Carmine's Ybor - Tampa

The basket(s) of buttered cuban bread is hot, fresh, and delicious...but it does not come with the table meals.

Food was good and the drinks were great. The seasonal sugar cookie martini is fabulous if you’re a fan of sweets. I’m not a huge fan of Mojitos, but the Galway Mojito was absolutely fabulous. The garlic bread was just OK, nothing special. The fried green tomatoes were good, but not great. Lasagna was great though. They were out of the grouper when we went there but I would like to go back and give it a try.

We all loved what we got... calamari, fish sandwhich, plantain chips, mac... it was great. They were pretty busy but the servers did a great job of keeping glasses filled and attending to tables promptly. The only con was it was hot and muggy... no AC.

Carmines has a wonderful menu for the price. Their $25 steak is a better cut of meat than most steakhouses give you for twice as much. Their salads are great. The atmosphere is very Ybor. I'm addicted now, and go there weekly.

We arrived on a busy Saturday and were pleased to be seated within ten minutes. After being seated we waited a long time for our waitress to appear, which never happened. After a hostess arrived to check if we had been served yet, a server appeared and told us there was an issue with our waitress and he would take care of us. The Cubans and grouper nuggets we ordered arrived soon after and were delicious. We were thrilled with our meal, despite the unusual start, but were doubly thrilled when our server told us he wanted to give us desserts on the house to make up for the strange and lengthy wait. The key lime pies were lovely, and we so appreciated the kindness and generosity of our server this day. We’ve loved Carmines for a long time, especially the Deviled Crab. The kindness and attentiveness of our server solidified our love for this restaurant.