Carmela's Cucina — Restaurant in Cambridge

This is a fantastic tiny little freestanding authentic Italian restaurant run by a husband and wife team in the super quaint Maritime town of Cambridge. I'd like to say I discovered it myself, but actually I just googled best Italian restaurant near me and it came up. So everybody locally already knows it's a great place. It's a very fun cozy little restaurant to eat in. There are just two small rooms with nice wooden tables and beautiful casual Italian decorations with black and white checkered curtains and heavy natural wood tables. You can see the cooks cooking in the kitchen. They do a large carryout business also and that action is going on on the side. Our waitress Reese was super friendly and very skilled. She made great recommendations in terms of what to choose and also how to split it up. Obviously, we had a lot of leftovers and Reese very nicely wrapped them up for us in cardboard boxes and then a nice quilted carrying bag. The portions are absolutely enormous and she was very helpful in telling us how many people to split each dish with. The antipasto salad was delicious. The cheese and meats were rolled and sliced very thinly, which gave them a nice texture. The sweet pickled peppers were delicious on the antipasto. I ordered the eggplant rollatini which I have never even heard of. It was absolutely delicious. Eggplant rolled with ricotta, spinach, and mozzarella with a tomato sauce over it. My mother ordered the crab spaghetti which she said was delicious. My brother-in-law got the pasta classico with shrimp, which he loved. We shared a nice bottle of Chianti, and for dessert we had freshly made cannolis which were absolute perfection. So if you're looking for a great place for a family meal or a nice romantic date, fairly casual and moderately priced, this is your place. I only wish it was in...

Had a terrible experience here and won’t be coming back. For context, I’m black and my boyfriend is white, so we’re used to stares we get from people, which is exactly what happened when we walked into the pizzeria.

I see there’s someone who’s being helped so my boyfriend and I wait until they leave and we walk up to the register. The pregnant cashier is still there but she doesn’t look at me or acknowledge me there and I can see her face/mood has shifted from what it was with the last customer. She’s shuffling around and touching things near the register and then asks me “Can I help you?” with the most bleh, unprofessional and bordering rude tone. I then realize that she has a problem with me because of my skin color and I can tell that other workers are feeling a bit uncomfortable. But then I answer her in the same flat tone and told her that I placed an order. She then pulls up the order and tells me the total and walks away. Another woman becomes the person cashing me out and assisting me and she’s a bit more friendly albeit still a little flustered. She then starts clicking on the screen of the register after I signed the receipt (that she doesn’t take immediately and leaves it barely near the register) and says nothing to update me on what she’s doing. The guy making the pizzas asks me if I’m being helped and the woman tells him that she’s working on it. We then get our food bagged and handed to us as we wait for change to tip (yes…unfortunately I still had a mind to tip) and left. So, ultimately, I should just told her to never mind and went to get dominos bc on top of the racism, the pizza...

26-Aug-2018 My brother recommended this restaurant, as he and his wife and children have enjoyed the food here on multiple occasions. I was very pleased with his recommendation! We grew up in NYC and are very familiar with small, family owned and operated Italian restaurants like those located in Queens and Brooklyn. "hidden gems" as I like to say. Places you may not necessarily find on your own, but are very glad you did! The food was excellent! My brother commented on how good the Pizza and the stuffed shells are here. My problem tonight was that I didn't want pizza.... I wanted a pasta dinner. So I did what any rational person would do. I ordered a slice of pizza AND the dinner special, the trio of meat lasagna, stuffed shell and manicotti... with extra sauce of course, because in my opinion you cannot have too much red sauce! The pizza was excellent, reminiscent of that I enjoyed as a kid in NY which is the only real style of pizza there is :-) I greatly enjoyed the pasta trio as well! I managed to EAT EVERYTHING. Salad, garlic focaccia, slice of pizza and the entire trio... It was THAT GOOD. My favorite part of the trio was the manicotti. Perfect pasta texture, rolled around perfectly creamy ricotta. Smooth.... So smooth, no lumps. Perfect. I will be back the next time I'm in MD to visit my brother. PS.... I meant to include a full pic of the trio meal plate. I got so excited when the plate reached the table, I forgot to take a pic till is was almost done! I also included a picture of my sister in law's Penne a la Vodka....