Carrabba’s Italian Grill

I chose to go with the soup rather than the salad on a cold winter night. I asked if the sausage was hot in one of the soups, because I don’t like hot & spicy for soups. The waitress said 2 of 3 soups were spicy, which I found odd at an Italian Restaurant, so I chose the minestrone. It was also spicy, to the point my nose started to run. I made no comment. Then my chicken primavera came out and as I looked at it, It reminded me of a 1^st grade experiment with glue and paper mache. It was like cement and wouldn’t twirl with a spoon and fork like normal pasta with sauce does. I then forked it and it came up as one hunk of food. The sauce acted like a glue after sitting underneath the heat lights. I was disgusted and very surprised because they
portrait this as a high end restaurant. I was forced to tell the waitress that I couldn’t eat this as you can see i couldn’t even take a bite, and she was experienced and very nice and said would you like something else. I said no thanks, so she immediately got the manager as if I was looking for a free meal. Little did she know that I was facing the open kitchen and was studying the cooks production line made up of young twenties and early 30’s cooks with no head chef on board. I know this because I was a chef until I bought the restaurant which is still in the family. I’m retired. So after watching the kind of workers preparing the food I wasn’t going to dare try something else so she is trained to get the Manager. This guy is staring at me while trying to intimidate me and say’s what’s the problem.!He didn’t address me as Sir, being elderly, he just was bullying me as if i had said something bad about the food, in which I didn’t. He asked me if I wanted to try something else and I said no thank you and he said why not. HE CHALLENGED ME. I said since you asked I said First I don’t see a Head Chef on staff, nor a cook over the age of 32 on staff. He dared to ask me what does there age have to do with anything. I said cooking Italian food is an art and craft which takes time to master. IT IS A PROFESSION, not a manufacturing plant like your running here. I said that’s all your excused and left quietly. This is a National chain restaurant owned by Wall Street and has to make profits every fiscal quarter, so they are trained to try and not let people leave without paying no matter what the case is. By the way this guy I’m describing is the owner, not the manager who acted like this. So you know how he trains his staff if he acts like this.
His name is Jason Lalloz. Look for his picture on the wall. Go to Olive Garden across the street. That’s a sure bet for a good meal.

Great food and service. Best bartenders on Riverdale rd!!! Try the blackberry sangria!

The food was very good. My server was excellent very tentative. I would definitely recommend this place

I enjoyed my meal to the fullest. I practically licked my plate clean. I had the grilled chicken in a light sauce that was topped with goat cheese and basil. The chicken was juicy and tender. You can choose 2 side dishes. I chose grilled asparagus, which was perfectly seasoned, for an extra charge. I didn’t care too much for the house dressing, but the Caesar salad was great.

I used to dine at this particular Carrabba’s weekly, and my experience was always wonderful, but I’m sad to see that it seems to have gone downhill, especially in their customer service.
My friend and I arrived around 8:30 last night to a relatively quiet restaurant. The hostess was friendly and pleasant and seated us promptly. Once seated, we waited at least 10 minutes before our server (Dennis) came over to greet us. He was cold, abrupt, and oddly propped up his leg on the bench my friend was sitting on, and practically sat on top of her. He seemed as if he was in a rush and had better things to do than wait on us.
We started with the bruscetta appetizer, which ended up being a disappointing plate of tomatoes, with hardly any basil and 2 very small pieces of mozzarella cheese. For my meal I went with the same thing I always get, the pollo rosa maria. As always, it was delicious, and my friend enjoyed her entrée as well. Thankfully, the food came out very promptly, and it was piping hot.
I think I was maybe halfway through my meal when Dennis came over and through the check down on the table, which I found to be rude. It was obvious that we were being rushed out of there. However, I could not leave without some delicious tiramisu. Before my dessert was even brought to the table, he came back with the updated check.
The tiramisu was delectable, but it was hard to enjoy with Dennis standing off in the distance staring at us to see if we had paid our tab yet, so I ended up taking most of it home because we were starting to feel very uncomfortable. We paid our tab, and once we put our cards in with the check he was at the table in under 30 seconds (too bad he wasn’t there that quickly when we were initially seated). He snatched up the check without a word, and I yelled after him to split it evenly between the two cards, because he hadn’t asked.
Overall, the service was horrible enough that I won’t be dining there anymore, and my friend said the same upon walking out of the restaurant. I’m highly disappointed in the lack of customer care.

I have never had a bad meal here. The staff is always friendly and prompt, even during their busiest hours. My favorite dish is their pasta carabba. It’s fetachinni Alfredo with perfectly grilled pieces of chicken, mushrooms, and peas. It’s an excellent dish. Every time I have ordered their calamari it’s always cooked perfectly, I love the ones w the little legs. Honestly the best Italian food in the area.

Awesome place to go. Very nice atmosphere, friendly welcoming hostess, and wonderful waitress. Fresh baked bread with olive oil & herbs was amazingly delicious. Limoncello is refreshing on ice. The food was delicious great portions brought home half as leftovers. Wonderful place to go

Went to this location with my husband and another couple for dinner. Host was really nice as we walked in. Our server was «nice», but very very veryyyyy slow! First it took exactly 21minutes for us to get our drink, we then got our app (fried calamari) without any plates. Had to ask the waiter for plates. Our bread came out almost together with our meals, even though the waiter asked us as soon as we ordered drinks if we wanted bread. Three of us got salads and lettuce was old, not appealing at all. Our food was good, nothing special, but it was ok. Portions are a little small for the price. Two people were done eating and two were still working on it when waiter came to clean the plates from the two that were done and asked everyone if we were getting desserts or if we were ready for the check. I told him me and my friend were still working on our food, for him to please come back. Sad part is that we still left 18% because I just feel bad leaving less than that. Probably won’t go back anytime soon since this was our first time and we didn’t leave impressed at all.

My first time in this restaurant. Great service, good service great place to Dine. Will return. But could be bether

Every once in a while I come back here and this time I’m done. The food is not that good anymore. About 5 years ago it was great but something has changed. The atmosphere is good, thats about it.

AWFUL!
My friends and I were in town for a conference this weekend. We chose Carrabas, because the one in our hometown is a personal fave. Big fan of the prices and menu.
Everything was an epic fail. The server tried hard to be nice– either she was inexperienced, or new, or tired, or didn’t really care about her job. We couldn’t tell.
We received our appetizer, but not our soups– we waited for our soups for quite a while. We had mentioned a spice intolerance with two of our friends (brothers) before ordering. The soup that had been ordered was spicy– and we felt uncomfortable asking to replace it, but we asked, and she switched it out– thank you for that.
The arnold palmers we ordered were extremely bitter and tart. We asked to replace them with sprite instead.
Then, we waited a bit more for our main course… Actually, a lot more than a «bit more».
When the main course came, one of the dishes was the lobster mac and cheese. I saw my friends face, looking and picking at the plate– and then he told us he was looking for the lobster. He went through the entire plate, and pulled out no more than a teaspoon full of lobster which was priced roughly at ¹⁷⁄₁₈ dollars. So we ushered the server over and asked her if she could provide us with the correct amount of lobster, or maybe give us shrimp to compensate for the price, and asked something along of the lines of what can you do to make this meal worth it.
She left the table, after telling us they wouldn’t be able to do the lobster re-​make because it would take too long. The person who came to our table, instead of asking us how we are and what he could do for us– asked us «what’s the problem». Not very customer friendly– especially after we’ve been through an uncomfortable visit of needing to awkwardly complain. Then he proceeds to explain to us that they measure out 3 ounces of lobster. 3 ounces of lobster would have been a perfect amount and we wouldn’t have complained about the meal. We refuse to pay 18 dollars for a pasta plate with a hint of lobster. Not to be difficult customers– I think these are reasonable requests.
They did however replace his meal with the fettucini weezie, which I had recommended, and that was good.
I ordered a cappuccino and the bill as we were finishing our main course, because we needed to get back to our conference where meetings would be going very late. The cappuccino never came. When she finally came back to the table, she brought the bill, with the cappuccino off the bill, and explained that her cappuccino machine was broken. She didn’t offer me coffee instead, or give me any of their other choices. Really?
At the end of our meal, our bill was a total of 90 bucks. We provided a 25 dollar gift card, 4 dollars in cash and asked to put the cash and gift card toward the total, and to put the remainder of the bill on my credit card. She only put the 25 dollar gift card and my credit card total toward our bill and kept the cash. So I made it a point to only tip her 5 dollars, because her service deserved a 10% tip. You see, I make decisions based on principle– and the principle was, provide excellent service, help us to enjoy our meal, and don’t be sneaky when given cash. Unacceptable.

Just ate here. Excellent chain restaurant value. Best in class Italian. Kara b did a great job as a server. Rosa Maria chicken and shrimp risotto were delicious and the soups were excellent. Will definitely be back. Great job!!!

Our waitress tonight was very attentive, service was fast and courteous. We enjoyed our 2 pasta dish specials, 2 plates for $ 13 cavatapi and sausage, penne with chicken. With warm fresh bread with herb & dipping oil. Chilled fresh salad with house dressing, simple but fresh. Shrimp Daviolo served hot, a dozen shrimp a bit on the oily side just out of the fryer. And the canolli 2 small crunchy with a delicious filling for $ 5 which my wife and I split. For the price a good deal! We will go back!

Waited half hour at the bar for a table and then we waited another 25 minutes to even be seen only to be told that our server will be right with us.15 minutes goes by to be told that another server was going to show up and no one came. so we decided to get up and leave worst service of my life probably won’t go back. Even tho the food is good

My first time here and I can see why it’s a popular spot. We went rather late on a Tuesday night and had our pick of seating. We ordered the hose wine, a montepulciano, that was very reasonably priced and complemented our meals nicely.
They had several specials that included an appetizer or dessert, soup or salad, and an entrée for $ 15 or $ 18 (depending on the entrée). I had the beef short ribs and my friend had the parmesan encrusted chicken. We also shared the 2 appetizers that we ordered — risotto balls and calamari. Everything was very good.
The service was excellent and the manager came to our table to inquire about our experience.
If you are looking for good Italian food at a reasonable price, give Carabba’s a try.

I wasn’t sure how to start this review … which, if I’m completely honest with you is less about the food and more about the people and the treatment you can expect.
Don’t get me wrong, the food was excellent … not only delivering in taste but, since these were carry-​out orders, packing, neatness, and preparation. I guess I’ll just describe what made this one of the most gratifying experiences at a restaurant that I can recall.
My experience started when I walked in and spoke with Jon Taylor (Asst. Mgr.) about my order. My dear friends had recently lost a loved one and I wanted to order them dinner and ease some small burden … I let Jon know just how perfect I wanted this to be for them. He was very receptive to what I wanted and helped me decide what dishes to order and assured me that he would see to it that everything was «perfect».
Later, when I arrived at the restaurant to pick up my food order, Jason Lalloz, the Managing Partner at this Carrabba’s, came out to my car and said that he’d heard all about my situation after talking to Jon and wanted to let me know that the entire order’s cost was going to be covered. I was frozen into silence for a second … looking back, I hope that the sincerity in my appreciation was evident enough. It just isn’t very common to have such personal empathy and care intertwined with your service, is it? Not in my experience … it isn’t often that I drive away from a restaurant with tears welling up in my eyes … my heart full, maybe a little faith in all of us restored.
Thank you Jon and Jason … the time and the effort given will not soon be forgotten. Both of you are role models for what leadership is all about and needless to say, you’ve gained a loyal patron in the process! Thank you again, so very much.

Good food but my first time here was awful because are waiter was racist and didn’t want to serve my table then asked to speak with management and same response until the store owner came and made everything all better smh

i guess carrabba’s fights it out with olive garden for the middle of the road Italian food sweepstakes. Carrabba’s seems a little fancier. slightly higher prices. nicer bar area. we had a very positive experience today. My son and I both had the spaghetti and meats balls… wife had a tilapia special. son said his meat sauce was a little watery. service was friendly and attentive… food was nice and hot and delicious. minetsrone soup was above average. bread warm and tasty. tiramasu dessert was WAY above average – we all shared. place was fairly empty on a late Sunday afternoon so maybe thats why we were given extremely positive service.

Good food, but incredibly rushed and way too pushy.
Food was really good: the steak and chicken are both excellent, and the portabella mushroom was also very good. The zucchini frites were okay but not remarkable. Salad was okay as well and the bread was good. However, they did include the mushrooms on my steak marsala despite me asking for no mushrooms.
The real kicker was how rushed the process was. From sitting down to leaving was total 40 minutes. There was no time to breathe: bread was immediately replaced with salad, which then begat appetizers followed by main course. The waitress did try to hold the main course, but it seemed like everything was moving too quickly, as though they wanted immediate turnaround. It wasn’t fun or good for eating/​enjoying the food.
Overall they’re okay, but way too rushed.

My favorite dish here is Chicken Bryan and I get it almost every time. I like the atmosphere here. It’s not a really expensive place but feels more upscale than some of the other casual dining places.