Carmine’s

Let’s get the pros out of the way — Carmine’s allows you to bring in a bottle of wine and will serve it for a small corking fee. It’s probably the saving grace of this locally owned restaurant in a Georgetown strip mall. The service and food are, unfortunately, lacking.
I’ve given Carmine’s a few chances — the other night was my third trip. First time the place would have gotten 3 stars, but each time the service has gotten worse and worse. Speaking of wine…
During the process of uncorking said bottle of red wine from the nearby Twin Liquors, our waitress got a broken cork. Aw, you gotta be kidding me… here I am worried that I managed to pick up the one skunk bottle from the liquor store. Well our waitress sure didn’t seem to share the same concern… in fact, she yanked out what was left of the cork and proceeded to serve 2 full glasses, one of which was full of cork bits. Um, thanks? First off, it would have been nice to let me try the wine before serving up 2 potential glasses of battery acid. Second, a decant would have been nice considering the cork just freakin’ exploded. The wine, it turns out, was fine. It was just a bummer that she didn’t notice the pool party taking place in my Cabernet.
Other than that, our waitress was MIA. We were well into our appetizers before we got any waters. Had she stopped by with any decent frequency, she might have picked up on my 6-​year-​old needing a refill and me eyeballing the soda fountain machine. What was bizarre is that the place was mostly empty (3 tables on a Friday night, yikes) and a dozen staff milling around in the kitchen, so you would have thought someone would have noticed the weird guy picking out cork bits from his wine or holding a kids cup in the air. Turns out, there was some sort of family gathering taking place at the kitchen table, so we must have been way down the priority list. Sure seemed like a lot of fun over there.
I haven’t even mentioned the food yet. Our table had the veal marsala and the chicken marsala. Not one of their specialties, let’s leave it at that. Previous times I’ve had the parm, which is decent. We also tried their fried raviolis, which weren’t bad. I can say this — the servings are plentiful, so you should be be taking food home. Key word is SHOULD. Portion control people. Dinner prices are reasonable, $ 10 – 16.
So it’s come to this — after 3 visits I might be ready to give up on Carmine’s. I don’t know of nearby Italian places, but if you really want to visit a locally owned Italian restaurant in a strip mall with corking fees, I’d encourage you to try It’s Italian, off Wells Branch. Much better ambience, food, and the staff and owners make you feel welcome.

I was so hoping that Carmine’s would be great since I’d heard so much about it. Let’s just say that on first impression, seated at a filthy table by the window and ignored by the wait staff was not a great start. I use a wheelchair so we were a bit crammed in. My friend requested another table and we got seated as far away in the back as possible. I didn’t get good vibes from this place. The food was good however, the buffet was well stocked and the pizza slices are HUGE! On food alone I’d probably give it a better rating, but I really don’t enjoy being in a place where I feel I’m not welcomed.

My second visit to Carmine’s w/​a friend in tow was a bit embarrassing. It was 4 p.m. on a Saturday – real slow. Two occupied tables, including us, but at least two red-​shirted teen waitstaff and three men somewhat at loose ends in the kitchen. As an hour wore on, more red-​shirted wait staff arrived, until there were at least five. That’s why it was especially annoying that none of them moved to clean the table next to us, which was dirty when we entered and remained so until my bud finally politely asked that it be bussed. Geez Louise. I took my friend here after bragging how great it was. There was just no excuse for the poor service to us and to the restaurant itself. The food: oh yes. The small antipasto was huge and delicious, my bud said. My gigantic cheese pizza slice was just this side of overdone, as the waitress serving us simply forgot to get it out of the oven where it was being re-​heated (sigh). They were all too busy talking to each other and a friend or two who stopped in. The owner/​manager came out at least once but never looked into the Dining Room itself to see if the tables were all cleared off (No), and whether the customers were getting any attention. My friend’s great salad arrived w/​the dressing on the side as requested, but no spoon to apply it. I had to motor around to find a crushed red pepper container for myself, rather than the waitress bringing it or asking if I needed it, and had to ask for a straw. Wake up, Waitstaff and management! This ain’t good!