Carmine’s Family Style Dining

Can a 1992 restaurant be classic New York? Carmine's satellite location, which has become a hub in its own right, uses the same formula that’s kept its Upper West Side sibling cooking on all burners. It’s a roaring success, with a high-spirited old-time atmosphere, mammoth portions that demand to be shared, and uncomplicated Southern Italian cooking that delights the palate and fills the belly. The main dining room has beige walls, wood paneling, and antique-style brass chandeliers. A blood-red leather banquette and large tables accommodate large, rollicking parties. Numerous black-and-white photos of Italian-Americans are joined by larger-than-life paintings of Fiorello LaGuardia, Enrico Caruso, and even Jimmy Durante. Best, Carmine’s cooking is primal and adept. Shrimp scampi is a veritable school of plump crustaceans dusted with bread crumbs and broiled with scads of butter, garlic, and clam juice. Ravioli are formidable rectangular pasta pillows puffed up with creamy ricotta cheese and doused with ragù. This place reminds you that red sauce, garlic, and good times will never go out of style.

The servers at Carmine’s in Times Square have a little routine they like to do. They’ll let you start listing your order, then playfully interject with, “You haven’t seen our portion sizes, have you?” Look around, and you’ll notice barely-contained piles of calamari, and spaghetti platters the size of flying saucers.

Everything at this 500-seat institution (with an original location on the Upper West Side) is big. It’s grand-scale Italian dinner theater, under candelabra chandeliers and watchful portraits of Jimmy Durante. Order the massive chicken parm, anything with vodka sauce, and as many USD20 quartinos of wine as it takes to wash down all that salt. There’s better Italian food in the city, but every New Yorker should come at least once, preferably with a big group (unless you want to eat leftover manicotti for days).

You’re in for a full American experience - they call it ‘family style’. That means sharing plates for at least 3 to 4 pax. Which translates to oversized fishes on the table to be shared. In our case a very acceptable seafood marinara. There were at least 2 Boston lobsters and countless shrimps in the dish. Actually, quite well cooked to my surprise (as I was expecting the kitchen to mass produce).

The calamari reminded us of a better version of Old Chang Kee (IYKYK).

The main which was the Marinara was a very passable 7/10 for touristy spot - I was authentically surprised.
The Boston lobsters were above average! The mussels and prawns were slightly overcooked but very acceptable 6.5/10.

My daughter described it well- we didn’t seem to make a dent in the amount of pasta, and had to pack these up in doggy bags.

Overall 6.5/10 for a touristy experience at Times Square. Come for the family style ambience and add to that the Xmas festivities - if you like loud and family style, Carmine's Times Square is the place for you!

Total damage USD375 for 6 pax including 2 bottles of Prosecco. Worth a visit - especially if you’ve a (big) family and friends’ sharing plates.