Carmine's Pizza & Italian Take Out

I love heath and all been coming here since i was a kid but he has soMe of the most incompetent highschool kids working here.. they are always messing up my order on the simplest of things. I can understand once in a while but twice in one week ... come onnnnn .. they need to hire some older more experienced staff imo

There are quite a few pizza options in my area but we always go for Carmines. My favorite is the arugula pizza and the arugula is always fresh and crunchy; my boyfriend (from New York) had clams casino pizza and said he'd never had better. We've never gone wrong ordering from here.

Amazing amazing amazing! The pizza is great the atmosphere is great and the garlic knots are to die for. I recently moved to the area and on my moving day I decided to get some pizza for everyone with my mom and we chose the closest place well I'm glad I did, the owner found out I was new to the area and gave me a free homemade frozen pizza and it was amazing even for being frozen, and the fresh pizza and garlic knots blew me away; I'm a New Yorker and have struggled finding pizza I love adjusting to the CT style but this has to be my favorite spot in the few years I've been here

Live in Northford and this is our "go to" spot. Everything is so good and prices are reasonable ! The dinners have generous portions and pizzas are always delicious. Love the sauce. The ONLY reason why I give it 4 stars is because it is always generally busy (which is GREAT) but the wait time for a simple order can be long. I do understand it is a small business and wait times will happen. Nevertheless we still get food from here ALL the time. Sometimes I just get hangry (LOL) and the wait time seems like ages when really it may not be THAT bad.

Tried pizza again tonite and I wish I could say it was good but this was the worst of the last 3 times we tried it.
First I called and asked for mushrooms... all out. Eggplant ... all out. So I go with a sausage onion and pepper. We order white pizza as we are not tomato lovers. I asked for the pizza more well as it's often soggy when we have ordered a large pie.
Opening the pizza it looks great... first bite... dry bland and flavorless. No seasoning, no oil and no taste.
Sausage was tiny and not flavorful at all. I love the crust ends and I couldn't even finish it. No one was interested

For this area of the state, the pizza was good... but I'm a pizza snob and overall, it was OK. We enjoyed a red clam pizza, garlic knots, fried calamari, and an arugula salad. The pizza was the best part! I'd order pizza here again- it was absolutely covered in clams. The calamari was not great and the garlic knots needed a lot more garlic. This place is good in a pinch, but it's no New Haven...

Moved from West Haven to Durham and one of the reasons is because of this place!! Really great pizza and meals! L! Take out service is awesome-it may take some time to get through but it's worth it. Best eggplant parm, chicken parm and chicken francaise/florentine. Pizza is so good, I prefer well done but either way it is the beat! Love meatball and eggplant pizza...Great sauce. Chicken cutlet sandwich is yummy! Garlic knots are so good!! Arugula salad is soooo good! Panini's are also so good!

I use Carmines often for dinner when I don't feel like cooking. Ithink their special pizza is excellent and I often order chicken dishes which are always very very good. I get them to deliver it to my house and they are always timely and very pleasant to deal with..

This town needs more places to eat. Thankfully they have a good Italian restaurant.Never ate inside always did takeout.All dishes were good,good portions and prices reasonable.Pizzas are very good and staff friendly and courteous.Give it a try

The pizza was ready when promised, the service for a take out was as expected.
I will say that the thin crust was excellent and their sauce was great, no overwhelming spices to hide the flavor of the sauce. Everyone's taste is different, but their sauce is to my liking.
What I did find disappointing was how sparse pepperoni topping was, I prefer a generous amount.
I have a favorite pizza place in Ct. their pepperoni topping covers the pie.

I love the chicken dinners they serve. Hearty portions so you have enough to share or have for lunch the next day! Pizza is okay but not my families favorite!

I've lived out here for 15 years and have always gone to Carmine's. Over the years the service has declined, the staff taking orders on the phone are kids that don't pay attention, orders need to repeated over and over again, when trying to call there the phone is either always busy or when of those kids answers the phone they don't ask if you'll please hold. They say HOLD ON and put the phone down on an open line for several minutes.
I called just a little bit ago to have an order delivered which we do a lot. I live in Higganum (7/10 of a mile from Durham line) and

I live on the Durham side of Middletown, just 10 minutes from Carmine's, but we had never been there. It's very nondescript to look at, tucked into strip mall-ish plaza in the heart of Durham. I noticed their pizza for sale in local markets, but finally went in after a post on a Durham Facebook page asked about best pizza in the area and the answer was overwhelmingly in favor of Carmine's.

I totally forgot that I had read on Yelp that it was take out only. So felt a little stupid walking in and having to place our order and wait for it, but everyone working there was super nice

Great pizza for the price. My only complaint is that whenever we call to order, we always immediately get put on hold for 5-10 minutes. That could be a good sign that they are always so busy with customers, but can also be a bit frustrating when trying to place an order. I would definitely recommend as their pizza is very reasonably priced and they make some of he best pizza in the area that we have found since we moved here.

Ordered 2 salads and 2 small pizzas. The girl taking my order on the phone was rude when she couldn't hear me. (There was yelling in the background from the other staff) delivery for less than a mile away said an hour 10. Very abrupt and hung up. It took about an hour and 30 minutes for delivery. Both small pizzas were only cut into halves with one of them having extra mushrooms which were still raw. The Caesar salad had wilted lettuce. You would think that one of a few restaurants with deliver in Durham would have higher standards.

Update: still poor customer service and sub standard pizza

Carmine's is one of the best pizza and Italian places in the area. I have been to Carmine's many times and have always enjoyed their pizza and Italian dishes, and their service is superb, you can tell they really appreciate your business. It's a small spot but they have a few picnic tables in the front to use when the weather is nice and supply plates and utensils. If you want to support a local spot and have great food, give Carmine's a try, you won't be disappointed!

Update. Had to call 11 Times before someone picked up. The girl on the phone was terse with me and gave almost all one word responses. She cut me off and didn't even say "thank you." I'm trying to give you my hard-earned money. At least pretend to not hate your job. It's really not that difficult.

I've been going to carmines for a long time but moved a little further away so I stopped going. Also the phone situation was crazy u could never get a hold of them. After golfing at lymans I said let me give them another chance. I was amazed that the phone was ringing! When I got there they have two ipads now and u check out on them. They also have two phones. Before they only had one.


As for the food 13 bucks for a large cheese is a steal compared to other places in the area. It ranks right up there with mondo for me. The dinners which I didn't get last night are also well priced and

Great New Haven style pizza in Durham. All your favorite toppings, and selections like a little bit of Wooster Street in rural Durham.

Best bang for the buck is Tuesday nights, with every large pizza, get a FREE small cheese pizza.