Carmine’s closes its restaurant at Twin River

LINCOLN – “Carmine’s Family Style Italian Restaurant has closed at Twin River,” slot parlor spokeswoman Patti Doyle of RDW Group said in an e-mail statement.
The New York City-based chain, part of The Alicart Restaurant Group, “became famous for serving up delicious meals in the style of an Italian-American wedding feast,” according to the gambling venue’s Web site. It offered diners southern Italian cuisine and a “home-cooked family feeling.”
That approach has proven successful elsewhere, spurring Carmine’s to expand in the United States and abroad. But it proved a poor fit for the Twin River crowd. A lack of weekday business already had spurred the local Carmine’s to limit its hours to Friday and Saturday nights from 5 to 11 p.m.
“Although an excellent restaurant and a noteworthy brand, Carmine’s family-style dining concept was not the proper match for the Twin River clientele,” according to the statement, which Doyle said Carmine’s had been planning to release tomorrow. “Twin River will shortly begin the process of reviewing options and opportunities for this space,” Doyle added.
Diners at the gambling venue still can choose among Fred & Steve’s Steakhouse, the Fadó Irish Pub, Twin Hearth Buffet, Johnny Rockets and the Twin River food court.
Carmine’s debuted at Twin River about 16 months ago – shortly after the former Lincoln Park adopted its new name – in a $220 million, 160,000-square-foot addition. (READ MORE) It was one of several restaurants in the new space, which also includes a comedy club and room for more video lottery terminals (VLTs). (READ MORE)
The addition has helped boost gambling revenue at Twin River by about 20 percent compared with a year ago, R.I. State Lottery data show. But the slumping economy has made it difficult for Twin River’s owners, BLB Investors LLC, to recover the cost of the expansion. (READ MORE)
Additional information about Twin River, and its new owners BLB Investors LLC, is available at www.TwinRiver.com. Carmine’s restaurant, a member of The Alicart Restaurant Group, was founded in 1990 in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. For more information, visit www.CarminesNYC.com.