Carmela's - South Bend

First time with family dining at this restaurant. Food was excellent.I had Eggplant Parmesan probably the best I've had in years Our server was very nice and the food arrived very quickly and hot. The ambiance is ok, white table cloths but everyone arrived very casual. Over all I'd go back for sure and highly recommend this restaurant.

The food was excellent as always. We had party of 7 so reservation on open table required credit card to guarantee. There is automatic 20% gratuity on all our checks placed which seems reasonable. However there is 3% credit card charge on the bill that even for us who paid cash was never removed from our bills. Our server seemed not to be having a good day credit card forgotten for one guest, never introduced himself, seemed like we were a bother even though we were not a demanding table at all. I've had great service in the past but not on this Wednesday evening. We will try it again but disappointed on this trip.

I ordered the Chicken Marsala. I had the Chicken Marsala previously, about a month ago. This time the sauce was not as rich and less mushrooms, more onions. I liked it at the previous time. The Marsala sauce was richer, more mushrooms and less onions.

All of our meals were good. The bruschetta was excellent. Portions were large so we had plenty of leftovers to give to our college student. We were celebrating my daughter's birthday a week early and her tiramisu was free.

Carmela's is nice, but whey too pricey for the portions. And forget about the kids' meals. $18 for chicken straps for a 2 year old? OUCH! And the lobster ravioli. Next time, use the real thing and NOT the imitation. Although the shrimp were tasty. In all, the dinner party had a pleasant experience, and our server was excellent. Just my opinion...