Carmine's Creative Italian Cuisine

I read all the yelp reviews before I went and again when I got home. Three stars and down... They were on the money!

The food is TASTELESS! Even the salad they served was a house Caesar which was plain tasteless lettuce with some very hard shaved cheese on top. The cheese was either sitting out for a long time or was shaved from the rind. The side dressing that was on the plate was bad.

Service was VERY slow. Even waiting for my change from the bill took so long the waitress apologized. I could not see the reason for this.

As mentioned by others the flatware was so cheap it was unpleasant to eat with.

I ordered veal and the sauce should have consisted of butter, lemon juice and wine yet the dish was served in a sauce that was thick and tasteless. The veal had no taste. I never add salt to food but tried it tonight. Had to try something.

Don't know what more I can say. Everything is just TASTELESS. It's a shame as the presentation was nice and it was such a disappointment.

First visit here, went for early dinner with a friend.
Great menu, including an option to do gluten free pasta!
Decided on a glass of Carmenere, and the Rigatoni Napoli (shrimp, capers, kalamata olives, tomatoes, and pasta in white wine sauce) which also came with hot fresh baked rolls with an herb butter and a side salad.
I ordered the smaller portion, which still was a larger size than I expected. It was DELICIOUS!

The decor is nice and mellow, the food seems very authenticly Italian, and our waiter Charlie was attentive and friendly. I will definitely be back again!

The wait was horrible. It was almost to the point of walking out. No bread, no drink refills, no waiter checking in...
I stopped our server 3 times to find out where the *bleep* is the food? Bring us bread, bring us something! But the place does a lucrative ordering business and we, by the fate of timing, fell behind an order that almost wiped out kitchens prepared food. An hour late...tada...dishes filled with aromatic flavors emerged.

The bread was freshly hot out of the oven, real butter and dishes full of beautifully bountiful mounds of fresh food! He ordered Rigatoni & Sweet Sausage and I couldn't get past the HUGE appetizer plate of fresh bread serving prosciutto, mozzarella, tomato slices and anchovies. The food looked better than I could imagine. One bite after another and silence pursued. For the better part of the meal we ate mouthful after mouthful, quietly absorbing every single bit of food. At last I knew why I had waited, it felt as if every taste bud was alive. The food is delicious. We couldn't get enough! Now I understood why I waited. And it was worth the wait.

Carmine, the owner and the chef, hails from Naples Italy. He cooks food from his region and the menu is rich with choices. We will be back, very soon.

The food is always great thank you for the ever positive experience! Service and food is phenomenal.

How are people complaining about service? The service is too notch! Servers & busboys passed our table non stop. Not over bearing, but if our water or soda needed filling or an empty plate needed removing they were there.
I enjoyed the food. It tasted fresh, newly made & every ingredient complimented each other. Though I would suggest that the anti pasti should be shared.the servings are more than generous to say the least.
My wife didn't enjoy the calamari quite so much. The dipping source was missing spice. But her chicken masala was top notch.
Four stars only because yep the dipping sauce needs changing. But nothing was without flavor quite as much as other reviewers would have you believe.
Easily the best Italian in the area!

Great food; generous portions and very accommodating for our large group. We made last minute reservations for 20 people and they managed to make us feel welcome. The staff was attentive and everyone enjoyed their meal.

If you want a taste of real Italian food made by real Italians than look no further, Carmine's is where you want to go. They have a small staff and everything is made by either Carmine or his son Anthony. They serve up huge portions of fresh pasta with house made sauces and pretty much any kind of sauce, meat, and pasta you can imagine. The Calamari is prepared right there in house from whole squid and is some of the freshest most delightful I've ever had (I'm a big fan). They can get a little bogged down in a rush but the wait is worth it. Plus your meal comes with salad and fresh home made bread, served with house made butter that is on point. It's a kick back to a simpler time when people weren't in a rush and had time to digest with conversation. They keep a good wine list and always have a craft beer selection between drafts and bottles that is sure to give you what you like. All in all Carmine's is a wonderful place and a dying breed of restaurant.

This is the best place in town! You can taste the Italian love in the made from scratch food. Everything we have had is very good. The service is great every time. Our favorite place to come!

Listen up folks! If you haven't tried Carmine's yet, what are you waiting for? This is definitely a good place to go where you get quality food for very reasonable prices. I don't get there as much as I like because I live in PA, but when I get the chance, Carmine's is always a good choice. Every item I've had here has been top quality. Favorite so far, the bronzini or branzini (not sure of spelling!). It was the special that night. It's a fish from the Mediterranean. Carmines' was finished with a lemon sauce. The flavor was amazing. Hubby got a shrimp and pasta dish and had to take half home because there was so much food!
I'd never heard of bronzini before--then this weekend I found it again in a restaurant in NYC. Carmine's was better!
Can't wait to go back.
Carmine's is located in a strip mall shopping center. The furnishings are very plain, but the decor, with personal photos and efficient servers make the experience very pleasurable.

Came home to visit family for Christmas and ate here for lunch on Christmas Eve. We thought the food was fantastic and will be going back. A nice little surprise in a Hagerstown.