Must admit that Carrabba's is not up to the same standard of a few years ago, but it's still worth 3 stars. For chicken try the pollo rosa maria or chicken bryan. For seafood the Spedino di Mare is where it's at! Calamari is great. Hint on salmon-ask for wolfe style!
(3)
Genine M.
I can always count on Carrabba's to deliver authentic and delicious Italian food! Our waitress (Taylor) was so friendly and awesome! I usually order the Pasta Weesie and decided to try something different so I got the Chicken Bryan Ravioli. This dish has changed my life! The combination of juicy chicken, goat cheese, and sun-dried tomatoes were ingredients for pure perfection. I would highly recommend!
(5)
R M.
I'm not much of a Carrabba's fan. It seems pretentious. Over the years we have eaten here 4-5 times and had take-out on as many occasions (one family member likes it more than I do). The food is okay but nothing special, and for the price I'd hope it was better. The last time we had take out someone in our party swallowed part of a scallop that had something attached (a piece of shell?). It scraped her esophagus and she felt like crap for a couple of weeks. Maybe we won't have to eat there again? One can only hope.
(2)
Deke K.
We had a phenomenal meal here. We began with salads, the Mediterranean with vinaigrette and the house with creamy parmesan, both excellent salads. The Sirloin Marsala (wine gravy & mushrooms) melts in your mouth! It is not a tomato-based yuk marsala. I had the 10 oz ($18), my guest had the 7 oz. ($16). They make smaller meals, about $12 but we wondered the "value" for smaller portions so went with the larger. My vegetables were sauteed cauliflower and broccoli--excellent. My guest had the spinach and felt it was too oily. This meal lists for less than 1000 calories and I can't think of a more delicious way to spend them. I had a sangiovese-merlot wine which did not impress me ($7.50). I have had blackberry sangria--a nice change but sweet. The warm bread was very "dense" but tasted great in the olive oil dipping sauce. Service was superb at 5 p.m. Great waiter. It is the best steak in town! I took a star for the cost, the fact it was too dark and the music was too loud for our tastes. A 5-star has to be the total package, but I'd absolutely come eat here again!!! I have also had the chicken marsala (superb), the crusted chicken parmesan (phenomenal), the butternut-pumpkin-sage ravioli appetizer (decadent). I was not impressed with their strawberry mousse mini-dessert.
(4)
Casey B.
Good to just grab some "Italian" for a night in with the hubby and night off from having to cook. I'm from Jersey, a transplant, so we don't do Italian chains but Carrabba's is the best you're going to get down here, that I've found so far anyway! We have gone into this Carrabba's before and enjoyed a nice meal with some of the rest of the family visiting us from a little further north in FL. The staff was very nice on that occasion, everything was brought promptly, and we all enjoyed our meals. You just can't replace authentic Italian food from up north!!!
(4)
Justin S.
5/17/2014 Went to this Carrabba's for a friend's birthday on a Saturday night and prom night to boot. Line was out the door, as expected, and we had to wait about 45 minutes to get a table. Inside it was jam packed with people. Walked over to the bar to kill the pain of waiting and it was stacked 2 deep with people waiting on drink orders, but the bartender acknowledged me and told me he'd be right with me. We had a party of 12 people and the service was perfect. We had two ladies who were waiting our table and they were friendly, prompt, and on time with every course. No asking for drink refills, they were right there. Excellent food, super customer service on a busy night with the chaos of prom to go along with it. 5 stars.
(5)
Joe M.
Live the chicken soup...I don't always eat Italian but when I do ...I eat at Carrabbas..
(4)
Wayne M.
Love the chicken soup. It's made fresh every day and you can tell. The manager stops by during the meal most days and it's refreshing to speak to her. They treat you like family here.
(5)
Michelle S.
Food is pretty good. I like the chicken and spinach pasta they serve here. service is always good, never had a problem. Good spot.
(4)
Barb B.
We, a family of 6, of which 4 are teenagers, didn't want Olive Garden! It was our first time at a Carrabba's and we couldn't say enough positive. We had 5 different entrees and we were all very pleased, and very surprised, at how good everything was. We didn't have any expectations-good or bad, and went in with an open mind.The staff was pleasant, efficient and on top of everything. We would go back in a heartbeat.
(5)
Chase A.
Way better than Olive Garden! More authentic vibe; I recommend sitting at the grill, you might get hooked up with some free "taste testing"!
(5)
Patricia H.
Can't really give it a rating as we waited 40 minutes for a table, gave up and left. but I will say, I called ahead for a table, they say they couldn't find it. Hostess area needs to have someone that knows what they are doing. Crowded beyond belief. Went down the road to La Porta's got seated immediatly and the food was great.
(2)
Brandon K.
One of my favorite Italian restaurants. We only had to wait 10 minutes because we called ahead. Once we where seated our waitress came quickly and got our drinks. After that she was kinda slow. Once we ordered our food we got our entrees in about 20 minutes. The food was delicious. The food was more than we could eat so we had to get to go trays. Our waitress overall did very well. I may not go back to this Carrabba's again but I will definitely go to another one.
(4)
Delia J.
I can always count on good service here. And good food that would you would expect at any Carrabba's. I would come here in a heartbeat over Macaroni Grill, but that's closed now anyways. It's usually busy, but I find if I call ahead and put our name in that helps a lot.
(4)
Rusty S.
Was great but now trying to cut corners. I'm from Houston and ate many times at the original on Kirby. Save your money. I hate this. It was our favorite place to eat
(2)
Joseph K.
Food is always good but if you don't like spicy eat somewhere else, drinks 241 happy hour, 4-7 M-F. "Bartender P" sucks, avoid him if you can.
(3)
Annette G.
I don't eat at Carrabba's often, this actually was my second meal at one, ever. This one is like half the size of the other one I'd been too, and it seemed a little dingy. The food was pretty good. I liked the chicken soup but my chicken and spinach canneloni was disappointing. The flavor of the stuffing was lost among the really simply flavored tomato sauce and mass amount of cheese. I think stick to ordering something from the grill, and you'll leave happier. Our waiter broke a couple cardinal rules of service. First, he said it was happy hour, but didn't say what happy hour entailed. I got what it meant for wine, but nothing else. Also, he was pretty lousy with refilling drinks. Waters sat empty, as did the bread basket for far too long. I also didn't appreciate the commentary I got when I ordered, or when he picked up my empty plate. Yeah, I was hungry.. no comments from the peanut gallery!
(2)
Courtney M.
The past few times i have eaten here the food and the service was amazing. But tonight it all was nothing but a disappointment and awful. I was there celebrating my mothers birthday.. And i feel bad that she had to celebrate here. Our server seemed like she could careless about anything and would rather be anywhere else. I would tell you her name but she never told us.. Never mind after looking at my receipt it was Jennifer C. Well i explained i didn't know what one of the side items was and i fumbled how to pronounce it.. But instead of telling me what the item was (no description on the menu as well) she chose to correct my pronunciation and didn't explain anything about it. When asked about the soups, she rattled them off so fast and under her breath my husband just answered "yes that one".. To which she stated "which one did you want." we all looked amazed that she gave more than one option since we couldn't understand her. My food was bland.. Like the service. When we mentioned it was my mothers birthday, the server just ignored us. I then had to ask "umm do you do anything for birthdays".. Needless to say we got a melted sundae.. Probably because service was horribly slow.. And the building wasn't busy. The bathroom was disgusting, and on my way back to my table, i got cut off by multiple waitresses that didn't have anything in there hands or I would have understood, or even a excuse me gestured. One actually cut me off as I was walking and stopped less than a foot in front of me to where I had to walk around the restaurant to get back to table. And again no excuse me or anything. Awful experience.
(1)
Tim N.
Ok I should hit myself with a ball peen hammer for expecting something from this place. I'll sum it up. I've never tasted saltier food ever. Poor service and sad sad food. Uggh
(2)
L Z.
First, let me say that this is one of my favorite restaurants, go there often. The rating is for a dish on their new $15 or less menu. Today I thought I would order something new, instead of my usual favorites. So I chose the Baked Ravioli Parmesan dish. The ravioli has 5 Italian cheeses, that have been Panko breaded, deep fried, baked, and a small amount of pomodoro sauce. It is bad! I think it was in the fryer too long, it was hard, crunchy and dry. Save your money on this entree! Did I mention it is bad?!
(2)
Celtic R.
I have eaten at several Carrabba's. I have never had a disappointing experience eating there, until last night. My friend popped into town unexpectedly for a visit. We wanted to take him out to dinner. I figured why not take him to Carrabba's, it's good. No, it was not good. It was a poor choice on my part. We were seated quickly which was really nice. Our waitress came over & took our drink order. She was only gone a few minutes & came back with the drinks. We told her that we needed a few minutes more minutes more to look over the menu. The restaurant was not busy. We wanted to have a nice leisurely meal. Five minutes later the waitress came back over & asked me what I wanted to order. No, she did not ask if we were ready to order. Basically we got the idea we were ordering THEN. My husband wanted the wood grilled salmon & she told us that it takes too long to cook! So, he ordered the grilled salmon. My friend & I placed our orders. A moment later the waitress came back with a basket of bread. We asked for some butter. She told us that it might take a while to get the butter because, "the pizza chef is busy." I have no idea what the pizza chef has to do with it. Our food arrived in about 15 minutes, That was pretty quick! After our food was put on the table we again asked for butter. The waitress said that she would be right back with the butter. In approximately 15 more minutes the waitress came back to the table & asked us how everything was. We told her everything was good except we sure could use some butter. We finished our meal. The food was good but, we never did get the butter. If I go there again to eat I guess I will need to remember to bring my own butter so that I don't inconvenience the pizza chef. On the way out the door we told the host about the butter issue. He gave us the oddest look. So remember BYOB...Bring your own butter to Carrabba's!
(2)
Erin C.
Love Carrabba's! We go every Christmas Eve without fail. That's not the only time we go though. We love their Scotty Thompson as an app. This is goat cheese medallions on marinara sauce with toasted slices of bread. It's creamy deliciousness is perfect! The minestrone soup is the best I've ever had. Take that Olive Garden. I have tried to do the copy cat recipe and it's close, but not Carrabba's. I always have trouble with picking an entree, but that seems to be my pattern every where I go. I'm an appetizer person apparently. I have tried the chicken Parmesan and it's good, not great, but good and it comes in small or large portions. I do like the manicoti and mezzaluna, they never disappoint. My husband usually gets the stuffed chicken marsala or the chicken bryan. He never has a complaint. My favorite thing about Carrabba's is the dough they give to children. I remember coming in here when I was younger and getting the dough to make into whatever I wanted and the chef's would throw it into the oven to cook and bring it back to the table for me to eat. It's their way of bring the kids into the kitchen. Also, if you sit at the bar, you get to try things. Little bit of this, little bit of that, this way you'll come back and try something different next time. I love the homey feel you get at Carrabba's the service is always pleasant. I love this location, and the people who work there.
(4)
Nina N.
The salad and the wine were great, we ordered a pasta and the salmon, the tomato based pasta was extremely watered down and then the pesto pasta that came with the salmon was extremely oily
Takes Reservations : Yes Delivery : No Take-out : Yes Accepts Credit Cards : Yes Good For : Dinner Parking : Private Lot Bike Parking : Yes Wheelchair Accessible : Yes Good for Kids : Yes Good for Groups : Yes Attire : Casual Noise Level : Average Alcohol : Full Bar Outdoor Seating : Yes Wi-Fi : No Has TV : Yes Waiter Service : Yes Caters : Yes
The immense popularity of Italian cuisine globally isn't unknown. You can find an Italian Pizzeria around every corner of almost every city in the United States. Not to forget that in every house, people enjoy mac and cheese as comfort food. But it would be wrong to believe that Italian food starts with pizza and ends with good pasta as this Mediterranean country has much more to offer other than these two dishes. In Italian Cuisine, there is a high use of fresh tomatoes, all kinds of herbs, great quality of cheese, all types of meat, seafood and fresh handmade pasta. Many find it hard to believe that Italians have been making noodles long back.
Italian and Greek cuisines are always mistaken to be same, but they are poles apart. The primary difference between the two cuisines is the use of cheese in most of the Italian dishes. Italians love to cultivate their own cheese and process them as per their food requirement. It is believed that some cheese is so expensive that cheese producers secure them in lockers.
If you are bored eating the same old pasta or pizza, you can try some of the authentic Italian dishes like Risotto, Polenta, Ribollita, Lasagna, Fiorentina Steak, Bottarga, Ossobuco, Carbonara, Focaccia, Arancini and Supplì. Another item which Italians love to relish every morning is a good cup of Italian Coffee. Once you taste a freshly brewed cup of Italian Coffee, you might not visit Starbucks ever again. Authentic Italian food is made with heart and soul, so go find a restaurant where you can relish Italian cuisine in your city.
Chris P.
Must admit that Carrabba's is not up to the same standard of a few years ago, but it's still worth 3 stars. For chicken try the pollo rosa maria or chicken bryan. For seafood the Spedino di Mare is where it's at! Calamari is great. Hint on salmon-ask for wolfe style!
(3)Genine M.
I can always count on Carrabba's to deliver authentic and delicious Italian food! Our waitress (Taylor) was so friendly and awesome! I usually order the Pasta Weesie and decided to try something different so I got the Chicken Bryan Ravioli. This dish has changed my life! The combination of juicy chicken, goat cheese, and sun-dried tomatoes were ingredients for pure perfection. I would highly recommend!
(5)R M.
I'm not much of a Carrabba's fan. It seems pretentious. Over the years we have eaten here 4-5 times and had take-out on as many occasions (one family member likes it more than I do). The food is okay but nothing special, and for the price I'd hope it was better. The last time we had take out someone in our party swallowed part of a scallop that had something attached (a piece of shell?). It scraped her esophagus and she felt like crap for a couple of weeks. Maybe we won't have to eat there again? One can only hope.
(2)Deke K.
We had a phenomenal meal here. We began with salads, the Mediterranean with vinaigrette and the house with creamy parmesan, both excellent salads. The Sirloin Marsala (wine gravy & mushrooms) melts in your mouth! It is not a tomato-based yuk marsala. I had the 10 oz ($18), my guest had the 7 oz. ($16). They make smaller meals, about $12 but we wondered the "value" for smaller portions so went with the larger. My vegetables were sauteed cauliflower and broccoli--excellent. My guest had the spinach and felt it was too oily. This meal lists for less than 1000 calories and I can't think of a more delicious way to spend them. I had a sangiovese-merlot wine which did not impress me ($7.50). I have had blackberry sangria--a nice change but sweet. The warm bread was very "dense" but tasted great in the olive oil dipping sauce. Service was superb at 5 p.m. Great waiter. It is the best steak in town! I took a star for the cost, the fact it was too dark and the music was too loud for our tastes. A 5-star has to be the total package, but I'd absolutely come eat here again!!! I have also had the chicken marsala (superb), the crusted chicken parmesan (phenomenal), the butternut-pumpkin-sage ravioli appetizer (decadent). I was not impressed with their strawberry mousse mini-dessert.
(4)Casey B.
Good to just grab some "Italian" for a night in with the hubby and night off from having to cook. I'm from Jersey, a transplant, so we don't do Italian chains but Carrabba's is the best you're going to get down here, that I've found so far anyway! We have gone into this Carrabba's before and enjoyed a nice meal with some of the rest of the family visiting us from a little further north in FL. The staff was very nice on that occasion, everything was brought promptly, and we all enjoyed our meals. You just can't replace authentic Italian food from up north!!!
(4)Justin S.
5/17/2014 Went to this Carrabba's for a friend's birthday on a Saturday night and prom night to boot. Line was out the door, as expected, and we had to wait about 45 minutes to get a table. Inside it was jam packed with people. Walked over to the bar to kill the pain of waiting and it was stacked 2 deep with people waiting on drink orders, but the bartender acknowledged me and told me he'd be right with me. We had a party of 12 people and the service was perfect. We had two ladies who were waiting our table and they were friendly, prompt, and on time with every course. No asking for drink refills, they were right there. Excellent food, super customer service on a busy night with the chaos of prom to go along with it. 5 stars.
(5)Joe M.
Live the chicken soup...I don't always eat Italian but when I do ...I eat at Carrabbas..
(4)Wayne M.
Love the chicken soup. It's made fresh every day and you can tell. The manager stops by during the meal most days and it's refreshing to speak to her. They treat you like family here.
(5)Michelle S.
Food is pretty good. I like the chicken and spinach pasta they serve here. service is always good, never had a problem. Good spot.
(4)Barb B.
We, a family of 6, of which 4 are teenagers, didn't want Olive Garden! It was our first time at a Carrabba's and we couldn't say enough positive. We had 5 different entrees and we were all very pleased, and very surprised, at how good everything was. We didn't have any expectations-good or bad, and went in with an open mind.The staff was pleasant, efficient and on top of everything. We would go back in a heartbeat.
(5)Chase A.
Way better than Olive Garden! More authentic vibe; I recommend sitting at the grill, you might get hooked up with some free "taste testing"!
(5)Patricia H.
Can't really give it a rating as we waited 40 minutes for a table, gave up and left. but I will say, I called ahead for a table, they say they couldn't find it. Hostess area needs to have someone that knows what they are doing. Crowded beyond belief. Went down the road to La Porta's got seated immediatly and the food was great.
(2)Brandon K.
One of my favorite Italian restaurants. We only had to wait 10 minutes because we called ahead. Once we where seated our waitress came quickly and got our drinks. After that she was kinda slow. Once we ordered our food we got our entrees in about 20 minutes. The food was delicious. The food was more than we could eat so we had to get to go trays. Our waitress overall did very well. I may not go back to this Carrabba's again but I will definitely go to another one.
(4)Delia J.
I can always count on good service here. And good food that would you would expect at any Carrabba's. I would come here in a heartbeat over Macaroni Grill, but that's closed now anyways. It's usually busy, but I find if I call ahead and put our name in that helps a lot.
(4)Rusty S.
Was great but now trying to cut corners. I'm from Houston and ate many times at the original on Kirby. Save your money. I hate this. It was our favorite place to eat
(2)Joseph K.
Food is always good but if you don't like spicy eat somewhere else, drinks 241 happy hour, 4-7 M-F. "Bartender P" sucks, avoid him if you can.
(3)Annette G.
I don't eat at Carrabba's often, this actually was my second meal at one, ever. This one is like half the size of the other one I'd been too, and it seemed a little dingy. The food was pretty good. I liked the chicken soup but my chicken and spinach canneloni was disappointing. The flavor of the stuffing was lost among the really simply flavored tomato sauce and mass amount of cheese. I think stick to ordering something from the grill, and you'll leave happier. Our waiter broke a couple cardinal rules of service. First, he said it was happy hour, but didn't say what happy hour entailed. I got what it meant for wine, but nothing else. Also, he was pretty lousy with refilling drinks. Waters sat empty, as did the bread basket for far too long. I also didn't appreciate the commentary I got when I ordered, or when he picked up my empty plate. Yeah, I was hungry.. no comments from the peanut gallery!
(2)Courtney M.
The past few times i have eaten here the food and the service was amazing. But tonight it all was nothing but a disappointment and awful. I was there celebrating my mothers birthday.. And i feel bad that she had to celebrate here. Our server seemed like she could careless about anything and would rather be anywhere else. I would tell you her name but she never told us.. Never mind after looking at my receipt it was Jennifer C. Well i explained i didn't know what one of the side items was and i fumbled how to pronounce it.. But instead of telling me what the item was (no description on the menu as well) she chose to correct my pronunciation and didn't explain anything about it. When asked about the soups, she rattled them off so fast and under her breath my husband just answered "yes that one".. To which she stated "which one did you want." we all looked amazed that she gave more than one option since we couldn't understand her. My food was bland.. Like the service. When we mentioned it was my mothers birthday, the server just ignored us. I then had to ask "umm do you do anything for birthdays".. Needless to say we got a melted sundae.. Probably because service was horribly slow.. And the building wasn't busy. The bathroom was disgusting, and on my way back to my table, i got cut off by multiple waitresses that didn't have anything in there hands or I would have understood, or even a excuse me gestured. One actually cut me off as I was walking and stopped less than a foot in front of me to where I had to walk around the restaurant to get back to table. And again no excuse me or anything. Awful experience.
(1)Tim N.
Ok I should hit myself with a ball peen hammer for expecting something from this place. I'll sum it up. I've never tasted saltier food ever. Poor service and sad sad food. Uggh
(2)L Z.
First, let me say that this is one of my favorite restaurants, go there often. The rating is for a dish on their new $15 or less menu. Today I thought I would order something new, instead of my usual favorites. So I chose the Baked Ravioli Parmesan dish. The ravioli has 5 Italian cheeses, that have been Panko breaded, deep fried, baked, and a small amount of pomodoro sauce. It is bad! I think it was in the fryer too long, it was hard, crunchy and dry. Save your money on this entree! Did I mention it is bad?!
(2)Celtic R.
I have eaten at several Carrabba's. I have never had a disappointing experience eating there, until last night. My friend popped into town unexpectedly for a visit. We wanted to take him out to dinner. I figured why not take him to Carrabba's, it's good. No, it was not good. It was a poor choice on my part. We were seated quickly which was really nice. Our waitress came over & took our drink order. She was only gone a few minutes & came back with the drinks. We told her that we needed a few minutes more minutes more to look over the menu. The restaurant was not busy. We wanted to have a nice leisurely meal. Five minutes later the waitress came back over & asked me what I wanted to order. No, she did not ask if we were ready to order. Basically we got the idea we were ordering THEN. My husband wanted the wood grilled salmon & she told us that it takes too long to cook! So, he ordered the grilled salmon. My friend & I placed our orders. A moment later the waitress came back with a basket of bread. We asked for some butter. She told us that it might take a while to get the butter because, "the pizza chef is busy." I have no idea what the pizza chef has to do with it. Our food arrived in about 15 minutes, That was pretty quick! After our food was put on the table we again asked for butter. The waitress said that she would be right back with the butter. In approximately 15 more minutes the waitress came back to the table & asked us how everything was. We told her everything was good except we sure could use some butter. We finished our meal. The food was good but, we never did get the butter. If I go there again to eat I guess I will need to remember to bring my own butter so that I don't inconvenience the pizza chef. On the way out the door we told the host about the butter issue. He gave us the oddest look. So remember BYOB...Bring your own butter to Carrabba's!
(2)Erin C.
Love Carrabba's! We go every Christmas Eve without fail. That's not the only time we go though. We love their Scotty Thompson as an app. This is goat cheese medallions on marinara sauce with toasted slices of bread. It's creamy deliciousness is perfect! The minestrone soup is the best I've ever had. Take that Olive Garden. I have tried to do the copy cat recipe and it's close, but not Carrabba's. I always have trouble with picking an entree, but that seems to be my pattern every where I go. I'm an appetizer person apparently. I have tried the chicken Parmesan and it's good, not great, but good and it comes in small or large portions. I do like the manicoti and mezzaluna, they never disappoint. My husband usually gets the stuffed chicken marsala or the chicken bryan. He never has a complaint. My favorite thing about Carrabba's is the dough they give to children. I remember coming in here when I was younger and getting the dough to make into whatever I wanted and the chef's would throw it into the oven to cook and bring it back to the table for me to eat. It's their way of bring the kids into the kitchen. Also, if you sit at the bar, you get to try things. Little bit of this, little bit of that, this way you'll come back and try something different next time. I love the homey feel you get at Carrabba's the service is always pleasant. I love this location, and the people who work there.
(4)Nina N.
The salad and the wine were great, we ordered a pasta and the salmon, the tomato based pasta was extremely watered down and then the pesto pasta that came with the salmon was extremely oily
(3)