Reviews for Carmine's in Bellevue, WA

I am not one to often review a place, but Carmine's is genuinely worth reviewing. First of all, my boyfriend and I came in... expecting to not have a table open as we did not reserve and looking through the windows from the outside, it looked very busy.To our surprise, we were able to be seated instantly. Right when we settled down, they took our order right away. Kat was ourwaitress serving us for our anniversary and she was amazing. Personality was wonderful and acknowledged our anniversary when shedidn't have to. She also helped explain the menu, specials, and some seasonal items that we did not see in the menu itself. Theother waitresses and waiters were also equally as kind and informative of their menu. The place and ambience was fancy, makingit a wonderful place for a romantic dinner. Even though the night was busy, our food came in a timely matter. They provideoutdoor seating with heating as well, however, we did not seat outside so we're not too sure how hot or cold it would be diningout. The food was well seasoned and easily made both my boyfriend and myself filled. The desserts were amazing and we willdefinitely come back to try their sorbet. Despite the place being pricey, we fully expected it with the location being in awonderful spot in Bellevue, clean and sophisticated atmosphere, and amazing staff. 100% worth the price and experience. We bothagreed to come back and possibly bring our parents to try Carmine's. I hope one of the owners/managers at Carmine'sacknowledges Kat because she did an wonderful job serving us tonight. Thank you! Read more

I mistakenly thought this place with another restaurant turn out we enjoyed our dinner here. Service was the oddly friendly and... very romantic atmosphere. Their food was a delicious and huge selection of wine. I had a truffle risotto dish it was tasty butvery rich. Everything else was well cooked. There is indoor and outdoor seating. This place is super busy on a Friday night so Ihighly recommend making a reservation. Price is on the high aspect due to semi-fine dining and is in Bellevue! Parking ischallenging so leave early so you don't rush. Read more

Made dinner rsvp at Carmines for my birthday, only available time on Sat night was 9:15pm. We arrived on time, was shown to a... tiny table in the corner, even though there were several bigger tables unoccupied in more center location. It took 15 minutesbefore a waiter came to our table and apologized because the server responsible for our table had already left for theevening... ????... We were finally offered water, drink list and fresh bread soon followed. We ordered the garlic prawns andburrata as appetizer, the sauce for garlic prawns was amazingly delicious ???? so good We had to use the bread to soak up everylast bit. For mains we got osso buco and duck. Both dishes were delicious but not nearly as impressive as the prawns. My duckleg was crispy and overcooked but duck breast was very rare...obviously not in sync. For dessert we ordered their red velvetcake, and our server not only added a candle for me but also graciously comp it since its,my bday. Really appreciated hiscourteous service and attentiveness during our meal. Read more

Ambiance is good and the staff is helpful. This is a fancy restaurant but the food is honestly average. Gnocchi and the tomato... soup was alright. I liked the bread they served, and that was about it. Read more

I was there to celebrate my god daughter's graduation. We had the best time ever. The setting is so lovely surrounded by... flowers and amazing staff. The food was absolutely delicious. I had the daily special which was risotto with crab andmushrooms. One of best risottos I have ever had. My god daughter had a pasta dish with mussels and she loved it. We werepleasantly surprised when our sweet waitress, Miriam, brought us a serving of tiramusa with the words Congratulations written inchocolate. So sweet. Such a wonderful experience. So grateful. Read more

I go to Carmine’s for its ambiance and food. Last night we enjoyed our anniversary dinner here. They gave us a nice cozy table... with a “Happy Anniversary” card. Our server was really nice and made us laugh throughout. There wine by glasses has goodcollection of wine. We ordered Gnocchi and Eggplant Parmigiana (trust me this is the friendly name). Overall food was good. Inthe end they gave us complimentary dessert tiramisu cake which was absolute delight. Will visit again! Read more

So I've been wanting to try this establishment for the past year, since the reviews made it seem phenomenal. The only issue... that I have is that everything at this restaurant, from the service, to the ambience is all 5 or 4.5 stars. However, the foodis genuinely not that good here (2/5 at most). To be honest, it felt worse than average and I've had many times when I've cookedbetter pasta at home. All three of the dishes felt mediocre at best for its price. The rigatoni bolognese was completelytasteless and even after adding chunks of salt, the taste remained the same because the rigatoni was kept in the water for notenough time and wasn't cooked for longer for the flavour to seep through. I had to force myself to gobble the food up so as tonot waste it. The risotto was the best dish out of the three. It was flavourful and contained the zest and punch I expected froman Italian restaurant, but even then it was probably a 4/10. The penne salmon (used fettuccine instead) was good, but alsocontained no flavour. Do note that the patio is incredibly loud due to the vehicles and also contains some bugs due to thevegetation, but those issues didn't contribute to this rating, since it's mostly outside of the restaurant's control. Read more

My wife and I went for a nice dinner out and we were really excited because the reviews were flawless. Everything including the... atmosphere, vibe, and service were great except for the food itself. We ordered a large size vongole and a large size bolognesepasta. The portions were TINY even though we ordered them in large. My wife is petite and can almost never finish a whole dishby herself, but she had 3 bites into her pasta here and her pasta was gone. Not only was the food portions small, but also thefood tasted like nothing. Vongole came in red sauce, and not typical white sauce, and I can't say it was for the better. Thereweren't enough clams and the dish as a whole just tasted bland. Bolognese on the other hand, clearly had an issue with itspasta. If I dropped the pasta on the floor, it'd bounce right back up and hit me in the face. It was THAT rubbery. I had to chewa piece of pasta for a long time before I could swallow, and it wasn't pleasurable to chew on something that didn't taste likeanything but tough old rubber. Overall, go here for good nice atmosphere and if you don't care about the food. If you were justthere to drink wine, it'd be a fine choice. Read more