Johnny Carino’s

As much as I hate chain restaurants, I like Carino’s. The service is good. The food is pretty good. The atmosphere is lively.
Recently I’ve gotten on the Monday night special bandwagon, ½ priced family entrees that make about 10 meals (kinda kidding, kinda not) for $ 12-​$ 15 an entrée.
Drove by Carino’s tonight and they’re tearing it down… literally removing the roof, the windows are gone. Odd to see what seemed like a bustling location being dismantled. Maybe they’re remodeling? I can’t find anything online so would be interested in hearing what’s going on.

Had the Zesty Calamari Salad which was decent, not outstanding, but decent. My companion had the Smoked Turkey and Bacon Panini which she said was good. The lemonade was extremely watered down.
The house bread was extremely hard and no steak knives were on the table nor bought to the table to assist in cutting the bread.
Witnessed a staff member preparing a To-​Go order handle the to-​go tray then wipe her hands on her DRESS! Being an Executive Chef/​Manager myself, it’s understood that this is just an example of poor staff training.
Overall the food was decent. Not a place that is on the top of my repeat dining list however.

my sweetie and my son and I went here midweek, a little after the lunch rush so the restaurant was virtually empty. I love pasta but rarely eat it because I am ALWAYS on a diet but when I do have pasta it’s such a treat because I’m on the cheat. When it doesn’t taste good its just disheartening. I nean, I cant even tell you what a disappointment it is (sniff, sniff).
So lets start with the good stuff, what little there is anyway My sweetie had the grilled portebello skilletini with chicken. He really enjoyed it and I begged for a taste and it was indeed very good. I was so friggin mad I did not order it for myself because I thought about it but let me tell ya’ll it was a fab five star dish.
My son had the chicken parmesan, and he orders this all the time wherever we eat when i tis on the menu, so I consider him the chicken parm expert. He said the chicken was good, tender and cooked well, but the pasta was not good and he did not care for the sauce. He said take this place off our list of places to eat! Dang!
I had a spicy chicken and pasta dish It was horrible. No flavor, no spice and just drab. I asked for more sauce hoping it would help. it didnt. I boxed it up and took it home hoping my «Give it to Mikey he eats anything» son and even HE wouldn’t eat it so, it got tossed the next day.
Bread was not good and it was hard… too hard. so… I give it three stars since my meal was the only true loser of the three entrees, but ask me if I’ll go again? Oh hell naw! There are too many italian restaurants that are much much. did I say Much? Better!!!

Terrible, I can whip better Italian up in can using a flamethrower!

i don’t know what they used to give the lemon flavor to the Artichoke and Shrimp dish I ordered. I cook with Lemon on a regular basis. Lemon is a friend of mine. This was no normal lemon

Pretty much standard italian food but Monday has ½ off family size entrees. We (the 7 of us) got the Lasagna (16 layers it claims but it looks pretty standard), spicy chicken and shrimp penne, and also another chicken penne gorgonzola (with mushrooms and such).
The bread was pretty good! fresh rolles with the garlic and olive oil. The wedge salads were also very good and a great start to dinner. tiramisu was pretty good but def not made on site since their espresso machine was not working. The wine list needed more choices even though we were able to get a decent merlot.

When I travel, I have a rule to go to restaurants that aren’t available where I live. When I went to the mall across the street, I decided to try this place out. I wish I had broke my rule. I was not impressed with the place. Everything had way too much garlic in it. I also had to make several trips to the facilities soon afterwords. Not a good thing for a restaurant to do to someone. I will not be back.

Not great, but not terrible, Johnny Carino’s is the same everywhere and I’ve been to a half dozen or so. Decent Italian food, but nothing special, and very Americanized with an «Italian Nachos» appetizer and a «Skilletini» entrée. The rest of it is the usual Lasagna, Tortellini and Chicken Parmesan that you would expect. Perhaps a little more expensive than Olive Garden.
I typically try to visit local businesses, but my travel buddy for this trip has «simple tastes» and this was his preference. He had the spaghetti and meat sauce here, if that says anything.
It’s all cooked and prepared very nicely. They clearly care about presentation and it shows.
Service could use a little bump. Our waiter was clearly overwhelmed by the number of tables in his section. Perhaps it was a little busier than when we got there, so we had to remind him about getting our check. No big deal.
Would I return? Sure, it was okay.

Disclaimer: A good friend of mine used to work here. He’s not paying me either to boost or disparage the place, though, so I wouldn’t worry about it.
Carino’s is casual-​grade Italian fare, on par with a Macaroni Grill or something like that. They cultivate the soppy Italian stereotype atmosphere with a fair degree of success, and it’s a pretty relaxed kind of place. Too relaxed, in some cases. The service ranges between OK and downright atrocious, as if the servers have many more important things to do than give you food (probably crossword puzzles, if my own experience is any indication). Advice: apply enthusiasm and kindness to your server and you’ll get a much better result.
The food is actually quite good. One caveat: This is an Italian place. If you get a steak, you will be disappointed. My first time here I got a shrimp and chicken pasta dish, and it was amazing. Stick with the pastas and you’ll go far. The wine list was acceptable, and they do a decent cocktail, though not great. The Italian nachos are scrumptious, though again, nothing to write home about.
This place can get pretty busy, so make sure you call ahead.

We had our second family dinner here while I was on a recent vacation and my first trip to NC. We had the private room. Ordering drinks was interesting because the waitress didn’t know what kind of bourbon they had but I knew they had a full bar. My brother-​in-​law ordered a shot of Knob Creek — neat, and I tried to order my standard Maker’s Mark and Diet Coke but they woman didn’t seem to speak bourbon. The first drink was correct but when it was empty and I asked for a refill, I got a gin and tonic next. Not my thing!
For dinner I had the crab cakes. They were OK. My mom and I shared dessert but the brownies with ice cream was not nearly as good as we had experienced at the Cheesecake Factory a few nights prior.

I decided to try this place out this weekend because it was in a convenient spot (right off I-​40) and we had never eaten there before despite driving by it I don’t know how many times.
Arrival — Totally positive. I walked in on a Saturday evening around 6:00 and was seated immediately. «No waiting aisle 5!»
Drinks — I noticed that they served «Italian Sodas.» I asked my server which one she would recommend. Her advice? The blackberry with cream. It was amazing! Even though they charge for refills (.25, I think), I had to have more.
Appetizer — My server suggested the Italian Nachos. I probably wouldn’t get an appetizer again. The nachos were ok, but I’ve had better. Also, I didn’t realize we would get a complimentary baggett with the staple oil and pepper that you get at most major Italian chains.
Entrée — We had a party of three and we shared the Chicken Alfredo. They offer up a few entrees «family size» that serve «2−3» according to the menu. All three of us ate our fill and there was plenty left over. The price of the one family size entrée was$ 18.99, I think, and to get the single serving would have been around $ 10. I definitely felt like I was getting a deal here. That, and the food was really good.
Dessert — You have to, have to, have to, save room for the Italian chocolate cake. You get two (count them) two slices of this rich chocolate cake with a creamy, sugary, delightful icing. The only downside to this is the calories and that you only get one scoop of ice cream. I would stop here just to get the dessert.
I will definitely be back.

I was here a few months ago. The service was absolutely horrible. It was so bad that I’m not going back. The only thing that gives it 2 stars is that the food was good. The waiter should have been fired. He pretty much refused to clear our table or refill our drinks. He was barely polite. Needless to say, he got absolutely no tip.