Amazing pizza and meatball sub. We were in town and looking for some Italian. Happened upon Carmela's. Nice interior. Great staff. Margherita pizza and sub were amazing. We've found our Dripping Springs Italian joint for future visits. Thank you. read more

I was contemplating on writing a review for the past week. I am so disappointed that I spent my hard earned money on food that was no where near being Italian. My 16yr old cooks better than this establishment. We spent $65 for two meals and I can't get it out of my head. I ordered the Verona chicken,recommendation of the waitress. No taste. Husband ordered a meat lovers pizza with added veggies. Each added veggie was $1.50 not $1 but $1.50. So that was an extra $12 added to the pizza. I could have ordered a second pizza with that much. Also ordered kids spaghetti and meatballs. Absolutely tasteless. All I ask is to PUT SOME LOVE IN THE COOKING! So freaking pissed that I spent that money there! read more

Came here on a whim with my daughter after bluebonnet photos. It is located in a strip with decent parking. Upon going in, just a typical restaurant. You seat yourself, so we grabbed a booth so that I could keep her contained. The booths/walls/etc does not seem like they are cleaned very often. We were greeted pretty quickly and began looking over the menu. The server was a kind young kid and got my tea out to me. I placed our order and we waited. Another kind server brought my daughter a cup of water with ice and a lid without even asking which I was so thankful for as I forgot to ask for one. Food came out and the chicken wasn't great, but I paid extra for it and ate it. The fettuccine Alfredo itself was really good. I ordered a pizza to go too while we ate. Cashed out quickly and was on our way, pizza at home was good! I would probably place an order to pick up and not eat inside due to cleanliness concerns, but otherwise enjoyed what we had ordered. read more

Carmela's Dripping Springs - Chicken fettuccine Alfredo - Pizza Near Me - Dripping Springs, Texas

Very small portion sizes. 20 bucks for spaghetti and meatballs. Also on their menus says extra meatballS (plural) for 4 bucks and they give you one extra . Nice staff, cool bartender but over priced. read more

Meh place is mediocre and kind of dirty. My wife and I had the pizza and it wasn't good at all. Not much toppings and tasted funny. Would not recommend and won't be returning. I can see why it has just 3 stars. We usually don't go to restaurants under 4 stars but since we were way out in Dripping Springs for the day figured it wouldn't be bad. DeSano pizza is still THE best pizza around located in downtown Austin. read more

The food is delicious. I've tried just about every dish. They have the waitresses are very friendly and nice. The restaurants always clean and everybody is very friendly read more

LOVE LOVE LOVE Carmela's! My husband and come here every week- it's always good and we have the best time talking with neighbors and making new friends. Chicken Parm and Pork Tuscany are a fav. Alex and James always make you feel welcome. If I could only go to 1 restaurant for the rest of my life, it would be Carmela's! read more

Came here to feed a large party over the Thanksgiving weekend and had a wonderful experience. Staff was friendly. Food was amazing and laid back atmosphere. Would recommend! read more

Great food and atmosphere. Service was amazing. Great place to have a pizza dinner and drinks.

The service is so much better under the new management! The food is still great, and the new happy hour is a nice addition!

Every time we stay in dripping springs, we grab some food from Carmela's. The pizza is good and always hits the spot after a long day hiking/swimming. The young lady at the cash register was very courteous and provided great service. We haven't dined in, always get take out and never been disappointed here. Definitely recommend if you are in the area. read more

This was my first time visiting and I greatly enjoyed the experience. I live in Dripping Springs and found this place on the internet. We had the supreme pizza and fettuccine alfredo. Service was great. Atmosphere is casual. Will be visiting again. read more

Very friendly staff and real good food. As someone new to the area this place will definitely become a regular!!

This was our first trip to the restaurant, and I was totally underwhelmed. The ambience is OK, except for the glaring, cold LED light and big screen over what I think was a wait station. There was a bar area too that had warmer lighting. I took a chance on the baked white fish dish that was supposed to be cooked with tomatoes, artichokes, onion and peperoncinos (which they misspelled). We asked the waitress what they were and she didn't have a good answer. I asked her if they were spicy hot and she said no. I later found out that peperoncino is the generic Italian name for a HOT chili pepper! And the dish was so SPICY HOT I found it almost inedible. I'm not a total wuss when it comes to heat and my friend likes it hot, but this made him sweat too. The fish was swimming in this soup, served inside the foil it had been cooked in. (Odd presentation.) The texture of the fish was a little tough. The tomatoes were missing. The flavor was ok but I barely tasted it because I was washing it down with copious amounts of water as it burned my mouth. VERY disappointing! One of the worst meals I've ever had at restaurant. I handed it off to my date who added some of it to his shrimp scampi that he said was too bland. He thought his meal was good after that and said he might try a pizza next time. We saw several people coming in for takeout pizza. As for the service... Meh. There was very little service. Our waitress acted annoyed to be working. After giving me the bad menu advice, she eventually delivered our food and disappeared. She never came back to check on us. We had to chase her down to get our check. And it wasn't crowded. I will say that the fresh bread was very good. But there are better places to eat in Dripping Springs these days and I doubt I will be back. read more

Normally come here for the pizza, but lasagna quickly rose to be the of the show for us. Incredible flavor! I think everybody had a bite at the table and we pretty much all shared it!! Worth a stop! read more

Carmela's Dripping Springs - Lasagne - Pizza Near Me - Dripping Springs, Texas

True home style Italian with a local flare. Their Carmella's Special Pizza is one of the best and their pasta and entrees are all amazing as well. read more

Been wanting to visit Carmela's for awhile. Not being a normal supper eater it was a little hard with their hours. We arrived just after opening, waitress was attentive and even offered suggestions on entrees. Tea refills were plentiful as well. Every diner is served rosemary focaccia bread; extra loaves cost a little extra. We liked the flavor, but found it a bit tough on the edges. Only other negative I encountered was a sub par Caesar dressing. Not creamy enough and a vinegar taste that's not original to the classic recipe. Mom's dish was a suggestion pairing the shrimp Italiano appetizer a side of pasta underneath. Interesting breading on the shrimp, possibly a hybrid of a beer or club soda batter? All gently tossed in a caper and artichoke cream sauce. Near prefect amount of capers; the tiniest bit of briney flavor. Can't remember my what two choices I pondered over but ended up with the lasagna. Instead of a beef and pork mixture, Carmela's combines Italian sausage, pepperoni, and salami with the ricotta and mozzarella. The dish could have used a tad more sauce. Salt was a bit more obvious because of the meats used. Dessert was a tuxedo cake with layers akin to tiramisu except denser like a cheesecake. I got away with a couple of bites to round out a 4 star experience. I understand why there's no lunch, tough market north of Dripping Springs with Proof and Cooper nearby. Only other lunch option being the convenience store next door for grab and go stuff. read more

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Impromptu weekend getaway to Dripping Springs for hiking and visiting the area parks, wineries and olive oil company. After searching for a place to get pizza we found Carmela's. Drive the windy, dark country route 12 to the restaurant and at first we weren't too enthused about the place as it's located in a small shopping strip attached to a gas station but I'm so glad we didn't judge a book by its cover. The parking lot was full so we figured we'd try it out and we were not disappointed. Since we were a party of two we sat at the bar. Service was great. We got our complimentary bread with olive oil & herbs. I ordered a Cabernet and enjoyed a local Texas wine from Becker Vineyards. Ended up ordering a pasta entree and chose the Mama Carmela's Verona Chicken which was a lemon piccata dish with capers, artichokes and a lovely white wine lemon sauce. My husband also ordered a pasta entree and even with the extra bread and two glasses of wine and sodas we made it out of there for less than $90!! What a great deal and So delicious!! I'd come back for sure if we wander our way back through Dripping Springs. read more

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We visited for a birthday dinner and the food was good and the server was really nice. We had a great time with delicious Italian food and really enjoyed ourselves. The restaurant was popular and couples and families were visiting. It's very welcoming. read more

I try to like this place since it's family run and authentic Italian recipes brought over when the family moved to the United States, but it's just not working for me. My orders haven't been right, it's not very clean, I watched them refill a used beer mug on the tap and let the foam pour over the glass (mind you - it was already used once and it is during COVID), the staff aren't wearing masks most of the time. Then they gave me my to go order of warm focaccia bread and said my meal still has 10 minutes to go. After a long time, maybe 20 minutes and multiple times asking what I ordered, I got my food. It was so hot it melted the bags and burned my hand. I love my food to be scalding hot, but not hot enough the plate melts through the carrying bag!! read more

I absolutely LOVE this little neighborhood Italian place! The owner is the SWEETEST, and it is truly some of the BEST pizza in Drip! My tastebuds LOVE "supporting local" at Carmela's!!! read more

We regularly order their supreme pizza it is best around this area!! Service is fast ambiance is very nice.

If I could give 10 stars I would. Carly was so friendly and very attentive. The penne with shrimp was delicious and the fresh bread was so so good! read more

Carmela's Dripping Springs - Forgot to take the picture first but the Penne with Shrimp was amazing. Bread fresh out of the oven was delicious! - Pizza Near Me - Dripping Springs, Texas

Food four stars. Decor three stars. Hey, these are hard times for restaurants. Give 'em the four stars. * * * Carmela's is a Latin-American-run Italian restaurant. God bless the new migrants who are saving Italian food in America. In the 1950's and 1960's, Italian families ran the Italian restaurants of America. They did a wonderful job. But their kids and grandkids don't want to work in the family business. So those old dynastic houses have died or are dying. (The same thing is going to happen twenty or thirty years from now to the great Mexican restaurants.) One reason that we still have solid red sauce Italian restaurants is that a lot of Latin American immigrants have stepped into the void - particularly Latin American cooks who do not want to have to cook the same stereotyped Latin American dishes they grew up with. They want to do something new and fresh that carves out their own place in the world. Their command of the Italian standards is solid. Through their efforts the Italian standards are kept alive. * * * There are two ways to do this - Traditional and wacky. My own vote is for wacky - but I can see the case for going traditional. Carmela's is a traditional house. They cook the classics just the way you remember them. If you go to a place like Bella Donna Subs in Far South East Austin - You see a different approach. I think the owners of Bella Donna are Honduran. (If I am wrong, I openly invite other Yelpers to message me a correction.) They work tiny little Honduran touches into the Italian recipes. A slice of avocado here. A peppery sauce there. The personalized accents are incredible. But if you go too wacko-badacko, You lose your connection with your original sources. So I respect Carmela's playing the recipes very straight. I had a meatball sandwich and tomato bisque. My wife had fish in a white wine and butter sauce with shrimp and artichoke hearts. Execution was eminently respectable. We would have any of those dishes again. * * * I do wish that restauranteurs who want to show that their restaurant is authentically Italian would pass on replicating the stereotypical Italian restaurant decoration. The handpainted view of the view from a piazza looking past pillars on to a Tuscan landscape with vines. Fake mini-golf-cottage-style windows on the walls. Pictures of famous Italian movie stars throughout the establishment. (Usually it is Frank Sinatra. Here for a change of pace it is Sophia Loren.) There is a picture of the Grand Canal of Venice in the men's room. The decoration says "Look-at-me-I'm-Italian-I'm-Italian-I'm-Italian!" I would rather have the quiet confidence of an owner Who knows her cooking is good in its own right and Decorates a room just to look nice and be beautiful in its own right. * * * But that said, Carmela's is basically a decent place. Everyone is having lots of trouble during the pandemic. I hope all the good restaurants make it. One of the restaurants that I hope survives all this is Carmela's. Her kitchen is solid. read more

This place is not crowded but the pizza is amazing! Also, they have the best beer prices in Austin/Dripping Springs. I'll be back here soon. So good. Two thumbs up!!! read more

Carmela's Dripping Springs - Pizza Near Me - Dripping Springs, Texas

Great food! Needed to serve a group of 7 in a pinch. Carmela's was right down the road from our airbnb so we went for it. The food was very good! The service was great (young man) behind the bar and the dessert case was a spectacle - we took almost one of everything and it was amazing. Recommend to anyone in the area! read more

Great service and food was fresh and hot for take out. Will eat here again and hopefully dine in.

Great food service with a smile Great wine selection Dessert are over the top The owner is please to visit with They always ask you to come back read more

The staff are always very friendly and food is tasty and very consistent. Highly recommend their supreme pizza and any of their desserts.

It was not good. Not even a little bit. Not to mention expensive. The atmosphere was ok and the server was fine just disgusting food and pizza. The pizza at the gas station is for sure better. Don't waste your money read more

Amazing place!! Their food is amazing, their desserts are sooo tasty. Best Italian around dripping springs.

Josephine and staff were very courteous and professional. The food was great and will return!!!

To the Owner of Carmelas: We just recently dined at your restaurant and was hoping to find our new "go to" Italian restaurant. We are empty nesters and eat out a lot. That said, have some constructive criticism for you: 1. $38.00 for the Ecco Domani Pinot Grigio that we can purchase for $8.95 is "Restaurant Robbery. I don't mind 2.5x or even 3.0x but over 4x the price of the wine is uncalled for. BTW, a $20 corking fee is way too much (i.e., because I asked). $10 or $15 is far more reasonable. Don't try to gouge restaurant savvy Customers - you will lose our business in a heartbeat. 2. You have the potential for a great Italian restaurant. However, as much as I'm a Beatles fan, playing the Beatles nonstop takes away from the ambiance. There is a lot of very nice Italian instrumental music for the background. 3. Your marinara sauce had too much oregano. My Bride's Chicken Parmesan was almost inedible until we asked to try your Meat Sauce. The good news, it made the Chicken Parmesan much much better. The bad news is you charged us $3.00 to make an inedible meal edible. BTW, Peyton was an awesome Server. Please take this as constructive criticism because we really want you to succeed. A Potential (if you fix these things) long- term Customer. read more

The pasta I had (penne alla vodka) was sooo good! It is right behind a gas station which may make it seem like it's not the greatest, but it is definitely worth a visit. Everyone was super happy with their food and wine. read more

There were 4 of us had 3 the trio and I had the egg plant parmigiana all of us agree we won't be back it took 45 mins to get our food. The food was pretty bland my eggplant was very thick and lacked flavor. Overall we did not have a good experience for our first time. The up side the waitress did comp us 2 slices of cake. Very disappointed read more

This is a great place to go with family and friends if you want a leisurely meal with plenty of time to visit. Don't let the location next in a gas station strip mall stop you from going. The inside is quite nice. The server was outstanding, but the food takes quite a while to come out. They do serve complimentary bread and dipping oil to munch on while you wait, and it was good. I have to say that for the prices they charge, the food didn't meet my expectations. The pasta was cooked well, and the sauce tasted pretty good, but the chicken was so dry it was difficult to swallow, even though it had a lot of sauce on it. The dish was fairly bland, as far as seasoning goes. I will probably try them again at some point in the future and have a different dish, but at this time it's not one of my favorite places. read more

Disgusting followed by No One Cares. My wife and I ordered a Salad each and one Appetizer. After the food was delivered I could smell urine. The horrible smell was coming from the person in the cubicle behind us. When that person left the waiter proceeded to spray the cubicle out with vinegar. Seriously Urine followed by Vinegar?? I spoke with the Waiter then the Owner. They were dismissive - "why did you sit there?" My answer: it's because I did not know we were going to be seated next to someone someone with pungent smell of urine, you did, and yet that's where you sat us. BTW, we were charged for the extra salad dressing and bread on our bill. No One Cares. read more

We were so disappointed that COVID caused us to miss our Boston pilgrimages to Boston and the Cape this year. Carmelina's is always our "last supper" when we return to Boston. Everything on the menu is phenomenal, so IMHO anything you select will exceed expectations. Let your cravings guide your selection...you'll be back! Make reservations well in advance as demand exceeds number of tables! God bless our friends at Carmelina's, we hope to see you in the spring and praying we can get back this fall. read more

The best pizza ever. The shrimp Italiano is the best the company and pianist was amazing.

Oh my goodness! We love Carmela's but tonight was super good. I had the Italian shrimp with pasta on top and I practically licked the plate. So good. This restaurant is a hidden gem between Bee Cave and Dripping. Who knew such delicious Italian food lived in a strip mall read more