Carmello's — Restaurant in Virginia

We were feeling Italian, so we decided to give Carmello's a try. I am a Grubhub driver, and have picked up from here a few times, so why not? When we got there, we felt underdressed. They pronounce themselves as fine dining and sound "fancy", but by no means did it feel as fancy as they'd like to be. The atmosphere is dated. With paint chipping off the walls, and cluttered and dusty decorations. The women's restroom was filthy, it felt like a bathroom from a Piggly Wiggly. There was music playing, but it was so quiet you could hear the silverware hitting teeth. The menu is small, which Gordon Ramsay would say that means the restaurant can do orders in a timely manner. I feel like, with a shrimp allergy and not eating veal, there were only three options to choose from. I would have preferred to eat the scampi gamberi, and just subbed chicken. We were given water for the table but were never asked if we wanted something else, but that was fine. They gave us bread, which, us being hungry from a day in the sun, we enjoyed forthright. The waitresses were very attentive, we always had water, bread, and probably several times to voice our tables concerns. Now to the food. I ordered the Baked Brie for the table. It came out cold, like it was sitting out, got to room temperature, and then placed under a heat lamp until the waitress came back and brought it. It was not the Baked Brie I am used to. It was $10, so I really felt the need to finish it and not complain. I felt like saying something would not only offend the restaurant, but everyone in it, since the atmosphere was dead quiet. The mains came out within twenty minutes from ordering. As the waitress handed me my plate, my eyes immediately went to the almost black marsala sauce. In the dim lighting, I genuinely thought it was chocolate sauce. It was incredibly salty and it almost tasted like soy sauce. I had my partner taste it, and he said it tasted like Yakisoba. The noodles in my dish tasted like egg noodles, or perhaps, like they had been made then frozen, then warmed up. Other members of my party ordered the lasagna and the scampi gamberi. The one who ordered the lasagna only had one thing to say, and that was, "that was not a $18 lasagna." The one who ordered the shrimp dish said, "those were the biggest shrimp I have ever seen! But that sauce tasted kinda off, like it was prepared forever ago. It also upset my stomach for two days after." I couldn't finish my meal, neither could my tablemates. We got them boxed up, and went home and couldn't bring ourselves to eat them. All together, our order was $92, and we ended up throwing it away. This place was certainly not for us, but at least it was a...

The short take- classic casual Italian place, excellent food, solid service and a serviceable and well priced wine list. Worth it. For Charlottesville it's a steal. The longer take. I will forgive some of the younger reviewers there gripes. If you didn't work in the restaurant industry in the 80's, 90's, aughts and teens, you won't know about the death of old school fine-dining, the rise of casual fine-dining that built an entire new ecosystem- French Laundry mammals living among the bones of Maisonette dinosaurs. But if the casual fine-dining mammals thrived, another species also survived; the classic Sunday Italian family restaurant. Carmello's falls into this category and has all the charms of its ancestors. It is a bit dressed up, but not required. It has a large cast of regulars that are treated like regulars (i.e. better than you, but come back now and again and you too will get a birthday tiramisu without asking). You'll not find anticipatory waiters kissing your butt and pestering you every time you turn around. You are an adult. Tell them what you want when you want it, then be patient, they have other tables. You will not find reinvented dishes, no inside-out heirloom squash ravioli on a bet of sunchoke. You will find lasagna. You will find clam linguini. You will be satisfied. The dining room nods toward fine dining but this is a family place and unpretentious despite the art choices (which I rather liked, I even appreciate the monster energy drink cooler repurposed for the bar reach in). All said and done, two martinis, two glasses of wine, an app, salads, two entrees and a shared desert were under $130 before tip. I think back to a $600 dollar meal I had a few months back at one of C-ville's premier eateries, and how much less satisfied I was with everything. It's a bit frayed, a bit worn and the staff are all working VERY hard and I worry for their health, but it also felt more and more comfortable every minute I was there. I saw old friends catching up, families enjoying time together, and a first date (he had bad hair, her bad shoes and they were having such a great time). I had a great date too, and I have a feeling they'll know us by name by this...

This restaurant is in a strip mall with ample parking. At 7:00 on a Friday night the restaurant was at less than 50% capacity, so no reservations needed. Based on Yelp reviews I was expecting this to be a dive with good food. Charlottesville Yelp was misleading on that one.

The host and our waiter (he appeared to be the only person working the floor) was nice if not a little odd (he reminded me of some Christopher Walken, Steve Buscemi hybrid). The service was definitely on the slow side.

I ordered the Fettuccine Carbonara. While we waited we were brought bread with an herbed butter that was pretty unappetizing looking, but tasted okay and house salads. The salads were way overdressed and the dressing wasn't particularly good (no idea what it was supposed to be either which was a little strange). When our meals made it out I didn't have particularly high expectations anymore. The pasta itself was cooked well, but everything else about the meal was pretty disappointing. It was very garlicky and the pancetta was flabby and hadn't been crisped at all.

This is another example of a restaurant experience where everything we had we could make significantly better at our home. When I dine out I expect my food to be better than what I can prepare myself, which doesn't seem unreasonable since I don't cook professionally. The food being sub par, tied with the dated restaurant and the slow service definitely puts this as a...