Carmine's Pie House

So I noticed this place whilst walking to Sweet Theory one day and it looked so unique and intriguing I had to scope it out! Carmine's Pie house is a quirky place for sure, I was told that the owner's sister owns Lola's Burrito Joint and you can definitely see the similarities in the crazy decor (mannequins hanging from the ceiling? Hey, why not?). The menu consist of mid-priced pizzas, calzones, salads, and sandwiches, they are very vegan and vegetarian friendly and even provide the option of using vegan cheese on your pizza.



To view their menu, click here

To start off we ordered the zucchini fries (which was recommended to us by our waitress). While I am not a huge fan of fried food, these were pretty darn tasty, especially when you dipped them in their homemade remoulade sauce (I could of put that sauce on anything and everything).

When it came to my meal, I pretty much had no choice but to try their new "dy-no-myte tofu" a.k.a the "wing alternative" which were lightly seasoned, deep fried little cubes of soy goodness tossed in the wing sauce of your choice (I chose honey roasted garlic). The tofu was tasty but I kinda wished that I ordered the wing sauce on the side because my once crispy fried tofu had become slightly soggy and sad BUT the flavor was definitely there! I also included a side Greek salad which was a mix of feta cheese, black olives, craisins, cucumbers, banana peppers, tomatoes, and red onions tossed in a Greek feta dressing. I wasn't a huge fan of the salad, probaabbbllly because Greek flavors aren't my favorite (which wasn't wise on my part) the Greek salad paired with the Greek dressing was a bit of a Greek overload for me personally buuuut paired with my leftover remoulade sauce it was quite tasty.

My friend ordered "The Barbarosa" which was a calzone stuffed with grilled philly steak, sauteed onions, green peppers, mushrooms, mozzarella & cheddar cheese brushed with garlic butter and baked to perfection! It was really tasty and you will definitely have leftovers! The outer crust was slightly crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside and it was seasoned really well thanks to the garlic butter and parm cheese.

Both of my Aunt's ordered the Greek Island salad which was exactly the same as my side salad plus stuffed grape leaves. This salad was HUGE, both of them weren't able to finish it.

Now for my favorite part of the meal - CAKE! Carmine's gets their cakes from a bakery in San Marco and man are they good! We were told that the cake flavors change daily but for that day we had a choice of pina colada, rum, double chocolate, tres leches, and two different kinds of cheesecakes. After much deliberation we decided on the rum cake. When you look at the very large, thick cakes you would think that they would have a heavy, dense texture but noooo! This cake was light and fluffy, with layers of rum soaked yellow sponge cake, whipped cream frosting, and a chocolate mousse-like layer, it reminded me A LOT of tiramisu which is probably why I liked it so much! I MUST find this bakery!

I was very pleased with my decision to check out Carmine's Pie House, with it's unique atmosphere friendly staff, and delicious comfort/Italian meets Jersey Cuisine - Carmine's is definitely worth a visit.