Carmine's Bar & Grille — Restaurant in Bloomington

Came in with a friend at about 9PM on a Saturday night, handout on the table said late night happy hour started at 10PM. The handout didn't detail what was included in the late night happy hour. We asked the waiter if it was the same items that were included on the daily happy hour, and he said yes. I ordered a beer and we waited for happy hour to start.

When it did we both ordered 2 for 1's on beer and I ordered two appetizers, my friend ordered one. From what the waiter told us appetizers during happy hour should be 3 dollars off, and there was 2 for 1s on beer. A little later the waiter came out with 1 beer for each of us, and said that the 2 for 1 deal wasn't part of the late night happy hour. He said he hadn't worked Saturday night's and that was why he mistakingly told us the deal was valid. At that time I asked him if we would still get 3 dollars off on the appetizers, he said yes we would.

Soon he came out with the appetizers, and then told us he couldn't give us the three dollars off because that wasn't part of late night happy hour either. Instead of offering to honor the deal, he gave me two extra chicken strips. In my opinion, this doesn't nearly make up for the mistake. It also isn't fair to the customer to not give them a chance to adjust their order. Instead, the food was forced on us at a price we didn't agree to.

I wouldn't have sat around for an hour to order during happy hour, if I knew I would end up paying full price for the appetizers and the 2 for 1 special wasn't valid. I also wouldn't have ordered two full price appetizers, for the quality/quantity of the food it just wasn't worth it. The manager didn't even bother to come out, for a relatively new restaurant it seems odd there was no customer service. I would want to do whatever possible to get customers back in the door. Because of this, I do not have much interest...

Mixed opinions. I order out A LOT so am pretty picky and scrutinize/praise when I see fit. I ordered for 3 people for pick up. Was ready when we arrived and still warm to eat once home(live 2 miles away). Was hesitant at prices but thought we'd give it a try since it's in the neighborhood. First order was cajun chicken pasta and a 1/2 house side salad and feedback was that the side salad was absolutely perfect and fresh, but nothing mentioned about the pasta other than they wouldn't order it again. I ordered the Lasagna(pasta is my favorite food.)I should have looked up what a bechamel sauce was. Not impressed! Spent my entire time scraping the bechamel sauce away as best as I could as it was a weird texture and turned to a thick cheesy/gravy like consistency, but my fault for wanting to try something different, and the red sauce was sweeter than most and just different from most red sauces used in spagehetti's/lasagna's.(I have Metathesiophobia-Fear of change) Third order was the sausage penne pasta and the sausage was phenomenal. Perfect blend of fennel, heat, and packed full of flavor. Again sauce used was different. Pasta's were served with bread but didn't feel like it was made in house. Seemed like a thin loaf of bread that you could purchase from your local grocery store that was warmed up in the oven for 30 seconds and no crispy edges was soft and spongy and then cut into slices. Overall i'd give it 2 out of 5 stars but I wouldn't tell someone not to go and try the experience, I just think we ordered the wrong things and would like to dry a couple of different things...

Our first time visiting and it was fantastic! It was a busy night without reservations but they got us in after a short 15-minute wait. The menu is varied and, although Italian-biased, they also serve Americana fare burgers and sandwiches. We started with half salads, chopped and house, which were both terrific and good sized. Our main dishes were Lobster Carbonara, a special they offer periodically, and Italian Bolognese. The portions were large, the temperature was perfect, and the taste was spectacular. The Carbonara had ample amounts of lobster with a cream sauce that was one of the best we have ever had. The Bolognese, a menu regular, had a slightly sweet marinara sauce that was as good as it gets. We also received Italian bread with butter on the side that was also not disappointing. The wine and beer menus are large and varied. Happy hour has a 2 for 1 draft beer offering that ends at 6 PM. The server we had was a pro, both pleasant and highly competent, and we saw her handling other patrons, including a large table, with the same extremely high levels of service we received. The time we waited for the food was reasonable as were the prices compared to the other restaurants we visit. Carmine's is very highly recommended based on our first...