I went into Carmella's today for a solo lunch and was able to sit right at the bar. I got a tuna melt and was expecting to take half home but it was so good I ate it all. The house made chips were also excellent. Service was great and the bartender was friendly. There's plenty of tables inside and a decent sized bar; it wasn't too busy so it was a nice quiet and relaxing solo lunch. I'll definitely be back for another one! read more

Carmella's Cafe - Tuna Melt - Italian Near Me - New Hartford, New York

The service was quick and the atmosphere was super cute. There are tons of options at great prices.

We have always enjoyed meals at Carmella's. The service has been great, the food is pretty good, love the homemade pasta; but one waitress absolutely ruined our experience there tonight. When we arrived, I was embraced by a waitress who had waited on us many times over the years, and another one who came out to see us. And then we got the waitress from hell - Sierra. The only waitress, by the way, who wore cut off jeans so that the cheeks showed on her ass (my personal opinion is that the kitchen manager enjoyed that because he was the one who came out to "speak to me " in her defense when I asked for a manager. (Perhaps Carmella's wants to be another "Hooters," although I see a lot of elderly people eating there) Sierra was fine when she first started waiting on us, but at the end of the meal, when she brought us the takeout boxes, I asked if she would please box them up for us because the other wonderful waitresses who wait on us do. (Mind you, I have to attend to so many things for my husband with Parkinson's and a walker.) Her response was, as she walked away, "no way." It was the end of a very long day for me, taking my husband (who uses a walker and has Parkinson's ) on many errands and appointments. While the food is good at Carmella's, I have eaten much better at One Genny. Truly, they don't have the homemade pasta, but the variety of excellent food options is phenomenal, and their special features menu changes weekly. They have some wonderful chefs (not simply short order cooks ) at One Genny. I've had many family parties at Carmella's, but if this is what they have to offer for the people who wait on you, I am old and tired, and have no patience for it. read more

Restaurant seems very outdated. First seats were in the absolute worst place with music blasting. They moved us. Waitress was ok. Steak was good. Rice pilaf was mushy. Wife California Pasta was just ok. She didn't even want to take the leftovers home. Overall disappointing. read more

I've dined at Carmella's Cafe throughout the last several years when visiting the Utica / New Hartford area. This occasion was my first take-out experience. Once again, I was impressed and not at all disappointed as the to-go food was equally as scrumptious as previous meals. Of course I ordered Utica's Best Chicken Riggies! I paired this with a cup of Chic-O-Rina soup. I exchanged the olives for extra mushrooms. My cousin ordered the same but had hers prepared the normal way and paired with a side salad. We also requested bread which was accompanied by delicious whipped butter with herbs. The food was delicious and the portions were plentiful allowing for leftovers. Our meals were bagged and ready upon arrival. I highly recommend Carmella's and specifically, the chicken riggies! read more

Carmella's Cafe - Utica's Best Chicken Riggies (no olives, extra shrooms) - Italian Near Me - New Hartford, New York

Amazing food and great service! Great portions and 2 for 1 drinks. We eat here every time we visit New Hartford.

Most servers are really nice. A slight few have colorism issues. We were long time customers, this has diminished our patronage. Food quality has diminished. Got Riggies to go, chicken was burnt and this flavored the whole dish. Sauce was ok but didn't coat well. Veggies wee large pieces but not cooked well. Disappointing. Love their Red White and Blue dish. Wedding Soup was really tasty! Nachos were good because they weren't chincy with the chili. Had tortellini w/ Alfredo, that was excellent, tortellini was prepared well and the sauce was the right cosistency. Happy hour drinks were decent and a good price for what you get. They weren't watered down so that was good. I do wish their food was seasoned more. Overall the staff makes this restaurant better when they treat customers fairly. I would recommend a try for this restaurant. Ambiance is pretty cool. Felt comfortable in the space. read more

Decent place that serves mostly Italian food but also has many traditional American items in order to satisfy a larger variety of food preferences. The prices are quite high on many of the items, and not everything is of the best quality or taste. I had the herb grilled chicken breast, which was quite dry. In fact, the best part was the entire broccoli crown I had on the side. While I might normally give this restaurant 4 stars, I bumped it down to 3 because for a restaurant that is as popular as this one and has been around for quite some time, there are not nearly enough parking spots, and some people in our party of 6 had to park in a different restaurant parking lot and walk over. read more

Carmella's Cafe - Chicken parmigiana - Italian Near Me - New Hartford, New York

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Nice friendly atmosphere and staff but the food just doesn't really do anything for me. It's basic American food and there are some local options like riggies and greens that are good. The drink specials are excellent prices and they have weekly specials. Not my type of food but my parents enjoy it. read more

Service was very good. Happy hour drinks nice touch. Utica greens very bland. Chicken riggies ok but no pop. Go for the hamburgers.... read more

This past Sunday , while at work I thought of doing a pickup at Carmella's . Let me preface that I had be going here since it opened, my children grew up going there, grandchildren like eating there(popcorn machine) we have family events and I have arranged professional meetings there. So at 730 I made a call, asked if I could put in a small order for pickup, was put on hold for a few minutes then told after 4 minutes because of the number of people in the restaurant they weren't taking phone orders. I accepted that thinking they were being slammed. I had to drive that way home, less than 20 cars!! Too busy for a pasta dish and salad to go??? Very disappointed in decision makers. Looking forward to Tullys and Castlewood coming to the neighborhood! read more

I've been coming here since it opened in 80s and it's always been my very fav Utica area restaurant until today. First from the time of my last dinner here a few months ago to today.. the prices are horrifying and insane. Like mouth dropping! $16-18 for basic bar apps in this area are nuts! That's more than some steakhouses! And my fav trio dish $33 literally blew our mind. But beyond that.. the food I have eaten time and time again here over years.. and I have years of photos and videos on my phone ad compared them and can say these dishes came out wrong, overcooked, some inedible, and different plating. The Utica greens I usually find here to be one of the best in the region instead tonight were overcooked, greasy, flavorless and had hard pieces due to overcooking. The bread arrived almost burnt hard and dry as paper. And only one tiny butter for a whole usual loaf. Not at these prices! Almost insulting. The salad came with little dressing. But otherwise good as usual. The Riggies were some of worst of my lifetime the recipe was different or something but dry, flavorless and so disappointing. The lasagna ?as my replacement) was better but also bland and how nuts for these prices you don't even get grated cheese or pepper on top anymore. The lasagna was screaming for some grated cheese! And we ordered the sundae as we thought how could you screw that up and the cannoli cream was fine or okay but the waffle was INEDIBLE hard overcooked and saturated in oil so much that after an hour after leaving al three of us can't get the taste of it out of our mouths. Atmosphere is same charm as over the decades. Staff was friendly. Manager spoke to us and was nice. I waited months to return to this area for my fav restaurant and meal and I couldn't be more disappointed. I hope whatever is happening internally at the kitchen is fixed soon and things go back to same recipes, presentations and cooking styles. read more

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We had great service with poor food quality. Very disappointed. The price reflects the quality.

They have a great happy hour buy one get one free. I just don't like that they make both drinks at the same time and give them to you. I don't even know how that's legal cause that's considered over pouring however still a good deal. The food was excellent Service was good. They have your traditional Italian menu and food is plentiful was made nice and good and yummy. read more

We frequented this restaurant years ago then, for no reason except more restaurant choices, we stopped going. Stumbled upon it again when we noticed one morning that they also served breakfast. We are always seated right away. The staff is friendly and our breakfast arrives quickly. It is the only place we have found that serves a few choices for avocado toast (very good but not if you require a big breakfast). Plan on returning for a dinner meal in the near future. My only reason for one less star is that the place desperately needs to be updated. Everything is the same from years ago, and some tables, etc., are very warn. Otherwise, a nice place to eat. read more

Spent $70 for two people just for carryout. We wanted a nice meal for our anniversary, however the food was not good. I got the combo of chicken, pasta, and steak. The pasta tasted like water. I had to season the steak at home because there was no seasoning whatsoever. The steak was cooked nicely though. Also the service was quick. Paying $33 for something you have to season at home because it tastes like nothing is crazy! read more

We came here for a late lunch with family who lives by this place. The first impression was seeing how italian they made the interior, I really liked it. I ordered the appetizer sampler. The fried ravioli was absolutely amazing and so was the marinera. Not sure if it is home made or not but it tasted like it was. Also the onion rings are amazing and absolutely humongous. My wife got the buffalo chicken wrap that was also huge with nice juicy chicken with just the right amount of sauce. I thought the prices were very reasonable and the service was great. read more

Wonderful food and service. I had the chicken parmigiana, possibly the best I ever had here.

I have been to Carmella's many times at this point. I know what it is good for and the food is usually average with homemade pasta which helps a lot with the score, service was usually great. However, I'm disappointed this time with the service. Twice, the waitress took the order wrong and when I asked, she just say I heard this... without any apology. She did offer fixes but I think I care more about the service attitude. Not to mention the steak wrap they gave me was cooked a bit over (I was never asked how I like it cooked), the sweet potato fries were absolutely pathetic with grease all absorbed. Yeah, never offered the bread. read more

Delicious food! 2 for one drinks! Special candle for the birthday girl's dessert! We'll definitely be back if we're in the area!

First visit to this place and will NEVER return. No one greeted us at the hostess station and it took 15 minutes for the waitress to get to our table ( just 2 of us for lunch) Finally got our disgusting Philly cheesesteak sandwich 40 minutes after placing our order. It was burnt to a crispy black char. Couldn't really tell what it was on the plate. Waitress should be embarrassed to even deliver it. Thinking she didn't pick up our order when done and when she finally did, they just put it back in the oven and heated it up to the burnt stage. Were they all having a bad day?? read more

Service was good, but the breakfast was cheap. I had the eggs Benedict. They split a sausage link in two for each half. One egg was split in two as well. How cheap! We wont be going back for breakfast anymore. read more

We got there that sat us down immediately The waitress did not wright anything down but Got everything right you could tell she was very experienced the places decorations were so good. read more

Well order of steak and shrimp came with no shrimp. No compensation even a dessert even though the manager brought the corrected meal out. read more

Not a fan of this restaurant but friends wanted to go because of 2 for 1 drink special. Service was good.1 star. Beer selection For craft beers poor. 2 for 1 not worth it. Appears like 4 or possible 6 oz of beer per frosted glass. Not sure what they charge for the beer. Spouse had a spinach salad and it was good. 1 star. Chicken parm sandwich overcooked dry and more sauce for me was 99 cents. Sorry to say, I don't recommend as there are many better restaurants in the area. read more

If you need someplace to eat late at night on a Sunday or Monday, this is the place to go! My partner and I went on a late Sunday evening, and were absolutely delighted! Our waitress, Nariya, gave us some of the best service we've had around here. She was so attentive and personable- we loved her! What a great representative of Carmella's she was! It turns out that 2 for 1 drinks are automatic, and they are delicious! Glad I had a designated driver! They had some great holiday special drinks. I had the sugar cookie martini and my partner has the cranberry mule- which kicked like one! As for the food? It was excellent! The handmade fettuccine was great, nice and al dente. The sauce stuck to the pasta, as it should! Lots of flavor and herbs in it, too. It's on special on Sundays, as well as chicken riggies, the latter being a really great deal! My partner had a blue cheese burger that was excellent. Perfectly cooked! I have a feeling we are going to be regulars here, late at night. The menu is extensive, and I am excited about exploring it! read more

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Okay so I've been here a half a dozen times, and it's always a nice experience. They don't take reservations but if you get there a little early and don't try to walk in at 6:00 on a Saturday you can usually get a table pretty quickly. The menu items are your standard Italian choices for the most part anyways and they do everything pretty well... The waitstaff is always really friendly and courteous. The other reason for my five stars is the calamari. Okay it's just an appetizer, and actually according to the receipt that I'm looking it costs $17.99.. But it tastes really freaking great. My wife has had calamari literally all over the country and some places are horrible and some places are not so bad but the calamari here is done perfectly. We even went back a couple times in case it was a fluke but each time was consistent. read more

Best homemade pasta! We have been going for years and they always provide the best meals and nicest staff.

Sunday Brunch... Seated promptly and our waitress Tara was very nice. Ordered the steak egg and greens and the Giambrotte. Good flavor in the food, steak cooked right and good service. We will be back. read more

Carmella's Cafe - Giambrotte - a mix of eggs, potatoes, meat and greens. - Italian Near Me - New Hartford, New York

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In a town saturated with Italian restaurants this is the best. Incredible red sauce and nice staff.

Wow, will not be back anytime soon. The chicken riggies and the chicken broccoli Alfredo were definitely memorable and not for a good reason. The waitress told us everything was cooked to order, the photo will speak for itself. Even a beginner cook would know fresh Alfredo sauce doesn't separate like this. The service was okay and no fault to her for the poor food. Again, we will not be back. read more

Carmella's Cafe - The bottom of the bowl after taking the noodles out. - Italian Near Me - New Hartford, New York

Been going to Carmella's forever but this past visit the Chicken and Greens Wrap was swimming in grease and juice. It was inedible. I've noticed a few of their menu items need more TLC. read more

Went here as it was recommended by a friend who had a daughter attend polytechnic college that is near this place It was very crowded on Friday night but we were seated quickly Apitizwr was brusheta on toasted bread that was down well and we shared the chicken reggies which seems to be a staple out there. Chciken was tender and sauce had flavor Service was pleasant and efficient Nice family restaurant Portions were plentiful read more

Horrible, horrible, horrible. The best thing I can say about the food is it was crap. I ordered a tuna melt, and I took one look at it and sent it back. It was small chunks of tuna in, what looked like, gravy. It was running out of the bread. Just looking at it made me gag. I then ordered the chicken tenders. The coating was totally tasteless and so was the chicken. The dipping sauce was the only flavor. They gave me around 6 of them and charged $17!!! And this was for lunch. Drinks were about $4 for a glass of iced tea and if you took out the ice, it was about one cup of tea. So basically $4 for a glass of water with some tea flavor. I don't get here often but have always looked forward to stopping in when in the area. I've always enjoyed the food. NEVER again. $47.83 for 2 orders of chicken tenders, one order of fries, and 2 tea-flavored waters is totally ridiculous. read more

I took my friend to lunch at this restaurant a few weeks ago. I expected to be wowed by authentic Italian food. Instead, I was thoroughly disappointed. We waited well over 30 minutes for our food to arrive although the restaurant was relatively empty, and a stray hair was immediately found in my friend's dish of pasta. Although the manager attempted his best to be courteous and offered my friend a new dish and free desert, he also suggested that the hair couldn't possibly have come from a member of the kitchen staff. The hair was black. My friend and I have blonde hair, as well as our server. Also, the dish I had was bland and lukewarm. $38 for horrible food! At least the waitress was kind. We will not be dining here again. Poor quality. If you are considering going somewhere else, please do! read more

I have been purchasing Carmella's Chickarina soup for years and have always loved it. The last few times I've picked up a quart have been truly disappointing. The broth which was once golden and yummy is now brown and unappetizing. There used to be large pieces of chicken along with chicken meatballs. Now the pieces of chicken are almost nonexistent. Additionally, the pasta was almost nonexistent and the oyster crackers were stale. Please bring back the old recipe. Thank you. read more

Horrible time, service was terrible, food was barely edible (overcooked eggs and something had a spoiled taste to it) grandsons juice had something floating in it. Won't be going back anytime soon. Don't recommend breakfast. read more

Me and a dear friend , he suggested the place been here many times before . soon as we seated to the BAR , Hannah M. name gotten from the receipt , ask what we drinking , we haven't even gotten the frost from the cold of us yet. This behavior is becoming constant around here in Utica Bartenders asking do you want a shot or a double , when I already ask for a shot . soon as you come in the door , what is you drinking , I feel its desperate measure to ask these question , What I'm just coming in to see what the heat is on ? two for one special are good , but the receipt says well drinks but the bartender spent minutes explaining bottom shelf from top shelf , so what is a well drink with ice feel to the rim. So well drinks cost ten dollar , well ice was the drink more ice then liquid , Do desperate time means pass it over to the customer.- I thought the wing special was 25 cent a wing ?19 for ten wings so the price is in the BOGO .I'm paying a dollar a wing less a dollar because they come's in ten denomination. MATH don't LIE PEOPLE DO read more

Very pleased with my first visit,my pizza was fantastic the utica greens was great and my wife's lasagna was great, service was great worth a try if you never been. read more

Carmella's Cafe - Rustic artichoke pizza delicious - Italian Near Me - New Hartford, New York

Carmella's in Utica was recommended to us by a local. Despite its THREE STAR rating, we decided to give it a try. We were pretty impressed with the food and the service. Only downside, which they made good on, was that we asked for a steak medium well and it came out quite overdone and a little tough. We mentioned it to our server and the manager came over and immediately took the entree off our bill. So overall FOUR STARS from us for mostly great food and excellent customer service. Nice ambiance too. Kind of like a TGI Friday's if you've ever been to one of those. Enjoy!! read more