Carrabba’s Italian Grill

Amazing new discovery… Cioppino! Its been years since I went to one as one is not close but we ventured out to this location (had a coupon) and glad we did! The Cioppino is amazingly good. The sauce very tasty (but not a fan of the tiny, tiny scallops). Salad is always good with the house dressing. A nice glass of chianti but the dessert selection not so good. We ordered the Brulee Ricotta cheescake which was dry and could have had a sauce (raspberry or something) like a lot more port wine reduction.

My family and I came in last Saturday at 5 pm. We got a seat after waiting 20 mins. Our server is a little bit older to serve but anyhow we gave her the benefit of the doubt she can do the job. We ordered 3 appetizers which came 10 to 15 mins apart. The mozzarella rustica is only four tiny pieces for $ 4.99. Then came meatballs and ricotta only 2 tiny pieces for $ 5.49. The food they serve came so slow that we been asking for the main dish. She came with our salad that it looks like they just slam the food in a greasy plate. Poor presentation indeed. Then goes our spicy wing came at last. But we already get disappointed already. The worst part our dish came, «The Johnny» came dry, scanty amount of marsala sauce with no sun dried tomatoes and even the goat cheese is nowhere to be found. They just plainly scoop mashed potatoes and the presentation is poor. Not worth $ 21.99 to $ 23.99. My husband just send the food because he’s so disgusted. Even the waitress is poorly unattentive to us. We always come here during special occasions. The service and the food are great. But this time has downgraded to poor. What happen to the management? The first manager (white guy) came then another manager came this time is black guy. Probably because my husband is black. He apologize and even make the whole meal for free. He even gave us an $ 80.00 certificate for the next visit. The gesture is good but I think people need to know what they will expect in this place if they want to visit. The food is not worth the price they advertise. We’re not coming back here anymore. The service sucks. They need to hire younger and enthusiastic people. The food and the chef needs a new overhaul. The price is just highway robbery. The opposite restaurant, Outback Steakhouse still the best. Carrabas in Ellicott City, shame on you all!

Came here for a family birthday dinner and I adored the salad and the sausage lentil soup. I don’t usually like soup so that says alot! All pf the plates and cups and bowls were beautiful too I loved the decorations and the open kitchen and our server was awesome. I think her name was Mia. She handled our party of 12 people beautifully :) we will be back

I loveee Carabba’s this is one of my favorite locations. I have never encountered any problems with my visits.
Food and staff is always good. I love the bread they give you with the garlic butter sauce. They have a nice menu selection. If you like Olive Garden then you will love Carabba’s. It’s a step up for your Italian cravings.

Pretty good. They treated us very well and we had a large group when we were there last.
Food was really tasty. Tried some new dishes from their new menu and they really stood out. The servers took really good care of us.
We’ll definitely be back.

When I say the shrimp scampi is delicious. I am not lying. The shrimp are so big, juicy, and very tasty. The service was excellent and the wait time was zero. I went to lunch with 3 other people yesterday and we all enjoyed our food. Especially the hot bread we had to get seconds. Please go and enjoy the atmosphere and food you will not be disappointed.

It’s a chain so can only be so good. But a fun atmosphere, very family oriented. Menu has some new items. The calamari is great.

Dinner at Carraba’s Italian Grill in Ellicott city. Started off with soft sour dough bread fresh from the oven and a house salad with creamy Parmesan dressing. My main cause was the Chicken Bryan with goat cheese, sun dry tomatoes and a lemon butter sauce. The chicken was juice and cooked to perfection with a side of garlic red mash potatoes. To complete the meal a glass of Blackberry sangria. I must say the entire dinner experience was great. My waitress name was Ali and she was very nice as well as helpful and making my dinner decision. Thanks Ali and Carraba’s for a great Saturday night dinner.

It’s my husband’s birthday so we made reservations online for a four o’clock seating. We arrived ten minutes early, but were pleasantly surprised to be seated right away. Our host seated us in a booth in the bar area. There was one woman seated at the bar who appeared to be sleeping. Other than her there was no one else in the bar area.
After looking over the menus that the host gave us, we decided what we wanted then put down the menus and waited for a server. Someone went behind the bar then left. A server passed within a foot of our table. Even when we tried to get her attention she walked on by without a word.
Nobody said anything. Nobody acknowledged our presence. My husband and I have both worked in restaurants. There is no excuse for this kind of treatment. It was like we were completely invisible. We left.
We want to thank Carrabba’s for encouraging us to go elsewhere for my husband’s birthday. We had a wonderful time at the nearby TGI Friday’s in Columbia where we were immediately greeted with friendly smiles and quick service. Our food at TGI Friday’s was spectacular, as well as the service, to the point that they got a very generous 25% tip.
Too bad Carrabba’s at Ellicott City got it very wrong, because they lost. Because of their shabby treatment, we will never go there again. TGI Friday’s will get our business instead.

I must admit that it has been a while since I have been in. With that being said things have changed. Some for the better some not so. We found coupons in the Sunday paper and were drawn in, just so happened we went in on a Monday. On Mondays there is a special/​discountish menu that included an appetizer or dessert and an entrée. My sons and I ordered from this menu while my wife ordered her Fav the Pollo Rosa Maria. My sons were delighted with their meals… My wife and I on the other hand were a little disappointed to say the least. Our food was cold while our son’s plates were piping hot. I had the shrimp and scallops spidino (sp?) I figured it was a safe bet since I usually get the Filet Spidino. Call me crazy but I was trying to reduce the overall bill, by getting the meal that came with the appetizer. That saying you get what you pay for need not apply. The Calamari was and is always spot on. The Shrimp and Scallop Spidino on the other hand… When I received my 4 shrimp and 4 scallops I was disappointed not only due to the portion being small but my food was unfortunately as stated before cold. My wife who has been ordering the same meal since as long as I can remember remarked that the meal used to come with 2 chicken breasts that were stuffed. When the plate was presented she was presented with a single breast that was topped. After sending both my wife’s and my plates back mine was not any better… not even lukewarm. Bottom line there are hits and misses, this experience was a miss. We’ll go back in but it might take some time.

Actually half a star the bartender E is an A-​hole and only serves his «regs» properly everyone else had to bend to his whim his dissappionting ESP in a supposed family restaurant

Place wreaks of feces each time I come in. The manager is condescending and rude. The servers all look like covers of a Clinical Depression Brochure and I don’t blame ‘em…I had to pop a zoloft after I left and I will never come back.
How is this place still open? Ever since the last manager left it has been terrible, and clearly I’m not the only one who thinks that. It’s a chain, how hard is it to just maintain mediocre american-​italian food? Like cook some ravioli, throw some sauce on it, the end. Apparently asking for sauce is too much to ask. Had to pay for «extra sauce» aka enough to fully color my ravioli. Look, I eat McDonalds, I am not a picky eater, and this was just awful.
I don’t get why they keep renovating the place; they should just bulldoze it and build a second Outback.

For me, this restaurant is a place to take my calamari-​loving child (age 5 ½) for a semi-​late lunch (1:00 PM or a bit later). When we do this, the place is nearly empty and the service is always good. The calamari — the main reason we come — is always hot and crispy and delicious.
Dinner at this restaurant, however, is an exercise in crowds and waiting. Really, that’s par for dinner out in the Columbia area, but it seems like the estimated waits at Carrabba’s are never accurate. Our most recent dinner at Carrabba’s (just a few weeks ago) was typical of this, with the estimated 20 – 30 minute wait actually taking nearly an hour. There’s not much room to wait around, either, when the weather is cold and rainy. It did seem like the kitchen was doing a good job of keeping up with the very crowded dining room — our food arrived fairly quickly and was exactly as we ordered. Also, even though the place was as crowded as it could be, the server never made us feel like we were being rushed out.
Food related review/​warning: The mezzaluna ravioli are delicious, but the pink sauce in which they are served tastes mostly like it’s straight from a Campbell’s Cream of Tomato soup can.

1hour and 23 minutes for my daughter an I to get seated, served and check out during lunch time… servers are extremely slow and non responsive. We wanted to order desert but it would have taken an additional ³⁰⁄₄₀ minutes… AVOID THIS PLACE AND GO TO OUT BACKS, UNOS… etc
Stay away!!!

And in conclusion…
We came here for our second, and absolutely last time. We couldn’t remember why we were left with a «bad taste in our mouth» from the time we came about a year ago. This time we remembered that it was the salt. That was the bad taste. The taste of licking your car after driving in a heavenly salted snow storm. That taste of almost drowning as a kid, when you swallowed a couple mouthfuls of water at the beach. Seriously, what the f is with all the salt? People think its «well seasoned,» when really its simply doused with an insane amount of salt. I had the Johnny Rocco salad that has 3 grilled shrimps and 3 scallops in it for $ 17. I’m pretty sure $ 15 of the $ 17 is profit, and of the $ 2 the food costs, $ 1.85 of it is salt. Unless this place has wised up and just started collecting rock salt from snow plow trucks, they must have shipping containers directly from the Salton Sea parked out back.
This food is awful. If you don’t think it is, you have never actually eaten good food, you’ve just been grazing like a deer on a salt lick your entire life.
Eat at a a real Italian restaurant. Facci is actually pretty good and there are 2 in the area. It is the same price, maybe a bit less, and way better. They let you add the salt if you’d like to mummify yourself.

I really didn’t like this place. I know I should give it another try but I just don’t feel like it. I ordered lobster ravioli and hated every minute of it. I’m sure other things on the menu are just fine but I won’t be going back.

So I haven’t been to Carrabba’s in years… but I went to this Carrabba’s location twice in a week, namely due to a rather large gift card and some out of town guests. It was quite underwhelming both times.
To begin with, service there was pretty spotty both times. Beer glasses were not served with the bottled beer (because the tap was broken) and did not make it to the table for a considerable amount of time. A dining companion’s dish arrived at the table AFTER some people were finished with their dishes. Drinks arrived late… or never.
In terms of food, it is what it is. It’s a chain restaurant serving Americanized Italian food. The pasta was overcooked past al dente both times I ordered pasta. The vodka sauce – one of my favorite pasta sauces and one I’ve bought and even made many times – was decent but didn’t seem have that robust of a flavor – even compared to the vodka sauces you might find in the grocery. So if you are a stickler for pasta, perhaps skip them and pick something else instead. On another note, one of the flatbreads we ordered bizarrely had a big chunk missing from it. However, the tilapia dish wasn’t that bad… so it might be better to go with the proteins rather than the pasta here.
There were some interesting characters here too to say the least. On one night, the table across from us (a booth) had a diner who not only took off his shoes but then proceeded to rest his feet on the thighs of his dining companion directly across from him. I mean… I’ve lived in Baltimore for ten years and gone to some sketchy places… but this was a first (and was in Ellicott City). lol.
Overall, I feel like if you want to go out for dinner in the Howard County area, you could do much better than here.

Went there for New Years Eve and it was just awful. The food came cold, the alcoholic drinks were wrong, the waitress seemed lost, and ask for refills way in advance of water. My meal was free, but considering I didn’t eat it, that wasn’t much of a perk. I will not be returning.

Came here for family dinner, Wednesday 9−10PM (final hour before close.) Elegant atmosphere, excellent service, mediocre but filling food.
DECOR | Classy, moderately dim, quiet. Four large TVs played sports at the bar. Grill is visible from seating, so you can see your dinner being cooked.
SERVICE | Our server was bright, extremely courteous, and knew the menu. I was impressed by her energy, given this was the last part of her shift. Drinks refilled promptly. We stayed 10 minutes past close (sorry) but staff were exceptionally polite and didn’t mention it.
FOOD |
–Tomato Caprese Appetizer. Tomato tasted several days old. Rubbery, soulless cheese.
–House and Italian Salad. Just okay. Ask for dressing on the side; the salad comes drenched.
–Sicilian Chicken Soup. Boring, dim, obviously prepared hours before.
–Sirloin Marsala with Crab Cake. I had a bite of my family member’s steak. Weird taste of liver, dry and tasteless — probably said family member’s fault for ordering it well-​done. Crab cake was okay.
–Conchiglie Formaggi With Chicken. Very, very filling, which I suspect applies to all the pasta. Had sat out a bit long, leading to encrusted cheese. Not too bad.
–I passed a spaghetti meatball dish during my kitchen inspection. The little chunks of tomato regarded me sadly; their mortal sacrifice had obviously been in vain, as they sat upon the yellow coils in an embarassed silence, ashamed of their canned past.

This was the first time my boyfriend and I have gone to Carraba’s and it was packed! Luckily, we got seated relatively quickly because we called ahead.
Food: Excellent! We ordered the Antipasti plate as our starter and everything in it was cooked exactly to my liking. The bread is warm but so-​so. My boyfriend loved his Scallop and Shrimp pasta and my entrée wasn’t bad either. We finished off with the dessert trio and it was a very good serving.
Service: Our server was awesome! Super friendly, on point, and we never had to ask for anything. His name is Umair and you definitely should request him to be your server (but only if you’re going to tip him at least 20%. If not, just leave and go to McDonald’s).
Overall, a great experience and we’ll definitely be back

This ship has sunk. I must agree, with other reviewers… what happened? Who’s in charge? Where did it go wrong? We used to love this place, but the food is declining and the overall cleanliness is suffering. This place needs a major overhaul. (Service, food, cooks, cleaning staff)
I wouldn’t waste my money. There are a ton of better quality restaurants at similar price points.