Carrabba’s Italian Grill

So so experience. Over priced. Soggy salads. Bread was good, geez it should be though…

Great Italian place of Florida, not too shabby or too amazing. This is the second time I’ve been to this restaurant, so I can say that you need to try their scallops + fettuccine combo, or perhaps their spaghetti, that’s great, too!
Our waitress was simple (unlike other places).
It was good service, no wifi, so I couldn’t send snapchats to the person sitting next to me…
The food didn’t take long at ALL to arrive.
The food was cooked well, the people serving us and sitting us were funny, and enjoying their job!
I recommend this restaurant mostly for dinner, though!

Chicken wings were really good, but the lasgn was really not my type. The cheese was too strong for my boyfriend.

I would eat there every night if I could. Food was great! Services was great! We had the veal marsala and pasta. The best cesar dressing ever.

My favorite dish in this restaurant is the minestrone soup. I get it everytime, either the cup or the bowl. Last time I tried the new small plate Bruschette Siciliani and I loved it. The pork chop marsala is delicious. The reason why I don’t give this place a 5 star is because I tried the fried ravioli once and didn’t like it.

Great menu, excellent service, good friends.
The bread was hot and fresh, good enough to consume 3 loaves between five people.
I only drink water after 6:00 pm, and even the water was exceptional, simple as that may seem.
Pollo Rosa Maria was my menu choice with grilled asparagus and a house salad.
The salad dressing was a delicious Parmesan dusted base, coating the fresh lettuce. Wow!
Our skilled and pleasant waitress earned her wage and a great tip.
If all chain restaurants were this good, Unilocal would not be necessary.

2 Stars for:
–Beautiful ambience
–The sweetest waitress
–Good food
No stars for:
–Slowest service ever (48+ minutes when no one is in the restaurant? Hm)
–CHARCOALED food and they STILL served it and said they would replace it. However, that new chicken they were making took yet another 25 minutes
–Gave us the wrong order TWICE
Luckily, our night was saved by their ever so lovely manager who was very kind and apologized. Overall, I would return because I do still love this restaurant and I believe they can improve so I can edit this review.

Servers were nice and the good waa good. The menu is pretty descriptive if you know what you’re looking for. Great selection for the Italian lovers.

Nice food but servers are not too trained to work with people … Feels like we were an «inconvenience» to go there for dinner and disturb them. Didn’t get good service at all except for the one lady who brought out food from the kitchen. Not going back there sorry. So sad it is the only Carrabas near whisper lakes

Actually it’s 5 stars for the delicious food, but for the first time it’s 3 stars (or less) for the service from our waiter, Shaun.
We ate dinner here on 9÷2÷15 — Shaun was sooo slow. We also ate dinner here on 9÷1÷15 (we are visting from out of town) and had a wonderful waitress that evening who served us quickly and was so friendly. I forgot her name but she was in her 50’s and had short blonde hair.
Shaun though took forever to come to our table after we sat down. Then it was a looong time before our salads arrived. (The previous evening they arrived almost instantly…)
After dinner we told him we’d like to order dessert. He gave us the dessert menu and walked away. We thought he’d be back shortly but again — it was a looong time before he returned. We decided to ask him to bring the bill when he brought the dessert because we did not want to have to wait forever for the bill as well once we were done with dessert.
Perhaps he was having an off night. He was polite, just slow. Every other time we have been to this resaurant the service has been great, and the food is always wonderful, so I would still highly recommend the restaurant.

This place was so much better than any Olive Garden that I’ve ever gone to. The food was fresh and tasty. The chocolate delight dessert that we shared was out of this world! Donald our waiter was so sweet and nice and gave great service.

Hostess greeted us as soon as we entered the door and held a pleasant convo. We went around 12:30 pm during the week. The place was spotless, quiet, with only 3 other tables occupied. The waitress was perky and provided good service. My issue is that the lunch prices are too high for what you get ($ 9.99 for a small portion of chicken breast with one side and $ 12.99 for chicken parm with one side). The sides that are options during lunch are very limited. Everything else was an «up charge.» When since chicken parm doesn’t come with noodles. And then to be schooled that chicken parmigiana is just the chicken… spare me.
Glad they didnt upcharge the bill as we were told. Calamari looked good but were over fried. Not good. Especially for ten bucks.
Glad I had a gift card but will not return any time soon. Especially when looking for lunch.

I’ve probably been to Carrabba’s only a few times in my life — I don’t know why this is. The food here is excellent! Of the Italian restaurant chains, this seems to be my favorite. Service is always top notch and the food quality is excellent. Good value and great food!

Good service and good food for a chain. I had a salad and it was delivered a bit late because the server said it wasn’t done right. I appreciated his paying attention to details… which you don’t see very often anymore.
Great place for a business lunch.

This is my preferred Carabbas in the Orlando area for a number of reasons. Best bartenders in the city, good food and friendly smiles. This bar setting allows you to enjoy a drink and a conversation without having to yell over people. And it’s now open for lunch!

Decided to come here after my girlfriend saw one of their specials online. 13.99 for 6 oz sirloin with lobster ravioli and choice of soup /​salad. Our server was Kevin he was kind and attentive. We both got the special and it was fantastic. Both cooked to perfection and everything well seasoned. I was so surprised considering this is a chain restaurant. It really exceeded my expectations.
My only complaint here is one of the female servers is a complete idiot. She ran our food without the Marsala sauce and when she handed them to us didn’t tell us which steak belonged to who. I ordered mine rare and my gf medium rare. When I asked her how do I know which steak is mine she said the rare one is the more fatty one.
Kevin was great. I’d come back because the food is surprisingly well seasoned and good service except for that one hiccup.

Met up w/​some girl friends last night; had been a few years since we all were in town, so definitely a special occasion.
Each person ordered a drink at bar, then we checked in w/​hostess & she sat us promptly. We sat, chatting but after 20 mins, no server had ever come by. We were a large group (8) on a Fri. night at 7:15, so understandably busy time but this was way too long. Finally, one of our group approached a manager to advise we were left waiting. From there, they really went above & beyond to correct this & a few more hiccups. Our server was new & an experienced server assisted her to get things back in track. Overall, a really enjoyable evening out, catching up w/​friends when this could have gone terribly wrong. Big thank you to this store for stepping up in a big way!

Always fresh, Always delicious!!!
The bread, the tomato caprese, the wood grilled chicken w/​mashed potatoes or cavatappi is just delectable! pair it with the blackberry sangria!!! SOOOOOO GOOOD!

My first time at a Carabba’s! We started off with their Calamari, and it was pretty great! Then, the soup came (Spicy Italian sausage soup) and it was absolutely delicious, I nearly finished my entire cup. Lastly, I had the spaghetti and meatballs. It was VERY average, to be honest. Not to say it was bad. but the pasta noodles tasted very cheap, like the ones you buy straight from a convenience store and the meatballs were very soft and broke apart by just a simple tap.
But overall I like this restaurant a lot! We only waited 3 minutes because one of the employee’s took my name down for a reservation over the phone when I was checking for their hours.
Our server, Kiera, was very cheerful and extremely kind to us!
Thank you very much, I will be coming again.

4 ½ Stars. (I’m rounding up because I’m just that nice.)
I received one of the best experiences I’ve ever had at a chain restaurant at this Carrabba’s. Everything from timing, to service, and of course cuisine.
First and foremost was the extremely snappy service our group had the pleasure to receive. Our group was a party of seven for a birthday dinner. We were seated briskly, although that could be due to us arriving slightly before the dinner wave. However, our sole waitress not once skipped a chance to do her job well. Even as the night drew out and the place started getting busier, she was always attentive. Even with her attentiveness she was never intrusive on our conversation. She slipped in and out with refills, replenished the bread basket without question, and was very pleasant throughout the night. I wish I had caught her name because she truly was a great waitress. She didn’t even add on a overly gratuitous tip to the bill, we did that for her. Not only was our waitress a beacon of hope for chain restaurant service, but the rest of the staff was as well. If a different waiter saw you while walking to the bathroom for instance, they would smile and greet you. This should be common practice in all restaurants, but sadly it’s not.
Everything that our party ordered was met with «Mmm“s and «Wow“s. I don’t know if that night the chef decided he wanted to cook up something surprisingly delicious or if this is how Carrabba’s always works because this was my first time here, but seriously, wow.
To start off we ordered the chicken flatbread and the baked fontina cheese bruschette. The flatbread was wonderful. The Bleu cheese shown through, the chicken was smoky, the balsamic drizzle was tangy but not overbearing, and the tomatoes were juicy. I would recommend this for sure. The fontina cheese bruschette was… Cheese and bread. At least the cheese was good and their bread soft yet not chewy, it’s just not something I would order.
Next I ordered the Conchiglie ai Formaggi for my entrée. At that point I was already stuffed with the flatbread I scarfed down, but this was good as well. The chicken was again smoky and tender and the pasta was al denté, the way I like it. It was also cheesy as hell which is always good. I also got to try someone else’s Mahi and oh my goodness, I should’ve ordered that!
Lastly, the birthday «boy» got to order any dessert of his choice and I ordered the dessert trio, which was a bad idea. My eyes truly are bigger than my stomach and it came out and I automatically knew it must be shared with the entire table, hah! My favorite dessert on the plate was the Sogno di Cioccolata. If you are a chocolate fiend then this is a must.
I know there is angst amongst Unilocal users for chain restaurants, but if all were alike to my experience here then that should be thrown out of the window. For the above reasons the Carabba’s on Sand Lake deserves a round of applause, especially to the wait staff and most definitely our wonderfully attentive and cheery waitress. Don’t even think about going to any other Americanized Italian restaurant, just go here.