Carrabba’s Italian Grill

Maybe it was that all of us were starving and it could have been our awesome waiter. It doesn’t matter. The overall experience was awesome. Our waiter Thomas kicked butt. By the time we were seated we got our orders in, for everything. Drinks were out and apps were on the table in less than 10 minutes. Bread and salads in another 5 minutes. Main meals were in front of us in another 10 minutes. The cheese balls, the Italian wings were all good. Hot, fresh bread. The fresh squeezed lemonade was strong and tart with a hint of sweetness. The salads were typical, nothing amazing but good. The main dishes were all great but the Prosciutto wrapped pork loin was amazing. Just enough sweet glaze with a crispy outside crunch, then tender loin inside. Yum.

Upon first entering the hostesses did not notice us and when they did, they simply said «Hello» and got back to what they were doing. There was not a homey or welcoming feeling at this location.
Service was excellent AT FIRST. After we had ordered, all of our requests seemed to annoy our waiter. In addition, he talked too fast; I didn’t understand some of what he was saying it did not make it seem like he was willing to repeat. Our waiter also did not ask for how we wanted our meat to be cooked.
It was an overall slightly-​above average meal with an OK deal. Food was satisfying but entrée portions were rather small. I would not recommend this place for dates or individual-​diners looking for a calming or romantic experience because it is very loud inside the restaurant.

Lasagne was yummy yummy in my tummy tummy. I eat lasagne at every Italian restaurant I go to and this was by far the best. The only lasagne that was better was my grandmothers secret recipe. And had a great price too.

I like this place! I like the bread & garlic seasons in olive oil. Can’t get enough of this. Also the half moon cheese with spinach with tomato sauce is my favorite but I forgot it’s correct name. My husband always get the steak that he likes. He says it’s very flavorful & tender. My son always get chicken Alfredo.
Nice atmosphere, friendly staff.

Would agree with others that Carrabba’s is a notch above most other chains. Inventive kitchen and polished service adds up to a fair experience for the tariff. Try something besides pasta with red sauce and you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

We’re from California and have never been to carrabbas, we were very happy with the service by our waiter Shane he was helpful, friendly, and knew the menu. We definitely want to go back before we have to go home and try something else, oh I had the ‘Johnny’ and it was killer calamaris were incredible too. Carrabbas needs to think about heading out west (like San Diego) I think this is my first Unilocal ever.

Been there 3 times never going back, food has no flavor and always served cold. Long wait time even when restaurant is empty.

Wow amazing!!! Got here and check in as a walk in. They let us know it would be about 25 – 30 min. Sat outside and not even 5 min later the buzzer rang. Are server Ashlee P was on point with everything. She never missed a beat. Kind friendly and super sweet. It was super busy but she kept a smile on her face the whole time. Not to mention the food was perfect. Thank you tons.

Okay place and as a rule I like this restaurant chain quite a bit for Italian fare. Found it awkward dining there during their shift change time around 2:45pm on Saturday. There were lots of open tables but had to wait for a bit to be seated since the host said there were no servers available. There were already people ahead of us waiting to be seated as well in a mostly empty restaurant. It was not being handled very well by the host, she was flustered and not explaining why their was a wait with so many free tables. If she had just communicated this first is would have made a huge difference. I had to politely ask what was going on and she seemed annoyed with me for even asking.
Once we were seated most everything was okay, but I was served the wrong size entrée. I pointed this out to our server and they corrected the bill, but still not being busy I’m not sure how they were messing things up so much. The food was good, but the service at this location was pretty bad. Sorry but it’s the truth.

Ok let’s see. I got great, friendly, quick service at the bar. My red sangria was delicious. The summer sangria I got later was good, a bit too sweet, but still tasty.
The hostesses were niceish.
Our server was nice but not especially fast. I don’t know how many tables she had so it’s possible she was just really busy. Early on she brought my friend root beer instead of Dr. Pepper and when we asked about it she admitted she probably served the wrong thing so that was nice (instead of her getting crappy about it or just ignoring it or saying we were wrong).
We ordered a goat cheese and tomato sauce appetizer and it was really good. Our salads came out in a confused fashion and once we were eating them our food came our pretty quickly which was inconvenient. My entrée was meh. It was Capellini Milano or something (capellini with chicken, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, ricotta and a tomato cream sauce). It wasn’t amazing. Two of out of 4 entrees came out without the modifications (one was sauce on the side and the other — my pasta — was add peas) and since they weren’t major modifications that was kind of annoying too.
We ordered desserts — some vanilla ice cream with caramel rum sauce and pecans and a brownie/​chocolate mousse thing. Presentation on both was awful. The ice cream was on a flat plate with two small scoops kind of melting and spread apart. Using a bowl would have been a way better idea. The chocolate one was obviously a prepackaged kind of dessert just sliced and served.
Overall I had fun because I was with friends but I definitely remember them having MUCH better food when I last ate here years ago. I don’t know if I’ve been spoiled by local cuisine or something but coming back will not be at the top of my list unfortunately — except maybe for sangria and appetizers — both of which were satisfying.

I was in town with my fiancé from Chicago visiting my parents and we decided to make the lil drive from Mt Dora over here last night. I’ve always has good experiences at other Carrabba’s locations in south Florida but this was the best by far. I am vegan, and our server, Cierra, was the only server I’ve ever had who gave me food recommendations based on my diet restrictions. She informed me of which pasta were vegan and which salad dressings were free of milk. I can’t tell you how rare it is, in my experiences, to have a server have this knowledge offhand. In addition, our drinks, bread, and meals all came out quick and were delicious. I will be sure to come back next time I’m in town.

I really love the energy here! Right when you pull up they just allow you to feel comfortable. The front patio area outside makes it easy to wait a little if you have to. They have very comfortable seating outside with tiki torches and heaters. I have never waited at this restaurant though. They have call ahead seating which makes it a lot more convenient. Tonight we both had the same full size Chicken Bryan with Fettuccine Alfredo for the side. The chicken was grilled to perfection and very moist. We also had BlackBerry Sangria which was very good minus they forgot to put blackberries in the cup. Also the server seemed a little aggravated which gave this restaurant 4 stars. Drinks were not filled timely and we got our Sangria when our entrée arrived. One of my big pet peeves is to not bring the salad right when the dinner comes out. I have noticed more of a problem with the servers here as I come back. They just don’t seem to really enjoy their job too much. Maybe next time I will get someone who does because I will definitely be back.

Yep, it’s a chain but it’s a good one with decent food. I popped in during the dinner hours on Monday night and was able to get a corner table in the bar area. My waitress pleasantly informed me of the Amore Monday specials and so my appetizer was half off. Sweet!
I started with something they are calling «arancini» that are small fried balls of cheese and rissoto and sausage. Quite tasty and very nicely plated with a small pot of marinara sauce for dipping.
After that, my salad arrived. The right amount of caesar dressing and a lot of parmesan cheese and croutons. Good salad on a nice cold plate.
Finally, mains arrived. A good sized grilled pork chop topped with a marsala mushroom sauce. The pork chop was only okay. My fault for going off the «Italian» menu. Oops. The green beans were a little firmer than al dente but great.
What topped off the meal perfectly was the mini cannolis for dessert. Absolutely perfect. Just the right amount to finish the meal on a sweet note. Crunchy, creamy, nutty. Excellent.
Service from my waitress was quite good and in the corner I wasn’t disturbed by too much traffic or loud neighbors. I would recommend this seat as you can look out over the whole restaurant including the kitchen.
A good meal at a great price.

After a very good first experience a couple months back, I decided to go back for a special occasion and not only was the the Chicken Marsala smothered in pepper but the pasta was the same and salty. The rest of the experience was topped off by mediocre service. At the price this place charges The Olive Garden is a better place to eat.

I hadn’t been to Carrabba’s in while so on a whim my God daughter and I decided to have lunch one afternoon. It was great decision…
So the basics are that Carrabba’s is an Italian restaurant offering a variety of meals that will make your mouth water.
We started with the meatball and ricotta flat bread. All appetizers are half off between 3pm and 7pm at this location. The flat bread was very flavorful and the fact that it was $ 3.5 made it even better. The second course was soup and salad. I had a Caesar salad, which I did not really enjoy. The flavor of the dressing was a bit off for me. I wouldn’t order it again. My God daughter ordered the chicken noodle soup which she really enjoyed.
For our entrees, I ordered the Champagne Shrimp & Scallop Linguine. It was perfect! The sauce was creamy which I did not expect and was extremely tasty. The shrimp and scallops were also very fresh. I’d definitely recommend it and order it again myself. I also tasted my God daughter’s spaghetti and meatballs. I have something against ordering spaghetti and meatballs at a restaurant. It wasn’t fantastic, but it wasn’t bad either but she enjoyed it.
Our waitress was really nice and knowledgeable about the menu options. She recommended the flatbread and my champagne shrimp and scallops which were both really good. The service was quick and efficient.

Not sure if it is this location or Carrabba’s in general but it has become remarkably average, sure it is better than some other notable Italian chain restaurants but nothing about tonight’s meal will point me in the direction of coming back. The food was ok, nothing striking.
As soon as we were seated and before we even picked up our menus our server greeted us and asked if we wanted to order a drink, we obviously were still getting settled as we picked up the wine list/​cocktail list and started browsing she just hovered there staring at us. In this case it would be customary to say «Please, take a moment to look over the wine list, let me grab you some water to start» Nope, we had to ask her to give us a minute. Not a great start.
We ordered an appetizer and she asked if she could also put in our dinner order, I somewhat reluctantly placed our food order and I should have known better as we had barely made it half way through our appetizer and low and behold here come our salads. To me this is extremely unprofessional and something I completely frown upon. I even made a small comment to see what her reaction would be, stating «I guess, we can just take that home with us…» She ignored.
Of course the train was a running away by now and I could not swallow my last bite of salad before our entrees were turning the corner for our table. Come on, I am out with my wife, it is the holidays, we wanted to have a couple cocktails, the restaurant is not busy, why on earth do you have to rush us in and out.
The dinner entrees were just ok, I ordered an upcharge for fettuccine alfredo and it had no sauce on it at all, I am familiar with what they typically serve and either they are skimping on ingredient or it was hastily made, I did bring that to the servers attention and she offered to bring more sauce but did mention in would take a «while» well at this point I was almost finished eating so no I did not want to wait for more sauce alone. It should have been taken off my bill as I barely touched the bland clump of pasta they served me.
Not over yet, our server committed yet another error, as we were still eating fork and knife in hand, she asked if we needed boxes? Please forgive us for taking up your time tonight, you must have had something more important to do.
Did we want another cocktail, maybe some desert, espresso perhaps, I guess you will never know because you were in such a hurry to get our table turned you forgot to ask.
Sorry, chances are this restaurant if off the list. I will go somewhere where I am not rushed through dinner for $ 70.

Have been to other Carrabas and hated them. This was a pleasant change
Food was tasty and enjoyable

Food was great. No qualms there. Service needs to be addressed and sadly I believe that it has more to do with the hiring manager of this establishment because everyone working was an attractive twenty something female. On that note, I’ve seen better service at Hooters/​Wing House/​Etc.
Waitress came to our table after being seated and simply said «Hello.» That was it.
No, «Welcome to Carrabas» or «Hi I’m So-​and So, here’s our specials and what kind I get you to drink?» Just «Hello» and in a tone that conveyed that we were an inconvenience to her. Hospitality is hard and the stress from one table can bleed into another, but that initial greeting (or lack thereof) makes your customers perceive that we weren’t welcome here.
For whatever reason, our waitress was then never seen again and another young woman took over, not introducing herself as well, when bringing the wrong drinks. She corrected it and recorded our order. She was to the point, no patience, and sparsely attended to the table.
We never saw a manager and, frankly, I don’t go out of my way seek them out to provide constructive feedback unless there is something drastically wrong with the food. I’m just disappointed overall and I hope you take steps to improve the soft skills with your wait staff.

I’m not sure where these reviewers are coming from here. We came over to check out this new Carrabas on a Friday night, and were thrilled from start to finish. Our closer, and more outdated, kind of musty location in Altamonte finally has an alternative. This place is clean, the staff is quick and helpful, and the modern touches they have rolled out are sorely needed in their other, older locations.
We arrived early before the rush, and you definitely want to do that here. This location is a bit smaller than their usual, and by the time we left, the wait had to be around 30 – 45 minutes. Outside, there seemed to be some ample seating for those that were waiting, and I noticed on the way out that they had an appetizer pizza sliced up for those wanting a snack while they waited (nice touch).
As for the service, our server was on top of things, always there to fill the drink, and quick to answer questions. The food was as good as it always is here, so if you are a fan of Carrabas like I am, it is quite consistent. Little things like a full quarter of a lemon for your water are what can help elevate a casual dining place like this (I’m easy to please). For the prices that are at Olive Garden now, I don’t see how they can compete with freshly made dishes like Carrabas offers. Make sure you order those zucchini fries, they are just an amazing appetizer.
Just remember, come early, or be prepared to wait. Next time I come, I’d aim to sit up at the seats directly in front of the kitchen by the bar. There only appeared to be about five of them, but it looked like a lot of fun.

Update (12÷6÷14). Came for lunch around 1:00 Saturday. I still cannot believe the negative reviews. The staff was friendly and the food was fresh and hot. We were shocked that Cheddar’s around the corner had a massive wait while the parking lot here was half full. Perhaps it has to do with $? This is still our favorite Carrabba’s.
Yes 5 stars. This place does not deserve a 2 star rating (as of 1÷10÷14).
From the moment we entered the restaurant we were greeted with friendly faces. The atmosphere in this place is refreshing, clean and inviting. Our waitress, Brittany B. made us feel welcomed and was kind enough to ask if our son would like to play with fresh dough. The food came out hot and fast. It really was a flawless evening.
I understand that five stars is typically reserved for high class places and not chains. Well, this by far, has been my best experience with a restaurant in this category. I believe it has earned each and every star.
We came on a Friday night, before the crowd, 5:45. When we left it had a lot of people waiting to be seated and the place was full. I am not sure why the reviews are slim and last submitted over 3 months ago. Come check this place out and review it yourself! :)