Carmine's

Visited last Thursday with NYC friends for the Osso Bucco. They have dropped it. Food not that good, salad which was pushed by waitress leafy but without substance. We had steak which was ok, but pasta was ok as well, but I do not come here for ok. The place was half empty, which for a regular (well as regular as you can be living 3500 miles east!) was worrying. Our NYC friends were also very disappointed. I will not now recommend this place to any of my friends in the UK who visit.

had some friends for Friday night and decided to ordered in from Carmains upper west side. To start with - Food that i got (waited about an hour) was overcooked. Than - a $70 steak that I ordered was missing. i called the restaurant and was promised that the steak will be send right away. An hour later i called again trying to understand where my steak is. I got a very rude attitude from the manager. he suggest to send me a new steak, saying i should wait around 40 minutes. So i should expect the steak 4HR after my original order... Not a very nice Friday experience.

Carmine's family style dishes are all amazing. They know what they're doing with Italian food. The place is a little noisy and so crowded on weekends with bridge and tunnel folk, but it's a good value for a big group because they serve family style. Order the delicious chicken scallopini with lemon and butter over penne (for $10 more) and a big caesar salad and you'll be set for 4 ppl. The bread is so good too.

I have eaten many times at Carmines and have always loved the food, atmosphere, service. We often go on birthdays or special occasions (Mother's Day, etc.). I chose Carmines this year for my birthday because, frankly, I had not been there in more than a year and was hoping that service had improved. But no, if anything, it has gotten worse. We went on a Saturday night, expecting it to be crowded, and also expecting to have to wait about 45 minutes for a table. The place was almost empty, with no customers spilling outside and being told that a table was ready immediately. This should have raised the "red flags." Our waiter was, well the best word I can use to describe him is "Bored." We ordered the calamari, which used to be good, but in the last few years has not been up to standards. This night was no different. They were "chewy" like rubber. We also had to remind the waiter that we asked for "hot and sweet" marinara. The baked clams were as usual "superb!" The dinner special, stuffed salmon was perfect. Unfortunately, we ordered veal parmagiana and they brought us chicken parmagiana. We also ordered shrimp parmagiana, which never showed up. We finally told the waiter we would take it home. The waiters and busboys came by to sing "Happy Birthday" to me, but the thrill was definitely gone. Next year: No Carmines.

We were recently in NYC and stumbled across Carmine's while on our way to our favorite Chinese resturant.Carmine's was celebrating their 20th anniversary and was offering bite-sized samples to people walking by the resturant.ONE TASTE and we were HOOKED-we abandoned our plans and made a quick detour into Carmine's-ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!! Eggplant parm.-out of this world!! Huge portions-served family style. Can't wait for our next trip to NYC-Carmines will be our 1st stop!!

Pros: big portions to share family style. Great for groups of friends. Cons: everyything we ordered was way too salty. I like salty foods, but this was so salty that we scraped the sauce off the pasta and meat.

I eat at Carmines EVERYTIME I go to New York and I love bringing friends. My favorite dish is the Marsalles but I've had other things just as good. It is loud..but that's the New York experience....fun. We usually show up without reservations but we go at off hours and have no trouble being seated. This is a New York MUST! Remember the key is for each person to order one part of the meal and share! My only complaint is I never have any thing left over for a doggie bag!! Sweet - Treats are great but HUGE. Go and Enjoy!!