Carmel's Cafe Bar and Grill

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#14 of 49 Restaurants in McLaren Vale$$ - $$$, Italian, Vegetarian friendly

+61 8 8323 8038+ Add website

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Hours

Sun

12:00 pm - 3:00 pm5:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Wed

5:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Thu

12:00 pm - 3:00 pm5:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Fri

12:00 pm - 3:00 pm5:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Sat

12:00 pm - 3:00 pm5:00 pm - 9:30 pm

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Ratings and reviews

4.0

310 reviews

#14 of 49 Restaurants in McLaren Vale

RATINGS

Food

Service

Value

Atmosphere

Details

Someone from this business manages this listing.

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PRICE RANGE

$11.00 – $43.00

CUISINES

Italian

Special Diets

Vegetarian friendly, Vegan options, Gluten free options

meals, features

Location and contact

250 Main Road, McLaren Vale, South Australia 5171 Australia

+61 8 8323 8038

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Is this restaurant good for lunch?

Yes

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Details

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About

Carmel's is a unique restaurant located in the heart of the picturesque McLaren Vale. The Restaurant presents an ever-changing menu focusing on flavors to compliment the extensive wine selection from local wineries. The food is modern Australian twist on American style food as well as a wide range of other dishes. Our weekly specials enhance the experience just that bit more as we re-introduce old favorites (eg Rib eye Steak) and creative " out there " dishes constructed by our accomplished chefs.

PRICE RANGE

$11.00 – $43.00

CUISINES

Italian

Special Diets

Vegetarian friendly, Vegan options, Gluten free options

Meals

Lunch, Dinner, After-hours

FEATURES

Takeout, Reservations, Outdoor Seating, Seating, Parking Available, Street Parking, Free off-street parking, Highchairs Available, Wheelchair Accessible, Serves Alcohol, Full Bar, Wine and Beer, Mastercard, Visa, Accepts Credit Cards, Table Service

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4.0

310 reviews

Excellent

160

Very good

Average

Poor

Terrible

llsaPortElliot

467 contributions

Very pleasantly surprised

July 2020 • couples

Booked in for a post covid meal. Pleased to be able to be relocated to the main dining area. Large serves. She had a deconstructed burger along with the onion rings which are a feature of this venue. He had a huge bowl of pasta (chilli spanish) which more than hit the spot both in terms of size and heat. Excellent attentive service.

Written 2 July 2020

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

CarmelsCafeBarGrill

Thanks Ilsa for your kind review. We're glad you had a great time. Hope to see you again soon.

Written 9 July 2020

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

chris w

Adelaide510 contributions

Belated Mother’s Day dinner

May 2022 • none

The greeting at the door was fab. We were made to feel very welcome with smiling faces all round. We went with our son,daughter-in-law and three grandchildren. Drinks arrived promptly and when the food arrived my husband had to sadly return his. He had chosen the 400g rump steak cooked medium rare. It arrived almost blue. They recooked it and it returned almost the same. If we return we will ask for medium so that it is cooked medium rare. Our son chose the rib eye which he ate with gusto. Our daughter in law also had the rump but had it cooked medium rare although she asked for medium but was still bleeding but she ate it and enjoyed it. They were both an inch thick at least and my husband said if he had known this he would of chosen medium also. I had the pork ribs which fell off the bone however the nut slaw had raw garlic in it and I really dislike garlic so this actually spoilt my meal. Our 5 year old grandson ate all his fish and chips and thoroughly enjoyed it. One granddaughter had the hot prawn and avocado salad which she loved and our other granddaughter had the salt and pepper squid made into a mains at a cost of $28.00 which considering the amount of squid she got was not worth the price. The price of the steaks were pretty expensive with the 600g rib eye being $66.00 and the 400g rump being $59.00 The night was really lovely and the staff were terrific.

Written 22 May 2022

Rosa J

Santa Ana42 contributions

Very kind service and delicious pizza

Jan 2020 • couples

We arrived very late to McLaren Vale and the only restaurant open until 9:30pm on January 2nd was Carmel's. The kitchen was already closed down but they kindly prepared a pizza for us to take away. It was a pizza made with love. So very delicious and generous. This restaurant really knows about client service. It's the number 1 italian restaurant in the region. Thank you for everything that night.

Written 5 January 2020

Krystal

1 contribution

Disappointing

Sept 2020 • family

Starting off with the children's menu we ordered the chicken nuggets and chips to be honest I wouldn't have even thought about eating the chicken nuggets they served us they were burnt and looked discussing my four year would not touch them. I ordered the Scotch fillet and I asked for it to be medium well it came out extremely well done it was so rubbery I couldn't even finish it. my husband ordered the most expensive steak and asked for to be medium and it came out well done after explain to the staff it was not acceptable they did take it back and we waited almost an hour for the second steak to be served after all this our whole family had finished eating so we had to wait for my husband to finish his dinner. when we decided to order another bottle of wine because we were waiting on the over cooked steak we realised they had bought us the wrong bottle of wine we had asked for in the first instance so they brought us the bottle of wine we did previously askvfor and charged us for the amount of the previous wine. When I arrived there were no other patrons in the restaurant and I used the bathroom I then realises there were no toilet paper in any of the female cubicles to me this is absolutely disgusting to be there at 5 p.m. right on service time and not be prepared for patrons is beyond me I cannot even understand why they had no toilet paper in there toilets. unfortunately we have been here a couple of times and haven't had a bad experience but this time would have been the worst experience we have ever had and I will not be returning nor Will I be recommending this place to any of my friends or family

Written 5 September 2020

Meegan C

McLaren Vale12 contributions

Firstly, they always seem

Aug 2020 • none

Firstly, they always seem to have inexperienced new staff. Seated & orders taken quickly upon arrival but then no return for follow up drinks & orders. Porterhouse schnitzel was soggy greasy crumbs and way too much cheese. Salad drowned in dressing. Knife blunt. Chips were v. Good. Husband did not enjoy his chicken parmigiana, for same reasons as my meal. Son enjoyed the pulled pork burger but I thought the Swiss cheese an overkill. Manager asked if we enjoyed our meals but refuted & seemed to resent my polite & honest feedback.

Written 12 August 2020

Saab

Australia58 contributions

Disappointing!

Oct 2020 • family

We went there for a family dinner. We ordered salmon salad and pizzas. Despite the fact there was hardly anyone in the restaurant, food took a long time to come to the table. Salmon salad was very average (for $31). My wife's pizza was a mix up, she had to wait another half an hour while our food was served. They did not offer any complimentary drink or dessert, very disappointing!

Written 7 October 2020

Dean B

4 contributions

Be prepared for a long wait!

June 2021 • family

After waiting almost an hour for our food, we were disappointed with what eventually arrived. My Son ordered the Wagyu steak medium rare only to find it chewy and overdone which is something you wouldnt expect for a $45 steak. 4 of the 6 meals came out together but the other 2 only arrived after the others had almost finished. The couple sitting next to us were still waiting for mains when we had finished. Same applied to the dessert. Half arrived, 2 were late and the last dessert never came. I'd understand if the place was busy but it was half full at best. Great potential filled with disappointment.

Written 24 June 2021

Jade T

1 contribution

Not good at all

Aug 2020 • none

Had pre booked 1 week beforehand for a family lunch gathering. First up we ordered drinks which was served up quickly. When everyone arrived, we ordered our meals. After 1 and half hours, we had not seen a waiter/waitress and had to find someone to see how much longer our meals would be. FINALLY arrived (after chasing up). My vegetarian burger was a sloppy, salty mess. My sons onion rings were burnt and my nephews partner’s pizza had a hair on it (ewwww). We all wanted to order more drinks, but no one had come back to ask. A couple of the staff were nice enough but will never return.

Written 30 August 2020

Soren

Adelaide3 contributions

Enjoyable

May 2020 • family

The atmosphere isn’t bad, I’m not a fan of country music but you can tune it out. I could also take my jacket off comfortably while I ate while sitting near the window. The rib eye steak we had was delicious. I had it medium rare and it was cooked well and very soft. I had mushroom gravy and red wine jus as the sauces and simply because I’m a fan of all gravy, I enjoyed the mushroom but the jus was a bit salty to me. The meat from the ribs fell right off the bone but the it was a bit dry to me. The sauce was very nice and had hints of apple to it. The chips came out a bit cold in the centre and the carrots were a bit undercooked and crunchy. I ordered a brazilian monk cocktail and it was delicious and sweet, almost like a chocolate milkshake.

Written 27 May 2020

CarmelsCafeBarGrill

hi there, glad you enjoyed your meal. we hope to see you soon.

Written 30 May 2020

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

AngelaK

8 contributions

So disappointing

Jan 2023 • none

We arrived on time a family of five, ordered then waited an hour for meals to arrive with big time gaps in between each meal. Meals were barely warm, steak over seasoned and over cooked, potato and vegetable servings were meagre. No bread offered, no staff approached us, lots of staff walking around all avoiding eye contact with us. One meal that came last, when the first person had almost finished, was a pasta one which was piping hot and delicious. Such a shame the rest of us had terrible meals. Waitress said she checked the time of our ticket and the hour wait was unacceptable, she offered us two free deserts. We felt this was a ploy to get us to buy three deserts for the rest of us. We didn’t particularly want to experience any more of their cuisine so declined that offer. So we ended up paying full price for a shoddy meal served barely warm and very late. We had no customer service or interaction, nothing to make you feel welcome. This was my last meal with my family before returning to the UK after not seeing them for years. My daughter and son in law were devasted and kept apologising to me. An expensive poor experience.

Written 22 January 2023

Frank D

1 contribution

Poor experience

Nov 2021 • none

A group of 10 visited Carmel's on the 12/11/2021. We arrived at 6.30 PM and did not see any staff until 7.10 pm when we placed our drink orders. 30 minutes later we received our drinks but not until we had to go to the bar for them. Our food arrived at 8.15 but the chicken was half cooked (raw inside) and the American ribs were cold. An extremely poor experience particularly when we spent over $600. My summery; Poor service, not enough attention to quality and the first and last time I will go there.

Written 12 November 2021

Bob

Adelaide33 contributions

Extremely disappointed,

Aug 2020 • family

Extremely disappointed, have been previously and was good. Tonight was a disaster, we had a group of 14 for a birthday party, the staff took orders promptly and tried hard during the night. Waited over an hour before the food arrived. Other tables who were seated after us were served with their meals first. Our food was a mix of pizza’s and burgers, the pizza’s came out first and were very overcooked, some people had finished their pizza before the burgers arrived. The burger buns were toasted black and the meat also cindered. The onion rings were only half cooked and dripped oil but the chips were cooked correctly and nice. The manager did give some concessions at the till however it spoilt the night and will be unlikely to return.

Written 26 August 2020

TravellingoneSwansea

Swansea Bay142 contributions

Good local restaurant

Jan 2023 • solo

Booked a table online because of peak season and had a lovely table allocated. Such a treat for a solo diner! Friendly helpful staff. Had the dips starter- huge serving and delicious. Barramundi and chips after which was also delicious. Waitress came out to ask if I was ready for main course so fish could be cooked fresh. Nice touch! Batter was light as a feather and fish perfectly cooked. All in all a lovely evening. .

Written 12 January 2023

CBear

Perth2 contributions

Closed already at 8.10 pm.

Oct 2021 • couples

Tried to order a takeaway pizza at 8.10 pm on a Wed evening, told they’re closed. Already tried Oscars, also closed. No takeaways available it seems after 8pm. Poor for tourists.

Written 13 October 2021

macfod

Amberley780 contributions

Worth a visit

Dec 2022 • couples

We booked in case they were busy, but it was early and so hassles. Never sure why some places reserve you the worst table when you pre-book as this one did..but we moved so all good. Its a spacious restaurant and staff were there in numbers ready for the Saturday night rush and so no issues on service. My wife had a simple Mexican pizza which was served just warm and was quite bland. I tried the salmon special which was served hot and presented well and enjoyed it. Only one choice of merlot red available in a glass and that wasn’t the best vintage taste. Strange in a vineyard area only a small choice and didn’t want to risk a bottle. Looking at other restaurants on our way back which were even quieter we didn’t make a bad choice.

Written 17 December 2022

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