Tiffany and I (my new fianceé as of 12/5/2018 #HeyBoo) LOVE eating out at different restaurants all over for new experiences as well as new flavors, but that can get quite costly. When the restaurant week comes around, no matter what city we're in, we take full advantage of it! Carbone's Prime was the choice of the evening since it was really new and we brought the whole family out with us. Here's how it went!
Atmosphere/Appearance: This place can be found right on Cromwell Avenue off of I-91 in Rocky Hill. It comes with its own large parking lot, so no need to worry about finding spaces here! This place is enormous, but it doesn't give you that feel due to the separate sections. Once walking in you are greeted by the host stand. To the left you have the bar area, which was quite lively on a Saturday night! If you go through the bar and walk all the way to the back you reach the bathrooms and the cool raw bar section! It's so tucked away back there you'd miss it entirely if you never had to use the bathroom. You can then make a right, walk through the raw bar and hang another Randy the boom, you're in another dining room. One big circle. I enjoyed the dim lighting, high ceilings, dark wood floors, large comfortable booths and mature atmosphere that was presented. It really gave me a great "steakhouse" feeling.
Service: Timothy was awesome. He was sweet, kind, knowledgeable, fast, funny and had a great personality. He made sure we had everything we needed throughout our dinner even if it was our 3rd basket of delicious bread. Lol.
Food: Like I mentioned earlier we are here for CT Restaurant Week. So you get the chance to have 3 courses (4 if you include the delicious varieties of bread) all for 1 price or add a couple more bucks for a "premium choice". I didn't take the high road, so I started with the Chicken Lacava which is crispy bacon wrapped around grilled chicken and a hot stuffed cherry pepper wedged in there somehow. I liked these little guys. You got 3 all pre-stabbed with a toothpick so they're ready to eat. They had a hint of sweetness from the cherry pepper, but were spicy and salty as well. Delicious. For my entree course I chose the 10 oz Hanger Steak. I was super satisfied with my choice it was cooked perfectly. It came with mashed potatoes and asparagus served with a house-made steak sauce. The portion was just right and left me in a good spot... with just enough space for tiramisu! Four layers of hazelnutty goodness topped with whipped cream and a raspberry syrup. It was delicious and an excellent sweet finish to an awesome dinner.
Value: The 3 courses this year were $30.18. If you wanted to upgrade to the short ribs or bone-in ribeye for an additional $15.00. It's a very good deal seeing as some of the entrees on the regular menu were $30.00 on their own without appetizers or dessert. I'm assuming next year the price will go up to $30.19... if they decide to participate in Restaurant Week again.
I loved this place and am very interested in exploring the rest of their menu. Their raw bar and happy hour looks okay too, so who knows what the future holds!