rev:text
| - We had dinner here in August 2013. Being big fans of Torito, we were looking forward to trying Carmen.
The fried artichokes were great. It went downhill from there.
When you order Iberico ham in a good Spanish place (like Torito), you're supposed to get hand-cut ham from a whole pig leg that is sitting on the bar. At Carmen, you get 3 deli-sliced pieces of (cheaper) Serrano ham with some olive oil drizzled on it. (This was such a rip off that I had to complain to the chef when he passed through, who acknowledged the outrage but said he had no room for a whole pig leg.)
The tortilla was pretty good. We tried the shrimp but we really wanted to eat traditional gambas ajillo (shrimp drowning in butter and garlic). Their gambas ajillo was a more pedestrian grilled shrimp.
The tinned mussels were as exciting as a can of smoked oysters on Ritz crackers.
The rice pudding dessert was awesome.
After being disappointed by so many dishes, we were like, what is wrong with this place? Then it hit us: Carmen is Torito, priced up and dumbed down for the Queen West crowd.
So, if you live near Queen West and you don't know any better, you'll like Carmen. If you don't, or you do, go somewhere else.
|