Large portions, mediocre food
Written: May 14 '01
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Food and Presentation: |
 |
|
| Ambiance and Decor: |
 |
|
| Quality of Service: |
|
|
|
Pros: A lot of food
Cons: Noisy, lass than average quality
The Bottom Line: Bottom Line is that In NYC. there are thousands of reasonably priced, high quality Italian restaurants, where you will get a much better dining experience. Don't Believe the Hype.
|
|
|
| gclanyc's Full Review: Carmine's - Upper West Side |
Carmines is one of the most talked about restaurants in NYC. Being a restaurant lover, especially Italian food, I decided to see what all the hype is about. On my way to Carmines I was excited to be going to such a raved about place, and was starving and ready to eat. We went as a group of four, which seemed Ok as everything is served family style.
The Atmosphere
LOUD, crowded. Very busy. normally this is not a huge bother for me, but in this case, the waiter was so distracted by his many other tables of 8 people and over, our small group of four was basically ignored and had to spend a lot of our time flagging down anyone who looked like an employee. We could barely hear ourselves talk, and the look of the restaurant was messy.
THE FOOD
We ordered specialty items of Carmines. The Caesar salad, stuffed artichokes, and fried calamari for appetizers, and pasta for entree.
The only thing that all of these items tasted like was GARLIC. The artichoke tasted no different from the Caesar salad. My plain pasta looked like it had chunks of chicken in it...it was GARLIC.
I am Italian and love a good garlicy Italian meal, but this was ridiculous. They were also all swimming in oil.
The only truth of the hype was that the portions were enormous. You won't leave there hungry, but you will stink of garlic.
The Price
Depends on what you base it on.
Inexpensive based on the portions, robbery if you base it on quality.
Recommended:
No
Kid Friendliness: Yes
Vegetarian Friendly: Yes
Notes, Tips or Menu Recommendations The fried Calamari is the only recommendation I have.
Best Suited For: Large Group
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
gclanyc
|
|
Location: New York
Reviews written: 24
Trusted by: 8 members
About Me:
I am 28 year old New York city native. Love nice restaurants, shopping and music.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.