Dametra Cafe

Ficamos duas semanas na California e no ultimo dia passamos por Carmel pra almocar. Ja tinhamos tentado ir no Dametra no ano passado mas estava muito cheio entao tentamos novamente. Para nosso prazer o restaurante tinha lugar. Fomos recepcionados pela Ana Maria, hostess brasileira! E que atendimento! Ela nos mandou atender pelo garçom Josue, mexicano, um querido! Pedimos uma garrafa de vinho tinto por honestissimos 27 dolares, duas sopas de entrada q estavam maravilhosas e depois vieram os pratos principais que estavam sensacionais. O ambiente do restaurante é super tipico mediterraneo, otima musica e muito animado. Atendimento impecavel! Ao final ainda nos trouxeram um doce de cortesia maravilhoso! Se pudesse daria nota 11! Foi sem duvida a melhor experiencia gastronomica q tivemos durante toda a nossa viagem! Parabens ao Faisal pela conducao deste fantastico restaurante e obrigado a Ana Maria e Josue pelo calor e carinho com q fomos atendidos!!! Vamos voltar!!!

Came here on recommendation from the hotel. Couldn’t have been more pleased with our experience! We got there before the rush, around 5:00. It filled up fast. They bring you fresh bread and oil to start. I ordered the lasagna, which sounded good to my pregnant belly. It was some of the best lasagna I have ever tasted! My husband had the combination platter. We are from the Detroit area and are used to good Greek food, but this was superb! To enhance the experience, some of the workers started playing an instrument and singing a traditional Greek song and were even getting people up to dance. The energy was incredible, with everyone clapping along, smiles and laughs everywhere.
The owner greeted us personally before we were leaving and was so genuine and kind. He gave us complimentary baklava… just enough to meet my craving. This place is a must go to when in Carmel!

We went here to celebrate a family member’s birthday. There was a reservation made for the party. It was a cold and rainy night when we got there as we were told it would be a 5 minute wait for us.
We waited nearby at the Carmel bakery and they were not ready for us until about 20 minutes later.
We then were seated and looked over the menu. It wasn’t til about another 15 minutes that we saw out server and served water and acknoleged. I get thet were busy, yet a large party let alone any other person I would think they would serve you and acknoledge you in a reasonable amount of time.
The food was good, but the place gets crouded and loud so you have to talk loud, and sometimes yell. They have music that’s live, and have staff that encourage you to dance, etc.
Overall it was a fair expierance, but I’m not sure why it’s staying at such a small location if it’s suppose to be such a popular and busy place.

Definitely worth the wait if there is one!
We were greeted so warmly upon arrival and seated by the window with lots of light. The food portions were perfect leaving you satisfied but not overly full and heavy. Great place!

SURPRISE SURPRISE! Best Mediterranean food I’ve had in my entire life! Everyone and everything was AMAZING! Mos def recommend this place to everyone! LOVE IT! Perfect wine and dine! As long as you go on a not-​so busy day, perfect romantic couple date. Or even if you go on a busy day, still pretty romantic to me. Everyone is friendly and they play music which makes you feel excellent! I ordered the shrimp pasta and bf ordered the lamb shack. Food is unbelievably delicious!!! Hurry and eat here! You don’t want to miss out :) ALL SMILES

As a local, this is the first choice when we have to take visitors out. Incredible service, BOMB FOOD.
two thumbs up

On a recent trip to California to visit friends, we had lunch at the Dametra Café. At one time it was a very small place with limited seating but has since expanded and is much larger. The menu is made up of Mediterrean food choices which according to my friends, who have eaten there numerous times, said were all excellent. They suggested the spaghetti bolognese which as excellent. The bread options were also very good. We had cappuccino (my friends) and I had a double espresso. I did not find the prices outrageous and the staff was very accommodating. I was told the two owners are from the Middle East (Jordan) and one owner was actally in the dining room at one point while we were there. I would recommend and return

Wow
Wow
What?
Wow
What a great place. So customer service is 5 *
Food (drool) is (drool hits floor) scrumptious
Highly recommend this restaurant
Take a date, your mom, your auntie, your best friend, or me (again)
Let me explain my reasoning
They were super nice, they can sell you the chamber glass oil and vinegar cruet, their service was superb, I felt like family, but what made me grab my phone was the pancotta and baklava duo for dessert
Omg
Love it
Why are you still reading this? Go forth!

This place can be awesome if you want to listen to live music. However, be aware of the very loud noise if you just want a calm diner, it is really hard to talk to your neighbor! The food is fresh and good, the prices are fair. The live guitar music reminds me of spain and all the staff is super nice!

Being #12 of «Yelp’s top 100 places to eat in the US for 2016» gives some really high expectations, however we were very disappointed and upset with our experience. They treated us so poorly we left the restaurant. My bf and I were seated at the middle of the restaurant with menus, however no one ever came to provide water, appetizer, or take our order when we saw several people who were seated after us get theirs. After 15 minutes we politely said «excuse me» to a waiter, who quickly said «just give me a minute» before we could even say anything else. 10 more minutes passed and we couldn’t take it and left.
It’s one thing to be busy, but to let customers wait for 25 minutes is unacceptable, especially when serving others who were seated after us. I’m not sure why we were treated this way, and I don’t want to say I felt discriminated either by age or race, but this was very unprofessional and I have to say I am surprised this place got such high ratings. Maybe the service is better at night as we came during lunch, but that shouldn’t matter. A good restaurant should always have great attentive service, otherwise it isn’t consistent.
Nevertheless, we walked down to A.W. Shucks Oysters Bar and received wonderful customer service that you will not find here at Dametra Café.

Dametra’s is, to put it simply, AMAZING. If you appreciate authentic Mediterranean food & are in the Monterey area, you must come here for dinner. But make a reservation for sure! The restaurant is pretty small & fills up fast.
So they start you of with a small loaf of warm bread with oil & vinegar. This was some of the best bread I’ve ever had. Yum. I ordered the chicken kabob, & my husband got the gyro plate. SO GOOD. They give you an ample amount of food without it being too much. Everything was incredibly flavorful & cooked/​prepared perfectly. We finished off our meal with an order of baklava, & oh my goodness. BEST baklava I’ve ever had. We couldn’t believe how good it was. Literal pastry perfection. It’s also necessary to mention that our service was great! Although we had one waiter assigned to us, different waiters would stop by just to make sure that we were doing okay. I’m also pretty sure that the owner came by our table & asked how our food was.
Overall it was a great experience! Definitely go to Dametra’s next time you’re in the area!

No, Dametra is not overrated. It’s every bit as good as advertised. If you visit the beautiful town of Carmel, this place is a must try. It’s a small spot, so you may have to wait. The clam chowder is the best I’ve had outside of New England. I also recommend the Greek Combo Platter.

Walked in rite after watching the AT&T Pebble Brach Pro AM tournament final on Sunday (congrats to Vaughn Taylor)! The hostess was less then friendly & offered no greetings. The place had quite a few empty tables but we were told that there were no tables & they were only doing reservations. That sort of killed my appetite.
Update: as I learned later that most of the restaurants do reservations on most weekends & it was quite normal. So updating to 2 stars, still not happy about less then friendly hostess & unwelcoming welcome.

Make a reservation. Ocean is the street to be in Carmel, with hoards of tourists, cute stores all along, and some of the best ice cream and food here in Dametra that I’ve had in a while.
The area seems to be a tourist trap, but Dametra hides in the corner quietly with some absolutely amazing portions of food. Get the bread, but don’t fill yourself up too much. Maybe if you walked the 17 mile drive previously then you can eat everything here and still be full.
Really though, get anything from kebabs to babaganoush (sp?) and you will love it. The ambiance is perfect and I’m sure after all your sight seeing of multi million dollar homes in the area you’ll feel like royalty too.
Just make a reservation, unless you’re actually royalty.

The urge to say «just go to Dametra Café» and leave it at that is compelling. What happened during my visit there came as a complete surprise to me and enchanted me in ways I’m still not able to make sense of. So if you’re around the area and want to experience such a feeling read to the end of this sentence, stop reading, and head to Dametra Café for dinner.
For the rest of you: Spoiler alert.
I’ve not found myself pining for the return of restaurants with singing wait-​staff. That craze had its moment in the sun and, as far as I knew, had not been heard from again. The final resting place for such a scene was (perhaps) Max’s Opera Plaza (San Francisco). After that, not a peep.
Shortly after being seated and ordering wine and beer at Dametra the front of house staff began assembling. Some sat behind musical instruments, one held an Oud while strolling and strumming, table service stopped, and an announcement was made: A couple was celebrating their 50^th wedding anniversary. Next, an apron-​clad chef emerged from the rear of the restaurant and began singing — very good and strong — in a language of which I’m uncertain. He belted out that tune accompanied by all of the front of house staff on their instruments and the full room sat mesmerized.
I waited to see if this was a «thing» here but, aside from a more scaled-​down «happy birthday» sung later, that was the only song sung during my meal. After all, somebody has to cook the food.
The food, right. It’s really good. The wine pours are huge. The dinner plates are ample also and begin with a complimentary plate of fresh hummus and warm pita. The menu spans the Mediterranean with Middle East fare, Italian, Greek, and more. It’s a big menu and as best I could tell from my meal and those of the diners across from me, they do it all really well. At the end of the meal, complimentary baklava is also presented. You won’t leave hungry.
When almost out the door at the end of my meal, the staff again assembled for round two of the singing chef and they welcomed my return to my now cleared table for another go round. I didn’t realize that I’d been pining for a return of the singing waiter/​chef craze but perhaps I had. It left me grinning ear to ear.
Just inside the entrance to Dametra there’s a few framed accolades, one of which is an article wherein Unilocal crunched data to identify the 100 highest rated restaurants in the country. Dametra scored in the top 10. The food and drink, the singing chef, the musical wait-​staff and owners who seem very set on bringing diners joy… I stumbled in here completely on chance (and waited about 30 minutes for a table) but next time it won’t be an accident at all. It’ll be on my list of Carmel must-​dos. Fun place.

They sat us at the corner window, and almost every person passing by was looking at our table… Drooling.
We had the steamed mussels & clams and the calamari to start with. They were a bit on the salty side, but it’s exactly how I like it. And their warm bread goes very well with the garlic/​butter sauce. Ask for more bread. Trust me.
I indulged in their very tender lamb shank. With the right amount of fat and unique seasonings that went well with the gaminess of this dish, this shank was the best I’ve had in a long time.
Their hummus was on the refreshing side… something I can eat all day. Everyone at our table were pleased with their entrees which included a few gyro plates and a Greek chicken kebab. Staff were extremely friendly and always catered to our needs.
Also, loved how the chef came out to sing a song for the birthday boy.

This is one of the best meals I have had in recent times. Starting with the ambiance to the service and food everything was top notch.
This is a cute little place located near the Carmel beach. We were expecting a crowd considering New Year’s Day. It was infact fully packed but we got a table within 5 minutes.
For the starters we had bread on the house. It paired really well with the olive oil.
We went straight to the entrées. I ordered the combination platter with gyros, lamb and chicken kebab with a side order of pita bread, hummus and salad. The portion was huge but very delicious that I ate everything on my plate. My friend ordered the chicken kebab plate.
Also as a surprise, we got Baklava (on the house) which was extremely good.
Antonio, the chef came in from the kitchen, wished us a happy new year and sang a special song for us!
What a way to start the New Year! Thank you Dametra! One of the best dining experiences!

This is the most amazing restaurant ever.
Food is phenomenal. Delicious. Everything is delicious and portions are generous. Get the calamari. So good
The staff is very friendly and they go all out for your bday. With a song dance and everyone in the restaurant celebrating and playing music for you. We had the best time. Come here for a bday. You won’t regret it!
The interior decoration is absolutely beautiful. Even the restrooms lol
Loveeeeee this place. Must go here if you are in the area!!!

OOPAH!!!
I honestly and openly admit that my family and I had one of the best meals on our recent trip at Dametra Café. After taking in the scenery on the 17-​mile drive and walking around downtown Carmel, my family and I were absolutely famished. Thanks to the trusty Unilocal app, we found a restaurant to satisfy our growing appetites.
LOCATION: Situated on the corner of Lincoln and Ocean. The restaurant seems to be a popular spot as there were people waiting outside, as well as looking over the posted menu.
AMBIANCE /​SETTING: The restaurant is a decent size and exudes a welcoming environment. The walls and décor are colorful, the conversations among diners both happy and pleasant, and staff hard at work all the while with smiling faces.
FOOD: To start, we chose the babaganoush, while the entrees ordered included the gyros plate, the combination plate, and the halibut.
Firstly, the babaganoush was absolutely delicious. I’ve had this once before at restaurant in my hometown of Honolulu, but it wasn’t nearly this appetizing. Not even close. The dish was served slightly chilled and the hints of eggplant were noticeable but not overpowering. It was a great start to the meal surely.
The gyros plate included roasted lamb and beef with greek salad and rice pilaf. This dish was just amazingly good. Really it was. The meat was cooked perfectly, the salad was just the right portion with a generous helping of dressing and feta cheese, and the rice (after being uncovered from beneath the meat) proved to be perfect component to complete the dish. Absolutely recommended.
Thanks to a recommendation by our server, my brother narrowed his lunch choices and chose the combination plate. This entrée featured greek salad, rice, humus, gyros, and chicken kebabs. I can understand why this is one of the more popular entrees, as it has small helpings of their well-​known menu items on one plate.
On the other hand, my mom who has been watching her diet, chose the halibut entrée. She finished the fish and vegetables entirely, but left most of the rice as she had gotten quite full. She loved her food. Enough said.
To conclude our meal, we all shared the baklava. This dessert was an absolute sweet treat. It was the perfect way to end the meal. I loved it.
SERVICE: Quite excellent. The server was a polite and friendly young woman, who was very patient and answered all of our questions. She made us feel very welcome, checked on us periodically throughout the meal, and returned readily for water refills. Fantastic customer service overall.
SONG & DANCE: A very, very almost magical moment happened during lunch. Some members of the staff combined their efforts to perform a musical song/​number for the restaurant patrons. I think it was one of the kitchen staff who stepped away from his duties to perform a song native to his home country. And although I could not understand one word of the song, the upbeat tempo of the musicians and the strong and passionate voice of the singer had the entire restaurant clapping and cheering. It was definitely a fun moment!
BOTTOM LINE: A very memorable meal on a very memorable trip. Great food and terrific service are definite strengths of this restaurant. I would love to return one day if possible. Recommended.

Never had such an easy time giving a 5-​star review. This place ROCKS. I promise you will not be disappointed.
Our hotel concierge recommended 5 different restaurants to my dad and I — we immediately Unilocaled each one and this one seemed to get the best reviews, everyone said there was always a long wait (good sign) plus they had live music which sounded perfect!
We called ahead and the hostess (ERIN) said she would be happy to put our name down an hour ahead of time which might not get us in right away but would hopefully speed up the process when we arrived — really appreciated this. We ended up getting to the restaurant an hour later (around 9:15 pm on a Sunday night). Erin said they would have our table ready in a few minutes so we could go sit at the bar while we waited. We took a seat at the bar and immediately started talking to the bartender (NADIA) and decided to stay and eat at the bar as well.
We asked Nadia for her recommendations and ended up ordering this INCREDIBLE wine called Caymus Conundrum, which was a Red Blend (I am slowly starting to like red wine more and more and this one is at the top of my list 100%).
For appetizers, we ordered the half order of the Spanakopita with Tzaziki sauce. I have had my fair share of tzaziki sauce this was HANDS DOWN the best i’ve ever had. so creamy, so velvety omg. We also got free bread which usually isn’t all that great but this bread was unusually warm and delicious.
For entrees, my dad and I split the Lamb Shank and the Greek Combination Platter. The Lamb Shank was an A+ it was off the charts amazing. It came with this potato pie type thing which was so unique and tasty. Also came with veggies. The Greek Combo Platter was also perfect. It included rice, salad with feta tomatoes, cucumbers, hummus, pita, shwarma, lamb skewers, more tzaziki (thank god) AKA everything you could ever want. Seriously can’t even explain how happy my tummy was after this meal.
My dad and I are also both suckers for dessert but were SO FULL. Nadia ended up giving us each a bite size of baklava which is exactly what we wanted — she was seriously the best (and I am a server too so I know…).
Also, we kept hearing about the live music at this place and were a little disappointed when we thought it wasn’t going to happen. Much to our surprise, the chef and the owner of the restaurant came out towards the end of our meal and started singing «Besame Mucho». So fun, the entire restaurant was singing and clapping and all the employees were participating as well. The owner also came up to us throughout the meal asking how everything was — which always makes my dining experience that much better. he was so personable.
As you can all tell, this may be my new favorite restaurant. Erin and Nadia are the best. Everyone do yourselves a favor and go here!!!

Sensacional! O ambiente, atendimento e comida impecáveis.
A única demora é a fila para entrar. Mas é recomendável fazer a reserva antes.
Todas as pessoas que nos atenderam (desde a recepcionista até o rapaz que leva a comida) foram extremamente simpáticos. O dono ainda toca e canta e tudo fica animado e aconchegante. Tive uma excelente experiência! Recomendo.

More so a 3.5 rounded up.
Chicken Kebab plate — comes with two skewers of chicken, tomatoes, and onions topped with garlic lemon aioli over rice with a greek salad. The chicken with the aioli had flavor, but I wish it had a little more. That along with it being on the dry side, the chicken, which was supposedly the main component of the plate, was lackluster. Taking bites of the chicken with the tomatoes and rice gave it some moisture and texture though! I did however, really enjoyed the salad! (Looking back, I wish I have ordered the «Greek Combination Platter» so that I could have tried all their other goodies, such as pita & hummus, yogurt sauce, gyros, etc!)
My bf ordered the prawn pasta, which includes jumbo prawns in garlic cream sauce with tomatoes, shallots and basil over fettuccini pasta. It was delicious — every prawn was plump and cooked wonderfully! You have the option if you want pepper or red pepper flakes to top it off (I regret not asking for any red pepper flakes!!)
Complimentary bread in the beginning and baklava at the end — what a great way to start and end the meal! All our servers were pleasant and prompt, and the restaurant itself has an inviting and homey environment, despite tables being a few inches away from each other. We came 30 mins after opening, and by the time we left, the restaurant was packed full house. Prices can be a little on the heftier side, but it’s located in a touristy area so that’s a given right? Ha.
To sum it up — good food, but not great or anything spectacular that will get me coming back for more. (Also maybe because I’m rarely in Carmel?! Hahaha.)

Excelente… ambiente agradável…pessoal super simpático e o mais importante, comida boa

Excelente todo. La comida es exquisita y la atención también. El dueño se acerco en varias oportunidades para preguntar como estaba todo. Muy atento. Totalmente recomendable, para volver. También se pusieron a cantar y tocar. Todo el restaurant contento cantando!
Recomiendo el falafel y la hamburguesa de salmón. No perderse de postre la torta de chocolate. Única !!!

Muito bom. Ambiente acolhedor. O dono vem a mesa conversar. Ţem Boa música. Bom vinho. Vale muito a pena. E funciona até tarde