Cena

An unfortunate experience. We’ve been wanting to try this restaurant for some time. The menu looked great. And the food was quite tasty. The waitress was kind and attentive. However 19 people — a 10 top, 4 top, 3 top and 2 top that came in after my husband and I got served their dinner before us. And a good amount of time before us. Then we were asked to move tables prior to our meals coming because a big party was coming. If they would have turned our table faster by bringing our food in a timely manner their problem would have been solved and I wouldn’t be writing a review. After we moved tables the waiter at the table next to us was attempting to light our candle but he was too busy chatting it up with his own table that we had a lighter stuck in our face and him not realizing that he wasn’t even close to the candle. Sigh. This is my first negative review on Unilocal.We’re easy to please. It’s disappointing. That’s all. Sad face.

Wonderful food and great service! Eric was our server on two visits and he goes above and beyond to make it a great evening. Every dish that came to our table was beautifully presented and tasted even better than it looked. Loved that the wine list includes very reasonably priced options.

Exquisite meal. Had seafood risotto, cena chicken and ice cream for dessert. Varied menu with creative dishes. The desserts are among the best in the city. Impeccable service with great ambience. Will return.

Celebrated our anniversary at Cena this past weekend. It’s a small cozy place on the outskirts of Channelside. We had a wonderful meal, we started with a Cheese and Charcuterie board. We then moved onto the Beer Glazed Pork Belly. Divine. Red wine gorgonzola risotto with Kobe beef cheek. Yum! Carbonara Ravioli with truffle sweet corn ravioli and crispy pork. Superb. To top off our meal we shared a Lemon Ciambella and Strawberry Shortcake. Can’t say enough good things. So glad we finally made it down to check it out. Must try. :)

Service was good food was good. Lasagna was a little too cheesy. Overall good experience.

Really lovely place, décor is a little oddly beige and I’d say it’s a little, cold? But the food is stellar and the desserts even better. Service was very good, especially since we were the last people in the restaurant. The lemon cake I had for dessert, ridiculously good. My sweet corn ravioli was great and I tried a bite of the oxtail gnocchi and it is delicious as well.

Inventive Italian cuisine with a hint of flair. Great service! Had the burrata salad for starters. Generous, tasty and tantalizing. For mains I got the carbonara ravioli and the better half got the bolognese. Both classic dishes delivered in such an innovative twist yet it didn’t distract from the Italian cuisine taste I was expecting. The tiramisu which is mandatory :-) is yet another example of the great way food is presented and piques at your curiosity of whether the classic taste is there or is it going to provoke my taste buds in different direction… it’s classic tiramisu alright but elevated in such high echelon in terms of taste and presentation is beyond description… This is 5 star dining experience for me!

What a great place to celebrate my birthday. Small but open restaurant with a very personal feeling. Italian at its best! Fresh, creative, but still rustic and classic at the same time. Nice that you can BYOB since we had been saving a nice bottle of red for a special occasion and good meal.
The table started out with some apps; the Fried Eggplants, Pan Fried Cheese and some pepperonis from the charcuterie menu. The eggplants was thin sliced and fried perfectly. The cheese sauce was rich and a great compliment, but the tomato jam on top was amazing! Paired perfectly against the saltiness of the cheese and the batter. The fried cheese was everything. Rich and salty with just the right amount of honey and fig as to not overwhelm the cheese. The onion jam with the pepperonis was just amazing. I can’t say it any better than that.
For our entrees everyone’s was good, but there were some clear front runners. The carbonara raviloi was a clear favorite. Sweet corn filling, al dente pasta, creamy sauce and tender pork hit it out of the park. Next favorite was tie between the beef cheek risoto and the bolognese. Both were very well executed, but I think the bolognese was a tad better. Rich ricotta cheese sent put the bolognese in the lead, though the beef cheek was a very, very close second. All were delicious and would highly recommend.
For dessert we didn’t go with the famous tiramisu, rather the gelatto which was with out a doubt one of the top 3 desserts I have ever had. The cone was incredible and the gelatto was rich, creamy and balanced between sweet with a hint of salt.
To top it all off, service was great! Very attentive but not annoying. We never felt rushed to order or to finish in a hurry. In short, Cena is a perfect dining experience and will definitely be back again!

Another amazing evening at Cena. Again, we had the eggplant appetizer; it was just as good as the first time around. This time I tried the mushroom risotto and it was excellent. My husband had corn ravioli with carbonara sauce and pork belly. It was also delicious, and different than your usual carbonara pasta. We ended the evening with an outstanding lemon pound cake dessert, which had some lemon foam – so good – and white chocolate mousse. I’m not a fan of white chocolate usually, but it paired well with the slight tang from the lemon flavors. Everything on their menu is so creative and I can’t wait to go back soon!

We’ve lived in the channelside area for about a year and a half now but just made it out to Cena for the first time in the last few weeks. And I’m sad that it took so long because Cena was awesome! The restaurant is very small and intimate with probably 20 or so tables but the décor was very cute. And the food? Delicious!
We started the meal off with a cheese plate that made me excited for everything to come. They had a nice selection of I think 6 cheeses and 6 or so meats to choose from. I had one of their risotto dishes, which was to die for. Mine included shrimp and scallops that were cooked to perfection and the risotto was cheesy and delicious too. It paired perfectly with a glass of wine from their list. We finished the meal with some dessert, and if you are a tiramisu fan you HAVE to try their version. It’s one of the most unique takes on tiramisu I’ve ever seen, pretty to look at, and a pleasure to enjoy.
Definitely a stop in Channelside worth visiting again!

Cena is a fun avant garde Italian place to try in Grand Central District near Channelside. The restaurant is clean and modern style with cream colored walls and tasteful lighting. It’s not very large with maybe a dozen tables and a bar, quite intimate.
When we came in it was quite loud. The acoustics are not softened and I found them a but unpleasant on a busy night. Service was attentive.
There are cheese and charcuterie offerings as well as some soups, salad, apps and main course offerings.
The kale caeser was okay with chickpea croutons that we not crispy and not tasty. The other apps and food dishes were creative and aspirational, but for me they missed the mark and had substantial flaws.
I didn’t like the potatoes in the octopus dish. Big chunks of boiled-​tasting potatoes. Not roasted, which tastes better. Also cauliflower which is something your mom makes you eat. At least she puts melted cheese on it to cover up the foul taste.
The monkfish in the pasta dish was chewy and the breading very heavy. The pasta itself was very good.
The veal over the lobster ravioli was well cooked and tasty. But the lobster rsvioli itself was meh for me. I would rather have had some delicious bits of lobster on their own.
The special dessert we had was pretty wild looking with dried raspberry bits, some kind of panna cotta going on and other things but was über salty. Not enjoyable although it looked pretty cool.
Overall we had fun at this special occasion type place but it just wasn’t for me. Expensive and not up to par with Mise en Place, Rooster & Till, Eddie V’s, or the dozens of hole in the wall ethnic eateries with vibrant flavors and tasty ingredients. Fancified peasant food is not my thing.

Stopped here for a quick bite before a game. It’s a small location but has outside sitting, good for the area for all the residents with dogs. It took me a long time to stop here since most reviews I’ve heard weren’t great. Personally I think the food is good and a decent options on house wines. As far as appetizers I’m a seafood girl but I don’t like fried food so was excited about the octopus but disappointed when I realize it was fried.

Started dinner with a great bottle of red wine recommended by the waiter, a nice blend. Really enjoyed this bottle. $ 56 so good price for this style of restaurant.
Appetizers of cuttlefish and eggplant were cooked perfectly, seasoned nicely and well, tasted great. We finished all of the appetizers for sure!
Entrees were okay. I ordered the rustic bolognese which was good but not great. Sauce tasted bland. Needed more flavor. I did like the scoop of ricotta served in the middle.
My husband had the spaghetti and meatballs, he said he was craving a classic. He said his sauce was good but pasta overlooked. Three friends had snapper, chicken and risotto dish. They liked it but noticed none of us finished our plates.
Dessert was gelato cone and it went fast! Yummy!
Service was exceptional! We will definitely be back and excited to try a different entrée or partake with a bottle of wine and many of their tasty appetizers!

As a Tampa native but frequent traveler, who schedules his trips around food reservations, I offer my opinion that this is the best Italian in Tampa!
Great service, inventive and changing menu, lovely ambiance. We don’t feel like we are in Tampa when we eat here, and that’s not a bad thing! Great job, chef!

Excellent food, impeccable service, and reasonably priced for an upscale restaurant. Very cute, small, romantic place great for a date.
I will definitely eat here again! Just some advice, make a reservation far in advance for weekend dinners, the restaurant is small and gets very busy!

Cena has redeemed itself to me, and I will be returning.
After a long hiatus after an unpleasant dining experience, we returned to Cena. I feel like the service has greatly improved, and now they have decanters!
They continue to excel in appetizers and desserts. We started with some cheese and charcuterie (I love the piave), then we shared the very decadent Bacon & Eggs (melt in your mouth pork belly and egg frittata).
The burrata salad was forgettable, basically some arugula in balsamic with a large amount of slightly too firm burrata on top, but some yummy tomatoes on the side. Our main dishes were fine, but nothing I’d go out of my way for. My husband had the shrimp and sausage coverlet, and he said it was good, but not great. I had the branzino, and while I thought the fish was cooked perfectly, I found the beans too al dente, and the braised greens were too salty.
The dessert, though, was heavenly. We had the tuxedo strawberry dessert, which included a white chocolate mouse, strawberries three ways (freeze dried, gelee and gelato), and chocolate ganache. It was visually beautiful and tasted even better. We also shared a scoop of the salted caramel gelato which was so smooth but maybe a tiny bit too salty?
The setting is lovely, and the servers are friendly and attentive. This is a good place for a date night.

Cena is one of the best Italian restaurants in the area. It is prob one of the more unique Italian restaurants in the area. They definitely take traditional Italian cooking to a more refined level.
The food at Cena is amazing. I had the asparagus risotto. I found it a little bit salty. This after I had a cigarette so most likely it was extra salty. Other than that, it was cooked well. The consistency and texture was on point.
I also ordered the oxtail gnocchi. it was cooked very well. Gnocchi was cooked very well. The oxtail was definitely on point. It did take a while for them to prep and cook the oxtail.
Be warned that Cena does serving sizes a bit differently than most Italian restaurants. They have much smaller portions for the price. They are trying to be more refined.
The service was very attentive. Everything I expected at my price point was met.
The décor is very modern, very clean and, very classy. I would bring guests here to eat. It is a bit small though.
Overall, I like Cena but it is very expensive for Italian food and their respective serving sizes. I had a risotto and gnocchi and it was around $ 50 with tip. I did not drink. I didn’t really have much to take home either.

Amazing Amazing Amazing!!! It’s not every day you stumble across a truly amazing restaurant. From start to finish every single thing was phenomenal. From the Tea to the Bread, Entrees and Dessert I haven’t had anything here that I didn’t like. Our waitress was extremely knowledgeable about the entire menu which was very nice to see. To start they bring fresh grilled bread out to the table with Olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar which in my opinion is the best way to eat bread. For the Entrees we ordered the Chicken Marsala which is out of this world. It has Chicken Marsala, crimini mushrooms, Marsala wine, angel hair pasta. Dessert we had to do the Tiramisu from a recommendation from the server. This was probably the best Tiramisu I have ever had! Highly Recommend this place!

Sweet mother of tiramisu! Eat all the things!
House salad, mazing.
Veal ‘I’d totally put out for the chef’ special, mazing.
Tiramisu. It was like an angel with silky coffee vanilla cookie lips kissed me with every bite. MA AY ZING!
Our waiter Ric (with mazing ass according to wife’s eyes. (Legit, I checked)) had a wonderful personality and was superbly attentive. We shall be back many many times.

This restaurant is a hidden gem and I’m upset I hadn’t tried it earlier.
One of my friends recently moved into the Pierhouse apartment complex down the street and we decided to check out the neighborhood.
4 of us walked down to Cena (pronounced Chen-​a) on a Wednesday night. We had a reservation, and it’s a good thing we did since the place filled up pretty quickly.
Ric, our server, was great. He dealt with 4 particular women (2 of which were pregnant and had questions about the pasteurization of certain dishes).
The 2 non pregnant ones, ordered a sparkling wine and a glass of the house red. Both were $ 5 and a great pour and quality. We shared a full plate of cheese and assorted meats. It came with honey comb, figs, strawberry jam and crusty bread. For $ 20 this was a great deal.
For a salad I ordered the burrata and it was superb. It was not really a salad per se, but had a large dollop of housemade pesto, crusty bread, a large ball of burrata on top of a bed of arugula. It was $ 12 and well worth the price tag.
For my entrée I ordered the small portion of shrimp and scallop risotto. It was good but not great. The real winner at the table was the shrimp and scallops over angel hair pasta. This dish was delicious.
For dessert we stuffed our faces and ordered the tiramisu. It’s like no other and was such a great way to end the evening.
I came home and told my jealous husband about our meal and promised him I would take him there soon.
It’s definitely worth the money and worthy of a special night out.