Carrabba’s Italian Grill

I did like the food overall. Service could of been better in the long run for lunch service. In my opinion it took way to long for the food to come out. I had the Tri lunch special. Personally I think that the soup and salad should come out first before the entrée and not all at the same time. You entrée then «gets cold «in the mean time. Price for what I had was good but I’m not sure how the value would go on the other entrees yet. I think I’d try this location again in the future but not on a regular basis.

Very blah. In a party of 8 there was nothing about drinks, food, or service that stood out as good. Prosciutto wrapped shrimp portion was small. Lasagna was run of the mill and bland. My 9 year old daughter didn’t care at all for the cheese ravioli. Service was ok but the waitress was clearly young and inexperienced. Will not be back.

Went to celebrate a bday. Good was wonderful but service was slow. I’m not sure if it’s because we were a party of 7 or what… Our server, Ryan, was gone for long periods of time, maybe his section wasn’t close to our table, idk. But it was hard to track him down. However, when he was at the table he was attentive and helpful. I’d return with a smaller party, just a table of 2 – 3

We have visited this location at least once per month for the last several years. Our last few visits have been very disappointing. We arrived around 6:30 PM. The host tried to seat us at a table right next to the door. My wife asked if we could sit somewhere that would not be as cold, away from the door. The restaurant was only 25% full, so we figured we should be able to get a table away from the door. We were then seated next to the carry out door. When asked about this choice, he stated that they never use that door, so we should be fine (more about this location later).
We ordered drinks and water. The water glasses had white particles floating in them. This has happened the last 3 times we have dined in this location. 2 times ago we were told that it was due to some water filtration problems. The server then replaced them with water from another work station that seemed to clear up the problem. We then looked in our sons Sprite, and it had a piece of paper floating in it. That was replaced.
We ordered our food, with a calamari appetizer. The appetizer arrived around 6:55. We received the end of the bag of frozen calamari, as 50% of it was just breading crumbs. It was also super salty. The salads arrived at 7:20. Those tasted good. Our main dishes did not arrive until 7:40. The food had obviously been sitting under the heat lamps for a while, as the sauce on top was dried out. Other than that, it tasted good.
During our meal, we had a constant stream of employees that used the carry out door as their smoking area. Each one of them would come back in, reeking of smoke, making our dining experience less than appetizing.
Our server was polite and friendly.
It is sad to see that this location has declined as much as it has. It used to be a great place to eat and used to be busy all the time. Unfortunately, it is being dropped from our list of «usual» places we go to for meals.

As soon as I walked in, you could smell the amazing food. It’s a medium sized restaurant with a bar. I’ve been on a seafood kick lately and ordered the lobster ravioli. I can say Chef Boyardee doesn’t make ravioli like that. The portion size was perfect and was so delicious. I don’t salads often but the side salad with the creamy parmesan dressing was really good. The meal was a little pricey for a normal night out for me as most meals are $ 15 – 20. If you’re looking for a fancy night out, I would go here.

Not my first choice for Italian, but it makes my kiddo happy, especially if there is 1.5 hour wait across the street at Olive Garden. Anyway, service is usually very friendly and timely. Wine selection is subpar, and food is okay. Seafood cioppino had decent flavors but needed more tomatoes within the broth. Pasta is pasta, so you can’t really screw that up. Only concern was our first glasses of water that came to the table had a yellow haze. Sent back and got new ones which were crystal clear. Hope they get that water faucet fixed.

Service was quick and bread was good, but the garlic mashed potatoes tasted like ashes! I was very disappointed.

The food was good. I had steak and shrimp. The service was horrible. My wife had an order that couldn’t be fulfilled. She blamed the kitchen and took too long to bring out appetizers and salad. They comped the side salad and no manager ever stopped by to talk to us. We won’t go back. Voting with our wallets.

Carrabas to me is like Red lobster… I only go once every 2 months (if even that). For me its been an OK dinner place and usually makes for a nice evening. This particular location was just as classy as the rest that I’ve been to, always a bonus for a date.
My favorite dish is probably the sirloin marsala. There’s something about that red wine sauce that gets me every time. On most occasions its my go-​to. HOWEVER, on my most recent visit I found that you now have to pay extra ($ 3.80) for marsala sauce. There are two free options (spicy butter and bleu cheese sauce) along with other options (which also cost $ 3.80) but I think its a pretty low blow to charge extra for marsala. I was sorta disappointed. Even more disappointing was the bleu cheese sauce over a 9 oz steak. I dont think ill be making that mistake again.
Aside from that, Carrabas holds its ground nicely. The servers are always friendly and attentive to refilling with water and giving me my oil and bread. Still, I wish marsala wasnt an extra cost. Totally takes away from the beauty of it.

It was almost completely empty when we got there, and the service for ordering was a bit slow. When we got our food the lasagna portion was small and not that great… Stuffed mushrooms were very good, and the side cavatappi was good. Not bad, but Olive garden is superior.

Out of 100 visits I’ve had 1 bad experience .
They open at 11 for lunch and stay open through the night for dinner. The meal is started out with bread (always warm) and oil with herbs. They have your typical Italian appetizers .
The prices on some of their entrees are on the higher end, but it comes with a side PLUS a option of soup or salad. The portions are also on the larger end, so it evens out. Their Marsala sauce with anything is amazing. I don’t know how they make it, but their Marsala is hands down my favorite. I go for the sirloin Marsala. Besides my one bad experience of them over cooking my steak, they typically nail the grilling of what you order. They have a couple different options for sides, I always go for the garlic mashed potatoes .
They have food options for anyone —
Salad
Seafood
Steak
Chicken
Pasta
Soup
They have different oz for some of the meat plates. They also have a green leaf they place next to meals under 600 calories .
Service is always awesome and professional .
For a chain restaurant, this place kicks ass!

I just walked out of this restaurant without eating. As a single business traveller I walked over and hoped to have dinner but alas, it was not to be. I was seated and waited 20minutes during which no one even stopped to ask if I wanted a drink. The restaurant was about half full and there were two waiters in the section– one at least working while the other occasionally checked on one table. The manager came to talk with the table right next to me which appeared to have some friends of his family but walked right by when he was done. Finally when I did get up to leave all three of the hostesses stopped their chatting and just looked at me but none bothered to ask the f there was any problem. Too bad — I usually like the food well enough.

Carrabba’s has been my go-​to Italian chain for years. There was a franchise near our college town, and we would make frequent trips out for bowls of Mama’s Sicilian Chicken soup, Chicken Marsala and Mezzaluna.
However, this particular location has struck out for me every time. The food is decent, but the servers give zero shits about what they’re doing. Once, I ordered a brand of pinot noir from a vineyard that they also had a pinot grigio from. When the glass I got was white, and I politely tried to correct the server, he went on for about five minutes about how he double checked the buttons and that was definitely the right one. He figured out the error and apologized, bringing me a glass of the wine I ordered, but charged me for both.
On another visit, the server claimed there was no fresh bread, though we could see that all of the tables in other sections had baskets, and more were being brought out constantly. We asked her twice, and she said it wasn’t ready, but when we asked the expo who brought our food out, we got it right away.
The staff have really tanked this location for me. Drinks go unrefilled, there is very little comprehension of the menu, and there is no anticipation of guest needs. As a ten year veteran of the service industry, it’s pretty obvious that the staff is undertrained, unexperienced, and undisciplined. For the money, I’ll lose the convenience factor and make a hike downtown for awesome service and authentic Italian.

I went back to Carrabba’s in Brookfield for dinner last evening (June 3, 2015). This is almost exactly one month from when I gave this restaurant 5-​stars. I’ve actually been back a couple of times in the course of that month, and those other times while not up to quite the same level as my first experience, were solid enough that I didn’t feel a need to write an update. However, last night, something was seriously amiss, and I have to document it, for if it was more than a single «off night» this restaurant is heading in the wrong directly fast…
I never understand why restaurants staff their hostess stations with some of the least experienced personnel. You only get one FIRST impression… don’t blow it. Put really good people at the host/​hostess station. And that means balanced good… bright…articulate…attractive…well groomed… etc. Don’t just opt for one of these like some restaurants do, typically choosing the most attractive female they can. Make sure the person has maturity, that they are smart, and that they are outgoing.
Last night, count them… 3 individuals working the hostess stand. They debated where to seat a guest of 1 person. One businessman traveling alone, came in for dinner, and they didn’t simply and automatically seat him. Instead they discussed where, and… drum roll please… they put him in a booth designed for 6 people?! Huh?! You are giving up that much real estate for one person, which is also an odd experience for the one person as well.
The table near me received their first course shortly after I was seated. It became apparent immediately that they had one item right and one item wrong. What followed, started off as a really well handled mistake on the part of the restaurant that then collapsed into at best a keystone cop comedy. Multiple wait staff tripping over one another trying to address the issue with the customer. The customer being quite tolerant of the mistake but the wait staff fundamentally butchering the high quality response. I thought I was seeing a 5-​star performance at first, but then realized that their attempts to make things better actually made them worse for the patrons.
In my own instance, I ordered a very simply spaghetti bolognese. For the benefit of someone (s) at the restaurant, the definition of «bolognese» is «a sauce of ground beef served with pasta…» Now, I’ve ordered this multiple times in this restaurant and in other Carrabba’s throughout the country, and I’ve never received what I received this time. A bowl of pasta, that frankly looked like it had been collected off of other patron’s plates. A very slight hint here and there of some red sauce. Frankly, hugely unappetizing, and I thought about just rejecting it on the spot, but candidly I was just in shock. And then, by the graciousness of the waiter he gave me a little cup (the size of salad dressing on the side) of meat sauce as he thought I might want that. This little cup on the side was a spit in the pacific ocean in terms of what was required. And why was I being made to feel like the waiter was doing me a favor by giving me this little cup. Are we facing a shortage of bolognese? He was however, quite willing to bring me more he said…
What? Has anyone ever had spaghetti bolognese served this way? By the way, the receipt clearly stated spaghetti with meat sauce…
As I recovered from my shock, and somewhat reluctantly started to eat this, I then took up «waiter watching» for by now something was amiss this evening and I wasn’t seeing him all that often and when I did see him it was more fly by than serious and sincere interest in any of the guests.
I thought, how I wished they had an episode of «Mystery Diners» being filmed there last night, as something was clearly going on that should not have been. There were a ton of staff just standing around. In fact at one point, a large number of them were hanging over a booth. I was going to snap a picture and post it but decided not to embarrass all of them. However, Management which apparently were not present last night need to do something quick to figure out what is going on with your staff.
I would watch one of the waiters to see what they were doing, and there was a definite «fly by» approach to everything, almost as if the waiter needed to pee really bad and couldn’t stop to talk. He would disappear in to the back of the restaurant for long periods of time, and then come back out and do another fly by, never stopping to check with people to see how they were doing. In my case, I had to wait «forever» to get another little side cup of bolognese sauce, and my drink was not well tended to either.
As I say, I would love to have had this be a «Mystery Diner» episode, as I would love to have seen what this waiter in particular was up to when he would disappear off the floor. Oth

I ate here a few months and the service and food were both good. 5 out of 10. Nothing amazing happened, exactly what I would expect out of a chain. My only concern was with the cleanliness as there were bugs in between the blinds by the window I was sitting near. Good staff, all in all it seems attention to detail could be better.

I thought the food was great! I am from California and was in town on business. I see the commercials on TV and always wondered where I could find one! Well… the fresh hot bread with herb oil was delicious. I also enjoyed the soup I had with sausage in it… I don’t quite remember the name. I also loved my spaghetti with sausage. I lucked out and got there during Happy Hour so I ended up with a quartino of sangria for the price of a glass!

My wife and myself, along with our four year old, stopped in for lunch. Surprisingly it was not busy on a Friday at noon, not sure why, especially in that area. Might have been because it was the Friday before Memorial day, but that was a little odd.
Included, for free, is warm Italian crunchy /​soft bread with olive oil and dried herbs. That was pretty tasty to start.
I ordered the Chicken Parmigiana with garlic mashed potatoes and my wife ordered the fettuccine Carabba (and a side salad)
The Chicken Parmigiana was awesome. Cooked perfectly and the garlic mashed potatoes were super creamy and delicious.
My wife’s fettuccine alfredo was great also – it had strips of chicken and peas, great flavor.
I’d add also, that the side salad with the house dressing is really good. I wished I got one of those, tossed with the dressing, which is always better.
My little guy got chicken fingers and carrots, he liked the chicken, but I tried it and it tasted like old oil. That’s unacceptable – I realize they probably aren’t serving too much fried food, but if you are going to offer it, it needs to be done right.
Our server was great also.
So 4 stars for the food and service, and –1 for the old oil they were cooking my son’s chicken with.
Interesting that there are no comments by the management of this location. That is also unacceptable. It is 2015, they should be reading and commenting on every single thing posted here.

Originally wanted to go to Bonefish which is next door, but unfortunately they’re only open for dinner. Carrabba’s is owned by the same group. Certainly a great place for lunch. I like how they indicate the total calories of some of their lunch dishes. In addition, they list their signature specials. I had the Johnny Rocco salad which is made of select greens, tomatoes, olives along with warm shrimp and scallops all with a vinaigrette dressing. Quite filling for under 600 calories (at least that’s what they say). Waiter was very attentive and friendly.

My wife and I used to love this place… until it got new management. The new managers, in an attempt to attract more people, changed to glutton free. In doing so it made everything I loved about the place, nasty. They changed how they season their chicken breast. They changed the marsala sauce, and it’s all four the worse. This place has fallen into a downward spiral, abd it’s sad to watch.

I look at chains, especially Italian chains, as a boring alternative, an eyesore in the spectacular culinary landscape that is Milwaukee. But sometimes, even a chain restaurant can surprise me. Good food and great service are tantamount, even (especially) in non-​indie/​hipster/​hole-​in-​the-​wall restaurants.
Carabba’s was crowded on Friday night, filled with families and what looked to be several
couples. We were seated quickly. The waiter, Matt, was knowledgeable and incredibly attentive. When describing menu items and their preparation, he didn’t list the methods in a monotone. This kid had passion for food, and through no credit to Carrabba’s, seemed like a hobbyist chef himself. Cruise-​line level waiter. Wonderful service. The bread was steaming and the table immaculate– throughout the evening. Zucchini fritta appetizer is a must. I was surprised that I enjoyed my Caesar salad: the greens were crisp and bittersweet. To call Carrabba’s a high-​end clone of Olive Garden would be a great disservice. Carraba’s has nothing to do with the oil-​dredged OG chain.
The dishes are priced fairly & the portions are massive. My salmon was a little on the salty side, but the broccoli and herbs were a great counter..
The leftovers were neatly boxed and bagged and the check provided promptly. Excellent meal with even greater service. Best service and surprisingly enjoyable, flavorful food for the price.
Try the Sogno Di Cioccolata «Chocolate Dream» It’s incredible. Truly a chocolate lover’s dream. a rich fudge brownie topped with chocolate mousse, fresh whipped cream and homemade chocolate sauce. They make both the chocolate mousse and whipped cream in-​house, which makes for an irresistibly fresh combination in this dreamy dessert. It’s the perfect way to end a meal.

I went to Carrabba’s on Saturday night and had a great experience. It just so happened that we went the same night as high school homecoming, so we appeared a little under dressed, but they were quiet and polite and really didn’t affect our dining experience at all. Their happy hour went until either 6:30 or 7:00…I don’t remember, but I do recall being happily surprised that they had one at all on Saturdays.
We skipped an appetizer (which I am glad because their herb and oil blend to dip bread in was great!). I got the Sostanza (I just remember thinking it was the George Costanza so I got it!) and I enjoyed it. I added the chicken, which I probably wouldn’t do again. It had whole garlic cloves, artichokes, spinach and crushed tomatoes. I wish there was more of a sauce to it, but it was good. My guest got The Classic, chicken parmesan and ate most of it as well. The portion sizes were good as i had some left for lunch the next day.
Service was pretty good, if our server wasn’t around to fill waters or pull plates, someone else did. Check was dropped and ran quickly. I would definitely return. Good date spot!

Descriptive phrase: the sit-​down Italian place you wish Olive Garden was.
I came here when it first opened up and then again last weekend a few years into its run. I thought it was good back then, and I still do.
Carrabba’s Italian Grill is a chain just like Olive Garden or Applebee’s, but with food they actually make from scratch there. The décor is more or less what you’d expect from a suburban Italian restaurant, but that’s not a bad thing.
We came on a Sunday night for dinner and they had a special going on where all drinks (except bottled beer) were 2 for 1. I’ll go any place where I can watch my Grandma double down on vodka-​Sprites.
The waitstaff were all high school or college-​aged kids, which is to be expected. Our waiter was a young man with way too much enthusiasm. He was very informal and kept jumping into our conversations. I can bet some people find that charming and tip him better, but I just found it distracting. But kudos to him for going above and beyond in trying to honor an off-​hand request my father made.
Their Sicilian Chicken Soup ($ 4/​cup) hit the spot to start my meal. The broth was not too watery and the chicken was plentiful.
I got their signature dish, the Chicken Bryan ($ 17.20). It’s one of their most popular dishes, and they get it right. Two perfectly grilled chicken breasts with plentiful amounts of goat cheese and sundried tomatoes on top. I echo other reviews in saying, «just get the Chicken Bryan.» It’s one of those unique-​taste dishes you so rarely see outside of boutique restaurants.
Will I travel all the way out from downtown to come here? No. But if you live out in the ‘burbs you’d be hard-​pressed to find similar-​quality Italian food nearby.

Well, having read previous reviews before posting, one reviewer used the adjective «authentic» to describe the Italian food here. IMHO, that poor soul has never, ever had «authentic» Italian food. If you’re looking for authentic Italian food, this is NOT the place.
Having said that, I like Carrabba’s for a couple of reasons. First, I like the restaurant’s atmosphere/​ambiance, the large wooden booths, the bar and the general look of the place.
Secondly, I like the smaller menu with limited choices that change from time to time. I understand I will never, ever receive «authentic» Italian dishes here. I know that I will be getting meals that are somewhat Italian in style (not authentic), but done with Carrabba’s little «twist.»
Tonight, we had a Bruschette (sp) to start. (No A at the end, as in traditional). Though not traditional, it was pretty good in its own way. Chopped tomatoes, onions, a bit of garlic, Italian olives and a unique grated cheese I was unfamiliar with… not Provolone, not Mozzarella nor Romano, etc… should of asked… it was actually tasty but not «traditional» (lol). Instead of being served with thin toasts (traditional), it came with slices of a thick, Focaccia bread which irritated us. (We said nothing). We wound up using the sliced Italian bread served in a basket at our table, instead. If and when we come back, we’ll ask for «traditional» slices of toasted Italian bread. Rating: 3 stars.
Pepperoni Pizza: Good quantity of mozzarella and pepperoni, which had a nontraditional spicy kick to it with a fennel aftertaste. Crust was OK… not thin… not thick. Rating: 3 stars.
Veal Piccata: Tender thin slices. The Piccata sauce… very nontraditional… yellow in color but no lemon flavor (no flavor at all, actually), served with a very thin slice of lemon in the sauce. The sauce was thickened with, most probably, food starch (ugh). No capers. Side salad before with Caesar dressing was OK. Rating: 2.5 stars.
Service: Attentive, but of the five basic menu questions we had when ordering in regard to ingredients or preparation of dishes, our server was only able to answer two out of the five. Then, twice, she asked us if we were ready for a plate to be taken, while it was obvious (at least to us) that we were still «working» on what was in front of us. She was a very nice, sweet college-​aged young lady, however she was unsure of herself and not familiar with the menu or the preparation of the food. I would say management needs to pay a bit more attention in terms of training and direct supervision of their servers. Rating: 2 stars.
Cocktails: Good and reasonably priced. Rating: 4 Stars.
Coffee: Excellent. Strong, American coffee, right up there with Starbucks. Rating: 5 stars.