MIAMI
Review: Carbone Vino Makes Any Schlep Feel Like a Made Man
★★★★★
2911 Grand Ave | Website | Instagram | Reservations
By Eric Barton | Feb. 28, 2025
My father and I were driving back from Niagara Falls years ago when we stopped for dinner in Syracuse. We walked into a dimly lit Italian restaurant where, in the back corner, men hunched over their spaghetti, talking in low voices, wearing dark suits and stern looks. Were they actual mobsters? Probably not. But to a kid who had only ever seen guys like that in movies, it felt like I had stumbled into something important, something cinematic.
That feeling—the flickering candlelight, the weight of history in the air, the sense that you had momentarily entered a different world—is exactly what Carbone Vino has pulled off.
Baked clams
The place has century-old supper club vibes, with deep red drapes, white tablecloths, and a soundtrack from an Italian-American wedding. It’s the kind of restaurant where you can imagine a group of very well-dressed men meeting to discuss “business” over a bottle of Barolo.
Carbone Vino isn’t a place that reinvents the wheel. It’s a place that polishes it until it gleams. The menu is full of dishes you’ve seen before—Caesar salad, veal parm, spicy rigatoni—but executed with an attention to detail that makes them feel fresh. Meals start, for instance, with slices of mortadella, giardiniera, and a sesame-dotted focaccia that’s just downright an ideal way to start a meal.
The starters
Many of the dishes you’ve had, or have undoubtedly seen on Instagram, migrated over from Carbone: the spicy rigatoni, of course, and the table side Caesar with its Rubix-cube-sized croutons and ricotta salata grated on top. There’s also the stuffed clams, here just as buttery as at the original. The baby eggplant comes here without the addition of zucchini, a meaty, tangy dish.
Baby eggplant scapece
Others are new to the Vino version of Carbone, like the shrimp fra diavolo, a lineup of massive charred shrimp covered in a fairly mild but quite good cherry tomato sauce. The cacciatore here is new too, a pounded half chicken served with mushrooms and tomatoes in a brown gravy. Our waiter also steered us to the tortellini tartufo nero: tender dumplings in a truffle cream that burst with a semi-sweet ricotta within.
Shrimp fra diavolo
Where Carbone Vino truly shines is in its wine program. With over 3,000 bottles in their cellar and a strong by-the-glass selection, it’s the kind of place where you can find something truly special if you’re willing to spend. Bottles are kept on two tables in the middle of the dining room, like a rocking dinner party where the host has opened a couple cases just when everyone arrives.
By the time the dessert menu arrived, I was fully sold on the Carbone Vino experience. I was also far too full to discover the mysteries of the cannoli sundae—reason enough to go back.
But I’d already made a decision about Carbone Vino. The service is sharp, the space is beautiful, and this is a place where a meal can feel like an event, even if you aren’t one of the boys.
Tortellini tartufo nero
Chicken cacciatore
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