I have been to Carmine's before and know it to be a madhouse to get a seat. So I thought I was smart and called at 9:30 am to make a reservation for that night. I thought since we were seeing a show, an early dinner of between 4:30 and 5:00 would be a possibility but I was dead wrong. The earliest reservation they had available was 11:00 am. So we had done a trick once before and it had paid off this time. We walked in and looked at the bar area. The bar area is fairly large but packed. There are many bar stools along the very long bar and about 10 tall small tables. These tables are really designed to hold drinks while waiting for a table but for many it could hold dinner. The trick is all placement and timing. First move is to scope out a table that has people eating on it. The tables with drinks could last forever. But with food, you know you can see where they are at in their meal. These tables are meant for eating and leaving. you won't find people sitting there for a long time talking because it's really loud and pushy. So once you find your table or tables with food, you see where they are at with their meal or blatantly ask. We scoped two and then asked both of them. One of them was not leaving anytime soon and the other was finished. Cool, no one else laid claim to it as it would have been identified at first look. It's New York remember? I'm Waitin' Here!!!!
The table cleared out maybe 5 minutes after talking so the timing couldn't have been better. A reservation wouldn't have gotten seated faster. All menu's are on the wall. All your classic Italian dishes are served from Baked Clams Oreganata, Hot Antipasto to all the pasta you can think of. All the dishes are meant to be shared. Now when I say shared, a single dish can feed probably six. So be ready to eat. We started off with the Carmine's salad which was a mix of fresh greens, olives, pepperoncini's, and dried tomatoes in a light vinaigrette. You can't go wrong with this other than getting scolded by some real Italians saying you have that at the end of the meal.
We also got the Fried Calamari since it is a favorite of my kids. The batter it was fried in was not a super heavy fried batter and the marinara sauce for dipping was delicious.
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For our main dishes we wanted one pasta dish and one meat dish. So for the pasta dish, we saw the Lasagna from the previous diners and it looked amazing. So we decided to order that. Normally we get just meatballs and spaghetti or something like that so this was a change for us. Again the portion is huge. We only finished 1/2 of it but it was really good. For Lasagna Lovers, this is a winner. Again the Marinara sauce that is used is so tasty. Bits of oregano and spices float in the gravy as it is layered in soft noodles, Ricotta Cheese and Chopped meat.
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The meat dish we chose was Chicken Parmesan. A staple in Italian cooking. Plus again we didn't want to get too adventurous with the kids because if they didn't eat it, we didn't have room or space for another dish. Again, this dish was done so well. Carmine's takes the tender Chicken Breast and pounds it so thin that it must cook through on contact. Topped with the Marinara sauce and Mozzarella Cheese makes this dish complete. I highly recommend it.
Eating in the bar area comes quick so we were done in less than 40 minutes from when we sat down. No sooner were sitting back did we feel a tap on the shoulder. A woman was there asking if we were finishing soon. And the cycle starts over again.
Carmine's has two location. One on 44th street off Broadway and the other is on Broadway uptown near 91st street. For a loud fun family style meal, you won't go wrong at Carmine's.
For More Information please visit them on the web at www.carminesnyc.com/
