Cafe Carmela

The atmosphere of this place is very homey. The people are nice but it's a pretty small place, so expect lots of wait time on peak days especially if you have more than 2 people in your party. The Food: Don Cheech's Steak (9.5/10) - This cheese steak is probably the best one in NE Philly. The meat tasted like quality and please get the cooper cheese, the other one ain't it. I recommend asking to get your bread toasted but that's up to you. This is better than Pat's and Genos in the city for sure and I don't care what anyone else says because those places are overrated tourist spots. Truffle Fries (7/10) - These were pretty crispy and seasoned well but it's a bit pricey at 10 bucks so I'm gonna adjust my rating. The Mags (5/10) - Let me be honest and say this pizza is very average and lacks a lot of flavor. Good crust though. Sicilian Wings (2/10) - I'll be honest and say I'm not much of a wings guy so take my review for this one with a grain of salt. I didn't like it, I think this was the weakest out of everything we ordered because it was just salty and lacked any real flavor. My friend really enjoyed it though so your mileage may vary.

Such a cute little spot for delicious Italian food. The pizza, rigatoni, and cheesesteaks were all amazing. I love the pizza dough and the incredible sauce. The staff were also very friendly and I will definitely come back! Update: I had to come back again this month because I was urgently craving for their pizza!!! Also got truffle fries & Sicilian wings and it was all so good. We had leftover pizza and I place it in the air fryer and it was just as amazing the next day.

Everything I've had so far has been delicious 😋. My kids even enjoyed eating at the restaurant 😁. The gnocchi my Nini is one of my favorite meals I order from here💗. We also ordered the peanut butter blast dessert, but that was devoured as soon as it got to our table, but it looked so pretty when it first came out 😆. Sorry, but I'm not sorry. The food was way too good to even wait long enough to take a picture of the food before we started eating it 😊.

Good food, great service. First time, we went at a great time when it wasn’t busy so we can truly experience the food. Had the pasta with meatball, and Don Cheech’s steak sandwich. Both were good. Second time around we had truffle fries, wings, the Giardino crispy eggplant and the steak sandwich. Also had tiramisu, Affogato espresso and gelato.

Table 33. 10/13/23. Friday the 13th hit us tonight!!! This place came recommend but what a mistake. We ordered a pepperoni pizza over powered with a salt taste and a pasta special that was anything but special. We must say that it was a very disappointing experience. A over priced menu for below sub par food and service. When we told waitress that was in a rush to get to other customers in a small restaurant about the issue with the pizza........ The most we got was a "oh I'm sorry" with a disgusted facial expression. The kicker was it totalled up to 63$ this place is not recommended although it smelled pretty good when we entered the restaurant and was full of customers makes me wonder about their taste buds. We will not be returning to this place! We will give this left over pizza to someone on the street and see if they will give a somewhat better review......!!😕 Highly disappointed in this place and the person that recommended this place to me!

This was my second experience at the Holme Avenue location. I placed an online order thinking it was Huntingdon Valley but it was Philadelphia. I ordered 3 cheesesteaks and the Drunken Rigatoni. The Rigatoni was amazing!!! The cheesesteaks were loaded with meat but the fried onions were like nothing I ever saw before in a steak. Huge and not totally cooked/ sautéed. The onions were definitely a letdown. My Mom spent the whole time eating hers picking all the onions out. In the photo with the onions it’s just the sauce from the rigatoni.