Carnivale Restaurant Review

I had a good time at a private event here recently. Huge restaurant, colorful, lively and crowded.

Food and service was outstanding!! Highly recommended. The arroz con mariscos and ropa vieja are a must!!

Love this place. Good food. Beautiful decor. A Chicago place to go!

We came to a wedding here and the experience was incredible.

Had such a great night at this restaurant, I was amazed by interior design, pictures and colorful design. Service was outstanding with great knowledge. Had ropa vieja(server recommended) it was nice presentation, I didn't like the taste of it, a bit sweet for me, but other people at my table enjoyed it. For main meal we had their signature Paella with seafood, I have no words to describe it, every bit on the plate was delicious! Good spot for younger people, lively atmosphere. Can't wait to come back and try some other things. Would recommend to all people, even to those who are not fans of Latin kitchen..

Food was not that good and over price service was bad the person I had couldn't properly inform me about the menu

I've been here a few times. Whether you are sitting in for dinner or grabbing a drink with friends, this environment offers a unique dining experience with its design. The drinks and food taste great. Valet parking is available at a cost.

Ambiance is extraordinary and the food is eclectic.

My favourite restaurant so far. Incredible interior design, phenomenal presentation of dishes, delicious food and great service and staff. I have nothing else but praise for this place. I wish there was one in London. Never been when the acrobatics are on but I imagine it gets even better. Must visit!

Upscale restaurant with interesting food options. The cotton candy desert presentation is spectacular

The atmosphere is amazing and so fun. The food is just okay. The cocktails are fun and festive, definitely over priced. I go for the experience.

Great food and great ambience! Their tater tots are delicious!

So me and Wife came here from NYC and we have to say everything was amazing!!! Keep up the great work see you guys soon

Good food, good drinks, interesting bathrooms. High price as.

Excellent food and great service. A good place to come on a weeknight if you like it quieter.

This restaurant has an absolutely amazing atmosphere! It's primarily a Latin themed venue, with very colorful scenery and very high ceilings. They have so many different shows and activities on different nights. They even have dance nights. It's very nice for groups or private parties. The food is good, although not amazing. Uncommon selection of desserts and chocolate bar. The main attraction is the scenery, atmosphere and music. The drinks are also good, and although not cheap, they're not over the top for the Fulton Market District. A great place to explore for a night.

Awesome food, entertainment and wait staff. Going back real soon!!

The best kept Chicago secret. What a treat... beautiful color, fair to decent staff, amazing food! I loved every bit of it.

Today Is my birthday and I wanted to share a delicious meal with my partner at Carnivale. She called and asked for a take out order. The male told her to hang up and call in ten minutes. I found that his y comments insulting and strange, I ve never heard anyone say something like that at a so called high caliber restaurant. I then asked for the manager, he quickly answered the phone and examples how they handle take out orders at Carnivale. He then told use he would switch us to another line and take our order. I was transferred to another person that attempted to find us seats at the restaurant. I told her we are no longer interested and hung up. I m greatly disappointed in the service I received today and will no longer patronize Carnivale.

Delicious food, great atmosphere for cozy dinner or group of friends.

It was easy to get brunch reservations. As you walk in beyond the coat check area, we saw a place built for selfies! And then we met the host and they swiftly led us to the brunch room. What an impressive decor! Very vivid and colorful. Waiter was very courteous and explained what they are popular for. I went for a mojito while wife had a sangria. Both were very refreshing. We got the calamari and side of guac n chips for appetizers. Guac was very fresh, chips were super crispy. Calamari was a standout, so light and flavorful. We went fir chilaquiles with carnitas. Very nice food. For dessert, we ordered the Cuban cigar
It was a showstopper, keep your camera ready to take a video. Presentation was excellent, the cigar hazelnut chocolate 'cake' was very nice n smoky. Rum ice cream was on point. Overall, extraordinary place, totally worth it for large groups or couple celebrating an occasion. Bill came out to $50 pp.

One of the coolest atmospheres for a restaurant. Great vibe. Delicious food. Awesome drinks.

Excellent food ,very colorful ,great atmosphere. Great place for date night

Richard did an amazing job as our waiter. He helped us with our choices checked up on us frequently. He made sure we had everything we needed and made sure our food was excellent which it was. He kept me very well hydrated as well great time overall.

The ambience of this place makes you feel happy and sexy all at the same time! The vibrant colors and decor are fun! The best ropa vieja I have had, to date! The cocktails are fun and delicious. That cotton candy martini though! So wonderful! The service is great, friendly people the minute you step in the door! I will be visiting this place again!

I was excited to visit Carnivale for the first time, but unfortunately I was disappointed by my experience. I do not recommend attending with a party of 10 or more. My friend made reservations here for a group birthday celebration. We were ONLY given the option of the $50/person tapas menu, with Carnivale's selection of items. (We could purchase items in addition to that cost, of course.) The amount of food provided for our party, even for tapas, was extremely underwhelming. The food was just okay; not worth $50 a person. They charged $40 for an $9 bottle of wine. We were expecting seating in the main dining area so that we could enjoy the entertainment; however we were seated in the back behind the curtain. We had a few customer service issues as well, including the wait time for our food. Overall, my first impression was that it was overrated, and sadly I was just as hungry when I left as I was when I arrived. I was expecting sooo much more. It certainly was not the experience I'd been hoping for.

Delicious food but high end. Prepare to spend a lot of $$$.

High energy, loud, festive; cutting edge food, ambiance, service, and decor, very relevant even after so many years.

Wow. Amazing food and atmosphere. Sangria was delish too.

It took 1 hour past our suggested time to be sat down. It took way too much time to be seated. Food was great servers were great. If your in a rush have other options handy.

Entertaining restaurant. They make extra effort to ensure you have an enjoyable evening. They gave us popcorn and cotton candy to compliment our dining experience :-)

While the decor is vibrant and lovely, the food was very meh. From the beginning I felt like we were being up-charged. Want to add lobster to your paella?---that will be $18 dollars. Want the special tonight? It's only (emphasis on ONLY) $90 for 2 people. I don't mind paying for quality food but that paella was so mediocre. The five minute entertainment, while nice was not worth it. It hurts to be so negative. On the bright side the music was poppin'

The food was delicious. One person in or party was gluten free, and the server went out of his way to ensure everything was gluten free. The interior is also a work of art itself. Highly recommend.

If your visiting from out of town this is a neat place to visit, from the style to decor to service and location carnivale is very unique to stand alone in its own category. The food was good enough can't complain but I really liked the tenderloin, the drinks like the blue berry martini was nice ,try that out. Parking was a headache , valet if you need to but I would just Uber , had a good waiter by the name of Ryan, hopefully you get him.

Had a great time celebrating a special day at this restaurant. The food was delicious and flavorful. We started with the Empanadas, which were very good, just wish they give you more than 2 of them. Our entrees were the Peruvian chicken and the rack of lamb. Both of which did not disappoint. They were plentiful in portion size and great taste. Our drinks were also well made. Our server was kind and he made it a point to welcome and inform us as first time diners. This is not a inexpensive place to dine. It s moderately priced, and well worth a visit.

Terrible service. Terrible food. Asked us if we are done to take the dish when that person is still eating from the dish. Three times! And they were the ones who brought that person's food late. Wrong drinks. Chewy steak. Terrible

It's always a great place and time to dine here; the music and ambience is set to get you in a good mood, the service it's always terrific, thank you Ricardo. I accidentally took his pen, I feel bad. Wine and cocktails are top notch, great pairings. There is no way ever to eat octopus better than the way their magicians of cooks prepare "pulpo a la plancha"

I had always wanted to go to Carnivale and finally had an opportunity for a friends birthday. We had to wait about 20 minutes past our reservation time to be seated which was frustrating, but at least they had a bar for us to grab a drink while we waited. The ambiance in the main dining room was everything I thought it would be - many Instagram opportunities! I started with a specialty cocktail, the Cotton Candy Martini since it was a special occasion... poor choice. The description wooed me with details about real cotton candy and the pomegranate, lime, and Cointreau, but it just tasted like someone dumped a cup of sugar and vodka in a martini glass. I never send anything back, but there was no way that was going to happen. I then ordered a white wine flight and none of the options seemed chilled. The guac was fabulous, but then I was back to disappointment in my Criollo Half Chicken entree. Every component of the dish was incredibly salty. I think what sealed the deal on my less than stellar experience was when the check came - way to expensive for what we received.

I had a superb time at this place. We liked the superb environment and the food. The staff were super welcoming. I am glad we ultimately decided to try this restaurant.

Super friendly staff, prompt service. Great atmosphere. My son s Scholarship organization and donor decided to use one of Carnivale s room to celebrate his entrance to College at Dominican University! I was so impressed with the whole ambiance.
Thank you for making this a very memorable experience.

Happy hour specials not as advertised online. Service was good though! Didn't eat a full dinner, just started in the bar but our apps were good too

I really enjoyed the experience, the food was really good and the service was on top of it. The coconut shrimp and Ropa Vieja were delicious along with our main courses which were Senitors Chicken, Arrachera, Gaucho Steak and Paella De Mariscos. For drinks and desset we had the Spanish coffee which was too strong, the alcohol overpowered the coffee. The cotton candy martini was cool to see but tasted like grapefruit juice and the sangria was so sweet that it tasted more sugar than fruit. I also wish there would've been fruit in my glass. The desserts were okay, the 16 layer cake was so rich that one bite is enough, the organic cotton candy tasted like normal cotton candy to me and the caramel corn with it was good. I really enjoyed the coconut cake, it was really good. If you go here you should definitely ask your server what they reccomend or do your research from previous reviews so that you can get the best choice on the menu.

My favorite Mexican in Chicago. Ambiance, food, service... this place is top notch across the board

We have been living in the West Loop for over 20 years now. I ve been to Carnivale a few times and never cared for the food. There are way better places to eat in this area (i.e: La Sirena Clandstina, El Che Bar, Beatrix, Aba, etc) .
However, I saw an add for NYE party and decided to book a reservation for my family.

Vanessa kept me on the phone for 10 minutes before making our reservation and after I had everything finalized I found out through a family member that only reservations after 9 or 9:15 pm will be part of ball drop, midnight champagne toast, etc.. there is live entertainment after 8 but all seating prior to 9 have a 2 hour limit and we will not be part of the whole celebration.

I SPECIFICALLY told her we were looking for a place to celebrate NYE and make the toast at midnight.

Bottom line: This is the type of employee and place that will ruin your family dinner and special celebrations. What if my sis in law had not called?? Be very careful planning a party there. I would not trust the party will be handled the way you are envisioning.

Sooooo...
The decor is really fun!! That being said, the food is incredibly disappointing or at least the food I had! The guac had zero flavor and the salmon I ordered was drenched in a thick sauce that made me feel like I could have been eating anything because it was so heavy and there was so much of it...it almost disguised the fact that my fish wasn't cooked the way I had asked it to be cooked! It's also incredibly loud there! My favorite thing was the desert! We got tres leches cake, which I had never had and it was Amazing!!!

Brunch is very lacking. Come after 3 pm for a better experience. Disappointed to say the least.

I absolutely loved this place. Really fun atmosphere, great drinks and amazing good. I had the Lamb, the presentation and flavor were on point. It can be a bit pricy but for a fun date night or celebratory night with friends, its well worth the price.

It's much livelier during dinner hours. I love love the colorful design of this place. It gives it such a happy aura to its diner.

They take reservation via Open Table. I didn't realize that many people dine out on a snowy, windy Tuesday. Luckily, we had a reservation!

There were many typical appetizers to choose from: guacamole, quesadilla, calamari, empanada, etc. we opted for shrimp quesadilla. There were four pieces and it came with a salad. The salad was great to cut down the fat from the cheese. It was fresh and I loved the acidic dressing.

I got the Arrechera steak. It's a skirt steak with cherry bacon sofrito. It was a good size skirt steak. Everything about it, I loved. The flavors married well together. It didn't come with chimichurri but salsa verde on top.

We had an amazing server and got us some cotton candy candy with house made caramel corn. We also got Cuban cigar. The cotton candy was cotton candy. The Cuban cigar was good. It came with ice cream.

There's so many other options on the menu that I have yet to try so expect another visit!

Great atmosphere, unique seating. Menu is a little simple and on the pricey side for serving size, but defenitley a fun place to come yo every once in a while.

Everything about this place was amazing from the appetizers, entrees, drinks and atmosphere. Our waiter Aron was truly the best! he made us feel right at home and his recommendations were on point.
I definitely recommend this place.

Food and drink are amazing and I'd yout can catch their entertainment nights it just adds to the ambiance.

Unfortunately the food and service were awful. It's a pretty place. Although, glad we didn't sit in the main dining hall, it's so big it would have felt like I was on a basketball court! Not likely to go back.

Food was really overpriced and bleh selection... But the atmosphere seemed nice

I thought the price was great for the quality of service and food received

This place is awesome. Went there for a Christmas party and the food was excellent. We has a variety of food types (lamb chops, pork, Mexican steak) as well as a great selection of desserts. I was able to have a bit of everything since it was a party. I highly recommend this place.

A great dinner spot with character. We came for a special dinner after graduation. Caribbean color and vibe is definitely going here; amazing food is too. Our tasty drinks included fresh fruit mojito and Spanish gin and tonic. Tables around us were getting other interesting libations including one with cotton candy. Ceviche, coconut shrimp and guac were excellent starters (the shrimp are huge but there s only 4 in an order and our waiter didn t warn our table of 5 about that). Steaks, Peruvian Chicken and gnocchi were all great mains - creative and very flavorful. Definitely recommended and will come back.

Best coconut shrimp I've had in the city. Great food and service.

I can say I will not be coming here again at all! The service was extremely slow from drinks to the tab. The atmosphere is okay but if that's the reason to overcharge on mediocre food then business lost. This is not a fancy restaurant and it's overall service doesn't deserve your money.

Always a fun experience. Clean and well lit interior. The balcony had some wobbly tables but the breeze is still really nice. The live music was also a fantastic treat.

Amazing food and beautiful atmosphere. Tell them Matt sent you!

Love love their food and the ambience feel like you are in anothet country