Carmen's Lunch Bar & Tapas — Restaurant in Pensacola

I took a trip home this past December, and I wanted to make it a point to try some new places. I always go to the same ol' places that I know are amazing, but so many new restaurants have been popping up, generating buzz, earning accolades. I needed to branch out. So I brought my sister out to lunch one day, and I decided to try out the place that had been winning best lunch awards for many years now.

It's right in the heart of Palafox in Downtown Pensacola. An easy walk from any street parking you can find nearby. It's a quaint, unsuspecting, wraparound bar with seats dotted all around it. It's a nice looking place. We got seated, were given menus, and ordered some drinks.

I forget exactly what I had, but It was a special sweet tea. Maybe mango or pineapple or something. I remember it was very good; I had a second one. So we're sipping, exploring the menu, and decide to just split a bunch of stuff. We get a few tapas and a sandwich.

We start off with something easy, Carmen's Soda Bread (Baked daily! Fresh rosemary, dried cranberries, sweet butter). This was so nice. The bread was perfectly soft, but easy to spread on. The sweet butter with the tart cranberries was a good combo, and the aroma of the rosemary helped make this a good start.

We moved onto the Spanish Crab Pepper Poppers (sweet peppers, jumbo lump crab, chorizo sausage, Manchego cheese, lemon, saffron). This was so fun! The heaviness of the filling, not complaining, needed that fresh vessel of that sweet pepper. I love crab, I love chorizo, I love cheese. They go very well together. Go figure. Get this.

Then, the Savory Goat Cheese Cake with Carmen's Seasonal Fruit Pepper Jelly (served over arugula with toasted ciabatta). This was a visual spectacle of a dish. Piled with that cranberry pepper jelly. There was some sweetness in there, which was nice with the tang of that goat cheese cake. You get a whole stack of bread, so spread away. I loved this.

The last thing was the Spanish Crab Melt (local jumbo crab, chorizo sausage, Manchego cheese, lemon, saffron, served open-faced over arugula). Very good. The ciabatta was nice and soft. The same mix of crabby chorizo was dolloped on top, so I ate this up in a hurry.

Overall, this lunch was lovely from start to finish. I have a new favorite go-to lunch spot in Pensacola now....

Visited here for the first time yesterday with a friend for brunch. I was so excited but the manager did one of the most despicable things Ive ever witnessed to me, and embarrassed me in front of all the customers. I decided to purchase a beer and was going to order lunch. A woman asked for my ID so I presented it to her. I have a temporary sticker over my home address and name to protect my identity, but my birthday and other sensitive information is exposed for them to read. She called over the manager and the manager stated that I needed to “Rip off the sticker” so she can see my name and address. Since that was completely unnecessary, I presented another form of ID, my concealed weapons permit. The manager stated that would not suffice, so I then presented her my PASSPORT card. She took both my ID and passport, for the longest time staring at both. I kindly asked her what she was looking for and she said “an expiration date!” Which again was so odd! I said “my age is evident, what more do you need?” And the manager quickly yelled at me “I do not like your tone of voice with me! I don’t want you getting my employees in trouble and them going to jail!” Which was absolutely absurd since I am almost 30 YEARS OLD. She continually looked at me up and down, back at my ID, stared in my face and made me feel so weird/embarrassed. I took back my ID’s and she said “You don’t have to be a customer here.” But I said I just didn’t have to buy a beer if it was going to be this embarrassingly insane. So instead, my friend and I left. I’m not sure what her motivation was. I have never had this issue before going to places and I purchase liquor every week. Apparently, even if you provide 3 forms of identification, a myriad of wrinkles, back pain, and a business suit, a woman can’t purchase a beer at Carmen’s. Absolutely...

I experienced discrimination at this restaurant. I would like to say that the hostess was incredibly nice and the food was fantastic, but the lady at the bar was very condescending and made me feel uncomfortable with her insensitive comments. This one star review is solely based on her behavior… I sat down with my boyfriend and his 2 uncles (who are all white and I’m Pakistani) but I asked my boyfriend to go get my jacket out of the car. So he left and the bartender came over and said “I don’t know who sat down first, but I’m gonna take their order first” and pointed to my bf’s uncles. When my bf uncle stated that we were all together, she acted very surprised and made a comment about us sitting together. Then, when I ordered a drink she went over my id, line by line, and examined every part of it for almost 2 minutes. The bartender didn’t even ask my boyfriend for id at all. She refused me service because my id was expired even though I had my temporary id with me as well as a hard copy. Later, when my food came out she brought me hot sauce with my meal and stated “I have spicer hot sauce if these aren’t hot enough for you.” Normally this wouldn’t bother me, but the (white) lady across the bar from me ordered the same exact dish and was not offered any hot sauce at all. I did not ask for any hot sauce, so it was strange that she brought it to only me. It’s stereotypical to assume that because I’m Pakistani, that I would want hot sauce. Overall, the bartender made me feel very uncomfortable, discriminated against, and, not valued as a human being. Please train your staff on sensitivity, and racial stereotypes. It’s not ok to be this ignorant and unempathetic in this...