Johnny Carino’s

On Monday night this place was like a zoo, unorganized, dirty, customers complaining, employees cursing and a tall goofy manager they said he name was George not doing anything about any of it. What is going on at this restaurants days are always great and the staff at night doesn’t care and I guess the manager doesn’t care either. The food was dried out greasy and cold we didn’t eat it asked for a manager not once did he come over, so we left, our server was named kinley and she was so rude, so no tip for her and we left $ 40.00 don’t know whether you got it or not but we won’t be back and we are going to tell everyone this place sucks!

Oh Johnny Carino’s, what happened? This used to be a favorite chain, but each of my last three experiences over the past year has gotten worse and worse. Hopefully, this lackluster food quality and incredibly poor service are limited to the North Little Rock location and other Carino’s are still good, but I won’t return to the North Little Rock franchise after last night unless and until new management takes over or the current management makes some drastic changes. On January 9, 2016, our party of three visited. We were seated quickly and the restaurant was sparsely occupied– all the tables in the section we were in were filled, but other sections of the restaurant were empty. Our waitress was quiet and mumbled; it was difficult to understand her even while straining to hear her. I finally told her I couldn’t hear her and asked if she could talk louder. She made no noticeable effort. We asked what the firesticks were, a promotion on the specials board next to the hostess stand. She said they didn’t have that anymore and it wasn’t on the menu. When asked why it was on the specialty board, she just acted confused, said she didn’t even know what they were, and made no effort to find out. Our drinks came quickly– one sweet tea and two unsweet teas. The one identified as sweet was not and we had to identify which was which by sampling. Our waitress seemed unable to answer my friend’s questions about a menu item, so we just ordered as best we could. I told her before she took our drink orders how the check should be split and again before we ordered our entrees, but she forgot these instructions when it was time to bring the check (s). I won’t blame her for the food or how long it took; we got what we ordered, but it took an exceptionally long time. (For reference, we met there at 5:10 p.m. and left at 6:35 p.m.). During the time we waited for our food, the table behind us was seated, ordered, got their food, ate, paid their check and left. Our waitress told us a couple of times that our food was being made at that time, but we could see over the counter the minute the kitchen staff started working on our entrees, watching from beginning to them putting the plates on the tray our waitress picked up and brought to our table. Our food was blandly seasoned, quite a far fall from my exceptional first impressions of their delicious and spicy dishes. My fettuccine chicken alfredo had four thinly sliced slivers of chicken, quite skimpy for the price, but the sauce was decent. One friend had the build-​your-​own pasta with spaghetti, a flavorless spicy marinara, and four tiny shrimp mixed in. The third party had the worst dish of the three, a chicken and angel hair pasta dish that looked nothing like the menu description. This place has gone down hill. I hope they can pull it out of the gutter before it’s too late.

This place sucks. Half the place was empty not enough servers. I had a gift cad only reason I was here.

My wife and I occasionally eat here and we will probably eat here again. That being said, there are some things that really need to be improved on. Upon arriving today, it was 5 minutes before the hostess appeared to greet us, I told her that there were 2 of us in our party; she then told us to have a seat until she could find us a table. We found this odd since the restaurant was virtually empty. Once we were seated we did receive prompt attention from our waitress. She took our order, delivered our drinks then disappeared. She did not re-​appear until well after our entrees had arrived. By that time our drinks were in serious need of being re-​filled. The manager actually stopped by and refilled them. Everyone has been super nice today, but just does not seem like they are on their game. On a very positive note the new Broken Bread made Johnny style is amazing! We will be back but was disappointed in the service to say the least.

Haven’t been to carino’s in awhile… went to Applebee’s first but took to long… ended up at carino’s which was really good! The waiter was phenomenal and the food was good and hot! Will definitely be back soon!

The food wasn’t good. The spaghetti was undercooked, there was a very small amount of marinara, and it just had an overall taste of highly processed ingredients. The olive oil and garlic wasn’t good either. Call me crazy, but it tasted like nothing different from any other grease. It either wasn’t seasoned, or it was just a cheap oil. Our waiter was great, however. She was very accommodating and understanding, but the food was very bad. There are many other Italian options in little rock and north little rock. I don’t see myself choosing this one in the future.

Haven’t tried this place before so my husband and I decided to try it since it’s close to our home. I was expecting a little more than it was. First let me say the place was clean, I had a friendly waitress, our orders and food was brought promptly and was correct. Nothing wrong with the service but the for price of this place (16 bucks for spaghetti and meatballs) compared to the food, which was very bland besides the appetizer not worth the money compared to other local Italian restaurants that are amazing in taste. Overall, the food was bland and the prices not worth what you get.

This was my first time to eat at Carino’s. We were greeted and seated immediately. Our server took our drink order promptly and answered questions about the menu. She kept our bread basket filled and brought butter when I asked for it. Service and good score a solid 3, the main negative I have about our server is that she talks too fast and I had to guess at some of the things she was saying or keep asking her to repeat herself. I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat here, but if someone else wanted to eat here, I would go with them.

You think it Italian restaurant they could at least get spaghetti right. Mine was wet with water under the pasta, had 2 tablespoons of sauce, wasn’t even warm but the three meatballs looked edible. I ended up eating four mouthfuls at half a meatball and taking the rest to go. the next night after attending my neighbors birthday party I came home and tried to drunk eat it, but ended up throwing it away after two bites it’s sad that even in Texas or Arkansas the food is the same, not very good.

Had lunch there today with an old friend and we sat and talked for an hour and a half after we ate. Our server was helpful and polite. The food was great and we did not feel rushed. Only thing that could have been better was freshened up drinks and offers of to go boxes. It was no big deal and it was enjoyable.

We went here on Mother’s Day 2015 the wait wasn’t to bad comparatively but once we got seated it took about an hour to get our food which was sub par. Our waitress continued to lie saying our food would be right out and when we finally called the manager on duty it hadn’t even been started. There also was no offer of even a free dessert for our frustration over our extended wait. We also were sat at a table that others around us were so close we had to cram up against our table. This is not the first time we had bad service here. We have been on a non holiday and it took us just about as long to get our food.

My boyfriend and I came here because it looked like the wait was minimal. We were seated after a few minutes and waited about ten minutes for our waitress to arrive. They weren’t very busy for a Friday night so I see no reason our waitress should have taken so long. We ordered an appetizer then shortly after ordered our meal. Soup and salad came out promptly but we waited a while for our appetizer, which was followed within five minutes by our meals. We called to our waitresses attention a hair in our appetizer. She just stared at it and said «did that come from us?» No ‘I’m sorry’ No ‘we can get you another right away’ needless to say after that our waitress was pretty much done with us. She was slow to refill drinks and neglected to ask us if we would like dessert.
As for the food, they managed to create a sauce that is spicy without any sort of flavor when they created the ‘spicy marinara.’ My boyfriend informed me it was very bland. However, my dish, the bowtie festival dish, was very good.
Needless to say we will not return here.

The food was good, but what made this visit memorable was the service. When we walked in with our infant and four-​year-​old my wife noticed two waiters rolling their eyes as if to say «I hope they aren’t sat in my section!» Luckily we weren’t. We were sat in Roy B’s section, and he took really good care of us. We never ran out of bread or drink. He filled them as needed. He commented pleasantly on both children but didn’t overdo it. When the baby dropped his bottle on the floor, Roy was there in a couple of seconds and offered to have it sanitized. When it was time to go, he boxed our bread and our daughter’s food up for us at the table. I couldn’t have asked for better service. (I let him know it with a handsome tip).

Went there, saw the t symbol at the bottom that represented little to no processed food used. Then realized it only applied to the steak. Then we realized the only entrees they had were a hamburger or pasta. No sides no anything meat or veggies with pasta and a sauce. Which I’m guessing are from a can since it doesn’t get the t symbol. We just left. The hostess wasn’t surprised!

The wait staff is very good. The full bar is a half bar limited choices. Only 3 martini glasses. My guess this is an absentee owner that is going under.
The lasagna was good.
I from NJ now living in San Francisco. This is not an acceptable restaurant.

Layla K. waited on us. She was fun and very attentive. Loved her accent! (We’re from CA) Our drinks were watched and refilled before they were emptied. Food was great, as usual. Their menu was different than in CA. I had hoped to get a caprese salad. They only have a caprese sandwich and only on weekdays. Layla said the manager would make an exception, which was so nice! Husband got the lasagna and he loved it.
Overall, great experience!

Went in for Family Night like we have so many times over the several years. After a complaint about our kids management refused us service. They didn’t even have the decency to give me their names.

We were staying the night in Little Rock and just passing through and wanted a quite sit down meal after traveling all day. We went early on a Sunday evening to beat the crowd and we were lucky since the restaurant filled quickly. This is a rather informal italian restaurant. Ordered the Chicken Primavera and it was good but not spectacular. The service was good but not outstanding. The freshly baked bread served before the meal was excellent as was the Caesar salad. One of the best I have eaten. Prices are reasonable and will run slightly under $ 15 per meal. The ice tea was weak.

We loved the cheicken Caesar salad here! It was our go to restaurant while in AR. We’ve never even heard of them before… Had consistenly good food and cocktails.
however, one night, one of the bar tenders was ignoring my husband until I got there, then he just seems to focus on me… not a good move if you’re working for tips.

Hey, where did «Johnny» go?
Johnny Carino’s (or just «Carino’s» looking at the sign) has changed quite a bit. It used to be more like a «Macaroni Grill», sort of upscale rustic Italian chain restaurant. They have changed the menu, now very small. The overall feel of the place is lower quality. For example the bread used to be a nice big crusty loaf, now more like a tiny baguette; sub-​Olive Garden at best.
Service wasn’t terrible, but certainly not the best. Our server came by a couple times to feign interest in our dining experience and very quickly brought the check; maybe we caught her at end of shift. Much of the staff appeared bored and disinterested.
The food was not bad, but I don’t think I’ll go out of my way to dine here again.