Cucina Gourmet

My sister works in the area and I had to meet her, she suggested this place. I’ve had Cucina in Grand Central so I know they usually have good food. I bought the chicken Franchese off of the buffet. Took it back to my office (near the farmer district) I went to take a huge bite off my fork and noticed huge pieces of EGG shells in the batter. Yuck! How careless! I called and they lady on the phone said they would send me something else or give me a credit. It I worked in the area I would be going back for my money! I’ll let my sister have the credit since she works nearby. Now I’m hungry and I’ll have to wait to get something else smh

This might be the worst pizza that I have ever had in my life. I ordered the personal size margherita pizza, which is baked in a brick oven. When I opened the box, the pizza size was huge and looked appetizing, but boy was I fooled. There was absolutely no taste! After drenching it in salt, pepper and oregano, I managed to eat half of it. I was surprised that the pizza sauce was not seasoned and there were parts of the pizza where the dough appeared to be uncooked. Definitely will not be back

A decent place for lunch within the Citi Atrium.
Cucina seems to be one of the least busy places in the Atrium, however, it’s still pretty good. They have a ton of pasta dishes to choose from if you decide to go the buffet route. They also have a small salad bar if you decide you want to brighten up your platter with some veggies. I decided to go with a sandwich. The grilled chicken with fresh mozzarella sandwich was presented on a baguette with bacon, avocado, and lettuce/​tomato. The sandwich was pretty good and definitely filling but could have used a bit more flavor. The avocado saved the day with that.
Staff is friendly, prices are what you would expect for a sandwich in Manhattan.

It is a sad thing to see very good food turn bad! Located in Citicorp Center’s Atrium, with a good chef, colorful and thoughtfully prepared food — the on-​site restaurant manager just can’t seem to get the serving area right. After six or seven NYC Health Department Inspections over
three years, the hot food tables are insufficiently hot and the cold food tables are insufficiently
cold. These conditions foster the growth of unhealthy bacteria and risk restaurant customers
getting ill. Apparently, the only solution that the on-​site restaurant manager seems to have come up with is to post the «Grade Pending“notice far below normal eye level in the hope that potential customers will not see it. All of the other restaurants in the atrium have «A» ratings posted at eye level! What is wrong with the owners of this restaurant, don’t the want satisfied customers and to make money? Do they not really care about having satisfied and healthy customers? Is the on-​site manager merely a relative who couldn’t get a job elsewhere, and is only there just to make sure that the employees don’t steal from the cash registers? How very, very sad! The owners and on-​site manager should be locked up for «murdering good food!»
CHECK THIS RESTAURANT OUT ON THE NYC HEALTH DEPARTMENT’S WEBSITE UNDER RESTAURANT INSPECTION INFORMATION! THEN, DON’T EAT THERE UNTIL THEY TRULY
HAVE EARNED AN «A» RATING!

This is fast and good food but not cheap. Paying by the pound always costs me a lot here, everything looks so good on the buffet. Seating can be difficult since its in the Citigroup plaza and during lunch time it is often scant seating especially more than 2.

They have a great variety of cold salads, but I’m actually writing this to thank the staff for being very nice to me today. First, while putting my salad on the cashier’s counter, I dropped my Snapple, I felt stupid. The cashier let me get another one while another staff member quickly took care of the mess on the floor. Then, I cut my finger on something in my purse as I was getting my wallet to pay. The cashier had someone bring me a band aid right away. I think that’s above and beyond the usual café staff service. I appreciate it.

Really disappointing. I have eaten at other Cucina restaurants that were much better. The sandwich wasn’t made correctly… wrong bread, not toasted… it made a big difference. Kind of a dingy place.

Located on the bottom floor of the atrium, perfect little spot for any lunch craving. They have all your basic stations and do a very good job keeping everything clean and organized.
Prices always end up being standard for lunch, but the quality seems to outweigh any negatives. All food seems well maintained (temp-​wise) and also very fresh.
Buon appetito

Avoid salad bar at all cost. The food is drizzled with oil to make the food appear more appealing. It doesn’t help. Food is mediocre, lacks flavor or any depth. Just taste all the same. The hot food is not any better. The baked items such as cookies and brownies come across as a bit stale. You try it and want to kick yourself for not taking a couple of extra steps to a real bakery. You ask why I even bothered? Because I fall for the trap EVERYTIME!!!

Overall, this place is pretty expensive. The salad bar is nine dollars a pound. Be careful. The pizza is okay, but nothing to write home about. My slice had too much sauce.
The bagels are the best deal in the house. They are pretty reasonably priced, less than two dollars, but they messed up my order a couple times by giving me a bagel I didn’t order.

This place is a life-​saver. I don’t need to waste time and constantly come up with lunch ideas, cuz there are plenty of options and always sth hitting the spot!
The breakfast/​lunch buffet by weight are both very reasonably priced, in fact, I think is a steal. You have to know the right food pairing though. They’ve got not only Italian options but also American local flavors in all regions. I love the optionality and excitement of discovering new authentic homecooking style dishes.
BTW their food are fresh and not overly seasoned. Perfect amount of salt lends to the good balance of flavor and healthiness.
The cashier sometimes is not so friendly, but hey New Yorkers, I think you guys are asking too much given they are not servers who receive tips from you.
Thumbs up for the diversity and quality!

My coworkers love this place, it’s right in our building and practically everyone goes here at least every other day… I will say for variety and decent food its great, but I know we are in NYC but I am still not okay with paying $ 10 for a little bit of salad, splash of chicken, and bit of pasta in a container that still isnt even full and doesnt full me up unless I late a late breakfast. It does taste good, but I’m also not a huge fan of the container thing because my pasta mixes with my salad which mixes with everything else. I know it’s all going to the same place, but does it have to BEFORE I eat it? and somehow using small containers makes it even more expensive… Go figure. Anyway though, I guess when I consider that there are other places around where just a sandwich can cost almost $ 10, its a decent option for something different.

I hate rating this one poorly, because they really could have a good thing going with their food choices. The breakfast bar is fantastic, the hot/​cold bar IS excellent, the grill choices are always tasty. But the staff is FANTASTICALLY rude. I have had several bad experiences there — one just this morning where the girl behind the counter making the coffee refused to put the coffee in my travel cup… flat refused! Just completely ignored me. Her co-​worker who was working the register even repeated my request to her, which she also ignored. I was FINALLY rude back, after several instances of this kind of treatment. You’d think they weren’t aware that there is a similar deli style restaurant, just steps aways from them, where the guys behind the counter remember your order and call it out as you walk in the door. I give them a tip every time I go in there. I’ll just go there from now on. The Cucina girls should go visit. Take some notes on customer service and being pleasant to people who make sure you have the ability to earn a check.
There used to be a Latina girl up front who was amazing. I don’t know where she’s gone, but she’s a huge loss to them. I noticed the rude girls less when she was around, because she was clearly senior to the nasty ones, and usually handled the orders herself and ran the show back there. I don’t know what they were thinking with this new set, but they really are very nasty.

expensive but convenient: the food is good (better than most lunch deli) however it’s per pound so it could get quite costly if your not careful.

Gourmet food at somewhat reasonable prices where one Cranberry muffin was a grinding chore to request who the server cashier was incompetent to fulfill my order to adamantly insist for Blueberry. «We do not have Blueberry!!» Woman, I stated CRANBERRY which is completely different than Blueberry. Either the woman was color blind to distinguish red for blue or was not focus on her listening skills because It was like pulling teeth to obtain one measly muffin at $ 2.25. AIJA!
Albeit, the muffin was moist and helped awaken me from within. This Cucina Gourmet sits inside Citigroup Center’s open atrium on the main level.

I came here a few times. Twice I tried the buffet. The food is nothing special. It’s mostly salads, pasta and cold food. Their hot food consists of chicken and other meats. They charge you by weight so you should be conscious of what you put in your plate. A small container with a few items will easily cost you $ 10. Stay away from the chunks of garlic unless you like garlic. :-P Those things are strong!
There is some seating inside but it’s probably much better if you sit in the atrium. That way you get to hear the guy play the piano. You might not be able to name the pieces he’s playing but it relaxes you nonetheless. If it’s a sunny day, you can choose to eat outside the atrium too.
A word of advice if you do come here is that you should try to come early. After 3pm, all the good stuff is gone and they don’t make anymore. You’ll be left with the undesireables and the food gets a bit cold because they don’t heat it up anymore.
The food is a bit pricey, the lines get a bit long during lunch time but after all, you are in Manhattan.

I love Cucina! I’ve worked in the area for around a year now and this is still one of my favorite options.
I usually get the hot/​cold buffet food and the food is always very fresh and I think what I love about it the most is that there’s such a wide variety of salads. There are two huge stations solely devoted to different mixes of cold salads. Sometimes they have this amazing stuffed mushroom or stuffed zucchini which is stuffed with some sort of meat and cheese on top. The hot food I would say is normal. I love the potato croquette, spinach casserole (?), and fried calamari.
It’s a great place to come to grab lunch all in all but I would say that the only bad thing is it’s slightly expensive. I don’t know if it’s because I can’t help but pile things onto my plate but I usually end up spending at least 10 $ there.

I love this place! Food is always fresh and hot, friendly staff, clean establishment. I come here at least 3 times a week and love to try everything on the buffet. It takes me about a month or more to try everything including the paninis and pizza (yum). Then I start over!!! Lol.
I’ve even had the pleasure of ordering for my office. They do amazing catering for a great price. Not your typical deli offerings. When it comes to presentation, they really impress. Last major order I placed was for a holiday party of 150 guests. The décor, set-​up, and presentation was fabulous. I just placed another major order for a Spring Welcoming and can’t wait to see what they surprise my office with!
I would recommend this place to anyone. There are many places around the area to choose from, but this place offers variety, freshness, good prices, and to top it off they’re in the Atrium which regularly has a musician playing live music (adds a nice touch to a simple lunch).
If you’re a New Yorker, I’m sure you’re all too familiar with the typical «deli» food which has a habit of smelling really bad after a few minutes in front of you. Lol. Go to Cucina instead, eat hearty and breathe easy!

Really not bad, especially if you happen to work in the building. I usually get from their hot buffet. Their tilapia is good and their meats are hit or miss by being sometimes burned or salty. I always, *always* go for the calamari if they have it and the little phyllo rolls with feta and spinach. I love those. They are the best thing Cucina has to offer.
There’s seating inside, which is good when you don’t want to fight for a seat in the atrium. Their fare is repetitious, especially if you go there almost everyday out of laziness, and their selection is abysmal after 2:30. They stop bringing out new stuff and all that you’re left with are scraps.

You do realize there are other options in the area, right?
This is a good place to go if there has been a deadly chemical release that prevents you from going outside and you happen to work in Citigroup Center.
Actually the grandma pizza isn’t horrible.