Carini's Southern Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Milwaukee

Wow! I was so impressed at my first visit to Carinis. This restaurant has been around forever, 20 years ago I took drivers Ed in the business next door and it was there then too! It was a Sunday and my usual places were closed, so I looked at restaurants near me with 5 star reviews and this one came up. I have been to Italy and I LOVE authentic Italian food, which is honestly hard to find. Me and my aunt decided to give it a try. So many places on Oakland Ave go out of business in 1-2 years, so for this place to still be there says something!!

First impression was that the inside was very cutely decorated and there are separate dining rooms, which really helps keep the noise down and makes it more intimate. Definitely reminiscent of Italy! Our server (Anise?) was extremely sweet and attentive, and she gave the perfect level of customer attention. We ended up splitting a bottle of wine since they were half off, and I got the mussels appetizer and octopus salad. Mussels were amazing, the sauce was so good. I have ordered mussels at countless restaurants in Milwaukee and these were some of my favorites. The octopus salad is what really blew me away! When it came out, it looked super basic. Arugula, tomatoes, olives, and a big grilled tentacle. I am honestly not used to octopus being served like that so I was taken aback. However, I’m an adventurous person so I went for it! The grill of the octopus was absolutely perfect. If i lived in town, I would be back here once a week for it. The restaurant was definitely busy even on a Sunday night and lots of diverse people there, as well. All in all, a great experience and I ate everything on my plate! Very happy to have tried this new (old) place! I will be back with...

I loved Carinis until tonite. 24 family members after a funeral. We we were told come in we have room for 32. We will make pizzas and watch and when things slow down we will stop. Yes they did this right. They decided on pizzas they brought out. The pizza were bland and middle of dough was rubbery and under cooked. I know what a Sicilian pizza is. I was not expecting tons of cheese and toppings. The cheese was so light you never saw it. Sauce was so lite you didn’t barely see it. 14 tiny pepperonis on a pizza. That’s it. Margarita pizza was bare. 5 big leaves of basil for the whole pizza. No flavor at all

Go up to take care of bill. We are told we don’t pay per pizza. We pay $25 per person!! We had 6 grandchildren. 2 that were 10 and 4 under the age of 6. All charged $25. We had a $190 bar bill for 14 adults. No one had more than two drinks. For a $900 bill they were charging 20% gratuity. One person brought pizzas out to table. No service at individual tables. No drinks serviced to tables. No plates cleaned Nothing. 20%??? Then to add on a 3% credit card charge on a $900 bill?? Who walks around with $1000 in their pocket. 3% charge for a $50 bill. I get it.

I truly feel this was nothing more than a money grab. When I wanted to talk about the crazy bill. I was told next time come in and deal with the younger members of staff. Don’t deal with the older owner. Oh I guess my bad. As I mentioned. I have been here prior many times and had great meals. Next time know to deal with staff and not owner? There will be no next time as I was so taken advantage of....

I want to give them more stars but the interaction with certain staff made me decide on only 3. The female staff that assisted during our group reservation for a birthday, were upset that we wanted all guests to be seated together, which I thought was the point of making the reservation. We were not told until we arrived that we had to request for all guests to be seated together. The staff then were upset that we asked for the tables to be moved together to accommodate us. Maybe it's me but it doesn't make sense to make a large reservation and then have to turn around to a different table just to speak to a guest in your own group. Had I known this was an issue during the time of making the reservation I would have asked for us to be placed together or just found a different restaurant to go to. The remainder of our time eating the staff who gave us initial issues stared at our table angrily from a distance as if we were wrong for not knowing how they chose to coordinate reservations(which we were not told until arriving). This made us feel uncomfortable. The food was great otherwise. Had it not been for the awful interaction I would have given 5 stars. I don't think customers should be treated badly for something that was not explained prior to them about how your establishment is run. I may or may not decide to return and give them a...