Carmine’s

Hey — when it comes to this restaurant’s main game — group dinner service — three stars is exactly what you want to see! Why? Because «A-​OK» means they have their game face on when it comes to satisfying the diverse preferences, needs, and value propositions of nearly any type of customer, whether it be a large family outing or a business dinner.
It’s basic American-​Italian food, and you’ll find all of the expected dishes that you might see at a Buca di Beppo or Maggiano’s, all served family-​style, so get ready to pass those plates. While you won’t find anything really health-​conscious here or much that caters to a strict vegetarian or someone with gluten-​free needs, the majority of diners will find satisfaction with the salads, appetizers (calamari is decent), pasta dishes, and cocktail/​wine list. Note that there isn’t pizza served here, in case you were wondering.
Service is efficient and machine-​like, as all they’re in business to do is to crank out large platters of food, and they do that quite well. Waiters are eagled-​eyed with regard to ensuring you have an ample stack of fresh plates on which to pile on your pasta and other shared dishes. If you’re dining here with a party of 4 or less, you will definitely have enough left over to request a to-​go container or several. Even with our party of 10, we had enough left over for a couple of to-​go boxes.
I’m not a huge pasta fan, but I found the entrees to be average in a pleasing way — again, not too bland, not too spicy (not that that’s a thing for me), not too cheap, not too pricey, and they have their pasta cooking down pat; no complaints of under-​done or over-​done noodles, and the sauce for the Penne alla Vodka is delicious and rich. I found the Chicken Parmesan to be way overly-​rich and too heavy on cheese and breading, but I am definitely not a connoisseur.
One strong area was the aforementioned cocktail and wine menu; one can order a pitcher or two of white/​red sangria, which is large enough for several people to enjoy a glass or two, plus they do offer some creative and reasonably-​priced cocktails. I chose a Cranberry Mojito, which was about $ 11 and popped with plenty of quality silver rum and large, juicy cranberries. Plus, it wasn’t cloyingly sweet.
If you’re looking for an easy-​peasy group dining spot close to Verizon Center and other Downtown locales, that accepts reservations, serves up a TON of American-​Italian food in a quick time frame, then check out Carmine’s!

Carmine’s is a semi-​national chain specializing in Italian cuisine served family style. Translation? Mass quantities of food that come with super inflated prices. The location of this restaurant, Penn Quarter section of DC, no doubt contributes to the ridiculous cost.
On the bright side, the service was pretty good. Our server was engaging and knew the menu very well. She was also attentive without being overbearing.
We tried the Garlic Bread, Caesar Salad and Lasagna.
The Garlic Bread is pretty bad. Didn’t taste fresh, was dry, definitely wasn’t buttery and the faint garlic flavor seemed almost artificial. We opted to add parmesan cheese to create cheesy garlic bread… and that made things even worse. For $ 5 extra, you too can have an open faced grilled cheese sandwich. Definitely the worst dish of the night.
The Caesar salad was probably the best dish of the night, and that’s not saying much. It was huge, but totally unspectacular. The dressing was very one note with a strong anchovy flavor.
The Lasagna came with high hopes and quickly proved to be a disappointment. Bland was the theme with every component of the dish. In particular, the sauce was the worst offender given that it lacked any flavor whatsoever.
The price for this atrocity of epic proportions? Almost $ 90! Things were so bad that I was actually wishing I was in a nightmare and would soon wake up to find myself in Olive Garden! You know it’s bad when Olive Garden is the choice to save the day!
Needless to say, I’m definitely down on Carmine’s. Would I go back? Sure, only to walk past it on the way to somewhere better!

Love the prices, love the food, love the atmosphere. Very nice place to bring the family to. The plates are huge, Maaan i ordered the shrimp scampi & fried calamari, the warned us that the plates are big but i didn’t listen, I was full and i had a great time.

Ok so, Carmine’s. A restaurant that I’ve been wanting to try since living in NY. Never made it to Carmine’s NYC :-(
But since I’m in DC and happen to stumble on it I had to check it out!
Ok so, Carmine’s…when we first entered the restaurant there’s a big menu on the wall that has all their pasta dishes. The hostess came over and asked us if we wanted to see a menu with the pricing before she seats us. So, we were like Ummm… ok…But why she act like we we couldn’t afford it and we was getting ready to walk out?! Then we noticed she gave everybody the same spill LOL!
Ok so Carmine’s… We finally got seated and our waitress again explained the pricing and stressed how huge the meals were, thus the pricing. It’s family size where 3 – 4 people can eat off of it. So, paying $ 30 for spaghetti doesn’t seem too bad when sharing.
Well how was Carmine’s? Not good at all. The sauce was too tangy, acidic and no taste at all. The meatballs we got was moist, big and tasty (Mind out the gutter people) LOL!!! The pasta was little undercooked and watery. The portions are huge and even with 4 of us eating we still didn’t finish it.
A great place for a big family dinner or a romantic dinner for 2.

Decided to eat here decided to eat here for the first time with a colleague well I’m business and DC for lunch. Restaurant was quite packed. Despite the number of people dining, the service was good. Meals are designed to order to share. Order the Caesar with shrimp which was suitable for 2 people. Server let us know it came with anchovies so we were able to request that they omit them. Enjoyed the lunch I would like to go back again to try dinner, with a group. Probably not suitable to dine alone.

Absolute looting!
Beware of their dish of the day where they hide the price of the dish!!! Yes, our waitress did advise us to order two dishes (we were 3) and that it would be sufficient. We ended up ordering the Tuesday special, the Rack of Lamb, along with another regular item as per her advice and boom!
We were shocked by the size of the bowl it arrived in! It alone could easily serve 7 ppl as against what the waitress said and we already had another dish on the table. The greatest shock hit us when the check arrived. The special item alone costed about 3 – 4 times (79 $) any other regular item on their menu (mid 20s)!!!
We were never warned or at least mentioned of the gigantic size or the price! We were greatly disappointed.

Definitely not the same experience as the one’s I love going to in New York. Our waiter was nice but be never came back to ask if we wanted more drinks or not. The food also tasted a little different (I guess I’m just spoiled by the carmines in New York). Overall, it was Ok, I’ll stick to my carmines in New York.

My boyfriend and I were in Washington DC for a short vacation and someone told us this would be a good place to eat. Boy were they wrong.
We walk in and some of the first things I noticed is that they were advertising that they were a great family restaurant. In my eyes a family restaurant does not include a full bar in the middle of the restaurant. This place was HUGE but there was no one dinning really except for one or two other tables that I could see. That should have been the time when we should have realized that we should maybe go somewhere else for dinner. Well we were sat down at a cozy table in the corner next to the window and our waiter came by to see how we were doing and to get our drink order. His name was Doc and he talked to us like we were one of his friends that he hangs out with on a regular basis, (which is not always a bad thing, but the way he was talking to us was not the way someone you don’t know should be talking to you) he then went on to explain how the serving portions work. He told us that one entrée would be enough for us both.
Even though we were told that it would be a lot of food we ordered an appetizer and 2 entrees. We like leftovers anyway.
As an appetizer we ordered the stuffed mushrooms. We get stuffed mushrooms everywhere we go if they are on the menu so it was a must. There were 8 mushrooms in this appetizer and I ate one and went to eat another one and when I took a half of a bite of the mushroom and all I could taste was chemicals of some sort. I can not put my finger on what it was but it left a horrible taste in my mouth and also numbed my throat. It was HORRIBLE. The first mushroom was good but the second one was BAD BAD BAD. We did not even touch another one. Once I ate half of it I sniffed the other half of the mushroom and it even smelled of some sort of chemical. Yes we told the manager. All he did was take our plate back to the chef.
While we were waiting on our entrees Doc the waiter came by to check on us. But when he came my boyfriend and I were both distracted with people watching out the window. I know we were looking out there for a while and we did not notice that the waiter was standing there in quiet starring at ME! He really startled me and kind of made me feel uncomfortable. I have no idea how long he was there and honestly he should have said something when he got there instead of creeping on us! He then asked in an awkward giggle voice «Did I scare you?» then walked away… GIGGLING! WHAT? I have never had a weirder experience with a waiter in my whole life.
Through out the time we were sitting down there was what seemed like another server walking around checking on everyone to make sure we did not need anything but anytime we tried to talk to him he did not understand a word that we said because he did not speak English so he had to go and get someone to translate or he would just walk away and not come back for a little while. I understand that people need jobs, but don’t give someone a job that involves talking a language that they DONT speak.
Our Entrees came out and I got the Manicotti and my boyfriend got the Veil.
Yes they were big portions and honestly I was afraid to take another bite that came out of that kitchen… But I decided to be brave and tried my manicotti. It honestly looked really yummy and the first couple of bites were. The cheese inside was good until I got to the second roll of Manicotti. The cheese was clumpy and hard in parts. It made my sick… I did not eat anymore. I did not even take it home. I couldn’t. I wouldn’t.
My boyfriend said that his Veil was wonderful. He loved his. There was no problem with his food. Which was good for him but me? I left hungry. Thanks…
I will never go back again. I will never suggest this place… They have some work to do.

The service was great and our waitress did an outstanding job serving us. The food came out on time and fresh. The food had great taste and it was very good i was very pleased with the food and the service. I will most definitely go back.

My extended family of 11 was seated on time. Drinks were standard but delivered promptly. We ordered the mixed green salad which was great. The ravioli and chicken parmigiana was solid as well. My main disappointment was the wait staff. It was my sons 11^th birthday and the young woman serving us threw some cannoli in front of him with a candle and walked away without saying anything. Overall the food was solid but the service was spotty.

Bad bad bad reception
We wait 10 minutes in front desk. They told there is a employee meeting you have to wait. Restaurant was. Empty % 90. Wtf

Honestly, I love the food here. The first time my aunt came here from Chicago and she took us here to eat and it was absolutely delicious, so the second time, I made my parents take me back here. :-)
The portion of food they served here is a good generous amount.
If you visit DC, please stop here and try the food! And if you live in DC, I am begging you to come try this place out!

My fiancé and I dropped in for lunch. He had a craving for some italian and we had seen Carmine’s several times while in the area.
It was around 2 pm when we walked in and the restaurant was nearly empty. As you walk in a large menu is posted to the right. It doesn’t list the prices. We were promptly seated by the window. Great people watching.
We perused the lunch menu which seemed highly priced until we were told they serve family size portions. The lunch special we were told would feed 1 – 2 people.
We don’t know the name of what we ordered but it was pasta, chicken and a pesto cream sauce with pine nuts.
We people watched while we waited for our lunch. When the waiter brought the plate out we were shocked. It was obnoxiously huge for 2 people. It could feed 4 – 6 depending on your appetite. I have to say I’ve never felt truly gluttonous and guilty until this monstrosity. I tried to take a pic but it never captured the size. I wish it had.
Now let me put aside my shock to tell you that it was a very decent tasting pasta dish. The chicken was over done but the generous amount of pesto cream sauce remedied that. I dipped the chicken in the sauce and ate my portion. I was always told to eat my food but this would have put me to sleep.
The waiter asked several times if we wanted to take it home to which I replied, «no we aren’t from here and staying at a hotel.» He kept asking anyway. I told him it was a shame to let the food go to waste. He said he could pack it up and they can arrange to give it out at the end of the night. He said they give away their food at the end of the night. That made us feel so much better.
Our lunch cost about $ 45. It was expensive and wasteful. I can’t say the service or how the food tasted was the problem. It was the grotesque lunch portion that overshadowed the meal with guilt. If we only had some friends with us…
4 stars because the problem is with us and not the restaurant. We were told the dish would feed 2 people… not a nation.
I recommend for parties of 4 or larger who have large appetites and will leave their first world guilt at the door.

I love Carmine’s since my first visit to the Time Square location they even got one in Vegas now.
So this location is typical of their other locations a long line and a wait during peak hours. That is a sign of a really good restaurant. I’ve always stuck to traditional pasta dishes and have been pleased with my meals every time. They make a pretty good martini here too.
But what I did learn on this trip was they do serve smaller portions if you eat in the bar area. You don’t have to get family style. Who knew? There is a good tip for you travelers that don’t want your hotel room smelling like your left over marinara sauce the next morning. It’s not a bad problem to have if you’ve got a mini fridge. I’ve been known to eat a cold leftover meatball for breakfast.

If you are looking for a big meal. Than this place is for you! Had garlic bread, lasagna and veal. Dishes Serves 4 with leftovers. Average meal a little salty.

Family style, ginormous portions of carbs and cheese — perfect for my family.
The 6 of us shared a full sized lasagna, lunch sized ravioli in Bolognese sauce, and hot antipasti sampler. Of the Italian chains we sampled, I like Carmine’s the least to be honest. Nothing really turned me off yet nothing I wanted seconds of.
The lasagna noodle was overcooked and lacked contrasting textures. They overstuffed it with way too much ricotta. Maggiano’s grandma’s lasagna is so so so much better! The Bolognese sauce had a strange alcohol aftertaste. The cheese stuffed ravioli were quite tasty however. The hot antipasti was a bit overpriced and wasn’t good at all– although my fav item was the eggplant parm, I find the other items to be either too bland or too salty. Wished we ordered another pasta dish instead!
Overall — price was fair, portion was generous, service was standard (we were attended to mostly by various busboys who happened to walk by), food was okay. An acceptable option to bring a large group if you happen to be in the neighborhood.

3 stars, two bars– it’s a DC thing and unfortunately, my rating for my visit back in September.
It took me a long time to visit this place. I felt it was time since they have had some longevity in comparison to their neighbors.
I was in no rush; you shouldn’t be either.
HAPPY HOUR is decent. Go for that, if anything. Reasonable menu, nice atmosphere, friendly and attentive bartender (Hey! i recognized him from another establishment.)
DINNER Large portions for a huge groups while in the area $$$…
*Crickets*
Sorry, blame me, I’m not big on italian. Pasta, bread and tomato sauce and a protein is not something I look forward to. Taste and flavor were ok. We had some popular meat, tomato saucy dish that for 3 of us from our dining party, it didn’t sit too well. Bathroom runs the next morning. Expensive. Leftovers.
A huge ROACH that crawled behind us and the staff AND manager seemed unbothered by. Ehhh.
I won’t be back unless I’m invited there for happy hour.

2 stars off for not having Alfredo sauce. In my personal opinion this is not acceptable for an authentic Italian restaurant. Come on guys, it’s really not a complicated sauce, just make it happen. I’m not a big tomato-​based sauce fan and that’s basically all they have– that and oil based sauces.
Sandwiches were good. The Italian cheesesteak was awesome. Service was great other than when he looked at me funny when i asked for Alfredo sauce… like that was unheard of or something. I wonder if I’m the only one that found this so shocking.

I came here for my friend’s birthday dinner. I’ve heard great things about Carmine’s, so I was excited to finally try it. It’s a family-​style restaurant so everyone doesn’t need to order their own entrée or appetizer. I can’t even remember all the dishes that we ended up getting, but it was 2 appetizers and 3 entrees for 4 people. We may have been a little hungry. While the portions were fantastic, the quality was just ok in my book. There was nothing particularly bad about it, I just wasn’t «wow-​ed» by anything. The Titanic dessert was pretty huge, and my friends said it was delicious. I’m not a big dessert person, so I didn’t taste it, but it looked mighty tasty. If you’re looking for quality Italian food, there are better options. But if you want Italian food to feed an army, but don’t wanna cook it, then Carmine’s is a solid bet.

Good family style food in large quantities.
Might take a while to get some service from the wait staff since they do seem to be quite busy. But they were able to accommodate about 20 ppl n couple kids.
Food was pretty good… meatballs, chicken parm, angel hair pasta with sausage.
The salad was a bit salty but good n plentiful. Didn’t get to dessert.
Parking garage is right next door, you can get to the restaurant coming up from the elevator of the parking garage.