Cotto Modern Italian - Gainesville
Megan Wimbish My husband and I booked a reservation for our anniversary dinner at literally 10:00 PM the night before. I simply added, “We’re celebrating our 1st wedding anniversary.” Due to the short notice, I genuinely didn’t expect much — boy, was I wrong.
We had never been to Cotto, and I didn’t even know the cute little Town Square of Gainesville existed (and we’ve lived 25 minutes away for the last three years!). This place is a hidden gem, in my opinion.
When we arrived, there was a “Happy Anniversary” card on our table signed by the entire staff, and every single team member who came by wished us a happy anniversary. I don’t know about you, but I thought that was freaking cute.
Our server, Andrew, was phenomenal. He was knowledgeable about the menu items and helped us choose our meal based on his own experiences.
The cocktails were soooo good. Like, “complimenting the bartender across the restaurant” kind of good. It’s been so long since I’ve had a well-made cocktail.
Overall — Cotto is amazing. If you haven’t tried it yet, what are you waiting for?
What we ordered:
Cocktails: Cotto Sour (mine — so good!) and the Tuscan Ember (a seasonal cocktail, featured in the photos)
Antipasti: Cozze and Burrata (both featured in the photos)
Secondi Piatti: Pesce alla Puttanesca (the sea bass) and the Costolette d’Agnello (lamb chops) — also featured in the photos

