Carrabba’s Italian Grill

I was quite disappointed in my experience this evening. Myself and a co-​worker treated a visiting employee to dinner. We sat down, waited 45 minutes, and were only acknowledged because we found a waiter and mentioned we had been sitting for 45 minutes. We watched others get seated after our party, and they were served before us. I couldn’t believe the lack of empathy from the staff. Finally, a gentleman mentioned he wanted to take our drink orders. We all ordered water, and I asked for a merlot. He said he was sorry, but he couldn’t get us alcohol. LOL. Alright, so at that point, I laughed and assumed someone would come and help us… Nope. After about 15 more minutes, a waitress began her shift and asked us if we had a chance to look at the menu. ARE YOU KIDDING? I now have the menu memorized. I think I even learned how to speak Italian. Many moons passed, and we did receive our food, which was quite good; however, I was saddened that we were offered a consolation prize of a brownie. I am thankful that we made it out of the restaurant before dark. I am also thankful I didn’t run out screaming. I feel like I have PTSD from this evening. I will not return. It was horrible.

This is the second time we have ate at Carrabba’s, not a great experience. We had to ask our waiter for a lot of things, silverware, plates for the bread which we didnt get until we asked for more bread… refills. My friend was still eating her entrée and the waiter brought her out a box and our checks… which made us feel like, «time for you to go and here’s your checks because I’m trying to get the hell out of Dodge on a Friday night.» We knew our waiter’s relief had started her shift on the patio, so this was pretty clear. Once we got home and my friend started eating her entrée again she found a piece of paper in her meatball. The food was good for the most part, but the Sangria is not worth what they charge. FYI Quartino for the Sangria is basically 2 wine glasses ½ full. not really worth the $ 12 we paid. The patio is nice and shaded and the sirloin & fettuccine dishes we had were delicious.

Awesome service. Food was great and service was friendly and fast!!! I had the chicken soup, pork tenderloin, and lobster lasagne. Yummy!!!

I will start off by saying the food looks nothing like the photos on their Unilocal page which i thought was pretty deceiving. It may have been an off day but our plates were pretty sloppy and my spaghetti and meatballs was pretty overpowered by garlic. My fiancé enjoyed her chicken marsala even though it looked like a mess… The herb oil is a unique taste that I enjoyed very much. Im not sure if we will return yet or not since there are quite a few other choices in the area.

My wife asked to take her here for valentine’s day because she had seen the special they were having. So let me start this off correctly. I am in and out of restaurants on a daily basis as part of my job, so this is review is coming from a perspective of someone who knows the ins and out of the business. So here goes… First of all my long island iced tea had way too much lemon juice (very bitter), but I didn’t complain because I knew they were getting really busy. So we ordered the lobster ravioli for her and the «Johnny» (wood fired chicken, sirloin steak, garlic mashed potatoes), appetizer of fried mozzarella balls, w e both had Greek salad and warm bread. So let’s start with the bread, it came out fresh and warm very moist (good job)! Then came the Greek salad these were fresh and spot on! Then came the failure, we finished our salad and waited and waited and waited (wife finished three glasses of ice tea during this time) before our food came out. That’s right our food came but no appetizer, they completely forgot the appetizer, the waiter went and brought us the appetizer which was very dark brown (evidence of the la k of quality control due to oil not being changed). The lobster ravioli was just that lobster ravioli only, very dry no sauce! How did the cook the ravioli? How did the ravioli make it from the cook line, through back expo, through front expo, and into the hand of the server who didn’t notice either? So the lobster ravioli went through 4 hands that should have caught this. Were is the quality control? The chicken was great, mashed potatoes spot on, but the steak was something to be desired. It was really dry! The waiter did take the appetizer off the bill, but not somewhere I am going back to…

While we try to be smug and avoid eating at chain restaurants if we can, the million free plates giveaway lured us in. Let me just say, I am SO GLAD we had a 20% off coupon.
I’ve eaten here before when it first came to our area, and it was good. In fact, it still sort of is. I ordered the Chicken Marsala and the house salad. I remember loving that salad, but the plate was full of brown chunks of hard lettuce and barely any dressing. I know it’s winter in Ohio, but that was disgusting.
The Chicken Marsala was good but tiny. SO TINY. And the amazing asparagus I got on the side were just 5 limp flavorless stalks. No seasoning. No crispness from sautéing or grilling. It was like they boiled it in a ziplock bag. Of all the meals I’ve ever eaten in my life, this takes the cake for not being worth the money I paid for it. Not one single cent.

Overall good place. Good food, priced a little high. I grew up in a very Italian way. My dad cooked Italian meals everynight. Any real Italian knows no «Italian restaurant» compares to a home cooked Italian meal. Not better than my dad’s, but still good and our waitress was very friendly, helpful, and attentive. I will be back. :)

The food wasn’t worth the price, especially the portion sizes. Also took a while to get our bill.

Unfortunately I was not impressed with the food at all. This was my second time here, and I only went back because they sent me a free entrée card for messing up my food the first time (I did car side to go both times). This time, we ordered the fettuccine carrabba (what they messed up the first time) and the chicken parm/​lasagna combo with the side of mashed potatoes (because this location doesn’t have green beans, contrary to what the menu states). The Alfredo sauce on the pasta was water thin and pretty flavorless. Im not looking forward to eating it. When i ate some of it later, the pasta was overcooked. The lasagna was really salty. The mashed potatoes were ok, and the chicken parmesan was okay once the terrible cheese was removed. I LOVE cheese, but whatever that was was inedible. The Italian salad and bread were good and the cannoli were good as well. Overall, the food wasn’t good, especially for the price. Unfortunately I won’t be back.

I love the chicken Bryan! I get that a lot!

This is pretty good for a chain. Kids loved the chicken tenders and kids Alfredo. Chicken Parmesan was good but not exceptional. And the Veal Marsala was full of flavor but was overdone and tough.
But the most disappointing was the staff. We asked twice if we could sit away from the door and basically got ignored. Then when one of us asked if they could make a cherry coke the waitress wouldn’t do it, even though there was a full bar 10 feet away and the restaurant was only half full. The night continued with long waits for drinks, bread, the check, etc.
Food good… service not so much.

There’s no reason to call in for seating. It doesn’t even help. Manager is so rude and seems like she doesn’t know what we’re talking about. Waitresses aren’t that great either. Total disappointment.

Stopped in here for the first time and thought the atmosphere was very nice. The food was just okay and was overpriced. My husband had the Lobster Mac N Cheese which he said was alright. My Chicken Marsala was tender and juicy, but about 4 bites into my mashed potatoes, I FOUND A HAIR! It was a dark, short strand– about 1 inch long.
It obviously must have come from one of the cooks. There’s an open kitchen so you can look in and see the cooks working while you are seated at your table. Even though all the cooks were wearing caps, most of them had facial hair. It must have been a strand of facial hair in my mashed potatoes.
A blonde woman was walking around asking everyone how their meal was (I think she was a manager) so I told her that I’d found a hair and showed it to her. I was merely going to ask for a new serving of mashed potatoes, but she insisted on bringing me a whole new entrée. She also removed my meal from the bill. I really appreciate when a restaurant goes above and beyond to please their customers.

Food is not bad but the tables are too close and it is cramped. I don’t eat there any more since The seating is not comfortable.

Stopped in for lunch. Very nice atmosphere and courteous hostess. Seated immediately.
Ordered the steak panini which was absolutely to die for, one of the best.
Same goes for the lentil soup.

Visited during a Saturday afternoon for late lunch. Noticed they are now open at 11am, use to be open after 4 pm I believe because we had went a few times and they were not open yet. Yes, I know — one would think that we could remember this.
Service was average nothing special. Had coupon for $ 10 off that was emailed to me — you can signed up and get specials emailed if you wish. When the bill came, server forgot to take the $ 10 off, but was sorry for the oversight and took care of correcting it quickly.
Decided to try The Johnny which is a Sirloin Marsala and Chicken Bryan — since I am already a fan of the Chicken Bryan. Ask for steak to be medium rare, just a bit undercooked but not bad. Rather have a bit under cooked and overcooked.
I thought sauce on the Chicken Bryan was pulled back a bit since the steak had a sauce on it as well. Both were good. Fresh green beans done perfectly.
Husband had the lobster ravioli, I would had cooked the ravioli longer because I like the noodles SOFT. He liked it.
We shared the salad and lentil soup (you get to choose one for each meal). Salad I thought not really up to their usual but the lentil soup with sausage was great.
Still stays on my list of places to go in Toledo area.

I’m done with this particular restaurant. The food is consistently good but the timing is consistently off. Bread is to be served WITH the salad… why not hold the salad until the bread is ready?

OH HE… DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS!!! Mother Nature put a POLAR IN MY VORTEX. It was (dry and it hurt).
With that said my recent Italian comestibles & libations (thank you Fraiser & Niles for the semantics you verbose thespians) were administered by WESLEY, the Carrabbas’ Barmacist and culinary conduit.
The place was PACKED much like my (cerebral cortex). Wesley though in great demand by the enthusiastic hungry population and servers was sooooo sincere and referred to me as Ms. instead of MAMN. It’s not just a respectful appellation it’s also a strategic feminist move. Ya gotta love those Polartic’s. God fuhbid!
Anyhooooo…
Wesley castled a move on the aging chessboard of life by profiling me not as a senior citizen by using a (term that says hello friend) and Wesley made me feel like I didn’t have an expiration date.
THANK YOU CARRABBAS FOR TAKING MY TONGUE TO ITALY!!!

Portions are small, however quality over quantity is the name of the game here. Bruschetta was very good, light and fresh with crisp bread. Blackberry Sangrias are excellent. Chicken Marsala was very flavorful however sauce was scarce. Garlic mashed was ok, same as Outback. Some of the food are carryovers since this chain is owned by the same company as Red Lobster and Outback. The free bread with EVOO is always hot, crisp, and quick. Prices are on the borderline of being too much for what you get, figure $ 50 – 60 for two with a couple drinks. Soft drinks are almost $ 3 each, so get water if you want at save a bit.

Despite being insanely busy the wait staff move people along and the food was pretty good. Not the most authentic but it’s good

Great food tonight and appreciated the specials! The crab fonduta is a must for appetizers. Probably the best on the menu! The coupon offered for $ 10 off two dinners is a great deal and will keep us coming back!

While I see some negative reviews about the dining experience at Carrabba’s I have to say I had an excellent experience recently with their catering. I ordered catering from Carrabba’s for my parents 50^th Wedding Anniversary. We had three entrees, the Lasagna, Penne Carrabba, and Chicken Marsala. The food was excellent. Talk to Rachel, she had several good ideas on how we could stretch the food to serve the # of people we had at the party. Having the food catered made the party so much more enjoyable. I will use Carraba’s catering in the future if I am going to have a large party.

Good Food, We went on a Saturday night and it was as busy we had expected, none the less we were served quickly. And the Waiter had our drinks within 3 minutes of sitting down. The Meal was Very good too, although i’m not a Italian food Buff. After an Experience like this its hard not want to return.

Seems like people always talk about Carrabba’s and how much they like it.
I’ve eaten here twice and both times left thinking I wouldn’t return (I was right the second time!). After the first visit, and several years, I thought we should try it again.
Both times I ate here, I found that the food wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t nearly what you can get at any independent, local italian restaurant. My gripes tend to be with the overcrowdedness of the bar and seating (it’s very close), cleanliness, and the price.
In full disclosure, I’ll admit that I haven’t been here in two years (I’m a newbie to Unilocal!and am trying to catch up on «memorable» visits), so take my opinion for what it’s worth. I’m just one reviewer amongst many.

Impeccable service! From the moment we walked in the door, we were treated to an amazing evening at Carrabas… from the door valet/​greeter, hostess, waitress and even the manager!/co-owner! Although we were out-​of-​towners, we felt like regulars.
The food was perfect, drinks refilled magically and our 2-​year-​old son’s ever whim was catered to. I cannot say enough about this establishment.