Spaghetti With Pesto
Carmelo's Italian

Carmelo's Italian

321 West Retta Esplanade, Punta Gorda, 33950, United States Of America

Pizza • Steak • Italian • Fast Food


"I have been to Carmelo's many times and usually love my meal and can't wait to go back. Tonight was a different story. My boyfriend and I made a reservation at Carmelo's to celebrate our anniversary as it's usually one of our favorite places. Tonight it took a very long time for us to get our drinks, my boyfriend asked for lemon for his water that he had never received. We then got our appetizer after a little while of waiting, which was fine. After we saw tables around us who were seated after us receiving their bread, we then had asked for ours because we never received it. After maybe a little over an hour of being at the restaurant we got our food. I got the shrimp and scallop limoncello, which I have gotten many times there. It had diced tomatoes in it that were uncooked (along with the usual sun dried tomatoes) and this wasn't something that was changed on the menu, if it was I would have asked for it to be left out of the dish. The sauce also seemed to be extremely watery tonight. Eventually our waiter boxed up our food and asked if we wanted dessert, we got one and asked for it to be for to go and for the check. At this point we have been here for an hour and a half. He brings the check and we put the card immediately in as we are sick of sitting outside and waiting. The waiter proceeded to take the bill and talk to the table next to us for over 10 minutes with our bill in hand. No exaggeration. Just five minutes short of being at our table for 2 hours is when we finally were able to leave, as we had a 7pm reservation. Maybe this was an off night for Carmelo's, I really hope it's not the new normal here, and I may just be exceptionally frustrated as we had sat there waiting for a lot longer than we had ever experienced at Carmelo's before. We saw many tables of two that arrived after us come and go before we had even received our check."

Anthony's Lounge

Anthony's Lounge

Washington Avenue, Murrieta, 92562, United States Of America, 92562-6131

Cafés • Pizza • Seafood • Italian


"This review is for people who are looking for venues to hold special events. Although Anthony's seems like a nice place for a casual outing my experience holding a private event felt more like a mugging. The food was good and the service was good, but I am convinced that the owner manipulated the private dining prices to take advantage of my relatively high budget for dinners. Because of my party size and the fact that the owner did not mention a prefixe menu, I planned on allowing my guests to order a la carte. We were told to choose entrées that were not on the menu and without any written price. I asked the server twice throughout the evening if I was near my budget and twice she reassured me that I was nowhere even close. Then at the end of the evening the owner disappears for almost 20 minutes to calculate the bill that conveniently pushed close to my per person maximum. He also did not tell me beforehand that there would be a charge if my party was less than 10 (I had 4 people not show up out of 10) and a $65 charge for the screen. I have held private dinners at many restaurants and never in my career have I run up a bill for $1000 for 6 people even with a room charge and screen rental. If you plan on doing an event at Anthony's, make sure you have a contract in writing and the prefixe menu upfront with the prices. The owner seemed more interested in making a quick buck rather than for any repeat business. So simply put, I will plan on taking my events elsewhere, I urge you to do the same."