Carelli’s of Boulder

Great service. Prompt. Great gluten free items!!! Awesome. Live music and lots of regulars!

My Hubby and I have been here many times. In fairness it has become the special place I want to go to whenever their is an occasion to celebrate. Funny enough though, I don’t really want to go here with others. I am, fairly laid back and have come to appreciate some of the finer points to good food One of my favorite meals of theirs, which is a special add on to their menus is a saffron sauce over seafood served with angel hair pasta. It is a fabulous choice and they have been kind enough to make it for me when not shown on their menu. We have had at least once, their veal parmigiana and their Cuban sandwich. And in spite of our swearing we will have dessert, we never leave any room for it at the end. I have gotten to be quite the fan of wine and have had their house wine at least now a couple of times and have enjoyed virtually every wine experience we have had here.
As a matter of note, we have always felt well cared for while we were there. Its a worth while place to visit especially if you are looking for a Cut Above kind of place. I am always a bit sorry to see the critical reviews here, because there has never been a bad moment. If you want to be sure not to have to wait long on some days, It is a recommendation to do a reservation when you can.
Enjoy!!!

I was a bit miffed when I first arrived as they had a mix up on me sitting out side so I waited a bit longer than I should have. But then the food showed up and I was a very happy eater. I had the fettuccine Alfredo which was simply so luscious and creamy that I could only eat about ½. I was craving some real cream, stop your heart pasta and this place did it right. I am excited to go again soon and try some more dishes!

Carelli’s is one of our favorite go to restaurants in Boulder. Amazing food, a fantastic wine list and some of my favorite servers in this city.

No bad choices on menu. In a pinch, as good a burger in Boulder as I’ve had when I don’t feel like Itai.

I really wish I had had time to order more things… but we were a table of 9 and really hungry when we got there. had bruschetta as an appetizer… everyone enjoyed it. lots of toppings left which I reserved and was able to use on the garlic toast later in the meal! Good stuff! We all enjoyed the restaurant altho the wait time for our food was a bit long… waiter could have been better about checking in … they never know when diabetics are among the table… I had spaghetti carbonara which was delicious. almost too thick. wished I had a little thinning milk… Everyone enjoyed their meal … hope to return in future times of travel…

Carelli’s used to be 5 star but has slipped a bit. The menu changed awhile ago to feature a bunch of pannini’s and pizzas. I think this was a big mistake as the other dishes that were replaced were a big reason why I came to Carelli’s. Put the honey mustard chicken sandwich back on the menu.
The bread served is still one of the big reason I go to Carelli’s as it is so dam good. The salad dressings are great home made dressings as well as the sauces.
This place should be a five star but I have send back a couple of dishes lately for errors made by kitchen staff. If this gets tightened up it will be a weekly stop for me again.

Place was Amazing! Bartender was on Point the whole time. The kitchen was amazing. My GF’s Bday and the kitchen handled her food allergies like it was no problem at all. I was impressed because they put the customer 1^st and made us feel beyond comfortable. So I think the ‘s are more then appropriate.

Each scallop was four delicious bites. The service was fine and the price was okay. Good garlic bread, too.
Four stars instead of five because of the amount of oil in everything. My side of grilled vegetables was swimming in oil. My main dish had a slick on top of it by the time I got halfway done. A slightly lighter hand with the (olive?) oil would make a big improvement on an already good meal.

I’ve been going here since I was a child and highly recommend the pollo do abruzzo. Great service, excellent bread. great ambiance and environment! They have a nice central fireplace! Always go here when I come home for the holidays!

If you have a business or organization in Boulder County, I would strongly recommend not contacting Greg Carelli for event planning.
Per his website he indicates to call his restaurant and schedule an event consultation, which I did last Friday. I spoke to Mr. Carelli, scheduled the consultation for yesterday morning at 10am and told him I would call him.
Promptly at 10am I did just that. When he came to the phone, I re-​introduced myself and organization. As I begin describing what we do and what type of events we have, he abruptly interrupted me and said, «who are you again? Are you trying to sell me something?» I, again told him my name and the name of organization, he quickly said, «okay go on».
I had specific questions I wanted to ask him about his event facility (i.e. space and menu limitations). Again, in the middle of my questions, he said, «I can’t do this right now, I have a number of pressing issues that I need to deal with, can I call you back later?» I said I would be available after 2pm and all afternoon. His response, «Ok» and then hung up! Needless to say, it is Tuesday evening and I have yet to receive a return call from Mr. Carelli.
I was appalled, and literally speechless for a few minutes as I re-​ran the conversation in my head. For a business owner to treat a potential customer in this way is disgraceful. Our events are not huge, but they certainly aren’t small either. We typically have 50 – 70 attendees at our monthly events. It was our hope that we could find a restaurant that could accommodate that type of event every month.
In closing, I will assume Mr. Carelli, that you have more than enough business at your establishment and you don’t have any time for new clientele. Not to worry, we will NEVER use your facility.

I always enjoy coming here. The pasta shells are yummy and the dessert crepes are awesome. I recently had the stuffed pizza and while it’s not quite Chicago stuffed pizza, its as close as you can get around Boulder (and good!!).

WORST SERVICE OF MY LIFE. Took 51 minutes for bread to come. And and hour 40 for our food. We had a party of 9 which can get confusing order wise but our waitress came back EIGHT times to ask about certain orders. When the food came out only 3 of the 9 were correct. There were doubles of food that I’m assuming had to be thrown out. Came back with the my check and «forgot to run it». 90% sure she was under the influence of drugs. Manager had to follow her around the rest of the night so clearly she had other complaints… Love this place but this lady ruined it for me. If you get Kathleen as a waitress, leave.

This is a sure thing! Every time we we come t is fantastic! We have been coming here for years and it has only gotten better! Bravo Carellis Bravo!!!

Food was yummy and setting was great but took a long time for food to come out. Waiter was apologetic but still had to deduct a star for timing.

After stumbling upon Carelli’s I’m reconsidering my self view as not a lucky person. Wow. Great Italian food? Check. Way good prices (even though we weren’t really on a budget)? Check. Service staff to make you feel like you were the most important reviewers from the New York Times? Double check.
Details — the lamb artichoke meatballs with pesto — 3 delicately presented — as a starter — perfect for 2 to share, and maybe not finish the third. My wife had the risotto del mare (okay, so saying who ordered what is so 20^th century — anything our party orders is fair game for all) and it was delectable. I had the veal piccata (forgive me for always choosing that dish) which was world class.
I rarely comment on portion size, because Sandra and I don’t finish our portions most anywhere — but for those who take that into account, they were ample.
Anyway, here’s the point — we were on a business trip and just needed fuel — Carelli’s was a 10 minute walk from our hotel — and to repeat myself, «Wow.» I’d stay at the hotel again just to be close to Carelli’s.
Note: Manager Costa Skoudras (Greek derivation but a born and bred Boulderite) brought charm and knowledge to our table — Katie was the perfect server — omnipresent, but you didn’t know she was there till you needed her, and it seems she knew it just before you.
So I’m torn — reveal this hidden gem and risk that it will become too crowded when next I visit, or spread the word in the hopes that it will thrive forever.
I guess you’ve figured out which choice I made.

The owner, Greg, invited me back to make my previous experience I had right.
My family of 6 came over for lunch and I had the gluten free funghi pizza and the calamari. Both were fantastic! The service was great and I applaud Greg for reaching out and valuing his customers!
My family loved everything we had and I only wish there were more business owners like Greg in this world! Thank you!

We stopped in during graduation week so the restaurant was buzzing. I was so happy when they were able to accommodate us on a short notice. But the wait time to get our table was slow.
We were excited to finally sit down and we were lucky that we were seated near the cozy fire pit. But it all went down hill when we got stuck with the worst waitress.
This blonde short-​hair server acted like she was doing us a favor. She was a grouch from the get-​go. The worse part? She kept serving and picking up plates across my face to the point where I turned up to look at her like, «Really?» Then she said, «Excuse me». Ugh!
The waitress never cracked a smile, she never welcomed us, she never mentioned the specials, we just looked at each other like, «What in the heck is wrong with her?» We had to ask about the specials then she just pointed to the small menu. Ugh, I can’t stand servers that are lazy and rude, especially for an upscale restaurant. I get more smiling faces at McDonalds!
Well at least I’ll give them five stars for ambiance.
The restaurant was cozy, elegant with gorgeous light fixtures and décor was modern but welcoming. I love to see a warm fire especially when it’s cold and snowy outside. The tables were a bit cramped together.
Three stars for my food (Leek soup on the «Specials» menu was not what I expected. I couldn’t taste the leeks and it wasn’t creamy. My hubby loved his halibut
Hurray for a kids menu (cheeseburger, pasta, etc)
Calamari was very good.
Cesar salad had no flavor despite the giant anchovie
Maybe I just didn’t order the right thing? I saw many positive reviews on Unilocal and its seems everyone loved their food?
As we were walking out other waiters were smiling and saying, «Thank you for coming, have a good evening». What? I wish we had those handsome guys as our waiter!
I’m so bummed I didn’t get any male polite servers. So obviously the rest of the staff got the memo, one server can ruin the whole experience. She’s in the wrong profession, customer service is an innate trait. Either you got it or you don’t.
So if you come here, be sure and ask for ANYONE else but this troll.
UPDATE: I did hear back from the owner (Greg) who was extremely apologetic for my bad experience. I really appreciate when I receive feedback and sincere regrets for a terrible experience. Kudos and extra stars for that grand gesture because this business does care about your experience. I’ll be inclined to return and try out other dishes and hopefully get a cutie male waiter.

Carelli’s has been serving great Italian food for 20+ years. Great bar, service, and ambiance (check out the new patio). My standbys are the Red Clam on Spaghetti, Stuffed Shells, and little known secret… Best cheeseburger in Boulder, not joking!
Keep it up Gregorio!

This was our first visit to Carelli’s in Boulder. We were celebrating my brother’s birthday and were recommended to this restaurant by friends. Several of us drove from Denver and others from Nederland to enjoy a meal together (total group of 11).
Please know that there was a wonderful variety of food options — all of which were very flavorful. Our only drawback or less than positive to the experience was our service. The woman who was our primary server was extremely terse and seemed to be bothered that she had to wait on our group. We wanted to take some time to catch up with one another as well as review the menu; however, she was somewhat short with us and we felt pressured to order more quickly than desired. In addition, she repeatedly served food across other individuals with no ‘excuse me’ or respect to if we were engaged in conversation. And, given that the gratuity was added in related to our group size (which we understood), she was guaranteed 18%. The only caveat to this point, though, is that we would gladly have paid 20% or more had the service been what was expected.
We would try Carelli’s again, but would request another server for certain.