I can't believe I have never been to this place until two weeks ago! It's hard to find a restaurant that matches up to the restaurants of Italy, but this place comes pretty close! Everything about this restaurant feels authentic, from the food to the people who work here. My friends and I came here after a day of possible starvation so getting started off with some bruschetta once we sat down was a win in my book! They have an open kitchen (love it) and nice wait staff. For an appetizer, we ordered baked clams, pretty good, not salty like a lot of other places make them. For main courses, we ordered seafood risotto, mushroom risotto and seafood linguine, simply delicious! The portions were huge to the point that my friend and I packed half of it to go. They're very generous with the seafood as well, taste was right, but a little too much garlic for me. For dessert, we had cheesecake and tiramisu, the waiter recommended the cheesecake. Yup, cheesecake was goood! It was nice and fluffy and not too sweet. The tiramisu wasn't as good, too much cream and too sweet, but strong coffee flavor. This is my new favorite Italian restaurant, definitely going to be back for the pizza. Must bring friends to eat more! =) read more

Maybe because we came on a Sunday night like one of the other reviewers who was not overly impressed, but while we liked Il Colosseo, we did not love it like so many of the other reviewers. The restaurant has a very local flavor and is a family oriented restaurant which I really like. The service was efficient (except we waited quite a while for our check...but then again you could say that they did not rush us) and I liked that they give you lemon to put in your water glass. The busboy from Albania was friendly but the rest of the staff was a bit standoffish and the person who I assume was the owner was not very friendly. That is until one of his regulars came in whereupon he was quite vivacious...to them, not us! The pizza is average at best. For a brick oven wood fed fire creation, the crust was more like local pizzeria crust. Our spaghetti with olive oil and garlic, however, was fabulous. The bread was good and the decaf cappuccino was excellent. We did not try the desserts but they looked very good. I was surprised that they don't have cannolis but maybe that was a good thing :-). Prices are quite reasonable. read more

If you love your (actually) brick-oven, thin-crust pizza - and I know you do - you have to venture out to Colosseo to try theirs. So good! Don't tell anyone, but I have, on occasion, eaten an entire pie. The puttanesca is also really good, but only if you like lots of olive oil and lots of olives. It's comfortable, nothing fancy, straightforward, decent and cheap wine, lots of amazing antipasto choices, calamari that makes a tongue wag, kind of place. read more

The food is exactly made the way it's made in Italia. The flavors, the simple ingredients made to perfection. We go every week, even when it's crazy busy you never feel being ignored, the waiters are amazing and the food is incredible. One of my favorites is the spaghetti a la pescatore . If you want a real taste of typical Italian cuisine you found the right place read more

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When you walk into this place the decor is old school. It's like walking into a place in little Italy in the 1980s. You feel like a set out of The Godfather. We cma during the week so it was not packed. We got a table right away in the back section of the restaurant, but that room had all tables full right by the kitchen. So the smell from the kitchen was amazing. We came on a recommendation from a friend in the neighborhood, plus we have seen this place for years. The food was phenomenal! Probably one of the best Italian we have had in our lives if not THE best! We had seafood pasta and also shrimp scampi. The Focaccia Bread was so tasty and had the perfect crackle. Service was sub part, so taking a star for that. Otherwise, it was a great experience. We were full just from one entrée, beyond belief! Definitely bringing a group here next time. read more

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This place is like a scene straight out of a Mafia film and I loved it. I especially loved the open kitchen - there is something comforting about a restaurant that has nothing to hide. We enjoyed the mussels in a white wine sauce for an appetizer. The mussels were huge (but the price tag wasn't) and they gave plenty of them. Decided to go with a personal pizza topped with artichokes and mushrooms for my dinner and he had his favorite - penne alla vodka. We both were pretty full from the fresh bread and mussels, but he managed to finish off his plate of creamy pasta goodness and helped me attempt to put a dent in my pizza. I really liked this place and I don't normally really like Italian cooking that I don't do myself ... so that's saying A LOT. read more

I cannot say enough about Il Colosseo.. Handsdown best food, especially the pizza on this side of the Atlantic.. This is not an italian/american restaurant.. So if anyone who has not been to Italy and wants to eat real Italian food and not Carmine's..lol YOU GO TO IL COLOSSEO.. By the way, I never saw "garlic knots" in there.. and I'm a frequent cutomer.. read more

Really enjoyed my time here. Place is very spacious and the employees are very professional. The food was amazing. I got the homemade meat sauce spaghetti and the tiramisu. I would recommend both. Sadly I wasn't aware of today's special because no one said anything but I would have loved to tried it. I'll be sure to ask next time if they didn't say anything. Probably just bad timing. I would most definitely come back here again. Thanks. read more

This is another spot that I would visit more often if only I lived closer. Il Colosseo is an Italian restaurant with a wood burning brick Pizza oven. It was one the first brick oven pizzeria's in NYC. It is located in the formerly very Italian neighborhood of Bensonhurst. I like il Colosseo for many reasons. It has very good food, it is very reasonably priced, and it is spotless. I order the Quatro Stagioni Pizza when I go. It has wild mushrooms, artichokes and ham on it. I recently ordered a steak with Broccoli Rape, and it was delicious also. If you go bring an Italian dictionary because everybody who works here speaks Italian, and they are not fond of English only speaking people. read more

Been here a few times and the food never fails. I had tonight the branzino in a garlic white wine sauce, started with the baked clams which are alway good, octopus had a weird flavor from the grill, had the tiramisu which I can say was ridiculously good. read more

Il Colosseo - Italian Near Me - Brooklyn, New York

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The service here has suffered. Last Mother's day was terrible. 4 people we waited over an hour. Nothing. We left. Tonight my brother is at a christening party. Same thing. Over half an hour no service. I'm not ever going back. It's sad because the food is good but not worth the wait. read more

The pizza with sausage and broccoli rabe was EXCELLENT! They had a special pasta dish this night with an olive pesto (no basil just olives) and ricotta, it was delicious! I was not crazy about the baked clams. The fennel salad was refreshing. It would have been better if they sliced it thinner, the cuts were just too thick. The service was poor and they abruptly bring and take away food. In fact they removed my dish with out asking and I didn't finished what I was still working on. If the service wasn't poor I would have given 5 stars. read more

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Was looking for last minute dinner plans and my husband found this place. It was late and we were both really hungry so thankfully service was quick and the food was good. It was about 8:30 on a Saturday night and the place was packed but still, quick service. It is an Italian restaurant with good Italian food that is run by Italians. Seems like you shouldn't show up in shorts and tank top but you don't have to wear a suit either. Finding parking is not the best in that area but it is worth it once you do! read more

THIS IS THE REAL DEAL FOLKS This is a classic Bensonhurst Italian eatery from back in the day. These places just do not exist anymore. Do not expect trendy and hip, this is old school Italian Brooklyn people. The neighborhood has transitioned into a largely Chinese area so the Italian offerings are sparse compared to the old days (20 years ago) but these staples still maintain a presence. I personally like the pizza and Tiramisu which is off the charts. I don't really recommend this place for kids, this is more of an adult dining spot. read more

When was the last time you went into an Italian restaurant and the patrons spoke Italian? No, aside from Italy. Right. I ordered mushroom risotto and the portion was so large. I felt terrible not being able to finish it. I swear I wanted to. What's also great is you can order your pasta dish with the sauce you want, as it should be. Don't limit people to penne with vodka! What if they want rigatoni with vodka? Or capellini? You do what you want. The service was excellent and the décor is cute. I'm going back to mix all the pasta-sauce combinations. ALL OF THEM. read more

This place was good. If you are looking for good Brooklyn Italian, this is it. The prices were reasonable, and the food was fresh. Also, I liked that the food came out so hot. It was clearly right off the stove. Workers had Italian accent. The place felt like it was filled with "wise guys," if you catch my drift. I will be returning read more

Il Coloseo is by far my favorite local Italian restaurant in New York. The thin crust brick oven pizza is by my opinion one of the best in New York. The seafood risotto, baked clams are also amazing. The wine selection is great and affordable. And of course the lemon ricotta cheese cake is a desert your grandmother used to bake when you were little. Even though I'm not Italian I go to this place at least once a month if not every week. Very much in love with Il Coloseo read more

Ordered for delivery. Their "misto mare" seafood appetizer was very good, baked clams were excellent. Delivery was fast, food was a little cold but that's also expected. Penne vodka was excellent. read more

A true 'as good as it gets.' I'm from LA - which means my ability to review Italian is akin to most's ability to review Mexican - outsider looking in. I thought Il Colosseo had a wonderful vibe in the sense that the staff communicates in Italian, the Italian American server had the classic New Yorker accent when speaking to me and flawless Italian speaking to the table next over; the service was prompt and hospitable, although no smiles or warm thank you's for us non-regulars. The food was fantastic, well described by the server, prepared meticulously by the kitchen and yet, set out with little fuss by the food runner. Dinner specials were actually special and not the usual fare found on any Italian restau menu. All at the table enjoyed their food with no criticisms. Enjoyed the half carafe of house red - and here's why they get the 5th star - Best Tiramasu Ever - and at the price they charge, didn't even feel like I was in NYC paying for more than I was getting. Will def be back. This place is perfect for the family, people who have been dating a while, chowhounds. I would not recommend for a first date - gets loud with rambunctious families rebel-rousing over carafes of wine, well well well lit dining area (better to sit in the back half than front cafe-looking half). read more

Fantastic! Fabulous! This is just like eating in a trattoria in Italy! The Pizzas are fabulous, but you are better off ordering some of the main dishes. The Linguine with white clam sauce is fresh, fresh, fresh. We had a platter of frittto misto - all fried fish - so light it was if we were sitting by the sea! The grilled shrimp and the mahi mahi were just as good. The staff is great, very accomodating. Can't wait to go back read more

Not all that good. Took a while before acknowledged by anyone. Took quite a while for the food to get to our table. We were sitting so long the waitress thought we had eaten and brought us the check, I explained we hadn't eaten yet and she was a little embarrassed. The Food wasn't that great. Shrimp and calamari was overcooked & mushy. I so wanted this place to become a regular restaurant that is go to every week or two. Not so sure now. I may try it again but not too soon. Sorry. read more

Too Bad. What I mean is the food is excellent, so For that I say God bless the chef. The service is horrible. The waiters are rude and act to busy to even acknowledge you once in a while. This is the type of place that knows they have great food so they think it's ok if a customer never comes back again. Which is exactly what is going to happen with me. Hope they realize when they see the 8 % tip they got. Maybe not. read more

Service here is impeccable. Everybody is so kind. The food is very hearty, you leave with your bellies full. Their mozzarella and ricotta pizza and fried calami are the best t. Also try the grilled octopus. read more

If possible, this place has gotten even more popular ?! - I am sure the recent Yelp email did not hurt either. While waiting, we overheard groups of people coming in from NJ to eat here (!)....really? Don't they have good Italian food in NJ? Its already crowded enough here on most nights at meal times, & they don't take reservations for groups of less than six. Be prepared to wait ! read more

Rip off!! First of all, they charge you a fee if you use a credit card. Next, $13 for a glass of white wine, $4 for a seltzer, and $6 for a cappuccino is ridiculous. 3 balls of profiteroles for dessert is $10! The red snapper was very good but for the price of $26 it should have been excellent. The grilled octopus was delicious and tender so I didn't mind that for $17. Also, beware, my entree came with salad, so I ordered a salad to start for nothing (they were both very good, though). If I didn't ask the waiter he wouldn't have told me. Furthermore, there was a party going on in the next room; it was very noisy and we kept getting different waiters. I had to get up and ask a waiter for a dessert menu after waiting for what seemed like an hour. To top it off, he forgot to give me the leftover profiterole and I had to go back inside to get it. Not to mention it was freezing in there too as they left the front door wide open. Unfortunately, our table was near the entrance to the basement so I kept getting the draft from there too as the employees kept going up and down. It's a shame, though. I eventually would like to give this place another try, as it is an Italian, friendly neighborhood place. read more

Picked up an order from here the other day. Been looking forward to trying this local spot for some time, but was a bit disappointed. We got the Margherita pizza, the mussels in red sauce appetizer, the risotto special with peas and branzino, zuppa di pesce, and a tiramisu for dessert. The pizza was good. Super fresh bread and the sauce was tasty, but definitely on the salty side. The risotto was a special with peas and Bronzino with some ginger shavings. Smelled amazing and the bronzino fillet was definitely good. Light white fish and falling apart easily, not dry just tender. The rice was over cooked. Maybe since we had it to go it kept cooking inside the plastic container, but I doubt it. Was really disappointing because I was looking forward to checking out their risotto, considering it's such a hard dish to pull off and they seem to be popular for it. The mussels in red sauce, appetizer dish - mussels themselves were really good, massive, cooked right, but the sauce had a weird taste like burned rubber or just a strange artificial after taste. Strange. The zuppa di pesce with linguini was good. It wasn't the usual flavor. Had interesting spices to it. I really liked it. It has the same massive mussels as the mussels in the app, the clams were tiny but good, the calamari was pretty big and thick. Lots of seafood, mostly small but good quality. There wasn't much of the linguini in it, but what was there was cooked right. It was closer to something you'd find in Italy vs in Brooklyn. Definitely made me interested in trying some of their other pasta dishes. The tiramisu was good but was mostly cream. Wish there was more of the actual cake in there because that cake was really juicy and tasty and was the best part. Overall, the experience was 3/3.5 starts. But I would check it out again some other. It's still on a FAR higher level than most restaurants in this area, so I'm thankful for having that option. read more

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This was one of the best Italian meals we have had in a long time! Six of us ordered diff apps and meals and shared so we could taste a lot of the different meals. Everthbig was delicious! It's a BYOB and amazing! read more

I came here because I've heard so many great reviews about this place, plus it's in my neighborhood so I decided to check it out. It definitely seems like a quaint neighborhood restaurant, I saw a bunch of families here enjoying their Sunday meal. The waiters were chatting in Italian and the place reminds me of grandma's. Food wise- I've definitely had better. Can't believe people said the penne vodka was the best they've had because it tasted kind of lackluster to me. Calamari was very good and large. Pizza was all right. I was really hoping for amazing and all I got was..eh. read more

Pescatore Rigatoni and Penne Vodka were both out of this world authentic and delicious! Very good sized portions as well. Seafood Pizza was so good, the hubs and I almost ordered another pizza to confirm just how tasty it really was! Now...i dont like mushrooms but the grilled portabella looked so delicious that i had to bite...and then eat a whole half of one. Its good enough to turn a non-mushroomer into a lover. Oh man. Decent wine selection, old school Italy feel with the decor so no glitz or glamour -- just as it is in restaurants near THE Colosseum! Totally recommend this place! read more

Haven't been here in 4 years,but went last night with my son and wife. If anything it was even better. Just wonderfully prepared food. People were waiting to be seated on average Wednesday night..tells you a lot. read more

We were looking for an Italian restaurant in the neighborhood and saw this place and decided to give it a try. The reviews were good so we expected good things. We were seated right away by a smiling hostess and at least 4 different people came to our table asking if we needed drinks or anything. Very friendly environment with an open kitchen which was awesome. We ordered wine and an appetizer to start (roasted portabello mushrooms), then eventually I ordered chicken and my GF ordered Veal. The mushrooms were fantastic but nothing topped the Veal. I tasted some and it was amazing. My chicken was excellent as well. The food gets 5 stars and the service gets 4 stars. Here is why: When my GF was finished with her wine, the entree arrived. The gentleman never asked if she wanted more wine (which she did) so I had to ask for it from someone else. Also, for some reason, my water glass was not refilled. These might be small things, but this is what would lose a star in my opinion, the little things. Restaurant was very clean. I was hoping for more steak choices on the menu but they seem to focus on pizza and Veal. Would definitely come back again. read more

Authentic Italian food. Awesome service. Great decor. Reasonable prices. Great tasting food. I came here in twice. I tried the penne vodka, fettuccine alfredo with chicken, fried calamari, grilled squid, pizza w/ anchovies, and the tiramisu. They all taste great. I want to try the risotto next and I wish they made some gnocci dishes. I highly recommend this place for your date or meal with family. read more

Atmosphere and food are fantastic. It's very traditional roman Italian food with great quality and ingredients. Service is pretty damn good. You're not left wanting for anything for very long at all. The Italian cheesecake for dessert is delish! I would recommend coming here again and again for simple but well executed meals. Nice comfortable rustic (in a good sense of the word) atmosphere! read more

Seafood is really good in here. I always order zuppa de pisce, which is a seafood soup with tons of seafood. The dish itself is very flavorful and filling. Clams appetizer with white sauce is delicious as well. In fact, because of how tasty the sauce was, I dipped all of my bread in it. However, I wouldn't recommend the veal. Don't order meat here. They're not as good as the seafood. Tiramisu is okay and traditionally soft. It had too much vanilla taste to it in my opinion. read more

This restaurant food is soooooo delicious, we came here for a single mother's night and really enjoy the dinner.

If you want to go to a place that only respects or acknowledges you if your an older Italian man then this is your place. Food is mediocre and good if you want some Italian food but there is better options if your around the Bensonhurst or Bay Ridge area. Waited for 20 mins and asked multiple times what the wait was and ignored completely for get a shrug of the shoulder. Lowed and Highly disorganized if they have a "full house". No host system, no warm welcome, COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY RUDE AS HELL. I would love to go on but just trust me ... just go somewhere else unless your desperate to be treated like a 2nd or 3rd class citizen. read more

It feels like eating out of your mother's kitchen! Great food, friendly service & outstanding atmosphere! I have tried their pizzas, they are brick oven & delicious! Made fresh to order. I have also tired their pasta dishes. Broccoli rabe & shrimp to die for. Also with clam sause, the best I've ever had! Appetizers are all good. My favorite so far is their risotto with wild rice, asparagus & shrimp... mmmmmmm yuuuummmmyyy! I would recommend this place to any person that wants to eat real Italian food in New York. read more

Don't order a pizza to be delivered on a Friday night through an app for this restaurant. I ordered through the app Slice, my card was charged, then I received an email that the order was cancelled because "their driver didn't come in," and moreover, I wouldn't receive a refund for 5 business days. Highly unprofessional. I called the restaurant and they simply said there was nothing they could do, and took absolutely no responsibility or tried to mitigate the situation in any manner. I'll never give them my business again. read more

The service was great... And the pizza is disco dynamite.!! Definitely will come back!!

My family recommended this restaurant and it was GREAT. We took friends from out of town. Food is delicious and service super. The restaurant is very homey, not fancy. No parking but we found parking on the street nearby. We had fried calamari and mixed greens for appetizer. Calamari was terrific and salad very delicious. Some of had pasta with seafood - delicious. One had prime rib. There was no gravy. This is a great place for delicious Italian food and great service. read more