Carmelas Pizzaria

Good food good service for take out pizza. Girls behind the counter are great. Watch out for the «large» = HUGE.

We’ve gotten takeout from Carmela’s multiple times and it’s been good each time. They had quite a bit of business this Friday evening and appear to be handling it. We appreciate their location and good food.

The food was good but overall the service left a lingering bad taste in our mouths. Our family, like this one is in the service industry and know how important it is to treat your welcomed guest, like your welcomed guest… something our waitress has not yet learned or has not yet been made aware of by this family owned and operated establishment. The restaurant was about half seated, yet we waited about 20 min before a drink order was taken. Okay that’s fine, maybe there was some uncertainty on who was waiting on our table. FREE PASS! We’re still happy patrons. We ordered a couple of appetizers and one person in the group ordered a small dinner salad. Eventually, all is brought to the table and we proceed with ordering our entrees. Here is when the wheels began to fall off the cart. Prior to ordering our meals, we asked that she split the check amongst the four couples ordering. She informed us that she had already started one ticket and would not separate it. Really? Never has this been an issue or hardship for other servers, but oh well, if she can’t or won’t then so be it. The person who ordered the small dinner salad ordered the spaghetti and meatball entrée and asked the waitress to please note that her dinner salad be paired to her spaghetti order so she would not be charged the higher cost of ordering the small dinner salad alone as opposed to coming with the meal. The waitress responded by saying «Oh no, I can’t do that; you should have told me that you were going to order an entrée. I can’t automatically know that this is what you wanted. I have to charge you for the salad without an entrée because you didn’t let me know ahead of time.» My niece is such a sweet and non-​confrontational individual and said, «Oh, okay I’m sorry, I understand.» I, on the other hand, don’t take kindly to seeing anyone I care about getting lectured on ordering procedure and protocol by a curt, tired waitress who obviously needs a day off. Now we’re not as happy patrons, but because we are enjoying our evening together what the hell… you get another FREE PASS! Much time passes; we were done with the appetizers a year ago and the entrees are passed out. My brother ordered his entrée with the wedge salad. Our waitress gave him a Greek salad. When he told her he had ordered the wedge salad she insisted that she never heard him say Wedge salad and refused to replace the Greek salad with what he had ordered. Are you kidding me, we all just sat there in shocked and in disbelief that she was so defensive about her mistake and unwillingness to rectify it. Makes one wonder what happens to the staff if waste occurs because of incorrect orders. Now, we are not happy, yet we stay positive.
After all, we are still sharing in quality family time… Oh crap; I look down at my entrée. Now, I’ve got a problem with my order but do I dare complain upon deaf ears of the issue… I ordered the tilapia sautéed with spinach jalapeño cream sauce, and for the few bites actually containing cream sauce, it was good; however, the majority of the plate was bone dry and tasteless. The dish needed more sauce desperately. I very politely asked for more sauce and added that I would be happy to pay for it. Now, if that’s not being understanding and diplomatic I don’t know what is… Okay Wait for it… wait for it… Broom Hilda tells me that this menu item is made to order and that they just can’t whip up more sauce. The Chef is too busy to make it right. That is our experience in a nutshell. Needless to say NO FREE PASS. We’re done here. Give us the check so we can go somewhere else and enjoy dessert. We didn’t want to take the chance of another ordering blunder that we would end up paying for. The foundation of this business is solid; it is the flock within that unequivocally needs improvement. I encourage the owners to take a close look at all of the reviews. Most people have nothing negative to say about the food. All of the negative remarks rest solely on the staff. Time for a meeting to bring the wait staff up to the same standards as the food they serve.

Another really good dinner. Service was very nice, eggplant parmesan and pizza were both delicious. Wine and beer selection quite nice,
And as always the owner and staff were gracious, professional and pleasant.
Our family dinner was very nice.

Less than mediocre. Called an order in. Got the trio. Chicken Parmesan and create your own pizza. The trio and chicken Parmesan was over cooked angel hair pasta gummy from being over cooked. Cheese ravioli ?
Premade? Chicken Parmesan over cooked. Dry no flavor. No condiments. No Parmesan cheese, dry pepper flakes nor bread. Over all very disappointed in everything

What a gem in Dripping Springs! We just enjoyed a wonderful meal and excellent service from Mitchell, our server. The food was not only delicious, but plentiful, and reasonably priced.
My husband had a daily special, my daughter had the trio, and I had the penne in vodka sauce. All of our meals were flavorful and prepared well.
They do have a nice selection of beer and wine, as well.
We will definitely be back; I saw about five more entrees that I want to try!!!

For those who think Carmela’s service was too slow, look around!!!
It’s busy. Those two ladies deserve an applause for even trying to put a very
Good business, spend the money it takes to risk even on a small business in an
Out of the way location like that. Excellent food and good atmosphere are worth
Some wait… After all, that’s the reason we dine out… LOVE THE PLACE.
Tony Direnzo…

Best restaurant in the area– hands down.
Service is warm, friendly, and attentive.
Prices are more than reasonable.
Pasta is fresh, home made, and authentic.
The salads are crisp and fresh.
Beer is ice cold.
Dessert selection is always large, and delicious.
What’s not to love about Carmela’s?
Nothing — our favorite restaurant.

Really awesome hidden gem! Went there for dinner with a friend and got the bruschetta starter, a caesar salad and a small margarita pizza, my friend got a large greek salad. Everything was delicious and the service was wonderful and fast! Since we got the bruschetta we had to ask for the bread and olive oil to be brought out but they did so very quickly and with a smile! The only odd thing was that we got our salads (including my friends entrée greek salad) before the bruschetta came out but then again I’m not going to complain about not letting our food sit in the window when we could have been eating it, plus it means that we got cold stuff first and hot later, which works perfectly for me! I even got a free pizza out of it, as apparently the first margarita pizza I got was actually accidentally made by someone who hadn’t wanted it so they brought it to me, when the pizza I ordered came out the restaurant gave it to me anyways free of charge! Hello tomorrow’s dinner! Everything was fabulous and the only reason I’m not giving 5 stars is because the address on their website is wrong. It’s 18 901 Hamilton Pool, if you Google them you’ll get the correct address but the one on their website and this one is wrong. Still I’m glad I found it and I’ll definitely be going back again!

wonderful! penne with vodka sauce was amazing! great service! thank you tricia!

Delish food and surprisingly affordable food. Plus, inside, you’d never know you were at a gas station. Glad this place is out here.

My husband and I came in for dinner last night and we ordered burgers with side salads (yes, I get that it is an Italian place but we only had 30 minutes so we ordered something quick). Actually, the burgers were quite delicious. His was a double-​meat burger, which I warn you is way too much food for one person. Mine was a single meat patty and even I took ¼ of it to-​go. The salad was also very good but also very watery. It would have been great if it had gone through a salad spinner first so the dressing wasn’t the consistency of water that just sat in the bottom of the plate.
Anyway, I would have actually given this restaurant a 4 or a 5 but my husband asked for bread (after hearing the table directly behind us who sat down 5 or 10 minutes after us being offered bread) and the waiter’s response was, we generally don’t offer bread to tables that order burgers. Did I just hear that right??? Not true I wanted to say but didn’t, you JUST offered the table right behind us bread when they sat down — before they ordered a thing…
I guess our tab wasn’t enough to warrant a mini loaf of bread the size of my hand in the eyes of management (who obviously tell their young high school age staff this) but the waiter ultimately ended up bringing out a loaf to my hubby after all. I’m very disappointed that this restaurant didn’t get the 4 star rating I would have liked to give them because management trains the staff to give preferential treatment to some and not to others — based on the amount of the ticket… FYI — we spent $ 25 on two burgers with side salads with water. Once upon a time, this would be considered big spending at $ 12.50 for a burger.
Oh, and just as other reviewer’s have noted, be prepared when you walk in to be greeted by NO ONE and to ultimately stand there until you finally seat yourself — just as we did.

Good Pizza and Italian dishes. Worth the drive from Drip!

By far the BEST Italian Food since moving to Austin 12 years ago.
Priced RIGHT, GREAT Food, Nice Atmosphere Extremely Enjoyable

Best pizza in all of Austin. I like this more than Homeslice and Frank and Angie’s. It is a thin crunchy crackly outside with chewy center and good grade mozzarella cheese. I usually get it to go. Also very good wings. Never disappointed with the quality.

I was very pleasantly surprised by this place! Very cute little restaurant with a comfortable bar. We ordered a pizza, greek salad, & a bottle of wine. Food was great & the service was friendly… We will absolutely go back=)

We had heard about this place for a few weeks. Out here we wait a while before attempting a new restaurant. They ALWAYS need time to work out the kinks. We should have waited longer.
They are unprepared for folks that walk in. Many people floundered in and looked around, unacknowledged in most cases. We had to ask for water, ask about happy hour specials, etc. As we finished I noticed a couple of tables getting bread, we were never offered.
There was one waitress and another lady that may have been an owner. The waitress was obviously stretched. My husband had a tough, overcooked steak and was not offered a steak knife until she came by and noticed him hacking at it. My fish was good but the pasta was overcooked. The tomato basil soup was yummy but not hot. I’d try that again but prompt them that I like my soup HOT.
Overall, we’ll go back. Out here restaurants are scarce so if they are good, we go back again and again.
PLEASE notice customers! Put a counter up front so there is a specific place folks will stop and you know what they need such as: a table, an order to go, etc. It’s very confusing when you walk in. Also, fix the picture on the TV. The world series was on and the score on both TV’s were cut off! Hire another person or someone to bus tables, give bread, water, fill tea, etc.

The service is very friendly here as other reviewers have noted. But I’ve gone here twice now and the pizza was very disappointing both times. I’ve been to Italy and this definitely is NOT like any of the pizza I had over there either so I’m not sure what other reviewers are talking about as far as authenticity goes. It’s a thin crust which is nice but if you flip it over it has an imprint on the bottom similar to the pre-​manufactured crust you can buy at HEB… and it frankly didn’t taste much better! Both times our pizza was dry and rubbery and the Mediterranean is way too salty with the calamata olives and capers… and I like salty food! Someone who doesn’t probably would not even be able to eat it. The salads are pretty good though. I did return a third time recently and had the Mama Carmela’s chicken which was VERY good so I have upgraded this review to 3 stars. I do wish they would make at least one pasta dish themselves versus using pre-​made pasta. I also got a slice of cake which was a bit dry and also not made in house. I will come back for the pasta dishes but go to Pizza Cave or Pieous for pizza.