From the moment you step inside this family owned establishment, you will experience the warmth and hospitality that is our signature. The inviting atmosphere includes exposed brick walls, tastefully chosen artwork and exceptional attention to detail. Cara Mia uses only the freshest and finest ingredients to prepare our dishes. Our chef takes great pride in his culinary creations and can accommodate any special requests that our guests may have. Cara Mia offers an extensive a la carte menu for both lunch and dinner.
Intimate, brick-walled setting for familiar Italian dishes complemented by BYO drinks. Based on 412 reviews, the restaurant has received a rating of 4.5 stars. Price $$
✔️ Dine-in ✔️ Takeout ✔️ Delivery
Address:
194 Essex St, Millburn, NJ 07041
Phone: (973) 379-8989
Social Profile: 
Hours
| Tuesday | 12–3 PM, 5–9 PM |
| Wednesday | 12–3 PM, 5–9 PM |
| Thursday | 12–3 PM, 5–9 PM |
| Friday | 12–3 PM, 5–10 PM |
| Saturday | 5–10 PM |
| Sunday | 4–8:30 PM |
| Monday | 5–9 PM |
Menu
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Photo Gallery
Reviews
Kayla Collado
A wonderful restaurant with friendly staff and very delicious food. BYOB (there is a neighboring liquor store with a good wine selection) and a parking lot across the street.
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T J
My food was delicious. I ordered the escarole and bean soup, calamari and a chicken dish (forgot the name of it). In totality, I would rate it all at a 5/5. My husband grabbed a bottle of wine from the liquor store next door. We parked across the street in the paid parking lot. There was a wedding reception held here. So the noise levels would be as one would expect during a reception at a very small venue. However, I still enjoyed my lunch. The real disappointment of the lunch occurred when I received my dessert. It was a cookie al la mode. The cookie was too undercooked for me to eat it. It was gross. Dessert is always a big deal for me. The food was so good that I didn’t make a big deal about it. We simply paid and left.
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Cindy Finkelstein
My 1st visit to Cara Mia was for my niece’s Bridal Shower! Food was yummy, with starters of bruschetta, eggplant, caprese salad, and fried calamari. All delish! Main entrees were Salmon, sliced strip steak, a chicken dish & porchini mushroom ravioli! All dishes were very good. Servers were friendly, and made all feel welcome. Will return again to try more Cara Mia cuisine. Easy parking in large lot across the street. And it’s a BYOB!!
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Mikayla Shamy
We went to Cara Mia for the first time this past Friday. We are not from the area and tend to steer away from Italian restaurants since my boyfriend and I are Italian ourselves and have very high standards. Cara Mia is hands down the best restaurant we have ever been to, top notch quality and excellent service in a quaint atmosphere.
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Gleb Martynenko
I recently visited Cara Mia restaurant and I must say, it was an unforgettable dining experience. The food was simply amazing, especially the fish dish which left me amazed with its perfect blend of flavors and textures. The chicken was equally impressive, cooked to perfection and bursting with flavor.
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Edwin Delfin
We’ve been here twice so far. As “foodie” people, this is hands down one of, if not, our number 1 Italian spot in NJ/NY. We’ve yet to try anything less than incredible on the food quality side, though that’s not hard to find in NY/NJ, and the service and ambiance are similarly impressive. This could be a preference thing but you really get the “small family” Italian restaurant feel and we loved how the owners/management made time to greet/check in during our meals. We’ve had Italian food in Italy and all over the U.S. (including Boston, CA) and Cara Mia is easily one of our favs.
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Mike Eye
Always looking for a new culinary adventure and we chose Cara Mia in Milburn, NJ. Before we go I reviewed the menu and reviews. The menu is mostly typical Italian favorites with some inspired restaurant unique dishes. Their daily specials were interesting. Since this was our first experience we decided to go with Steak Carpaccio, their Cara Mia Fettuccine with shrimp, crab meat, scallions in a vodka sauce and Veal Parmigiana with angel hair. The restaurant has outdoor seating weather permitting. Inside dining has two small rooms which, accommodates about 20 in each room. Our waiter, bus boys and m as manager was very friendly, attentive, courteous and professional. We were give a small plate of bruschetta and zucchini chips as soon as we were seated with homemade bread. Service was prompt with adequate timing between courses. The bruschetta was fresh while, the zucchini chips were a bit oily but, the fresh cheese made it tasty. So either you will like it or not. The appetizer was Steak Carpaccio, a thinly sliced filet mignon with shaved provolone, herbs, and oil. It was very fresh and very thin making it melt in your mouth. Our entrees arrived in a timely manner. The veal parmigiana with angel hair was a large dish. It was enough for two. It had three pieces of thinly cut veal. It was not too thin but, just right. The pasta was cooked perfectly and the sauce was good. The Cara Mia Fettuccine a house creation is a restaurant favorite. When it arrived, there was sufficient amount of crab on top of the dish. I love crab meat and very picky. When the dish arrived I detected a fishy aroma. It dispersed once I mixed the vodka sauce with crab meat and shrimp. My take was that this is canned crab meat and most likely a imported product. I want to stress that the taste was good and did not takeaway from the dish. I would prefer fresh lump crab but, that would have double the price of the dish. For dessert we chose tufalo and cannoli with cappuccino. Prices are reasonable and competitive. Parking is across the street in a city lot. Parking is metered till 6PM Monday-Saturday with Sunday being free. This is a small family business and worth a trip when in the surrounding area. Also it is BYOB.
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Andrew Mina
We came here right after my engagement and they pulled out all the stops to make it special. The ambience is great, the food is amazing (with very generous portions), but the best part was the service. Our server Rob was extremely personable and you can tell he loved his job. He provided great recommendations and it felt like he was celebrating with us. They were flexible with the menu options and it being BYOB was a huge plus. The entire service experience was excellent, there was never a moment our glasses were not full and they checked in at appropriate times to see if we needed anything. Can’t say enough how much we enjoyed this place. Easiest 5 stars I’ve ever given.
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K H
The food is amazing and revisited a few more times after that. I had lunch and dinner and had a great experience.
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Des KF
So me and the girls got together for a girls night dinner. We made reservations for 7pm for 10 people. When I arrived I was lucky to find parking in the parking lot across the street. When I walked in the owner walked me over to our seats and we were seated under the tent across the street. In this area we had multiple servers but the lady was by far the best of them all. The place is byob and she opened my bottle when I sat. We first started with the brushetta and it was so tasty. I also tasted the zucchini chips and it wasn’t my favorite. For appetizers I tasted the little neck clams and they were tasty. For dinner I got the shrimp special with linguini and that was very good. I also tasted the salmon and swordfish and they both were good. The bill came to about $340 and that was pretty good. When we were waiting for the bill to come back one of the servers told us we had to leave soon because of course we shut the place down but we didn’t even have our bill back lol. The nerve haha. All in all we had a good experience and I can’t forget the great band they had. I will definitely return.
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