The best thing about this place is Sam. The worst thing about this place is also Sam.
What was great was that Sam made me feel at home and treated me like someone he had known for a long time. He took me to the back of his warehouse, gave me a free beer to drink, and engaged me in plenty of conversation. At one point, though, he said, "You look oriental, but you also look American." I'm pretty sure he wasn't meaning for it to be offensive, and I just discounted it as his being an old man who didn't know it was no longer politically correct to say things like that.
This is not why I recommend against Caruso's, however. The reason why I'll never go there again is because Sam knowingly sold me expired beer.
I was on my way back from the North Side to the East End where I live and after seeing these good reviews, I decided to stop by. I wanted a case of Yuengling, but Sam said, "Why don't you try this instead," and popped open a fresh bottle of Castello, an Italian beer. He had me drink it, all the while espousing its comparative taste to Yuengling at a cheaper price point. It certainly tasted alright, and a case of it was a couple dollars less than what Yuengling was going for.
Since the Castello tasted fine, I ended up buying a case of it on Sam's recommendation. A few days later when I opened the box and drank a couple of the beers, however, I noticed that they tasted funny. That's when I looked at the label and saw how each of the bottles had its "sell by" date marked out in black Sharpie. You could see the numbers underneath the Sharpie, and the dates were for well over two years ago. So basically, Sam had convinced me to buy something he hadn't been able to sell, knowing that I lived in the East End and probably wasn't going to visit again anyway.
Stale beer aside, there's another big reason not to go to Caruso's: Their prices are steep--$24 for a case of Yuengling. While Sam might be a more charming character than the young folks at my neighborhood distributor Pistella's, at least I know that Pistella's has significantly lower prices and actually has enough customers and product turnover that they won't purposely sell me something that's not fresh. read more