Carbonara's — Restaurant in Castle Shannon

On a scale of documentaries to fluffy novels, Carbonara's Restaurant is a basic romance with a pretty cover. The romance is good, but it doesn't quite live up to the pretty cover.

My boyfriend and I visited Carbonara's Restaurant for the first time this week, and we were looking for something that offered a touch more class to an Italian meal. Our waitress offered good service (but she didn't bring us the wine list or offer it). We did enjoy perusing the menu, and we opted for the Shrimp Cocktail appetizer, the Seafood Casserole entree, Stuffed Chicken entree, and two desserts to go.

Carbonara's definitely fits the bill for providing a nice eatery for an Italian meal, and our meals were good. Portions were reasonable (but not large). The side salad had a nice mix of vegetables (and this should be noted since I think a lot of restaurants tend to ignore the salad). And kudos for bringing the dressing on the side!

We opted to have the desserts at home, and both were delicious (Tiramisu and Lemon Berry Cake). I doubt we will return because I'd prefer the meal to be a touch more delicious to match the prices.

My boyfriend's observation hits the nail on the head: "it's a restaurant that's trying to be classy and casual, but it's missing the mark on both counts." (perhaps our expectations...

We called ahead to tell the restaurant how many people we’d have and we wanted to all be together. We get there and they separated our table. The owner seem to have a problem trying to put us together, but he did. 1 of my guest brought their child and I didn’t know it so I went back to the owner and said I’m gonna need one more chair and he copped a negative attitude with me and complained about having to add another seat to the table. I asked him what he like us all to get up and leave, and he just turned his head and walked away, mumbling. I found out later that he was the owner which really surprised me. I thought maybe he was prejudice because I’m black I’ve never been to a restaurant where the owner treated me so terrible in my life. The food was not even that good and was overpriced and portions were small The waiter and waitress were great, but I will never return to that restaurant and neither will any of my friends. Absolutely bad experience with that restaurant. This was our first and last time at this restaurant. I highly do not recommend you go there....

We eat at Carbonara's everytime we want an authentic Italian dinner, and as far a quality, they are the best. I have a 94 year old father in law, that rarely leaves home, except for Carbonara's. Last Sunday, we took our 94 year old out with his 2 daughters. The service was good, and the food excellent, as usual. The bill with tax came to $98, so we left a $20 tip. Then as we were exiting, we were asked "was the food and service satisfactory" we said yes, then they said we only ask because you didn't leave a tip. My wife said we did, and they again ask about the service. My wife said everything is fine, and that we left a tip. They Carbonara's said no you didn't. My wife had to bring them over to the table, lift her plate, and showed them the $20. Now my 94 year old father in law wanted to know if we were having problems with the bill, since he heard the commotion. WE TIP AT LEAST 20% EVERYTIME WE EAT THERE, why the 3rd degree about a tip, that was there all the time. Maybe next time we will go to the...