Visited this establishment for the first time. Our party was seated relatively quick for the size of our group. The waiter (Sean) was very attentive making many passes by our group to check on our status and make sure we had everything we needed. The timing of our order from salad to entree was very good. Carmen's Cafe likes garlic however done tastefully, just keep a mint on hand post meal. Service was excellent but would have really enjoyed garlic bread of some type with my meal. All meals received good reviews all around the table. Portion size was good as well, everyone had a little to take home.
We went for New Years Eve and Seth as always took excellent care of us. The food was very good, the drinks were well poured, and the service was excellent. It is nice to have a restaurant that has consistently good food, but even better when the server goes out of his way to make any occasion especially nice.
Tried Carmen’s Cafe in Brookside & it didn’t disappoint. Their bread, along with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, was a great way to start. The toasted ravioli was a little over cooked, but they were all eaten very quickly. The large house salad was a little light on anything except lettuce, but it was fine. The star of the meal was the lobster ravioli with the roasted bell pepper sauce. I’ve never had anything like it & it was exceptional, I couldn’t get enough of the sauce. The service was questionable, we came in over an hour before closing, but it seemed like the waitress was ready to go after a long day of waiting on Brookside art fair visitors so I’ll give her the benefit of doubt this time. We we’re going to have dessert, but the server brought us our checks without prompting from us so we had dessert at Red Door Grill. Better service & it would be 5 stars.
The restaurant feel and and menu feels a tad dated. Service was a bit slow at prime time on Saturday evening but our server absolutely made up for it. He was fantastic and could not have been nicer. Our appetizers were absolutely delicious...meatballs, garlic cheese bread and garlic butter. The garlic butter was a standout- simple and so flavorful. The Eggplant Parmesan was very good. The one downfall of the dinner was the cannelloni which had a vodka sauce that was quite sweet and more of a bechamel sauce. Overall a good experience but with the high quality of some other Italian restaurants nearby, this restaurant may need a bit of a refresh.
amazing service by Irma. great atmosphere will be back.
love this place. Been there several times.
Our favorite Italian restaurant! The Italian butter is a must. The Chicken Spiedini Oscar is amazing and can't bring myself to order anything else. I've order sides of red sauce to dip my bread in.
IF I COULD GIVE THEM 6 STARS I WOULD! ;)Carmen's Cafe has been my go to for Italian food for 20 years and everything is still so amazing. you really can't go wrong here. Classic, delicious spaghetti and meatballs, spedini is amazing, the stuffed artichokes are heavenly, the tortellini Andres when I'm feeling super hungry! and the house salad is my favorite salad in town. Definitely don't sleep on the Italian Butter!!! love love love Carmen's. Service is always great, everyone is so friendly and welcoming.
I had the Chicken Spiedini Julian. I will give that 5 ⭐️. It was delicious. Service was horrible. Had a reservation and still took an hour to be seated. Dirty dishes were left on the table the whole time. Had to ask for bread when the butter sauce came out. Had one server doing everything while another server just stood around and filled up water glasses every now and then. Took over an hour to get our food. Then took for ever to get the bill. All said and done we were there for 3 hours. Totally ruined the mood of the night. Will never go back.
Excellent food and great service.