Carmine's Chicago

Great brunch

First time at Carmine’s and it was fabulous! Will definitely be back!

We have been to Carmine’s a few times and it is always lovely.

Always a great place to eat when in Chicago.

Carmine's is an old school Italian restaurant with really good food, friendly and attentive service, and it's cozy. Food always is a headliner, but the ambiance is pretty cramped. That's not such a bad thing if you like Jersey Shore extras including you in their conversation (no, thanks) and it's frenetic if not chaotic in movement of wait staff. Our server, Abraham, was excellent. He was friendly, really knew the menu and the specials, and generally welcoming. He did forget about us for a brief time, mostly because he had tables of 8+ to handle, but he was accommodating. Prices are fairly standard for Gold Coast dining, and the specials ranged from veal to octopus without seeming to be trying too hard. But it's wayyyyy too noisy for my taste.

We ordered the seafood tower and it was just ok. He seafood was not flavorful, it tasted did not smell or taste like the ocean, you could just tell it wasnt fresh. For 80$ I was hoping for more. However, the rigatoni vodka was amazing and our server was super sweet and treated us to dessert.

Waiter was not happy with his $25 tip because it wasn’t 18%. He actually stopped us at the door demanding his 18%. Long time customer but never again will I bring my family or clients to this establishment. Rude and arrogant staff and not worth the money.

Awesome food. Home style. Everyone enjoyed the experience.

Carmine's red sauce is the best I have ever tasted! The restaurant is undergoing remodeling so the ambiance was somewhat lacking but the food was wonderful. I had the square noodles with the awesome red sauce and a really tasty meatball. My sister had the baked rigatoni and loved it.

Great food & service good atmosphere

We never were seated. We waited an hour for our reservation. We left out of frustration. it seemed chaotic, the hostess was flustered, they were overbooked. Open table should of never booked the reservation when the restaurant was that booked. Basically ruined our evening. They are remodeling, very messy.

This has been a tradition for the last few years... our family participates in Hustle up the Hancock and we enjoy an Italian dinner the night before...

This past Saturday the outside temperature was not a typical February day in Chicago, it was above average. Unfortunately, the temperature upstairs was very warm and I was sweating throughout my meal. I could not finish my meal as I was uncomfortable. I had to pass on desert as I could not stay longer to eat a nice sweet treat.

The table next to us complained about the temperature, and it appears they did something about it. But it was too late.....

Our dinner was not as good as it should have been which I think correlate to the overall temperature experience...

The service was excellent as usual we sat promptly based on our reservation time...

Just wish the circumstances where better....

Seated upstairs. The room was like an oven. Beautiful 50 degree day but the upstairs had to be 85-90 degrees. We hurried and left before dessert due to the heat. Waiter was very good and personable but extremely busy and over tasked. Attending to our table was a fly by event.

The Ambiance was beautiful, the service was attention to detail , prompt yet genuine and sincere with a dash of humor. Scott was our server and was amazing with explanation of menu specs and knowing we were from Wisconsin based off the old Fashions we ordered. This is our go-to place when we're in Chicago in February every year. Why go somewhere else when everything is here at Carmines.