Johnny Carino’s

Came in for a glass of wine and an appetizer. Bartenders was absent at best (pretty much didn’t exist) dirty dishes were there when I got there and NEVER got cleaned up the entire visit. A couple left while I was there (about an hour) and there dirty dishes just were left. A man came in to get a to go waited about 5 mins before the bartender even returned. It was hard to decide what seat was clean to sit at the bar because the bar just needed to be completely wiped down. The food was fine. I only got a broken bread. The only plus of this whole experience didn’t even concern me; whoever answered their to go phone. Sounded friendly and helpful both times.
I always give people the benefit of the doubt because I bartended/​served/​managed for 7 years. There is no excuse for how terrible the bartender was.

I’ve never had a problem or bad meal here before. The Carino’s card gives you free appetizers or a small dessert just for using it on each visit. Tonight I got the calamari and grilled salmon, which I’ve had before. However, as soon as I got home, I had to run to the bathroom. I got food poisoning and feel horrible! I had to call in sick to work tomorrow. It probably was a bad batch of seafood. I won’t be getting that again!

I got a Groupon for Carinos although I have been here many times before. I am stupidly obsessed with their Italian nachos. Who knew fried wantons would be so good? Especially covered in Alfredo sauce? A miracle. My server was Christy and I told her up front I had a Groupon and she never once acted like it was a problem. I know from my days as a waitress that coupons and the like are a nightmare because people tip on the discounted amount and not the full bill. She was lovely and made sure I got everything I needed, checked up on me, and never once made me feel not welcome. Groupon made this meal a splendid deal but their food is so solid, I wouldn’t have minded paying full price.

Saw this restaurant on groupon so my husband and I decided to come here for dinner. The restaurant feels like olive garden but with nicer service haha. Their soups are amazing especially the potato soup. I ordered the seafood pasta medley and it was a little watery, but it was pretty good. I will totally be coming back for more of their soup and maybe try a different pasta.

So crappy
Bad service
Slow service
Average food for high price and poor menu and little to choose from
Shut the doors of this crap hole

Johnny Carino’s is usually rather predictable, and we like the cozy side-​rooms where we can dine with a bit more privacy. This evening, though, the restaurant was nearly empty and still the staff paid us scant attention. Drinks went empty. Dirty, empty plates & bowls piled up on the table. The fried garlic (for the bread) was very difficult to chew. We’ve had better experiences here, but, yes, we’ll likely be back. We’re cost-​conscious diners, easily lured by a good $ 10 Groupon!

Longtime, exceptional servers, Adam and Lindsay. They make this cloth-​napkin Italian restaurant seem like a gourmet experience.

I was going to give this place a 3… until I saw cockroaches next to my plate while I was eating, and when I made the server (Stephanie) aware, and asked if I could speak to a manager, his response was that there is nothing he could do about it… unacceptable and disgusting. ROACHES crawling on the table I was eating, and he couldn’t even show his face.
Terrible service it literally took one hour to recieve our entrée. Never going back.
P.S Calamari is rubbery. Beware

Great service and food. Went there because of a groupon deal and everything was great

I prefer to give my business to independents but I have to admit that I do love this Italian chain. Really enjoy their chicken parmesan, spicy Romano chicken, chicken Milano… There’s not a whole lot that I don’t like a Johnny Carino’s. Unfortunately, just found out the concept is changing into interior Mexican so the time to enjoy Italian at Carino”s will soon be forgotten.

Waited 4 minutes to be seated. Waited 11 minutes to be greeted. Food was sub par, service was alright. We were never apologized to for such a late greeting. The only reason I came to this corporate nightmare was due to a coupon. I guess I got what I paid for. Stay local, because corporate doesn’t give a _​_​_​_​_​.

We come here for dinner maybe once a month and they seriously need to work on their consistency. We just undoubtedly had one of the worst experiences here. Our waiter, who shall remain nameless, was an absolute joke. He never came by our table unless I practically had to get his attention by launching a signal flare, never brought us waters, we had to ask for things 3 or 4 times, when he did bring things they took forever, heaven forbid he clear a single plate off our table even as we stacked them 5 high near the edge, when we asked for to-​go boxes he brought these tiny boxes out for all our food, almost as if he was being an ass on purpose. Worst off he tried to charge us for additional side salads when the entrees clearly come with soup and salad. The waiter across from us was on point, clearing dishes, checking on customers, refilling drinks and he even wrapped up people’s left overs for them WITH the bread. The kitchen staff sucked too, we got about half portions to what we normally get that night. Needless to say we left pretty pissed. Doubt we’ll be back to this location.

Hands down one of my favorite restaurants. Weekly night specials and happy hour are definitely worth checking out! I love the Wed night ½ price bottles of wine & $ 10 signature dishes!

Decided to drop in for a quick dinner with hubby and let me say it was awesome! Superb service! Our server was Christian and he was so sweet! Never an empty glass but didn’t linger around and bug you during dining!
I will be back for the delicious cheese stuffed tortellini with that creamy, rich, lovely sauce!
Great job chef and Christian!

Ordinarily I tend to avoid mega-​chains, but my friend wanted to go here…
We arrived Friday night around 8:30 pm and the restaurant was about 70% empty. Still had to wait about 20 minutes to get seated… okay, fine. But for the entire duration of our dinner, there wasn’t a single other party seated in our wing of the restaurant…
The menu is exactly how you would expect it to be: unimaginative, Italian-​American fare. While I realized I just had to accept this, entrée prices were outrageous given that I could have whipped up half the dishes on the menu myself (I’m no chef). Everything is drowned in cheese and butter, partly to create a semblance of flavor and partly to mask the lazy preparation.
My chicken pasta dish took about 30 minutes to arrive (despite the aforementioned emptiness of the restaurant). Pasta tastes like it came out of a box and chicken is lukewarm. Before we are even close to finishing our entrees, the waitress suddenly appears (hadn’t seen her in a while) to bring us the check. I almost felt as if we were being pushed out of the restaurant, despite having to wait so long in the first place.
There is unlimited soup or salad, but you will probably not take advantage of it because the options are terrible. Minestrone tastes microwaved and the salad seems as if it came straight out of a pre-​packaged bag from HEB.
I’d rather go to Olive Garden.

Excellent service! I like this place better than Olive Garden. They also offer unlimited soup or salad. I wish they expanded their soup choices but other than that, it was delicious for that price and the portion was big. My waiter was awesome! He was super sweet.

I don’t really have to say much, but what I do have to say is profound and powerful.
This is a nice place to go if you want to switch up the ol’ Olive Garden routine. Also, they send out thick, plastic, one-​time use coupons in the mail.
Real-​blooded Italians and Earth Lovers, you understand how I feel. That’s all. :)

Let me preface what I am about to say by noting that I fully understand this is an Italian restaurant chain, not a 5 star restaurant. However, I was completely aware of this fact going into Carino’s.
I was craving Italian food this past week and decided to grab some this evening. I read the Unilocal reviews but stupidly ignored them.
I ordered the Chicken Milano, my hubby ordered the spaghetti, and we also wanted to start with the nachos because they looked delicious. The server took our order and returned promptly with our soups (you get a choice of soup or salad) before bringing the appetizer or mentioning that one was ever coming to our table. Next came the entrees. No appetizer. Terrible. We mentioned it to the server who was super sweet but kinda lost. She turned towards the kitchen saying it was in the window and had slipped her mind. We told her to just take it off our bill.
This was an honest mistake, but I was disappointed we didn’t get to try it.
Then there’s the chicken dish I had. It was really tough and extremely bland. I ended up sending it back and opted for the cheese tortellini. It was really good. The manger took off the nachos and came out to make sure I was happy with the new choice.
All in all the service was fair, super friendly, but lackluster. The food was average for a chain. Don’t come here with high expectations and you’ll be fine.

Arrived on a Friday night at 9pm. There was no hostess. Tried to seat ourselves in the bar. All of the tables were dirty.
Went back to the hostess station. She had returned. Asked if we could sit in the bar and she said that the bartender might or might not serve us food…
Finally seated in the main dining room. 15 minutes before visited by a waitress…
Jennifer took our drink order and disappeared for 10 minutes. Finally came back with drinks and bread. No plates or silverware…
20 minutes after ordering she decided to inform my friend that they had run out of lasagna (seriously). He asks for a menu and waitress disappears for another 10 minutes.
FINALLY get food. Both dishes are luke warm at best.
Waitress knows this has been a disaster and asks my friend only if «she can buy him a scoop of ice cream». He refuses. I inform her that «a scoop of ice cream» couldn’t make up for this horrible experience.
*The manager was walking around the room visiting tables when we first arrived. We were hoping to see her again to tell her of the horrendous dining experience but she had disappeared as well and was no where to be found.
I will call tomorrow to talk to management.

The boyfriend and I had cravings for Italian a few weekends ago, so we decided to grab dinner at Johnny Carino’s. I’m glad we did. On the way to the restaurant, we discovered they had a Groupon, which is always a pleasant surprise!
When we arrived the restaurant was crowded but not overly packed, and we were seated immediately. Yay! Our waiter was super friendly and did a great job explaning their drink specials. The boyfriend decided to try their «Signature Sip Flight,» which consisted of Italian Sangria, a Bellini, and a Frozen Italian Margarita. He especially enjoyed the sangria, and liked the other drinks as well.
The bread that came before our meal came with oil and candied garlic, which was amazinggg. I did not know candied garlic existed prior to this meal, and now I’m not sure I can live without it.
For my first course, I chose the minestrone soup. I’m not usually a huge fan of minestrone, but this was pretty delish. For my main course I got spaghetti with marinara, which was not the best I’ve ever had, but totally fine.
Overall, we had a good experience here. I wouldn’t necessarily drive out of my way for it, but I’ll definitely stop in if I’m in the neighborhood and craving Italian.