Carmel's Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Asheville

A Nightmarish Experience at Carmels: Where Customer Service Goes to Die!

As an Asheville resident of over 30 years and a repeat customer, today I had the unfortunate experience of visiting Carmels with family visiting town for the holidays, and I must say it was one of the most unpleasant encounters I've had in a long time, all thanks to the bartender on duty that afternoon.

From the moment I walked in, I could sense an air of arrogance and hostility emanating from behind the bar. Little did I know that this would be a precursor to the appalling behavior I was about to endure. The nightmare began when I innocently attempted to move a bar chair from a bar table to the bar counter for my elderly father in law. To my disbelief, the bartender, whose name I never caught because rudeness doesn't come with a name tag, decided to unleash a torrent of contempt and disdain upon me.

Rather than addressing the situation professionally, this bartender chose to berate and scold me in a manner that left me feeling embarrassed and humiliated. Members of my party and I were in shock. I let the bartender know all he had to do was ask me respectfully to not move the chair and not speak to me in that manner. Instead of de-escalating the situation he continued to berate me. I was so embarrassed , my party and I decided to go elsewhere. As we walked away he sarcastically told us to go and have a great day with a smirk. t’s one thing to maintain order and another to treat paying customers like unruly children. The elevated and condescending tone used were not only completely unnecessary but also indicative of a severe lack of customer service skills.

I understand that working in a bar can be stressful, but that does not excuse treating patrons like they are inconveniences rather than customers. A good bartender should be able to handle minor inconveniences with grace and tact, qualities sorely lacking in the individual I had the misfortune of encountering.

What makes this experience even more disappointing is that I've frequented Carmels in the past and generally had positive experiences. This particular incident, however, has made me question whether I want to spend my hard-earned money in an establishment that condones such disrespectful behavior from its staff.

In conclusion, if you're looking for a place where you can enjoy a drink without fear of being publicly scolded by an overzealous bartender, I strongly recommend looking elsewhere. Carmels has lost a once-loyal customer, and I can only hope that management takes steps to ensure that their staff undergoes proper customer service training to prevent such incidents...

Terrible. Simply terrible. A friend and I went for a girl's weekend to Asheville this past weekend. She had looked around online and Carmel's had good reviews and menu so we decided to check it out. When we arrived, we were greeted by two friendly hostesses and were lead to a table in their "west wing" and seated with Tracey as our server. DO NOT HAVE TRACEY EVER AS YOUR SERVER. Initially she was friendly enough. She got us waters, but my friend had to wait a very long time for her sangria. Actually, her drink came AFTER her appetizer arrived. When we went to order, I asked for a veggie side instead of french fries and asked what a I could substitute. I am on a special diet and have some food restrictions. Tracey told me there was nothing I could substitute aside from collard greens (which I don't like) or kale (which unless it is flash fried, is pretty bitter and usually not tasty). Some of the entrees had things like asparagus or zucchini listed, so I asked if I could have one of those instead. Tracey told me that the chef only had enough veggies for the entrees and not for substitutions. I asked her if she could please talk to the chef about any exceptions since I cannot eat french fries. She huffed, rolled her eyes, and stormed off. She came back with the same answer that I couldn't substitute except for collard greens or kale. So I ordered my burger bunless (can't have the bun either) with kale. When the burger arrived, it was missing condiments, had the most pathetic amount of kale with it (oh and as expected, it was bitter with no redeeming seasoning to it), and the meat was flavorless. No exaggeration, this was the worst burger I've ever had. Red Robin does a MUCH BETTER job than this place and they don't charge $15/burger AND they let you substitute sides no problem. Tracey didn't check on the food (not to mention I was afraid she would spit in my food if I told her I didn't like it given her apparent poor attitude) and there was no manager around to speak with. When dinner was over, my friend asked that the checks be separated. Tracey brought the bills with the appetizer split even though I hadn't eaten or ordered any of it. We asked that the appetizer be put on my friend's bill and she rolled her eyes and stomped off again. What an unbelievably terrible dining experience! My advice: Skip this place and eat on Biltmore Estate, where you'll be treated like a...

I always start reviews with the fact that I am very hard to please.  The atmosphere was OK.  That's not necessarily negative, but it's not gushingly amazing.  When we first entered, we were knocked over the stink of ... ???  Eggs?  Cabbage?  It was very overwhelming, and since it was winter, the heat was on, and the combo of those two was gag-worthy.  It's not anything they can control, but it started things off poorly.  We were seated in an area near the front windows with a small step down.  Our table was right next to that step-down.  My 75 yo mother's seat was next to this, with her back to it.  So when she got up to leave at the end of our dinner, there was no chance she'd see that step and promptly tripped on it when she got up and fell to both knees.  It was something that would cause her problems with her legs for the rest of our trip in Asheville and landed her in the ER the next day. Missing a step is something that can happen to anyone, but I URGE the restaurant to move that table a bit, so anyone getting up from that seat will have a few steps before that step up, giving them the opportunity to see it! That's all that was negative. On to the food, which was fairly good.  My mom ordered the wedge salad, and she had zero complaints.  It was as expected.  Again, not a "WOW," but not awful.. simply as expected.  I ordered the meatloaf.  The portions were big.  I only ate one of the slices of meatloaf.  The garlic potatoes included the skins and definitely were garlicky - I LOVED THEM!  I didn't eat the mix of vegetables that came with my dish as they were soggy and oily.  I also had a cup of tomato cream cheese soup.  It was warm and tasty.  I had hot tea and was pleasantly surprised by the options. All of the teabags that they brought out looked like someone had wadded them all up three or four times before placing them in the container.  They were either really old and handled far too often or... .. .? what?  I don't know what was going on there.  You're given a mug of hot water for your tea but no kettle of hot water to refill if...