I am updating my review of Carmines because it has re-opened under the original owner and I believe they are starting to redeem themselves. I went to have breakfast there a few days back and the place is completely redone inside. The tables have all new settings, new menus, cleaner, brighter, everything is just plain better. One major advancement, no more gross armpit smell from the corner of the booth. The food is great like typical Carmines food used to be! I heard Carmine booted the old owners,the franchisees and took his place back over. He has a little article about how he franchised his places and the new owners ran a few of them into the ground and it killed him to watch his restaurants turn to crap. I commend him for taking pride in his place and making it what it used to be. Now to the important stuff....
I have not been there for dinner yet as of this review only breakfast and lunch. You can't beat the breakfast. It's nothing spectacular but it's a $2.99 and you and a buddy can get out for under $12 bucks! It's really a good deal and it's not half bad. The service has gotten ten times better, I think Carmine got rid of all the old crappy servers and now has some family in there running the show so they are pretty much on top of things. I have not had a problem so far with the service at all. Lunch was good, I had some wings which were great. Done just right and not over cooked. Good job on transforming Carmine's Little Italy back into a cool local spot to get some good grub and watch a game. I have not been into the bar area of yet but if it is anything like the restaurant I am sure it's great. Once again good job Carmine, you have an old customer coming back.