Carmi Soul Food Express - Southern Take Out — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

Now this is a story all about how, Carmi’s was the worst restaurant experience in town......No seriously. I never write a review but after my evening at this establishment, I HAD TO! First things first, I’m a visual type person so this will be told in a detailed format. It was Saturday 3/26/22 around 5pm, my partner and I were starving after our trip to the Science Center with our one year old son. So, living near south side, we decided to find some place new to eat. He chose Carmi’s. Upon entering the restaurant we saw a middle aged woman, tall, top heavy build, with a wig that was styled in plats, wearing silver rings/bangles, nose ring, and a Carmi restaurant shirt in all black. I assumed this to be the hostess. She looked up from her phone at us after about 3 minutes and said “can I help you?” I said yes, “do you have a booth for 3”. The woman replied in the rudest tone, “Booth!?(snickers) Huh, I don’t even know if I have a table! Let me see.”, walking away. (Mind you there were only 9 ppl in the WHOLE establishment at this time, but anyways) At that moment, I was ready to walk out of the door. My partner calmed me down and said let’s just try it out. So I remained composed. The woman returned, grabbed menus, and walked us back to our booth, handing me a booster seat for my son. Our waitress eventually came over, very sweet girl, Leona, took our order and proceeded to her duties. I ordered the blackened salmon, Mac & cheese, mashed potatoes, side salad, with cornbread and their “Cherry pie”, which is actually just cheese cake for dessert. All GOOD, although the salmon was mediocre. Well back to the main issue, so my one year old was not vibing with the booster. For one, it’s meant for older kids who are not as adventurous and curious as my little toddler, so simply put, it wasn’t working out. My partner asked our waitress if we could use a high chair at the end of the table, she said SURE whatever made us comfortable. So we switched out the booster and used a high chair. Worked out awesome! 20 minutes go by....the woman from the front walks past us at least 5 times to go behind the bar. She looks at me a few times and I notice in conversations she had with employees that she must have a high position because she is talking in an authoritarian almost belittling tone to the other employees. Well, on the 6 walk past, this woman stops at our table and says that we are absolutely not allowed to have a high chair at the table and we need to remove our son. sigh now y’all know how hard it is with a 1 year old eating out already....now with 90% of my food left, I have to juggle him in one arm and eat with the other. Needless to say, I was instantly turned off from the whole meal. Like really??? You saw him sitting there that whole time and now that we’re eating, he has to move. I was done!!! We quickly finished our meal, tipped and thanked our waitress kindly and left. Never to go back there again. But I was curious....who was this lady at the front??? Well good old Google....don’t y’all know it was Carleen King... THE OWNER! The nasty lady at the restaurant was the OWNER OF THE RESTAURANT. Lawdddd...black folks we have got to do better. Keep the attitudes at home! Cause you just lost 3 customers that day. And y’all know I told everyone I know so yea. That’s it....that’s the...

I give him a one for effort for just being a restaurant. Other than that they have the worst grade of food I've ever tasted. The chicken is very dry and has a very dry and taste like it's processessed meat. The barbecue sauce has way too much sugar in it. The lettuce in the salads is so big that you could share it with three people. Whatever happened to that nice diced and sliced gormet lettuce that you find in great restaurant? That is if you strive for greatness. I think they try to make it look big by putting in the big lettuce and slices of cucumbers that aren't skinned. And the customer service is so bad like where are the friendly smiles and the thank yous? I watched a woman walking their door that was disabled and the hostesses just stood there and looked at her and didn't offer to open the door. There is no handicap or wheelchair accessibility. There is no menu for anyone that might be considering a low-fat low-calorie diet. There is no veggie entrees. I find that for African American food that we need to upgrade and give ourselves more healthier choices. Don't overcharge us on these prices. A hamburger and fries was $10. The fries were so cold and so hard and greasy. And the hamburger was so dry. I tried everything on this menu. And there is nothing that I could find that I would want to chance my health with. Best of luck. The food is terrible. Unless you are one of those folks who never tasted good soul food or couldn't cook it youreslf. I'm sorry. The food does not taste like it looks. The food does not taste as you read it on the menu. It tastes something totally different...like those frozen dinners that look good on the box but tasting is a nightmare!!! The cornbread was dry and bland. The mashed potatoes lacked milk aand richness; and they were without butter. The gravy taste like the kindbyou by in a jar prepared withno love. Soul food is made with love and you have to take your time. . And nothing to me was really from scratch. Just so you know there's a New Soul Food Restaurant opening up in Lawrenceville; and I hear it's going to be amazing!!! . I urge you to save your taste buds hold on to them and wait until you try this newbplace. All these five and four star reviews it must be amily or somebody you know doing them or maybe someone is getting paid to put them up there. I've been cooking for over 35 years; and I can cook you over on the potato salad, macaroni and cheese, the greens, sweet potatoes, red beans and rice, okra, green beans, et al. You name it. However, I don't always want to cook. Sometimes I want to pay and eat a good meal out. I wouldn't dare embarrass myself to open a restaurant and have the nerve to call it soul food and cannot produce.. It's more like soul.fool!!! . And on top of that, you want to charge customers outrageous prices for the worst customer service I have ever seen. I wouldn't recommend sending a homeless person there if you were giving away the food and I promise you that I nor my friends will ever be back to your restaurant ever again. We can't wait for the new real soul food cuisine to open up. I support black business but I...

2nd try on a Thursday night for karaoke. Vibes and DJ Q again did not disappoint! It was a nice relaxing atmosphere in the upstairs section. Karaoke starts at 6 and goes until...

Staff was friendly and it was nice partying & unwinding with them after their official work hours.

Angel was a stellar bartender.

Owner escorted us out & even returned my sister's misplaced bank card.

Love supporting this black owned husband and wife enterprise 💫

We had a great time

1st time for Sunday brunch:

Decent for basic soul food needs in Pittsburgh. $67 for two.

Food was unremarkable but again decent.

We ordered Chicken & Sweet Potato Waffles Spinach Omelette Mimosa Pitcher

Stuffed Salmon Balls (recommended by our waitress as a starter)

Chicken was ok. We weren't asked for preference of dark meat over white meat and chicken didn't taste like it was marinated with flavor. It was dry and thank goodness for the hot sauce and ketchup that was doused on it to help. Batter used to coat chicken was well seasoned though.

Sweet potato waffles were great! but rather small. Would have preferred a thicker waffle.

Spinach Omelette was overstuffed with feta cheese. (Maybe rename to Feta omelette since there was more of that than the spinach)

Mimosa pitcher was ok. Juice is a mix of orange, pineapple, and cranberry but didn't give 100% natural which might have elevated it. Champagne was hardly palatable & quality was basic.

Greens were ok.

Biscuit took up about 1/2of our plate and was dry and also unremarkable.

Home fries - would have preferred if they were crisper

Food took a bit longer than expected for the brunch rush on a Sunday so it was nice to have the Stuffed Salmon Balls to start. They were ok but heavily stuffed with a creamy filling that took away from the taste of the salmon itself.

Hostess seemed lost and confused and was coached as she was on her way to seat us. (awkward) Owner may not be the best person for the public relations or guest management role. Not her forté and it was obvious outside of the above experience.

DJ was amazing and took several requests as we were seated right under the speaker. (owner offered to move us but we made it comfortable for ourselves and it was actually the best seat in the house) Afrobeats,R&B, Hip Hop and Soul were on deck. 😍

Ambience was amazing as well and the art work was remarkable.

Would recommend & would return for the overall experience. Especially great for family members who might be visiting Pittsburgh and looking for something "similar" to soul food options per se in...