Carmine's

I've been to Carmine's countless times, and always with a group. I'm not a "tourist" - have lived in NYC for over 14 years. Everything is delicious and you'll never leave hungry! Don't miss the Caesar salad, baked clams, spaghetti and meatballs, chicken marsala or eggplant parmigiana. It's a big, casual place that's always a lot of fun, and the food is consistently delicious - but very garlicky! I happen to love garlic so that's fine with me. Because it's family style you don't need as much food, so the price is right - really reasonable. If you go with a party of 6 or more you can make a reservation, but if not, prepare to wait for a table...it's always packed. Go with a bunch of friends, have a great time and a great meal - you won't be disappointed!

Very good food, great atmosphere, reasonable prices that's what I look for in a restaurant and that's what I got at Carmines. Best with large groups for the family sized portions. It's loud and fun, bring your appetite!

The food at Carmine's is very good. We had a group of seven, kids and adults. We had the ceasar salad (great), stuffed artichokes (good), scampi (good), luinguine with white clam sauce (outstanding), manicotti (outstanding), and tiramisu (very good). We also had a bottle of Carmine's label Chianti, which was great, and three glasses of 20 year port with desert (always phenomenal). The sommelier was less than knowledgeable, a downside. But she was very helpful and offered samples of the wine where she could not speak from experience. As for price, we spent about $300 for everything, including tax and tip, and we were so stuffed that we could barely move. Not too bad for seven people in NYC. The atmosphere makes you feel like you are in Italy. Loud and boisterous, friendly, and whatever you make of it. Come as you are.

Everything was good but I would definantly only go as a group. It is a very LOUD restaurant with good food and service and the fast pace feel of New York. Appeared to be very touristy with not many locals present. Good wine list and family style menu.

I've had better Italian food served to me on a paper plate cold at my grandparents' house. Find a real Italian restaurant, c'mon, it's new york! Don't settle for this hyped-up place. Plus, you'll have to deal with all the annoyances of Times Square. I stared at flashing advertisements the whole time I tried to eat my meal.

DINNER - What can I say, this is my all-time favorite, must-do restaurant in NYC. Every visit I have to dine here! OK, so our most recent visit (3/26/08), a Wednesday, we called early in the day but the only reservations were after 8pm, so we went to a show in the afternoon then walked over to Carmine's, the wait was 1 1/2 hours. We put our names on the list (Party of 4) and used the time to check into our hotel and freshen up. We returned about 1-hour later, check that we were not called early, and waited about 20 minutes more. We were seated in the back, on a raised area which gave us a great view of the entire dining area. We could see the food being delivered at the other tables. We started with a salad, then a Stuffed Artichoke (YUM!). The artichoke is great. We ordered Lasagna and the night's special a stuffed pork chop. The server steered us away from a full order of the pork chop and thank goodness, because even with the half order we could not finish it all. The lasagna was plenty to split 4 ways, the pork chop was delicious and was served with mashed potatoes and spinach. Sadly, in all the times I have dined here, I have never had room for dessert, on one visit I will have to go late one night just for dessert. Well worth the cost, I cannot rave enough about this place.

Our family celebrated our son-in-law's birthday at Carmines. It was the weekend before New Years. The restaurant was beautifully decorated and very busy. We had a reservation and were seated within five minutes. We ordered the calamari which was cooked to perfection and not rubbery. We also had a mixed greens salad, the special Sunday multi-pasta dish (to die for!!!) and chicken marsala. Everything was so delicious that there are not enough words to express the wonderful culinary experience. We topped off the meal with the tiramisu and the strawberry shortcake. Very attentive service was excellent in spite of how busy they were. We will definitely be back again and will hopefully make it a tradition to do our birthday celebrations at Carmines!