I've been here a few times since my first review and have had mixed experiences. I find the appetizers are the best things to get and split with friends. Their wines are all from Italy - which is awesome and definitely the way to go. The cocktails are good, but their wine is really what to order as the cocktails arent really all too special.
Only problem we've ever had was a misinformed OK on a dish that 'didn't have nuts' that most definitely did. Always a fun adventure with a nut allergy though.
My first time here was about 18 months ago and I have been here maybe 6 or 7 times since. I have always sat at the bar and it has always been on the weekend.
I have to say that I really enjoy the place. The crowd is always fun and the piano players are entertaining (albeit sometimes they are a bit loud and overpowering)
I have had a pasta dish that was very good and my favorite is their "meatball" for an appetizer. Â Very simple, but very good--a favorite.
I see that many people are panning the food in these reviews, but I have often said that good service can go a long way to overcome poor food. Â I have not had poor food, but the service I have received..and I will name name --Trent-- has been awesome.
When I come in, he remembers my name and my drink, and the conversation picks up from the last time which may have been 6 months ago. VERY attentive, VERY nice. VERY professional. Â For example, was there two weeks ago and he said he "had a feeling" we would be in so he stocked up on the beers we like. Â OK, likely a line of bullshit, but an effective one!
As I said, I cant; speak for the service at the tables, but it gets a thumbs up from me!
I decided this would be a great place to have dinner as a pre-birthday celebration with someone close to me. It was early on a Tuesday night and we almost had the place to ourselves.
The atmosphere is wonderful. Subtle lighting and nice decor. A young musician showed up and sat down behind the piano and played some excellent music with a great voice the entire evening.
We shared the meatball which is on the appetizer menu. I wouldn't recommend ordering this as an appetizer for yourself as it is huge (12oz.) and comes with three dipping sauces. The only downside to the food was the pesto dipping sauce was different than before. The new version is more of a shredded basil with some garlic and olive oil. Not the creamy pesto that they once had.
We also shared a salad which neither of us could finish. The waitress also brought out some bread with olive oil, spices, vinegar, and grated parmesan to dip into. This pairs well with the meatball and a glass of wine.
Finally, since it was in celebration of my birthday they gave me a choice of dessert which was on the house. I chose the smores dessert. The musician spoke out that it was my birthday and asked everyone to sing along. Just then, the waitress came around the corner with the smores dessert with a single candle in it.
It was a great time with great food. And quite a coincidence that the waitress shared my birthday and the bartender shared my name. I recommend this place to anyone who wants to enjoy a nice meal with a quiet and cozy atmosphere!
If you want a relaxing piano bar with amusingly off color jokes and a few glasses of good wine, this place is great. The patrons at the bar, singing along with the piano guys and trading witticisms were having a great time.
SO FAR, I wouldn't recommend it for dinner. The food seemed to be poorly prepared and dull, as well as ridiculously overpriced.
They brought out bread to start, but the bread was soft and spongy grocery store style Italian bread. They'd be better off with something good and crusty. Also it was served with a plate of olive oil AND balsamic vinegar AND a pile of cheese AND some herbs. Overkill. Let the oil and the bread speak for themselves. Also, your vinegar wasn't great.
The Caesar salad was fine, but for $9? Nothing special, just lettuce and dressing.
I had a terrible shrimp pasta, "Shrimp Fra Diavolo," for $25 (?!?!?!). The shrimp were overcooked and the pasta was stuck together. And it was drowning in cheap tomatoe sauce. As anyone who is Italian can tell you, this is the rookiest of rookie mistakes. How to prevent it? Make sure your water is actually boiling and stir the pasta. Like, even once. The "arrabiata" sauce wasn't spicy as it was supposed to be and was pretty lackluster overall.
Now, to be fair to them I sent it back and they were very gracious about it. They even offered me a free dessert. So, I have hope for this place if they can hire a decent cook and find a couple of good recipes.
But look at their menu! The person who put this menu together was not someone who thinks about food seriously, they are trying to make generic Italian-American food seem "fancy" by making the recipes richer and adding some special ingredients. This is not working for them.
"Fried Caprese Roll: House-made mozzarella, basil pesto and tomato pinwheel, sliced and pan-seared to a crisp, served with marinara sauce and béchamel"
You are seriously going to take a salad that is all about fresh, delicious summer produce and DEEP FRY IT and smother it in WHITE GRAVY?!? Are you people smoking dope?
"Wild Mushroom Risotto: Sautéed shallots and wild mushrooms with creamy risotto finished with aged provolone cheese and white truffle oil"
You are going to the trouble of having the subtle and refined flavors of truffle and wild mushrooms and then throw PROVELONE on top?
Seriously guys, hire a new chef and heavily revise your menu. Keep the romantic mood and the live music and you will flourish.
Went to try it out and see I could experience the Billy Joel song.  Location is right off of 2nd Street..  It was crowded so very glad we made a reservation.  They have different piano players on various days during the week.  Great Ambiance.  For appetizer we had that  Fried Caprese Roll  very tasty but for $10 you only get two little rolls.   We had the Trout with Salmoriglio and the Penne Pasta.  The pasta was great and generous amount of pasta and the sauce was very good.  The trout had WAY too much cornmeal, and reminded me of Long John Silver's  I knew the trout was hiding in there somewhere so as I pealed back the crust I found the trout, but alas it was too late, it had lost all of its taste, and was flavorless.  It is rare that I don't finish the main entree, but this is that case.  The  redskin potatoes  and other accouterments had a variety of flavors and the caramelized cipollini onions were perfectly prepared.  As far as the  service the staff should know the menu better, but throughout the meal they were attentive and not intrusive.  Due to the great vibe, I'll probably go again but will go for the traditional pizza.
Review Source:I held off on writing this review until after I had been to Carley's twice, but I have to say that the food and service doesn't live up to the classy decor and convenient location.
I've been here once for lunch and was surprised that my coworker and I were the only people in the place. I thought it must have been a slow day, and I generally enjoyed the food, though it was simple - a sandwich and a side salad. Â The service was slow considering we were the only people there, but I thought perhaps our server could tell we were working and was leaving us alone.
I came back for dinner recently, and the service was beyond slow. Even though we were only one of four tables on a Saturday night at 7:30, it took 15 minutes to get our drinks and bread. I ordered the scallops, which were served over heavily breaded and fried ravioli with no sauce. The dish was dry and flavorless.
The kicker had to be the damp smell that permeated through the entire restaurant. It was only made worse- nearly gag-worthy - when a server brought out a mop and bucket that absolutely smelled foul and started cleaning up a spill with the dirty mop and water.
I was disappointed because I liked the look of the place and had heard good things from someone who had been there in the past. I just don't think I'll be returning, given the other selections nearby.
We were here for lunch with a larger group. Â Service was fast and attentive.
I recommend their french onion soup, VERY GOOD! Â The chicken caesar salad was just okay.
Prices were ok, not great, for the amount of food. Â I wish we could have gotten a discount for all the flies in the restaurant! Â It was pretty gross.
Went there for dinner. The staff was attentive and friendly but the food very bland. I had the shrimp scampi and crab pasta and not even salt and pepper couldn help the dish.. My fiancee had the lasagna and it was very bland as well.. The average price for dinner is $25 and not worth it. Wont be returning.
Review Source:Skip dinner as it's the happy hour that is the best deal. $3 house wine and the half price bar menu are great. Gotta sit in the bar area, however so go early to get a seat or grab the few patio spots. My fav here is the 1 lb meatball appetizer with the best garlic pesto around. Extra pesto please!
Review Source:I met a friend here for dinner on 3/10/11. The place is small (especially the bar area!) but the atmosphere is pleasant enough. It could use an update though.
As for the food, I ordered the lasagna. The portion was decent, but it was some of the blandest lasagna I've ever had. I didn't detect a hint of any herbs, salt, pepper, or other seasoning whatsoever. What was described as "traditional Bolognese sauce" tasted like canned tomato puree and ground beef. The lasagna at Mercado's Pizza, the little joint on North 3rd, is far better and half the price--and you get a salad and garlic bread with it. My friend had the antipasti salad which looked okay, but that's pretty hard to screw up.
As for the service, the waiter was very attentive when I first arrived. But once dinner was served, he didn't stop by again until he noticed we were finished eating. My water glass sat empty for almost the entire dinner. I finally had to ask him for a refill when he brought the check.
Now for the live music. When I heard this was a piano bar, my first thought was of New York. Wrong. No classics here unless you count some 80s hair band covers. It wasn't bad, just not what I was expecting. However, it was a bit loud for such a small place.
I wouldn't think about going back here unless some friends really wanted to go for the live music. Then I would stick to a salad or appetizer if eating.
The visual appeal of Carley's was quickly ruined by the strong moldy odor coming from the table cloth and napkins at our table. To say this place was understaffed is an understatement, I only saw two servers working in the whole restaurant. Needless to say the service was unbelievably slow. Our party of two ordered the fried caprese roll as an appetizer, the family style chicken parm as entrees, and tiramisu for desert. The stars of the evening were the fried caprese roll and the tiramisu which were both fantastic (but it's very hard to screw up either dishes). The portion size for the "family style" chicken parm was equivalent to a single order at any other italian restaurant in Harrisburg. The two pieces of chicken provided were stacked on top of each other and the lower piece was missing cheese altogether. What are you suppose to call chicken parm without cheese anyways? Â The only nice thing about the place was our server who despite being overworked was pretty darn friendly.
Review Source:First and foremost I gotta say the only food I've ever tried here is the pizza, which is decent. Â Not amazing but decent. Â I'm a serious fan of the wine list and have been choosing Carley's lately for a glass or two of wine on a weekend evening. Â
They offer a wide selection of Italian wines by the glass, and the bartender will happily give you a suggestion if you aren't familiar with some of the wines. Â I'm a Pinot Noir drinker and have been drinking Nero di Avalo when I go. Â It's delicious. Â If you are looking for a place to chill, listen to piano music, drink wine and laugh with friends then I recommend Carley's.
Four of us went here after a show at the Forum Sunday evening. We arrived at about 6:15 and were seated promptly. But it went downhill from there.
The service was slow and they clearly had not staffed for the after- show crowd. The restaurant was nearly full. The waitstaff were not well versed on the special on the board out front and it took asking twice and the waitstaff having to go back to talk to the chef to have it explained. Had to ask for bread and to have water glasses refilled. Empty wine glasses sat for half an hour before we were asked for a refill. It took about an hour and a half to get our entrees.
The atmosphere could be nice. The tables though are distressed wood and somewhat sticky. The lights annoyingly would get bright then dim throughout the evening without explanation. My wife compared it to a slow strobe light.
As for the food, it was edible. My wife ordered the special: asparagus tips and crab in a white sauce over orecchiette. It arrived, but over spaghetti. The waiter made no mention of the substitution. She had the melon/radicchio salad and liked it.
I ordered the Caesar salad and veal Parmesan. The romaine in the Caesar had been cut into narrow strips, was limp and the edges were brown. It apparently had been sitting out for while. They have an annoying practice of serving their veal and chicken dishes on TOP of spaghetti in a soup plate so the steaming spaghetti makes the breading on the veal soggy and makes it difficult to cut the veal. The marinara sauce on the spaghetti was nondescript and scant and the spaghetti dry. In my book, this practice of serving veal and chicken OVER spaghetti is not done by any Italian restaurant that takes their food seriously. The chicken Marsala ordered by another of our party was served the same way - over spaghetti. I guess it saves on dishes to have everything thrown into a soup plate. When I want veal Parmesan served this way, I'll go to Sbarro. Mama mia!
To be fair, my wife has gone here for lunch and been pleased, which is why she recommended it. But we won't be going back for dinner.
We were disappointed because we have gone many times to their sister restaurant Stock's on Second and always have been pleased.
If you are looking for good Italian, go to Gabriella's on Walnut Street for the same prices. At Gabriella's the veal comes displayed on its own platter and the pasta (you have choices in addition to spaghetti) in its own dish.
The 5 best restaurants in the 2015 Denver Restaurant Week
3,611 Views | Category: Denver
The complete list of 2015 Denver Restaurant Week businesses
1,972 Views | Category: Denver
The tourists' guide to Portillos: 5 must have dishes
3,318 Views | Category: Chicago
Pho = Pronounced "fuh" not "foe" for pho-king sake
2,915 Views | Category: Denver
Indulgery selected to exhibit at Collision Conference
2,987 Views | Category: Press Releases
Not Logged In
BUSINESSES
Local Businesses
Near Me
My Favorites
SOCIAL
Blog & News
MY ACCOUNT
Login
Register
Contact Us
Add Your Business
