My wifes all-time favorite downtown. We have been there at least 10 times since it became Carmelas. The food is terrific, but I dont really like the italian music. Calamari, ziti bolonegnse (?) chicken marsala. Last night we had the monk fish. It may have been one of the best fish dishes I have ever eaten. This place is not very well known, but I’m ok with that.

I’ve probably been treated worse at some restaurant somewhere (in Vietnam perhaps?) but I can’t remember when or where. We walked in at 6:30 p.m. Saturday night for our 6:30 p.m reservation, imagine that. The cheerless staff avoided speaking to us or making eye contact with customers. They seemed to take no pride in working there or even to recognize that people come there to be served a meal. No one said ‘Hi’ or ‘Welcome’ or anything like that, just that there were no tables available, despite your reservation, and you can sit at the bar and wait. At 6:50, we asked again whether there was an open table for us somewhere and the hostess responded a few minutes later that they had one: In some rear space decorated like a deli and separate from the main dining room that had been empty all along — even at 6:30 p.m. I won’t go on about the lousy and inadequate service (I could), except to say we’re never going back and I’m disgusted we dropped $75 there or bothered tipping 20 percent. After all this, including finally being served at 8 p.m., it was hard to enjoy the food — which actually was quite good.