Best Family Style Restaurants in Lanham

Carmine's is my family favorite for Christmas Eve dinner. Everyone in the restaurant was wonderful--from the people checking us in and seating us to the people in the kitchen who prepared wonderful food. My last bit of praise is for the young woman who helped us navigate Carmine's menu to seeing that all our food and beverages arrived at the table with just enough time between courses.

We ordered many things and nothing disappointed. We tried all three devil eggs, hush puppies, firecracker shrimp, and wings for appetizers. There were only three of us and we ate all of it. For mains we had the scallops (special for the week), Rib Eye, and the chicken and waffles. All of it was fantastic. We had two chocolate desserts. The desserts were good but a bit rich.

Wonderful service and food. Really love the ambiance and the quality. Only down side was the 5% charge added to the bill, notated as NOT a tip but a service charge due to increasing cost to run the business. As a business owner myself I would not charge a fee rather if you need more money just charge more for your items. We tip 20% minimum everywhere we go but to be charged an extra 5% on top of the bill seems strange. Some people will just leave when they see that. I guess I appreciate the honesty however considering the menus are printed daily at this restaurant they could just raise the prices and then no one would be aware or need to know about the extra "we're hurting and business is tough" charge. Again - I own businesses. I understand. It's been rough the past two years.

The restaurant, bar and lounge areas spread out across multiple rooms / terraces / levels so it is a really intimate and fun layout. Excellent service and value. Price for classic drinks skewed a tad high in my opinion. I'll try and catch a happy hour sometime and the jazz performances.

We loved our meal!!! Would definitely return. Guacamole so tasty and dessert heaven.