there should have been some kind of warning on the menu. The next day when Mr. Cortese called me back, he was condescending and completely rude. Did not have a care in the world that my husband landed in Urgent care because of a meal he ate at his restaurant. He informed me that he is not responsible for labeling his menu with nut ingredients!! In this day and age with all the nut allergies I find this to be absurd!!! He then started to chuckle at me and my concerns. When I got angry and said 'my husband could have f***ing died he proceeded to hang up the phone. I have never in my life seen an owner of a business be so unprofessional and uncaring of the customers that eat at his establishment. I am from a town where a lot of the high school students go to Binghamton and you can be sure that I will be positing this story on every social platform that I can find so that the next family with any kind of nut allergy will stay far away from Cortese Restaurant as they are not a business that cares for clients with allergies. read more

They had in the paper that they were part of Restaurant week but when we were seated the waitress said they weren't. They had their menu on Facebook- but said the owner had an issue with were the money was going. We asked for the manager and tried to show her the menu on Facebook but wouldn't let us get a word in. I eat out four times a week and can say I never encountered such a rude missable "manager". This place is a joke - marginal food with poor management. Find a Binghamton restaurant that wants and deserves your business. read more

Once upon a time Cortese was our family's favorite Italian restaurant and that was quite a feat since we are a family of Italian cooks! Our son and his family came home for their week vacation and he wanted to go to Cortese and we were all very disappointed starting with the fried calamari that was just soaked in fryer grease and smelled terrible and then to the entrees that looked and tasted like they were directly from the freezer! Our waitress was great and the calamari was removed from the bill...the only good thing about the experience! Will not be returning! read more

I was born and brought up on Cortese's "Hot Pies" (pizza). It was the first restaurants I went to with my parents. I spent many evenings there with friends and then with my husband enjoying wonderful meals with excellent service and a warm atmosphere. I was so VERY DISAPPOINTED last evening when there for dinner. The food was so-so. The service was bad. I called prior to the reservation asking about COVID precautions. The rude response was masks make people sick with respiratory illness and no vaccination policy was in place. This ignorance is unbelievable. Masks and vaccinations are proven to be effective. Since I was dining with friends, drove 2 hours to dine, and we had reservations for outside; I decided to go as to the restaurant regardless of this ignorant statement. I was hoping it was the opinion of the person who answered the phone. I was wrong. One and only one sever wore a mask. Most of the customers wore masks when going to tables. When talking with my friends, all of them long time customers of Cortese's, I discovered they all have had the same experiences. The current owner is arrogant, treats his customers poorly (witnessed by one friend and all of us since he doesn't seem to care of the health of his staff or customers) and the food has gone down hill! It's sad because Cortese's has always been a staple for quality dinning in the Binghamton area. read more

My fiancee and I stopped in tonight for our one year anniversary. We had wanted to go to another venue in town but they were closed on Mondays, my girl wanted Italian so we decided to try this place out. To say the least, we were not impressed. First of all we made a reservation for 2 for 6:30. I didn't think it would be too busy given that it was Monday, but was surprised to see that the place was packed! I made a comment to my fiancee that if a place was packed on a Monday it was usually a good sign. Unfortunately, I was wrong. What we were hoping was going to be a romantic dinner turned into a night at the bar at a high table. The ambiance was that of packed amphitheater and my girl and I had a hard time conversating. That was tolerable, that was to be expected with a busy place. Out waitress came by, and didn't seem to keen on conversating with us. Short and to the point, which I know some people like, but I do not, especially when it seemed she was talking to everyone else just fine. That's ok though! Probably regulars! So we ordered our drinks, and appetizers I went with fried mozzarella sticks, my fiancee', the antipasto. They were toted as being home made mozz sticks, so I was rather excited. This was the beginning of the descent of our night. The mozz sticks were obviously not home made, and the antipasto was a glorified salad at best with store bought pepperoni, and what looked like sandwich meat haphazardly plopped on the plate. Okay, we made the wrong choice with appetizer but we were pretty sure our 22 dollar, and 33 dollar entrees were going to be epic! My fiancee' went with the chicken saltimbocca (22 dollars) and I received what sounded like a signature dish, Festa Corrado. It was a pasta dish with an assortment of seafood. Scallops, shrimp, mussels, and clams (33 dollars). We were anxiously awaiting our entrees. I will say that our waitress although not very personable, at least with us, was very on the spot when it came to refills and the like. With that said, when our plates came out, our excitement was tempered; significantly so. My wife's chicken dish was drab with thin cutlets of chicken swimming in a sauce that had entirely way too much Sherry in it, she had ordered angel hair pasta on the side. She received a bowl of angel hair pasta that was flooded with water and the sauce wouldn't even stick to the noodle... a shame for "genuine" Italian. She was not impressed, and couldn't stomach eating more than half of it. My entree, wasn't much better. The shrimp was overcooked, and tough, the clams and mussels were bland. The scallops were good though, but much like my girl's angel hair, my pasta was swimming in a white sauce that seemed more like a soup of butter and pasta water. I was definitely underwhelmed, especially with the price of everything. Our bill was close to 90 dollars for two, before the tip. We wanted dessert, but decided best to go home and enjoy a non disappointing bowl of Walmart Ice cream. Perhaps the kitchen was bogged down due to the busy night, but I still don't believe we will be going back. read more

I have been to Corteses since I was 4 years old that I can remember! The best sauce and salad dressing in an Italian restaurant hands down! Love the people there too! read more

I've eaten At Cortese many times. On July 31 20, my friend and I had an absolutely terrible dinner. We both ordered scallops. My friend also ordered the delmonico steak. The scallops were way over fried to a dark brown and we had asked for fried lightly. We sent them back! The returned scallops were just about as dark brown! I told the waiter they were still way over fried. The steak was ordered medium well; it was black tough and uneatable ! The waiter was rather indignant so we eat what we could. I told the waiter that the cook had the frier set way too high. He said it has to be that high for other fried foods! The scallops were tough and ruined. The steak destroyed! The bill was nearly $80 plus tip!! I will never go back and I eat out every Friday night!! read more

Web site has different prices than what I was charged. Asked for a Manager was on hold for for 8 mins. Then was told manager was outside , waited and no one came to phone. Maybe you you should update your website. And a sub shoulded cost 15 dollars. Way more than a pizza. Ridiculous. Someone should of came to the phone.they should of honored the price on their website menu. read more

Was supposed to be posted sooner. This is one of my favorite restaurants in town. My personal favorites are the ribeye steak, festa corrado, New England clam chowder, chicken noodle, wedding soup, prime rib melanais style. Drooooool. Looking forward to visiting again soon! All of the staff there is also pleasant! Big shout out to Muff. 5 stars!!!!!!! read more

Wow !! What happened ? For all the years that we've been at Cortese for excellent food this last dinner was not one of them. I called for two chicken Marsala dinners to go, both with baked potato ( no butter ) and salads with house dressing and one slice of Carmel apple pie. While at the pick up window I double checked the bag and found the two baked potatoes literally swimming in there containers with butter. I called it to there attention and they replaced them .. not a problem. When we got home ( 10 minutes later ) the chicken Marsala was overpowered with the Marsala wine and the sauce had a very watery consistency. The two salads were excellent but then again, can you really screw up a salad ? Lastly my slice of Carmel apple pie was frozen. Not like ice cube frozen but a crunch like a cold popsicle. Well there you have it , my honest opinion. Hope this helps. read more

With a reservation, had to wait an hour for a table. Food was mediocre and overpriced. Service was okay.

Easily the best Italian Restaurant in Binghamton. My wife and I loved both the food and atmosphere. Excellent food and service, we will return. read more

This place is a favorite when family is in town. I always get the scallops and share with my nana. The Italian dressing is so good, my Pittsburgh family buys quarts of it to bring home. read more

Absolutely love their pizza!!! We go every year we're in town...reservations highly recommended, specially during their busy days when having their having pizza and spaghetti specials. read more

Came here for lunch and was not disappointed. Classic Italian grandmas food and ambiance. The meals were very delicious and rich. 3 of us ate for under $60. The service was very kind and virtuous. However, we had to wait a little while in between seeing out waitress and whine trying to pay the bill. I can recommend the homemade manicotti. The just nothing's deserts are cheap and delicious. I'll come here again. read more

*I haven't eaten inside the restaurant in over twenty years. I'm reviewing the pizza only.* I grew up in the area and had my first Cortese pizza when I was seven years old. I fell in love with it and ate it as often as I could until I left for college. When I got my first job in high school the first thing I spent my money on was a Cortese pizza. I ordered so much they knew my voice over the phone (and this was BEFORE caller ID!). I'm rarely in the area, but whenever I am I ALWAYS make it a point to eat one of their pizzas. The recipe hasn't changed and I still think this is the best pizza I've ever had. read more

Cortese Restaurant vs Little Venice. That's the smackdown challenge. People have told me you're either a Cortese person or a Little Venice person. I gotta say that I'm a little Venice person. That's not to say that Cortese isn't good. It's pretty darn good. But Little Venice wins because of its sauce (sweeter) and its homemade pasta (better taste/consistency in my opinion). But judging by the huge Friday night crowd, there are plenty of people who would vote Cortese. We had to wait 20mins for a table, but there were seats at the bar, so we relaxed and enjoyed two really large glasses of wine (thanks Mr. Bartender). Once seated, we got an order of garlic bread to start (super tasty). For entrees I got the Cortese Spagetti with meat sauce, one sausage link, and two meatballs - all good, but I prefer the sweeter sauce and pasta of Little Venice. My wife got Rigtoni Parmegena which she ranked as good, but not too exciting, and found the cheese to be too gooey. No room for desert. We both got half portions and walked away with a doggy bag. A word to decor, as its always important to me. This place feels old - not old in vintage kinda way, but old in the "It's my Italian grandmother's favorite place to eat Italian food". While there were plenty of young people (lots of cute dates going on), the place was overwhelmingly populated by the 50+ crowd, which gave it a distinct authentic feel. Very nice in that regard. So I would recommend Cortese. In fact, I recommend that everyone try the Cortese vs Little Venice Italian smackdown test. Both are good. But which one is best??????? read more

On July 1st my wife and I dined at Cortese's and ordered what we thought was the pizza special, i.e., a pizza with one topping for half price. We decided to add on a second topping which we intended to pay full price (actually a second order of mushrooms). When the bill arrived, no discount was indicated and when we inquired from the server why this was, she replied, "If you order more than one topping, you cannot get the reduction in price." We naturally asked, "Why?" and we were told that that was the policy, namely, you could only get the reduction if you order one topping. We said, "OK, bill us for the toppings but take half price off the pizza." Once again, the reply was, "Nope, once you order two toppings, we can't give you any discount." Number One: We were willing to pay the extra cost for the second topping. Number Two: The server never told us about this bizarre policy when we were ordering. Number Three: If we had ordered two pizzas with one topping each (at the discounted price), it would have cost us about the same as our original bill for one pizza and two toppings (no discount)! We asked to see the manager and the server told us she was the manager. We asked to see her superior and another woman came to the table and explained to us the same irrational, ridiculous, preposterous policy. However, she did decide (just this once) to give us the discount. Cortese's certainly doesn't need our business and we certainly do patronize the other equally fine Italian restaurants in the area but what a way to end a 20 year relationship! The amount of money involved is negligible but the policy is highly suspect. I'm sure we'll all live through this humiliating experience, we for assuming the good intentions of the establishment and Cortese's for embarrassing itself with such a policy. I did send this letter to the proprietor who never deigned to offer a response. So it goes! read more