Cafe Carlo — Restaurant in Winnipeg

Cafe Carlo did not live up to its reputation. Here’s why;

I have tried getting a walk in table at Cafe Carlo twice before, and both times packed with customers, a positive sign. Finally I booked a reservation for Saturday evening with high expectations, as Cafe Carlo has been highly recommended to me by many friends.

Due to Cafe Carlos popularity Saturday evenings, I was only able to get a reservation for 5 pm. Arriving several minutes early and waiting outside with several other patrons, a employee of Cafe Carlo came to unlock the front door, not opening it for us, nor greeting us at all, but simply just unlocking the door and walking away. Upon entering, the host started seating the three separate groups (including my own) to their reserved tables, however not really seating us, but walking us halfway to our table and then pointing saying “that’s your table there” which doesn’t seem like appropriate service at all, especially with such a costly menu.

Leather bound menus paired with a 8.5 x 11 loose piece of paper titled “Chefs Specials” felt inconsistent again considering the kind of reputation this restaurant has,.. doesn’t seem like the kind of place in which would call for a loose piece of paper displaying “specials” paired with quality leather bound menus including items such as a rack of lamb for $69.

Our waitress was very good and attentive, and the service of food was well timed. The French rolls were a healthy portion however the paper cup of butter in which accompanied them felt out of place and cheap especially for a restaurant with such a high reputation and price point. The Bruschetta was very good for a starter. I ordered the Seafood Cannelloni for my main in which came with a lobster tail on top of two cannelloni’s in a plate of sauce and was fairly pleased with the dish.The presentation wasn’t impressive as you can see in photo provided.The pasta didn’t exactly taste fresh, and of course being in Winnipeg the seafood was expected not to be. $43 and I wasn’t exactly unimpressed nor content with my meal. My friend ordered the Fett Chile dish and was not exactly impressed with their meal either.

Consensus was neither of us would go again, it didn’t met expectations and definitely doesn’t deserve its reputation. The food wasn’t bad nor was it anything to write home about. The service from our waitress was good, but the first impression upon walking in and being seated was perhaps the WORST service I have had for a long time. Corydon has better...

The food was good, mashed potatoes were quite salty but with the sauce it had it tasted fine. Rating it a 1 star as I was extremely disappointed with the service from our server who was an older lady. Few things:

1. server messed up our bill, which is fine. But the server refused to just sort out our bill or even apologize for her error. it is something that could have been easily fixed by the server if she didn’t refuse to take the time to sort it out when it was her mistake. It’s just frustrating because we had to spend more of our time doing our own math after when she could’ve simply fixed it. Working in a restaurant too I know for a fact that punching orders are not reversible and worse case scenario you would just repunch everything to fix a huge error.
2. our food took just over an hour to be served, with the free bread as appetizers taking the same amount to just be put out when it should’ve been given way earlier than that. Not only that not once did our server check on us for refills when there was a huge group of us.
3. our server put a salt/pepper shaker on our table and later took it without asking, not only that but after she took it she went around to other tables and personally used the shaker for their food except our table… which was just odd..
4. our friend whose bday we were celebrating asked if the bar had blended margaritas OR on the rocks, our server said there was no blender which is fine. My friend then asked for a strawberry margarita and our server told her “like I said we don’t have a blender” with a condescending tone. As if a drink on the rocks wasn’t possible to make… The attitude from our server was just rude and unnecessary.

If it wasn’t for the gratuity we had to pay due to the group we had none of us would’ve tipped due to the LACK OF SERVICE we were provided by our server. The guy going around filling water cups was more helpful than the server we had. The food was not amazing enough for us to dismiss the extremely bad experience we had...

Amazing food, amazing staff, and busy location!

Came in without reservations for dinner with my companion, and it was so busy that we could only get bar seats.

We ordered the cash Fantasy course special. It was a fantasy alright. 4 courses of excellent food starting with a tasty pork springroll (a Chinese dish nomally but whatever) that came with this really tasty sweet hot sauce. Not like a Thai sweet chilli sauce but more like a sweetened Frank's hot sauce. They were a great pairing.

Next was a Ceasar salad. It was tossed really well with a generous amount of dressing, so everything was coated. Croutons were ground like breadcrumbs, so it was easier to mix in with the leaves for even crunch with each bite. The dressing was really good too so it could have been house-made.

The included pasta was the Fett Chile. A fettuccini in a roasted red pepper cream sauce. Toppings included chorizo, chicken, and a small amount of red pepper not yet blended into the sauce. I expected this to be fairly savoury umami-like, but it turned out to be a mild sweet flavour. It's not too sweet as my companion loves this dish, too, and she doesn't like too many sweet dishes. I could not stop raving about this dish each time the server came by.

My companions Vong (linguine vongole) was good, too, in a pesto sauce. I liked my dish more.

Both dishes provide ample amounts of pasta and toppings for their price.

The final dish to the menu was a Creme Brule. It was also ample and mildly sweet like the pasta. Having it with a bit of the mint was the best part.

The staff were all friendly and attentive. My water was filled and relied throughout service without asking. They asked many times how each course was and if we needed anything.

There is plenty of free street parking around.

I will definitely come again and recommend this place as THE pasta place to go in Winnipeg to...