top 10

Carmine's Italian Restaurant

Claim
marker

424 Fair Oaks Ave
South Pasadena, CA 91030

marker
(626) 799-2266
Incorrect info? Correct your listing
Photos
Carmine's Italian Restaurant - South Pasadena, CA
Carmine's Italian Restaurant - South Pasadena, CA
Carmine's Italian Restaurant - South Pasadena, CA
Carmine's Italian Restaurant - South Pasadena, CA
Carmine's Italian Restaurant - South Pasadena, CA
Carmine's Italian Restaurant - South Pasadena, CA
Carmine's Italian Restaurant - South Pasadena, CA
Carmine's Italian Restaurant - South Pasadena, CA
Carmine's Italian Restaurant - South Pasadena, CA
Carmine's Italian Restaurant - South Pasadena, CA
Carmine's Italian Restaurant - South Pasadena, CA
Reviews
( 15 )
( 7 )
( 3 )
( 2 )
( 5 )

Best

My husband and I were just there this past Saturday... and we will definitely be coming back for more. The portions are enormous. I had the Gumbi and it was FANTASTIC (definitel...

Worst

The food is plain and uninspired, canned tomato sauce (or it tastes like it), and is more like bar food than that of a restaurant. Service was slow, flippant and unattentive. Th...

Editorial review from Citysearch 2/3/2014

Classic Italian restaurant. The little is dim on the restaurant for a good ambiance. Their pasta sauce is really good. I would recommend trying the gumbi. It's a baked pasta. Price is on the expensive side but well worth it. more
Reply | Report abuse |

Good Italian food... great prices & customer service 12/10/2007

My husband and I were just there this past Saturday... and we will definitely be coming back for more. The portions are enormous. I had the Gumbi and it was FANTASTIC (definitely big enough to share)! I wasn't too excited about their garlic bread (you have to order this as a side dish)... but the freshly baked bread they bring out w/your drinks and salads is very tasty & fresh. Pros: Great food & service, good prices Cons: The place is a bit small.. be prepared to wait a bit if you don't have a reservation more
Reply | Report abuse |

The best for family! 2/6/2007

What a great place! I had been to the cocktail side to listen to the sounds of Souled out. Which was great! But one Saturday I decided to take my family there for dinner. Carmine himself greeted us and after about a 20 minute wait for a table we were seated. From the get go we had great service. Our waiter recommended a plate called ""Gumbi"" my boys got a kick out of that. But when our meal came the plate was HUGE! With our 2 meals and the large pizza we ordered the 5 of us had more than enough. We even took home half of one of the dishes and half the pizza. Our drinks were never empty. Carmine even stopped at the table to ask us how we were doing. What a great host! My family was very pleased and when the bill came I was especially pleased. What a deal! It's exactly what an Italian restaurant should be like. I will NEVER go anywhere else for Italian. Pros: Everything! Cons: None what so ever! more
Reply | Report abuse |

Excellent Italian Breadand Great Sauce 9/24/2006

The salads are crisp and fresh with a tangy balsamic dressing. The bread is served warm from the oven. Whether I go there for lunch or dinner, weekend or week nights, the portions are generous and I always have some left over to take home. I keep forgetting to leave room for the Tiramasu! Pros: Free Parking more
Reply | Report abuse |

Good food for a nice price 6/27/2006

Another restaurant that I've been to a few times, Carmine's is very predictable. You're going to get good food, good portions, and a decent bill at the end of the night. The pizza isn't too greasy and the toppings are plentiful. Pastas are good too, and they have plenty on their menu to choose from. Definitely a nice pick if you're in the area. Pros: Food, Price Cons: Parking is a little hectic sometimes more
Reply | Report abuse |

Excellent Value 6/2/2006

I've been taking my family to Carmine's since we moved here in 2002. The restaurant includes very generous portions, reasonable prices, great location, and friendly service. The sauces and recipes remind me of Italian food in Chicago where I came from rather than what I would call typical Southern California Italian food adaptations. Pros: Value, Tasty, Location more
Reply | Report abuse |

Everything's great.. 1/9/2006

I like this place a lot. it's comfortable and inviting, they have a small but nice variety of italian dishes on their menu. you can choose your own pasta dishes with whatever sauces you like. the pizza is above average- large slices, fresh toppings. it's not the kind of place i would go out of my way for if i didnt live within walking distance of it. !!!BUT!!! try calling there and ordering any food for delivery. they have employed a hostess with absolutely NO patience whatsoever. i literally wanted to hang the phone up and order dominos, it was so bad. more
Reply | Report abuse |

Consistently Good 1/5/2006

I've been ordering the same meatball sandwich for years and every time it's the same: great. The salad is big, the bread is plentiful, and my drink is always refilled. No other restuarant has been this consistently excellent for so long. Pros: Good Food, Good Service, Good Ambiance Cons: It's not free more
Reply | Report abuse |

Big Disappointment 10/4/2005

i finally decided to try carmine's after reading some good things about it. it was a huge disappointment. the food was very bland. i tried the sausage and peppers dish which had the ""asterisk"" which meant it was a house favorite and specialty. it was supposed to come with a side of spaghetti with marinara sauce. that came about 5 minutes after the dish arrived. the garlic bread with cheese tasted and looked like the frozen food variety. my friends had other pasta dishes and the sauces tasted like they came straight out of a jar. to make things worse, the service was awful. we were almost done with the bread before the server remembered to bring the balsamic vinegar. i will never go back to this place. Pros: hot bread Cons: bad service, bland food, crowded more
Reply | Report abuse |

Great Experience! 9/29/2005

My girlfriends and I try to meet their at least once a month for dinner. We usually start out in the bar, they have a killer happy hour. Everytime we go into the restaurant we always get such friendly service and they have really attractive waiters which always adds to the experience:) We always indulge in their martinis, they have amazing martininis and I have yet to order an entree that I didn't absolutely love. If you try this place out I recommend sitting on the patio (very romantic) and either having their BBQ chicken pizza which is so good, the Chicken Ceasar or the Gumbi, its this house special with meatballs and cheese. Anyway, if you live in the area its a must try. Pros: Food, Pizza, Ambience more
Reply | Report abuse |

Great Itallian food 9/19/2005

I went in there last Friday with some friends for the first time. We had to wait a little while but we had some stiff cocktails from the bar while we waited. What a great place for happy hour. we met the very friendly owner who sat us and gave us his favorite recommendations. The place is so cute, very Italian! Candlelit, Italian music, photos from Italy. Our server was awesome. She told us it would take about 25-30 minutes for our food and it was worth the wait. We had the Marsala, pizza, a pasta with the house sauce and a few others. It was all yummy. On the contrary to one comment, I found the Gnocchi to be perfectly ""Aldente"" and not mooshy or soft. I use to live in Italy and thats how youre supposed to make it. Anyway, two thumbs up, Im a big fan. Pros: Food, sauces, service Cons: parking more
Reply | Report abuse |

NOT GOOD AT ALL 5/19/2005

The food is plain and uninspired, canned tomato sauce (or it tastes like it), and is more like bar food than that of a restaurant. Service was slow, flippant and unattentive. The food really needs help. more
Reply | Report abuse |

I don't know which was worse...... 5/4/2005

The service or the food. My wife and I had decided to try Carmines after passing by it so much on Fair Oaks. We arrived and were greeted by a rude Manager/hostess who was not attentive to us eventhough they weren't that busy. It took forever for our waitress to greet us and she did it in more of manner that we were inconveincing her. I ordered the Chicken Parm and couldn't finish it because it was so dry and bland. We got our check and left vowing never to come back to this place again. more
Reply | Report abuse |

Worst Italian food I have ever had 3/27/2005

This food in this restaurant is terrible and overpriced. I had the scampi and it was dried out and tasted like rubber. The people in my party who had the veal said it tasted like chicken, and was not fresh. The chicken marsala was a dish of grease. I cannot believe anyone would eat here when we have so many other good Italian restaurants in the area. I would not recommend this to anyone but my worst enemies. Pros: Food is overpriced, food is tasteless, atmosphere is awful Cons: service was acceptabl, rolls are decent, salad served with din more
Reply | Report abuse |

Just average 3/23/2005

Carmine's is not a high class place at all. Generally, it's a place we dine at when we ""require"" Italian food and we're near the restaurant. It's not a place I would go out of my way to find or recommend to friends. The pastas are generally average, the salads are often watery, and the service I had was inattentive. I find the restaurant to be too loud at times, as well. I would recommend other local places instead. Pros: Lots of parking more
Reply | Report abuse |

Shouldn't Italian Food have flavor? 3/22/2005

The service was good, the salad was plentiful, bread was warm and yummy but that's not really what I was hoping for. I ordered the chicken alfredo, first problem, the chicken was cold. Luckily (uh), they nuked it and had it back to me in less than three minutes. Perhaps, all those little micro waves removed all the flavor and any signs of seasoning from the chicken and the sauce, honestly, budget gourmet makes a better alfredo. My date ordered the spaghetti and said that it tasted like it was made from a jar of Ragu and also thought the flavor needed some serious help. We both were disappointed in the really blah food and wished we wouldve just headed up the street to old town, for the same amount of money, we couldve gone to some commercial Italian restaurant and had a much better meal. Pros: Big Dinner Salad, Warm Bread, Friendly waiter Cons: The Food, The Ambiance, Not for Date Night more
Reply | Report abuse |

Good Family Italian 2/20/2005

Fresh baked rolls, large dinner salad, good pasta and pizza, with a full bar and reasonably priced. Not much more you can ask for. We go there about twice a month. Pros: Value, pasta and pizza, full bar Cons: parking, crowded more
Reply | Report abuse |

Great Value, Good Food 1/27/2005

Carmine's in South Pas is one of the best places to eat. They serve good food -- not great, but good. And you cannot beat the prices, serivce or servings. It is a great neighborhood place. BTW, the pizza is great and their bar is an excellent spot for watching the big game. Pros: Service, Serving size, Price Cons: Busy, Crowded parking lot more
Reply | Report abuse |

No to the Gnocchi 11/18/2004

I love Italian food and was pleased to see Carmine's down the hill from my home. My visions of becoming a regular at a local eatery were dashed when I tasted the gnocchi. The little dumplings were chewey instead of light and tender the way good Italian restaurants make it. And the marinara sauce tasted like a high schooler's experiment with garlic. I love garlic and put it in almost everything but this sauce had a bitter garlic bite...almost like the chef wasn't used to using fresh garlic. The iceburg salad was bland and somewhat wilted and the rolls were almost stale. I did enjoy the ambiance. Very homey in a country sort of way. Our server was pleasant and helpful although she didn't seem to know the menu and how to make suggestions. Pros: ambiance, location Cons: , food, food more
Reply | Report abuse |

Great lunch spot 10/10/2004

I just moved to the Pasadena area about a month ago and someone from my gym suggested Carmine's for lunch. It was so perfect for our group. There were 10 of us in our party and we got in with just a brief wait. They gave us their ""private dining"" room which was ideal for our busines meeting. I had the Gumbi speacial, whch was this pasta sauteed with meatballs and cheese, it was delicious! Some of my friends had the pizza, some had HUGE salads and sanwiches. Everyone was very happy. Greta lunch spot, cute atmosphere and really good service. I recommend it. They even deliver, we get it like twice a month at our office. Pros: Food, Price, Convenience more
Reply | Report abuse |
< Previous 1 2 Next >
Menu for Carmine's Italian Restaurant


Summer SALE!!!:
15% OFF all yearly plans
Use year15 at checkout. Expires 1/1/2021
Editorial

  • In Short
    The warm dining room bustles with families sharing pizzas and pasta every night. Wood furniture, empty Chianti bottles and closely packed tables add to the homey atmosphere....

  • 12/18/2006 Provided by Citysearch
Additional information
  • Hours: Sat-Sun: 12pm-12am, Thu: 11am-11pm, Mon-Wed: 11am-2pm, 5pm-10pm, Fri: 11am-2pm, 5pm-12am
  • Payments: American Express, Discover, Master Card, Visa
  • Neighborhoods: San Marino
badge