Carmela's at Macri's

I was in South Bend for work and was suggested this place by a coworker and I was not disappointed. This place is located about a 7-minute walk from the heart of downtown South Bend, right across the river. I went on a Wednesday night and was able to sit down at the bar immediately. However, it did end up getting busy, I would suggest reservations if at all possible. The bartender was super nice and friendly. She provided great service and awesome suggestions. The inside is decorated very cute and almost makes you feel like you are in Italy - KUDOS!

I opted for a House Salad and the Chicken Marsala. The house salad was great, and the entree came with bread as well. The Chicken Marsala was honestly the best I have ever had! The sauce was on point and the onions and mushrooms were abundant. The chicken was cooked to perfection and was juicy and tender. The only thing wrong was that I didn't order more!

I will absolutely be going back next time I am in South Bend and would highly suggest this place to anyone in town!

Super Friendly service and Delicious food! What more could you ask for? Thank you for a delightful evening!

The best Italian pastries I ever tasted. And I was a chef in San Francisco for seven years.The spaghetti and meatballs with meat sauce outstanding. The tiramisu and almond cake fit for a king. I am hoping the can see e a chaetaeu Briand cut steak on the Marci menu in the Future.

I have to say I don't usually get veal parm but I got it here and wow I am happy with that choice for sure! It was cooked really well and it came with some pasta and overall delicious!!
If you get a espresso martini make sure if you don't like chocolate to have them not add it in there, apparently they do it for the look and done ask you but I hate chocolate so I had to ask for another one.
It wasn't very busy when we came in but somehow the waitress took a little bit of time to come back around everytime ‍

We celebrated our anniversary last Saturday night. First time visit, we live in Michigan so we won't frequent, but it was good. Our food was good, but I wish I would have known how much I LOVED the marinara. I ordered the lobster ravioli, which was good but dang the marinara with the mozzarella sticks - chefs kiss!
Speaking of mozzarella sticks they were delicious.
Ordered an espresso martini and it also was good, maybe too much chocolate for me.
Overall good service, good food and quick. We sat around 7:25 and had all of our food by 7:50.
I also wish we would have got there when the bakery was still open, the thumbprint cookies looked real good in the case.

Yes, yes, yes. Everything we ate/drank was 5 stars and I would order everything we had a second time. It was a birthday dinner so we went all out. Started off with a solid dirty martini. The oils and fresh herbs is a nice touch. For starters, the Barata and the Calamari. Drooling cause I want these again! Yes, yes, yes! Our main dishes, both pasta dishes and fantastic; carbonara for the Mr. And he said it was the best one he's had, I love love manicotti, and it did not disappoint, ate the entire dish! And for desert, espresso martini, tiramisu and this chocolate covered gelato bomba something, and this was the bomb!!

I was craving a nice Italian dinner after a long day of business travel. I found Carmela's on Yelp and decided to give them a try. I had shrimp scampi and Italian wedding soup and both were outstanding. I dined at the bar and the service and atmosphere was fantastic. Two thumbs up to Kat the bar tender for fantastic service and a night of laughs.

Where do we go from here.... Probably not back, at least for a while.

Please don't hurt me... no more. Yeah, I have that song in my head. We went for date night, really wanting some good pasta, but what we got was a pretty poor attempt at Italian by what seems as a chef who doesn't care.

This is our third time here. Dessert the first two. And really those were pretty good, some better than others.

But dinner tonight.... For starters our salad shouldn't have been served, looked like two day old lettuce. The bread, though fresh, really didn't have much taste. Unfortunately that just made me more critical.

I ordered the carbonara, and my wife got the fettuccine, her baseline for an Italian restaurant hard to mess up, right? Nope.
The carbonara, they wouldn't let me order without peas (said it was pre made... what? Should not be pré-made, that should have been my clue). But the peas were not fresh, and the dish was just ok. The shrimp tails weren't shelled. The fettuccine tasted like a weak milk sauce from powder.

And unfortunately the pastry counter closed at 6 so only a few desserts. After that dinner we passed.

Highlights were the Prosecco and the decor of the place, though simple it was clean and inviting.

Service 3-4
Décore 3-4
Food 1

We came here for an early dinner and the live music was just staring. The musician was really really good. We sat inside but there is a really nice patio. They had just launched the summer drinks menu. I had the lavender limoncello spritz. Not much limoncello flavor but it was very refreshing. We had the caprese salad which was super delicious. Highly recommend! We also had the veal piccata and did the extra split charge and then had two small Caesar salads. The Caesar salads were great and even though they weren't full size they were bigger than a normal side salads. The veal piccata was also good and a great portion for the two of us even split. The pasta was well cooked and buttery. Lots of capers as well. The veal was super tender and was breaded well. I was kind of sad eating the veal but it was good. We always had bread on the table that was super soft and tender. Great service all night. Highly recommend this restaurant.

The wife and I had dinner here last night and it was absolutely terrific. We had the mozzarella frittata as an appetizer-the marinara sauce was delicious and the mozzarella just melted in your mouth. The seasonal cocktails were perfect- my wife loved her apple caramel martini. The Italian wedding soup, the lobster ravioli and carbonara were all perfectly seasoned and delicious. Our server KC (spelling?) did a fantastic job and the ambience and Christmas decor was beautiful and tasteful. One of the best dining experiences I've had this year, and one of the best (if not the best) Italian meals I've had.