Carmine's Washington DC Reviews

I've eaten at Carmine's plenty of times, but recently reserved and used one of their private dining rooms for a wedding rehearsal. We reached out a few months before the wedding and received plenty of information on our options for reserving rooms and picking a menu. We arrived Friday night at 7pm (same night as a Capitals game) and the restaurant was PACKED and loud, but they took us right to our reserved room where we could close the door, which kept it nice and quiet for our families to interact. The tables were already set, and they had printed out menus based on our selections. Our main server greeted us when we came in, and was wonderful to work with for the evening. Our room was reserved for 3 hours, and they brought in appetizers, entrees, and desserts at a great pace to keep the evening moving. Our server even asked us if we wanted the music in the room turned up or down. The food was amazing and everyone was very pleased and full. We had a lot of leftovers, which they happily boxed up for us when we were finished. The room was a comfortable size and had plenty of decorations and finishing. It was a wonderful, comfortable experience to get our wedding weekend started. I'd highly recommend them for private dining or as a regular diner!

Outstanding service. Staff was exceptionally easy to work with. Food came out hot and plentiful. We had a lot if left overs and were staying in a hotel. We asked the management if they would hold the food a few days until Sunday. They gladly did so much to our satisfaction.

Carmine's party planner and manager gave us excellent advise and were very hands on so the hosts could enjoy the evening.

We got rave reviews by our guests on the food and service.

We did our Rehearsal Dinner at Carmine's in the DaVinci private room and it was amazing! Kathleen and her staff made sure to accommodate all of our requests and all of our guests said it was the best rehearsal dinner they have ever been too. The bar service was fantastic and the food was abundant and delicious! I loved the table set-up in the room and they provided a microphone for the Father of the Groom to give his toast. We got married at the Hotel Monaco in DC which is a super short walk to Carmine's. But I would recommend Carmine's for any rehearsal dinner in the DC area because it is family style platters and the Italian-style food is something completely different than what you are most likely serving for dinner at your wedding reception. We will definitely be going back for dinner too! Thank you!

Michelle was extremely helpful in planning and organizing the event. The wait staff was professional and attentive, and the kitchen was particularly responsive to dietary needs and allergies. The feedback from our guests was all very positive and the atmosphere was joyful and comfortable. Everything went as planned or even better than anticipated.

Dear Michelle,

I wanted to personally thank you for the fantastic Rehearsal Dinner for our son and daughter-in-law on May 28, 2016. It was a pleasure to work with you over the phone the past year and we are absolutely thrilled that we chose Carmine’s for our dinner. You are very professional and you really know your business. I appreciated your advice and enjoyed our discussions on the room, set up and menu. The food was absolutely delicious and Elyssa (Alissa) and the wait staff were attentive and really on the ball with their service. The room looked great and was perfect for our guest list. We also very much enjoyed Wayne, the bartender. I was so happy you were working that evening so I could meet you in person. We received many compliments from our guests on the entire evening.

Thank you again for all you did to insure a delicious, comfortable and fun evening for us. We will look forward to dining with you when we return to visit our newlyweds!

This event could not of been any better. Kathleen was wonderful to work with from the beginning. The service was excellent. Food could not be better. Loved every minute of it

Over the course of planning for this event, Kathleen Good provided timely responses to our questions and made assurances that 'all will be well' for our event. And she was right. We received our requested room, and it was elegant. Ana, the Waitstaff, was efficient, friendly, and met all our guest's requests.

No one in our party was disappointed with the dinner, location, service, or collegiality.

Carmine's was fantastic. They accommodated special requests and were always quick to respond during the planning phases. The day of, everything was set up perfectly and the staffer was phenomenal. I will not hesitate to have another event here.

Very budget-friendly venue for my rehearsal dinner of 22 people. We worked with Kelly to get the event set up and pick the menu, which was a seamless process. On-site staff was helpful and made sure all of our guests were taken care of.

Carmine's back dining room is ideal for a private party.
The value is excellent and Kelly advised on menu selections,
table arrangements, scheduling, and care for our guests with special needs.

We held our rehearsal dinner for 41 people in the Michelangelo room at Carmine's on a Friday night in April 2015. Kathleen helped us arrange everything for the dinner. She was wonderful to work with -- either my mother or I bugged her on a weekly basis, and then on a daily basis leading up to our event --- and Kathleen was always helpful, patient, and accommodating with all of our requests. The dinner itself was terrific! The food was delicious and plentiful, and the service was outstanding. Our guests still talk about how nice everything was at our rehearsal dinner at Carmine's!

Private room was perfect, the night was very important to us and it exceeded our expectations. Service was impecible , food was plentiful, timely and outstanding

It was my MIL that really hired them, but the food was AMAZING and there was SO much. We have enough leftovers to feed ourselves for the entire month. The setting was wonderful, the service was great, and the food was complimented a million times. They were easy to work with too. We had about 58 guests in the back room and it was a perfect fit. It holds up to 75 but that would have been tight.

The event planning staff at Carmine's was wonderful! Very easy to work with and incredibly accommodating. We had our rehersal dinner scheduled for 7:00 pm and arrived early at 6:15. After a round of drinks at the bar, the manager opened our room up to us around 6:30 and immediately began serving the appetizers. They were so welcoming. The food was incredible! We had passed hors d'oeuvres, seated appetizers, a pasta course and an entree course, and dessert. Every single dish was absolutely amazing.

The event planner, Michelle, did a great job setting up our wedding reception. The wait staff was outstanding. They provided outstanding service and went above and beyond to make our event perfect.

Kathleen Good was extremely helpful and met with us on several occasions as we planned the dinner. The waiters were attentive and brought the food quickly to the tables. We appreciated the waiters bringing wine to the tables rather than require everyone to wait at the bar.

Carmine's was a great venue for our Rehearsal Dinner. They easily accommodated our party of nearly 50 guests. They have many private dining rooms to choose from depending on the size of your party. They have several food and drink packages available that should satisfy anyone's price point. The food was excellent and drew raves afterwards from many of our guests. The events staff was wonderful, every flexible, and were able to accommodate a couple of guests with dietary restrictions. I definitely would hold another event at Carmine's.

We had our rehearsal dinner of 45 people in the Michelangelo Room at Carmine's in Chinatown. The food was amazing and the service was great. We worked with Michelle Joseph and she was flexible and allowed us to make changes up until the week of the event. We had a lot of questions and she was patient and responsive.

The event coordinator and servers were helpful and very attentive. The venue was easy to get to and perfect for a group of mixed ages, including elderly guests. Our guests were very complimentary of the venue and the food. Our only concern was their policy of putting bottles of wine on each table then charging for the wine, even if it was not consumed. We were not made aware of this policy prior to the event and were not given the option on event day. Overall, it was a wonderful party.

Michelle is absolutely wonderful to work with I. Planning event!! Very professional and quick on emails. Michelle is fabulous and Carmine's definitely has a true gem.

The food and ambiance were great (I would recommend getting the heavier sauces and the oil based ones came out watery). The calamari, salmon, chicken parmesan, and tiramisu were wonderful!!!! The communication from the catering manager could have been better. It took him forever to respond to our emails.

Clearly, their quality has gone down since the last review. First off, the food is terrible - as we found out after the contract was signed. E.g., the eggplant parmesan is a sad, grey piece of goop. Second and more importantly, there is no integrity in their operations - this is a corporate/ mafia style operation. They basically lure you into signing a contract by telling half truths (e.g., we offer a tasting - yes, but you pay full price for all meals). They won't apply the deposit to another day/ time or refund it in the event they are able to get another reservation for the same day. I don't want to use them because of their terrible attitude and a values mismatch, but sadly, I am stuck.