Cortona’s Italian Cuisine & Wine Bar

I really had such high hopes for this place since they have pasta in a Parmesan wheel! The service was very slow for how small of a restaurant it was. The pasta wheel dish itself the cheese almost congealed at the bottom of the bowl and wasn't tossed in and creamy. You kind of had to scrape at the bottom to get the cheese wheel cheese on your pasta. The pastas were a bit bland. My brother ordered the ribeye and said it was tough and chewy. It came with a side of potatoes but looked like maybe a bit or two. The short rib ravioli was probably the best dish out of the group. The cannoli was pretty good but the crème brûlée wasn't the right consistency and was runny.

This place has been on my list to try for a while and we finally checked it out for our anniversary. Parking was plentiful in a lot across the street and it's very quaint looking when you walk in. We were seated in the front area by the window. The tables for two are pretty tight. I saw another couple request a different table because they didn't like how small it was. We started with the fried burrata and mixed greens. It was served with a side of marinara. It was tasty! I chose the fried halibut special. It was on a mound of mashed potatoes over a red pepper sauce served with asparagus. The halibut was amazing. Perfectly crispy and tender. The mashed potatoes were great too. I ended up taking home the left over potatoes and asparagus and it was worth it. I probably should have tried the pasta, but I'm a sucker for halibut!

Sorry, this is a long post. My Yelp family let me down on this one! How could this place possibly be anywhere near 4 stars!? Here's what happened. Ordered the cheese wheel pasta special. They brought out a giant wheel of Parmesan and poured in a LOT of vodka, then lit it on fire. After 5 minutes of stirring, the lady poured in the noodles directly in the cheese wheel and coated them. Then served the bowl of noodles with sprinkled cracked black pepper. It was the most bitter, tasteless dish I've ever had. Not sure if the bitterness was the vodka or the fact there was no seasoning other than the fresh parm but it was not good. My friend tried it and spit her bite out. So then several staff members, including a man I presumed was the chef, came and stood awkwardly around our table in disbelief that we didn't like it. I simply stated it was very bitter. The man grabbed my bowl off the table and walked away, seemingly not happy. The hostess came over and tried to explain Parmesan to me. I've never had parm that bitter in my life but who knows, I've never been to Italy so what do I know. They all left our table. We then sat in awkward silence for a while. Not sure what to do. Finally, quite a few minutes later, the waitress came and asked if I'd like something else. I ordered the lasagna. While waiting on the lasagna, the chef surprised me another bowl of the cheese wheel pasta. It tasted the same to me but was not as watery on the bottom. I thanked him for his effort but we couldn't eat it. I noticed a lady next to us had ordered the same thing and was politely picking at it with a look of disgust on her face. I kept waiting to see if she would complain but she was too polite. Or maybe I'm the strange one and she loved it. Possible. The lasagna came out in a square. The noodles were mushy and the edges hard. Tasted worse than a Banquet frozen lasagna. My friend ordered the mushroom fettuccini with chicken. It was heavy on Gorgonzola and very bitter. Hardly any chicken in it. It needed a creamy Alfredo type of sauce but instead was straight up sharpness of the Gorgonzola. She ate a few bites and couldn't stomach any more. The house salads were $8 each and had just a small handful of greens spread out on a plate with a drizzle of balsamic. 3 or 4 cherry tomatoes cut in half, maybe 3 tiny crumbles of Gorgonzola sprinkled on it. No substance! If you compressed those leaves in your hand, it would be less than a golf ball of them. When they asked if we wanted dessert, I politely passed and couldn't wait to get out of there! The strangeness of the staff there is hard to explain but the tiny seating area we were in amplified it all. $90 for one of the worst meals I've had in a while. Olive Garden or even nasty Fazioli's would have been better.

My husband and I came here for Valentine's Day. Open Table made it really easy to grab a reservation and we were seated right away upon arrival. This was our first time in Fortville, it did not look like many places were still open by the evening but it took a minute to find parking. The place was small and intimate. We were in a back room, at a corner table so there weren't a lot of foot traffic by our table which I liked. They definitely packed a lot of tables in, mostly 2 seaters in the room we were at. The food was amazing! Both my husband and I loved all of the seafood and pasta we got. Everything was cooked perfectly and the food came out hot and fresh. My pasta has the perfect texture, not too soft and mushy. We didn't have any room for desert so we decided to get a limoncello cake to go, the only regret is we got one to share instead of our own. Next time!

Small and charming restaurant. First time visiting as it is a 30+ minute drive from home but will make a point to remember it on Saturdays when I have some extra time as it is worth the drive. The salads were nicely prepared. Not overdressed or having any wilted like some places will try to skip past you. My dad and I both had the gnocchi since it is homemade. His girlfriend has the linguine con vongole which looked amazing. We forgot photos of dessert but had the chocolate chocolate chip mousse and strawberry tiramisu. Both plates returned clean. I can't wait to return as I had lots of fomo seeing other entrees and since I ordered the dessert on special tonight have to go back and try the limoncello cake that sounded delicious.

We came for the cheese wheel pasta. The cheese was Pecorino from Italy, the pasta was freshly made. Dish was delicious. Not pictured we had the Bruschetta with 4 different types, tomato and basil, red peppers and goat cheese, pear and Gorgonzola, prosciutto and shaved Parmesan. They were all delicious. We also had the calamari that was good. With each cheese wheel pasta you had a choice of proteins. My favorite was the sausage. Our server was very knowledgeable and quick to our table. Thursdays wine bottles are 1/2 price !! The main road is under construction causing it to be tricky to get to, but it's in a cute area of restaurants and bars. Nice place to visit out of the city.

I came to Cortona on a surprise date night. The staff was great. Our original table was near a door which was really drafty and before we could sit down our server said, "let me move you I don't want you to get cold." There was also a large party sitting near us, and the staff kept checking in to make sure that we weren't disturbed by how loud it was.The draft for my date was the cheese wheel pasta, but they only do that on weeknights so we couldn't order it. Nonetheless, we were very happy with our choices. For starters, we ordered the meatballs and attempted to order bread, but they were sold out. The meatballs were good had a little spice to them for main course. We ordered the short rib, ravioli and Linguine Alla Scoglio. I was stuck between the linguine and the Buccini with octopus so the server asked the kitchen to add octopus to my linguine. She said rave about the broth and take it home to dip bread in it. I thought the broth was good, but could've used a little more salt. The ravioli was also good, although I expected actual short ribs to be on the plate, the ravioli was stuffed with the short rib. Everything was good. We ordered two cocktails one was the godfather. The other was the dark Italian. I would probably just go for wine or something on the rocks next time.All in all, this was a great experience. Service was amazing. Food was delicious and I would definitely make the journey back to Fortville for the cheese wheel pasta!

Food was excellent! We had meat lasagna which was very tasty. Plus our server was very friendly and attentive. She made our entire meal more enjoyable with her attention to detail. Thank you Laura! We will definitely be back!

Just had dinner at Cortona's and wow!! We were transported right to Tuscany! You can taste the love and passion that goes into this food. The owners are so sweet and have created a beautiful space! Definitely can't wait to come back!

My husband and I went to Cortona's with a group of friends on a Friday night. We were seated in the back room, which was low lit and had a great ambiance. Not only was the bruschetta appetizer amazing, but the gnocci dish I had melted in my mouth. I finished the meal with the limoncello dessert--out of this world.To top off our amazing meal, we also had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with the owner/chef! He was so nice and welcoming, and told us all about his journey starting this restaurant after moving to the states from Italy. Very down to earth and funny!I cannot WAIT to come back.