Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Carmine's Cafe - Italian Cuisine




If you live in Ocala or visit Ocala, you would be wise to pay a visit to Carmine's Cafe at 8810 SW Highway 200.

Carmine dishes up Italian cuisine that will make your mouth water and soothe your palate! Wonderful real Italian food and lots of it.

The bottom photo shows the exterior of Carmine's Cafe and the gentleman standing by the door is Franco. Franco is the chef at Carmine's and part-owner of the business. Franco is well-known in the area, having served as the chef of the restaurant at Del Webb's Stone Creek development.

The middle photo is a partial glimpse of Carmine's interior. As you can see, it is comfortable, with excellent lighting, and every table is graced with beautiful floral arrangements, and it is clean!

That's Carmine himself in the first photo. Carmine came to the U.S. a little over a year ago from Palermo, Sicily, where he was in business with his father. He is a warm and friendly person and will make you feel right at home as soon as you step inside the door.

Carmine is a gracious host, ensuring that all your needs and desires are met promptly. In other words, dining at Carmine's is a wonderful experience with great Italian food, great service and reasonable prices.

25 comments:

Rob said...

Looks like an elegant ristorante. you must tell us how he food is with photos!

gogouci said...

The dining area is as beautiful and the food sounds delicious. Great photos to capture the ambiance.

stromsjo said...

Sicilian food in a clean restaurant, now that does sound tempting.

VP said...

I am beginning to think that the best Italian restaurants are outside Italy. Nice shots, Carmine and Franco just add to the "flavour".

magiceye said...

i wish....

Juergen Kuehn said...

Great and cozy ambiente Jacob. Want to taste their italian flavorful food.
Juergen

Jim Klenke said...

I love Italian food, that would be one of my weekly stops if I lived there.

Anonymous said...

i was told (thanks to Grisham Novel) about palermo & its lovely pizzerias. I guess this place shud be having a following.

Ram
www.chennaidailyfoto.wordpress.com

cieldequimper said...

Suddenly made my mouth water! Real Italian food is so much more than just pizza and pasta!

roentare said...

Such a wonderful restaurant to view. Wonderful scenery here

Lowell said...

@CQ - please take note and mark in your book that we did force ourselves to partake of the food at Carmines, like good DP bloggers should.

Lowell said...

@Dusty Lens - Lois Anne mentioned that she should have had her camera with us because SHE would have taken photos of the food.

I'll try to do better next time!

Tara said...

The place is so inviting and so neat, plus I love Italian cuisine.

Unknown said...

Restaurants seem to be our today theme! :-)

Lois said...

Looks like a great place with plenty of wonderful atmosphere! The name is catchy too!

Unknown said...

Don't you just love it when people open up to you and allow you to photograph a little slice of their world. It looks fabulous, I love Italian food.

Judy said...

Looks like a place that I would love. You did a nice ad for them!

PJ said...

Don't you just love it when people open up to you and allow you to photograph a little slice of their world. It looks fabulous, I love Italian food.

Lowell said...

@Jarat - Carmine brought us a free slice of Tiramisu, beautifully presented with dabs of whipped cream and chocolate on the side...

So, yes, I can be bought.

Heh, heh!

Anonymous said...

We discovered Carmine’s shortly after he opened and have been frequent diners there. There is a group of us at OTOW [On Top of the World subdivision] dedicated to help him stay in business and we all eat there often. We have even participated in at least one charity event there which was very successful.

I urge all in the Ocala area to try this delightful Italian restaurant, NO pizzas or pizza like food. It is cuisine!

Daryl said...

Oh now I am craving Italian food .. and I am still not able to chew .. oh well .. maybe tomorrow

cieldequimper said...

Dare I say it? Cheeky! ;-))

Halcyon said...

Carmine's looks nice! I hope the food is good too.

Unknown said...

A friend at my doctors office recomended the restaurant to me. Looking forward to trying the food. Joe R Ocala

Anonymous said...

Little Joeys was so much better. I'm of full blooded Italian (Calbrean) ancestry, and I can spot other Italians easily. I just moved to Ocala and when I went to Carmine's the cooks were mexicans trying to be Italiano.

"Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again." — Henri Cartier-Bresson