If you are looking to Celebrate a Birthday Beware!!! We booked Carisma for a large party surprise Birthday Celebration. The reason why I am giving Carisma 2 stars is the servers and atmosphere was nice, bread and starters were ok. Underwhelming but not bad.
Here is the reason for 3 star deduction:
1) We got charged a whopping $48 + Tax for a Cake cutting fee that they never mentioned till the bill came out. Unethical money grab especially considering how much we spent as a group.
2) The Pasta which should be the star and staple of an Italian restaurant was bland and overpriced. I ordered the special 'truffle pasta' (whopping $45) which I was pleasantly told at the time I could do half and half with the Ravioli ($27). Rather than charging me half and half of each, they decided to charge me the full price of the more expensive dish. I've never paid $45 for a plain bland pasta with a couple flakes of truffle... Both pastas were bland to a point that I could still taste the water it was boiled in. Neither had a sauce and pretty much just felt like it was boiled, tossed in some oil with a little bit or Parmesan and some truffle flakes. Not worth the price tag, frankly I could probably do a better job at home for less. Was not very impressed.
3) Customer Service response. At the time we received the bill, they never apologized for the secret cake cutting fee, we didn't want to make a big stink since the birthday girl was there. I tried contacting the place after but no response.
Overall, I've been to much better Italian restaurants with better flavour (in this case, this place barely had any) and more reasonable price point. If you like bland Pasta, I guess this is the place for you. Otherwise if you're looking for a restaurant that really elevates the flavour in a dish like me, this isn't the place for you.