When I first started with We Love DC, we had 11 authors. (I also hiked to school uphill both ways.) Now, we have a food and drink team of seven writers, and more fabulous authors than I can name in a sitting. We’ve grown into a big family, and so we were invited to Carmine’s for a dinner for eight, it was only fitting that we go together as a team, and make it a faux-thanksgiving feast.

Carmine’s is, as you’ve heard I’m sure, the largest restaurant in DC right now. So inviting a raucous gaggle of WLDC writers meant only one thing: we’d be loud. Luckily, Carmine’s is built for loud, large groups, and so we feasted on pasta, pasta, wine, pasta and a cannoli or two or five.

The menu is giant and built to share. It never changes, so they’ve blown it up and stuck it on the wall. Everything is oversized, but when you split it, it becomes shockingly affordable. The PR rep told us that a meal of Caesar salad, lasagna and tiramisu split four ways comes out to be about $10 each.

The dining room has space for numerous giant parties that normally other restaurants would balk at, and I think for the real Carmine’s experience you should come with a crowd. Especially for sharing. I felt bad for those on dates with giant plates of pasta, too much to go around, and only one dish to try!

All of us arrived, sat down, and got to business. We ate.

And we drank.

And we misbehaved.

And then we ate more.

And we laughed.

And this waitress with an amazing voice sang Kirk happy birthday even though his birthday was two weeks ago.

And I’d write more about Carmine’s, but I think you get it now.

All photos by photographer Samer Farha.

Carmine‘s is located in Penn Quarter, 425 7th St NW. Closest Metro: Chinatown (Red, Green, Yellow lines). For more information, call (202) 737-7770.