Cafe dal Mare — Restaurant in Carmel-by-the-Sea

Came for the gelato, but accidentally initially purchased freezer-burned Blue Bunny ice cream at "All About The Chocolate" next-door (not worth eating, I had to get better ice cream)! Was mid-afternoon on Saturday, and they had run out of Sea Salt Caramel but had a little Chocolate (dark) left so I ordered that because it looked yummy. Was a very small scoop (less than 1/2 cup for $4.50) in a large-medium "ok" waffle ($1) cone, so I couldn't really lick it without eating most of the cone away first because it was such a small amount of ice cream in a big cone, which was pretty obviously annoyingly skimpy.

The few little bites of dark chocolate gelato itself was fantastic and fresh, but the otherwise 5+ top-notch efficient friendly attentive customer service rating took a ding because I should have been at least offered a little more ice cream of another flavor (or charged less).

Just a suggestion to owner: signage with the ~six available gelato flavors so we don't get antsy searching for that info on the wall etc and while waiting for other customers. (Flavors that day were Sea Salt Caramel (before they ran out), Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry, Cherry, and one other flavor that didn't pop in my memory but could've been Mango.

The pistachio cake was politely suggested as a favorite when I looked as though I was going to ask. Beautiful, fresh enough, and very good (though tasted a little more "processed" than I expected); not quite worth $9.55 in my opinion--but it's touristy Carmel-By-The-Sea--and probably worth it if I was dining in at one of their small diner-style tables (vs takeout).

Ambience seems clean minimalistic, small space, a bit of pleasant-enough retro-diner vibe. Happy that the door was open and seemed like decent ventilation given that COVID-19 (and flu and RSV) are on the concerning rise. I would go again if I could be reassured that I would be getting more than "less than 1/2 cup" of gelato for $5.50; I tipped 15% because the young man behind the counter seemed to be doing an otherwise...

I speak from experience when I say this place isn’t worth your money. I’m all for scamming people with more money than sense typically, however after having personal experience working in a place that has also sold the exact same pre packaged Italian baloney and the same spiel, I knew this review needed to be made. They order most if not all of their desserts (down to the individual cannoli shells) from a producer called bindi, usually sourced through a company named Italco. I sniffed it out the second I saw a bindi box right inside the bottom of the drink refrigerator. If you doubt me, feel free to look up their website yourself and take a nice gander at every single product among their listings and compare them to what is sold in store. Their claims in other reviews show numerous mentions of “local bakeries” and “Italian chef made gelato” which the gelato might be made by an anonymous (MAYBE) italian chef, but I doubt the owners of this place would even know them personally. I know that my old job used to take these same cakes at bulk pricing and then double it, which is probably what’s happening here as well considering we spent $40 for three people’s treats, minus the addition of a tip. The fact that anyone would believe any of that stuff was made in house in the first place is incredible, considering the lack of square footage in that store with no visible back area that would potentially hold any ovens or anything else that you usually make pastries with. While I did not try the coffee myself, I say it with high certainty that that is the only thing they actually make in house. I hope I have potentially swayed the minds of future customers but if not this is still worth it to hear whatever the owner responds...

Before getting into it, I’m prepared to receive a lovely smack back from the owners as previously shown in other negative reviews. However, let’s get into it.

Firstly, the brothers seem very nice and friendly, but there are a few issues in my opinion. They are very quick to let you know that the gelatos are all flown in from Italy weekly, however as someone who’s been to Italy 10+ times, you can try every flavor of gelato before committing to one. Not so at Cafe dal Mare. No tasting allowed. This is actually what caused me to write a review (despite the numerous signs around the shop asking you to leave google reviews). The flavor I chose (recommend by the shop) was not very good in my opinion. Had I tried it, I would’ve chosen another flavor but instead I wasted $14+. Basically, 2 coffees, 2 scoops of gelato, and a piece of cake, which was said to taste like a cloud was in fact exactly that…light and nearly flavorless…all for a whopping $45.

Overall, I think if you’re going to charge that much for gelato, at least let the customer taste some flavors and choose based on the samples so they don’t waste...