I haven't been to Carmelita's in years, so I decided to give it a try after having been so long. I have to say, the quality of food has gone down or at least it's not as good as I remember it being. So that, along with the fact that my plate was so withered/worn down/had a dirty looking effect to it, AND about three bites in I pulled a long blonde hair out of my food; my appetite was ruined and the entire experience was quite off putting. Although the waitress apologized and deducted it from my bill, I know I'll never be dining here in the future. I'm only giving it two stars because the complimentary chips and salsa were decent. I added a photo of my plate for reference.
I frequently order here because I live right down the street and recently it has been so inconsistent. I always order the tortilla soup and sometimes the chicken is shredded and sometimes I get entire chicken tenders in soup….. I shouldn’t have to take out the meat and shred it/cut it up to be able to eat it as soup. Todays order finally made me decide not to order anymore. I ordered soup and the Humberto burrito. The soup came yellow! It usually has a reddish tint to it but today it was totally yellow and the broth looked so murky I couldn’t even see any of the ingredients.The burrito was fine except they put way more sour cream on it then usual, making it overpowering over any flavor of the meat/actual burrito.You would think all Carmelita’s locations would prepare their things the same but it’s drastically different. Next time I’ll drive to new port richey for good tortilla soup.
Great menu & great combos.Full bar; and all the other beverages: margaritas, cold beer, & sangria.Bar area with barstools, tables, & booths, & TV.Also separate dining room area.The prices are fair for the portions.Never disappointed.Always a solid choice when we are craving Mexican/Tex-Mex.Clean & friendly.
The server was extremely nice, but the food not so much. I ordered a frozen lime maragarita and a bowl of Sopa de Tortilla. I was disappointed in both. The margarita was nearly flavorless and I tasted more ice than lime or tequila. The soup had to be doctored up with fresh cilantro, a pinch of salt and hot sauce. My son ordered the chicken tamales and his sides were fries and rice. The tamales were greasy and crumbled pretty bad once the corn husk was opened. The chicken on the inside was shredded and unseasoned. Between me and my son, we couldn't finish even one tamale, but his fries were great. The waiter was gracious enough to remove the charge for his tamales without asking. The chips and salsa could use a reboot too. On a positive note, the restaurant itself was brightly lit and clean. If I decide to give it another try, it will be the service that brings me back. I hope they are able to improve the quality of their food. I can tell quite a bit of money was put in to this restaurant and it was once a popular name for good Mexican food in St Pete.
I HATE that I have to give one star. I loved this place since moving here. Being from California, it’s very close to what I get back home from the carne asada tacos to the street corn. HOWEVER, my husband and I went there today and it was all bad. We arrived at 4:20pm, about 20 minutes before the evening rush. We ordered 2 of the largest margs they served. We were brought 2 margs in small solo cups. Usually that size is served in a fishbowl sized glass. We put in our order immediately. He got a carne asada taco combo with rice and charro beans, I got ONE carne asada taco and street corn. We watched 3 tables arrive after we ordered, they ordered, got their food, ate, paid and left before we got food. We’re no Karen’s, so we waited and our food but it never came. We flagged down someone and asked because our server just never came back. She said they lost our ticket. Stuff happens, I get that. Our food comes out eventually and my street corn is essentially “corn soup with mayonnaise”. It wasn’t drained and had no cheese. Completely inedible. My husbands side dishes were incorrect. By that time we had 2 margs each. We closed out and left. When he brought our ticket, he had the absolute audacity to slap down an 88 dollar bill. Charged us 14 dollars each for 4 small solo cups of margs. a wrong order of 3 tacos and one solo tacos… I understand being busy and accidents happen. But the fact that no staff member tried to make it right was really disheartening. I used to go there at least once a week but I’ll never come back. I just wished they made it right… I make ~20 bucks/hr. So I essentially just paid you 4 hrs of my time to sit in your establishment for 2 hrs and have everything given to me wrong. I guess I’ll be finding another Mexican joint.
Not my first choice. Service was good, but not my favorite. Mahi mahi tacos had no flavor, daughter didn't like her burrito(was really not presentable, like smushed burrito), my husband got carnita something and it just was not great. It was edible the whole dinner, but not delicious.
Very friendly, welcoming staff. Amazingly delicious food.
Great service. Delicious food!
Great food and selection every time
Host didn't even greet us (or say more than 2 words). Service was horrible! Had to keep searching around for our waiter, trying to get his attention and they weren't even that busy. Food was luke warm on the ends and cold in the middle. My husband refused to even eat more than a few bites of his chimichanga because it was so cold and gross. Their salsa and chips are good. That's about the only positive thing I can say about this restaurant. Extremely disappointing. Would NOT recommend!