Johnny Carino’s

The waitress was awesome! I make my living in customer service and i would hire her Monday morning. Sad to say management really blew it. Left her unsupported (the surest sign of incompetent management) and on her own. Head bartender was very difficult to work with, offered only O’Douls and showed no interest in helping people trying to stay sober. Food was OK. We’ll probably go back for the lasagna. If it’s crowded, go somewhere else. They don’t know how to handle crowds well at all.

Just had lunch there and it was a great experience. Half price bottles of wine on Sundays and the lunch size portions (with unlimited soup OR salad for an extra $ 1) were also available for 7.99. The jalapeño tilapia with cream sauce is yummy as were the lasagna, skilletini, spicy Romano chicken and 5-​meat pasts according to others in our party. Carino’s is a chain and I get that — but the food is good. And the service was great! Kudos to Courtney who was personable (but not too chatty) and responsive. She let us taste the wines before we bought our bottles and was just great at her job. Recommend!

Everything was good… Food was good not great but good… Slightly over priced… Atmosphere was excellent… Cleanliness was excellent… sevice was excellent.

Stopped in for lunch with my girl today…
Nice atmosphere quite and not rushed …
FOOD was good waitress was very pleasant. .
Price was very fair

Carinos is a decent chain Italian restaurant with good deals on wine, beer, mixed drinks during happy hour. They have a good gluten free menu for those needing it but for those who can have gluten, the loaf of bread and olive oil blend is always good and the calamari appetizer actually isn’t bad. It has a nice texture and isn’t oily or over breaded. We had the chicken marsala and margarita pizza on this visit. They were solid choices with a reasonable price tag and large portions.

If someone needs a job, Carino’s has a shortage of waiters!!! Really. Ours disappeared after she took our order and returned with the appetizer. We never saw her again. We received our salads AFTER the entrée (and had them boxed to go) and were checked on by the guy who brought the entrees. He got us refills. No offer of dessert, a fresh glass of soda or coffee, nothing. Just absence. I even asked another waiter if we still had a waiter. She giggled and said ours was in training and she was the trainer. Huh? Check please.
C’mon, Carino’s. You owe it to the franchise to AT LEAST show up. Unbelievable.

The food here was really pretty good, better than average for italian restaurants, not only that but I got stuffed for like twenty bucks including a decent tip!

Tried their $ 7.99 lunches and were very satisfied. Served bread with oil based dip unlimited. I got the spaghetti with meatballs that had a spicy flare but not too much. He got the chicken primavera with house salad. Dressing on salad very good also. Service was very prompt and polite Will definitely
Eat here again:)

Came to Johnny’s with some
Coworkers. I haven’t been here in several years because I just wasn’t a fan of their marinara. I thought I’d give it another chance. I ordered the chicken parmigiana and substituted angel hair pasta for the spaghetti which they were very accommodating. The portion was huge. At last though, the marinara was the same as the last time, too spicy for my tastes.
They do seem to have some decent specials for family meals on certain nights. It’s personal preference for me, but I just don’t want that much kick in the sauce. The bread they serve is great!

I’ve always loved going to Johnny Carinos, ever since I was a tiny, little kid. The bread dip, the atmosphere, the breaded calamari, the flavored italian sodas, and my god, the smells always keep me coming back. However, this past saturday I wasn’t very impressed. It WAS Valentines day, so I completely understand that they were swamped. I ordered shrimp scampi, just like I always would, but this time it didn’t taste like anything. It was extremely bland. I actually ended up getting a mild case of food poisoning later that night, (I believe from poorly cooked shrimp). I hate to be the person who leaves a bad review for this resturaunt, but I simply was not impressed with this Johnny Carino’s. In my opinion the second location on Nicholasville Rd is much, much better.

Food was excellent, table service excellent but management and service staff poor. One employee stood holding inner vestibule door open all the time allowing cold air to rush in when patrons opened the outer doors, waste of an employee, defeating the purpose of the bldg design and making it uncomfortable to the patrons seated directly between the front door and the kitchen as the cold air rushed in. When approached by the manager who asked if all was ok, to which I responded no, and he asked if he could do anything for for us, when I suggested he close the inner door, he did not respond but merely walked away. What a missed opportunity.

This is a great place for italian food. It is dimly and has a great atmosphere. The bread they start you off with is quite tasty.
I can honestly I have never had a bad meal here. EVER. That statement alone doesn’t come around that often. The servers are always friendly and knowledgeable. Sometime through out the meal the Manager will find his/​her way around to your table and check on you.
I have to say I am addicted to their Italian Nachos and Pizzas. That is about all I order when I go there.
They also serve adult beverages. I have only had beers while there (so not italian I know).

4 stars for service, 0 stars for food = 2 star review. We came here on Monday night, with a $ 10 off coupon that was set to expire on 12.31.14. I haven’t been to a Johnny Carino’s in years and I don’t think I’ll be coming back any time soon. My husband and I did not take advantage of the Monday night Family Entrée special because we couldn’t agree on an entrée to share. Which was fine since we had the coupon. Because my husband takes forever to decide on what to order, we checked the online menu before leaving the house. And of course, the 2 entrees we chose were not listed on the menu in the restaurant. So much for trying to save a little time. I picked the citrus balsamic salmon and my husband ended up going with something off their holiday menu, the bourbon glazed chicken. The bread that was brought to our table was burnt on the bottom. But the inside was nice and soft, soaking up the seasoned garlic oil. Now, I don’t know if it’s my memory that’s messed up or maybe because it’s a different restaurant or because it was an off night but I remembered those fried garlic bits in the oil being little crispy nuggets of yummy goodness. What we got were not crispy but rather chewy. Tasted okay but not like I remembered. Now my salmon. What can I say? For one… for it costing $ 15.99, I really expected a piece of salmon that was bigger than a deck of playing cards. And it was SO overcooked, it was like a rubbery piece of overcooked chicken. The glaze on it was really tasty but I couldn’t get past the texture. And it *barely* tasted like fish. If I didn’t know what I had ordered, I would have sworn it was a piece of overcooked chicken that was maybe cooked in the same pan as a piece of fish? The salmon came with 2 sides; angel hair pasta with some diced tomatoes and then stewed spinach. The pasta was delicious and I ate every scrap of it. The spinach was inedible. I don’t know what kind of sauce was on it but it was sour and bitter and YUCK. I made my husband taste it (he didn’t want to after seeing my reaction to it) and he agreed. It was gross. My husband said his chicken was «okay» but the glaze tasted like teriyaki, not bourbon. I tried it and thought it tasted the same way a wet dog smells but maybe my own food ruined my palate? I dunno. One nice thing was the server allowed my husband to switch out one of his sides for a pasta side. I think it came with mashed potatoes and some kind of vegetable? But he really wanted some pasta so he switched out his potatoes for a penne pasta with a marinara sauce. So that was nice. And our server was very nice and attentive. Oh, and the atmosphere was super chaotic. We were seated about 10 yards from the kitchen so that added to the noise but the music they were playing was very loud and up tempo so that made for a frenzied atmosphere. It must be a trick to turn over the tables because we just wanted to eat and get out of there! Which we did. We have a couple more coupons that are good for Jan and Feb but I don’t think we’ll be going back.

Sometimes you want consistent food choices and sometimes you want a change up on the menu. Welcome to Carinos! Classics always on the menu with rotating seasonal/​holiday menu makes this an interesting dining experience every time.
Staff is nice and fast. Place is clean. Good is good. Drinks are good too.
Plus $ 5 martini and $ 3 beers all day, everyday doesn’t hurt. Don’t forget half off bottles of wine Wednesday either.
Enjoy!

Overall great experience. Went on my lunch break alone. Fried Zucchini was amazing and they have a mini size for one. Lunch $ 7.99 and for additional $ 1 you can add unlimited salad or soup. The piece of bread was perfect size to munch on from drink drop off til meal completion. Salad was perfect size and tge simpletons was great with spicy marinara and shrimp. My server was very attentive. However, when I first walked I was greeted by a mob of employees huddled around a woman and her baby. The greeting was «can we help you?» Which I answered with «I would like to eat lunch!» They then said, «you want a table? » DUH… «The hostess will help you» The woman in the sweater then took the baby to a man sitting at the bar. She then walked behind the bar (with her grey cardigan on — not uniform) and perched herself up on the bar to talk to the man with the baby. While she was propped up and over the bar numerous other employees went behind the bar to complete a task or two. Then her two bar guest paid and she immediately went to a booth with the man and the baby. This was the only downside of my visit.

I really like the lunch soup and salad here. And the diner is okay as well but the best deal has to be the Half priced family meals whatever night they do that on. It’s pasta at pastas best!

This is my favorite chain restaurant. I love the eggplant parmesan & the cannolis. The service is usually pretty good, but it can be hit and miss when it’s busy.

Easily one of my favorite places to eat in Lexington! I recommend them to all of my friends. I’ve been eating here for years at least once a month or more.
I’ll be honest, half the reason I come is for the $ 5 (everyday) Pixie Stick Martini. Amazing drink.
The manager on duty always comes around to see how our meal was going, servers are always very friendly, make great suggestions about new food items, attentive but not over-​bearing.
My favorite appetizers are the Fried Zucchini, Stuffed Mushrooms and Calamari. Never had a bad batch.
I usually stick to the Bowtie Festival or Spicy Romano Chicken. Great flavors, perfect amount of spice and always large portions I have to take home.
I love this place.

Out experiences here have done nothing but improve (like a fine wine) over the years. The first time we came to JC’s was about 4 years ago and we came away with a big let down. After all this time, we finally decided to give it another go and we are so very glad we did. We have eaten here twice since (maybe a 3^rd tomorrow) and are enamored of the place now. The «Skilletini» is excellent as is the Calamari. Both musts for me. Enjoyed the food, the service and damn near everything to do with the place. Now a family favorite!
Glad we gave it another shot.

We arrived while the weather was doing down hill fast. The front side walks were very well salted and safe. This made me very happy. The place was dead because of the weather and we were seated right away.
Our waiter was friendly, attentive and tried to upsell us a few times. He did a wondeful job.
The food was delish. I ordered the jalepeno talapia and subbed veggies for pasta. The waiter didn’t bat an eye, he gladly said that could be done. When it arrived I was very pleased. Big plump mushrooms, diced carrots, and broccoli under the fish. The sauce was prefect.
The husband ordered a chicken alfredo dish that he devoured.
For two to dine we paid $ 31 with out a tip. The portions are satisfying. The place was clean. Music wasn’t overbearing and the staff was friendly.