Carmine's - Upper West Side — Restaurant in New York

I've been coming to Carmines UWS for over 25 years. It was always a great place for large get togethers with my family for B-days and celebrations. Service has always been great, and the food was always a hit. Last night was one of the worst dining experiences I've ever sat through, for 3.5hrs no less...

We started off ordering water and a bottle of wine for the table, then appetizers. 15 minutes later, all the appetizers hit the table, still without water or wine. We finally flagged our server down to place the order for entrees, and inquire about the water/wine. We had all but finished our appetizers, the server came back and dropped a pitcher of water on the table for us to serve ourselves, 15 minutes later we got the bottle of wine after flagging down the server yet another time about where our bottle was. We were a party of 7ppl, and would have easily drank 3 bottles of wine had we been properly attended to.

An hour after the appetizers were finished, we flagged down a gentleman who looked like a manager, so we could inquire about our entrees. This entire hour, we saw very little evidence of any type of service happening throughout the entire dining room. The "Manager" apologized for the delay, and explained they were experiencing some issues in the kitchen, and that our entrees would be delayed. Delayed even more than the hour we were already waiting after we finished our appetizers? He said yes, maybe another 20 or 30 minutes, due to the kitchen wanting to make sure our chicken was fully cooked... the real question is, why did we have to inquire about our food, before being told that there was an issue? The manager left the table, 10 mins later we received the pasta, still waiting on 2 chicken dishes and our escarole. The escarole was dropped next, we were already on the tail end of our pasta. A 2nd "Manager" came by to check in while we were eating our pastas, we explained our situation and how horrible the overall experience had been since we sat down. She apologized, and assured us she would take care of the appetizers and check on our other entrees. An hour and a half after we ordered, we reviewed the 2 chicken dishes. We did not see our server for the entire time between courses, couldn't order another bottle of wine, and frankly it came to a point where we didn't even want more wine, because we didn't want to have to wait any longer or give the establishment another dime.

We had asked for more water when the chicken came, had to flag down a busser to ask for water again, and still had zero water on the table. The "Manager" said she would send us a dessert for the experience (we were also there for a B-Day) and we reluctantly agreed to the offer, even though we didn't want to wait any longer for the dessert. We asked for the check at the same time, because again, we didn't know how long it would take to see someone who worked there. 20 minutes later we received the dessert, I walked to the front host stand to ask to pay our bill. That took another 20 minutes.

My assessment is that they were understaffed, and that the entire team had not been trained properly, from the "Managers" to the server, to the busser who kept trying to clear our plates prematurely... there was zero presence on the floor, and anytime we managed to flag someone down and ask for something, we had to wait to ask someone again, because we didn't receive it the first time.

The entirety of the meal consisted of my family talking about the horrible service, and wondering how they managed to make so many missteps. I myself am in the service industry, and sometimes I can admittedly be too forgiving to service issues, however this time had taken the cake. Mistakes happen, there are a lot of moving parts in a restaurant. Even after we had complained a number of times, its as if they didn't care to turn our experience around. The server disappeared for a majority of our meal, didn't apologize even one time. We have been dining here for over 25 years, 4 times a year at minimum.

There is no coming back from this...

I left in tears, not happy ones. Let me start by saying that last time I was here was over 15 years ago when I lived in NYC. Back then my experience and the food was so amazing! I came down from MA with my son and husband 15 yrs later. I reserved in advance the only time they had available, 3:15 pm on a Friday. I was so excited that I didn't care what time we got in, as long as I could now share this great place with my family. We spent $217 and left an 18%tip. Only because both my husband and I worked in the restaurant industry for MANY years. Our server did not smile. He checked up on us twice. To take our order and to ask if we wanted desert, that was it. We ordered 2 quartinos of wine, 1 red, 1 white. We didn't like either one, but since our server never checked in, we flagged down the host. We asked him for a recommendation for a bottle. He said he would bring a taste of one and told the server to bring it, he brought it. Never came back, no wine for us I guess. When our salad came we had no plates. I waited and nothing. I flagged the server down and asked for a plate for the salad, he brought ONE. I had to ask another server who I guess saw my 'what's going on here' face, and asked if I needed something. I explained that I needed 2 more plates. One for my husband and 1 for my son. I had to ask for bread please, which was not brought either, nor asked if we wanted or not. Got the side eye on this one. The food came, 3 plates for 3 people. Because we knew we were gonna take stuff home for the rest of the family. we ordered penny Alabama and it was not good, Just plain and regular. mind you? I worked at an Italian restaurant for 4 years, a genuine Italian restaurant. We also ordered ravioli's. Those were really, really good. We ordered a plate of salmon. The salmon was overcooked, it was almost white, so not the best. The Caesar salad was very good. We would have ordered coffee sambuca and tiramisu. But the night had gone so wrong that I just wanted to get out of there. we had told the waiter that my husband was allergic to shellfish. the salmon has muscles and clams, which my husband can't eat because he is only allergic to a crustacean. when the server was picking up our plates to bring us the check. He actually told my husband " I thought you were allergic to shellfish". Which is kind of not such a nice conversation starter after we finished and is kinda rude ( I'm being nice here) plus if he knew that my husband was allergic to shellfish and thought that clams and muscles were a no go. Why did he bring them in the first place? Smaller details: I asked for anchovies on the side for my salad, never got them, and my son ordered a Shirley Temple and it didn't have a cherry (for a kid this is a big deal). Small details that should not be missed. When we were leaving I told the hostess how bad it was. She called over someone, maybe the manager, which happened to be the one I asked about the wine. Almost in tears, I repeated the story. He said something along the lines of I'm sorry that's not what we strive for here. And that was that. What a disappointment. I am so sad and mad at the same time. I hope our server is OK and there is nothing MAJOR going on in his life. But I wish it could have been better. I will not recommend Carmines...

I’ve eaten from this location before but it was only take out. I visited Carmines Upper West Side with a large group in early June 2022 to celebrate my daughter’s graduation. Due to the amount of people attending we were considered a large group (over 15 people). Because of large number, I was informed we had to order off the prefix menu. Jennifer assisted me with this, she was available to answer any questions/concerns I had. I was emailed a contract and paid the deposit to hold our reservation. I was given 3 days (72 hrs.) to the date of the event to confirm the final count of guests attending. Upon arriving to the restaurant, we were greeted. I also gave my cake to the greeter and informed it needed to be refrigerated. Within a few minutes of our reservation time, we were seated. The waitress Tenice came over to take our order this made me question whether we could have just been a walk in. I informed our waitress we have a prefix menu (contract). I was very displeased with the lack of communication of the restaurant with our waitress Tenice. Especially since we were told we couldn’t just walk into the restaurant and order since we were a large group. I also wasn’t pleased as another waiter began to bring out soda beverages without asking what our preference was. I had to ask him which beverages he had and requested him to remove some of the beverages he already bought out. The appetizers of Caesar Salad and Garlic Bread were delicious. For pasta we chose penne ala vodka which was very salty, and linguine with butter and oil which was just okay. For entrees we chose shrimp scampi which everyone said was really good and chicken lemon and butter which seemed really rubbery. For desserts we chose fresh fruit which was good and cheesecake which many didn’t like. When it was time to bring out the cake, Tenice informed me there was a cake cutting fee per person. I informed her Jennifer informed me the fee would be waived since we were a large group. It took the staff 5-10 minutes to find my cake. I had to show Tenice a picture of the cake. The restaurant also didn’t have the sparklers so they put regular birthday candles in the cake. I don’t appreciate the restaurant not communicating with our waitress and I feel like it was very unprofessional. I felt like it should have been a stress-free day for me. Instead, I felt I was constantly directing and asking questions. I put no blame on Tenice she was excellent. The restaurant really dropped the ball on this one. I’m not sure if I’ll dine at Carmines again on a prefix menu since it was out of order and not organized. I was also told since we were a large group, they don’t serve the food. Some of the guests didn’t like that we had to keep asking to pass this or that. They offer both indoor and outdoor dining. To get up to the main dining room we had to go upstairs, I didn’t notice any accessible ramp. The restaurant is accessible via public transportation. I’m only giving 2 stars for Tenice. I really feel like we were cheated out...