Carrabba's Italian Grill — Restaurant in Hickory

My wife and I eat at the Carrabbas in Hickory NC every chance we get. We have been coming to this location for years. It is the closest Carrabbas to us BUT even if it wasn’t the closest we would still go here. The food has always been great as well as the service. However, our most recent visit on 1/4/25 was exceptional. My wife and I couldn’t stop talking about how great our server was. Her name is Naomi (I hope I spelled that correctly). You’ve heard the saying “There’s always room for improvement”? In this case I don’t see how it could be possible. Naomi should be considered the standard for how a server should be. She was very courteous, greeted us with a smile, and told us her name right upfront. She came back to check on us multiple times. My wife’s glass of tea never got below half a glass. She told us about the take out specials, asked if we had room for dessert, offered us coffee. My mother was a really good server for the most of her life as well as other members of my family. My mom has been head waitress at several restaurants also throughout her life. I only say this so that you can understand that I am very aware of what a good server should be and how they should act. We were so taken with her service that we told her before leaving. I told her we thought she was the best server we’ve ever had at ANY restaurant. The manager came by twice to make sure everything thing was good. I told her about Naomi also. I overheard the table beside us talking about what a good server she was right after she came by the first time. Our food was perfect as always. My wife loves the Fettuccine Carrabba, and I love my Chicken Parm with a side of spaghetti. I have no clue as to how Carrabbas train their servers (and I’m not saying that we have had bad servers because we haven’t) but Naomi really needs to be involved in training new servers. Yes she’s really that good! Anyway I don’t write too many reviews but when it’s this good I feel I have too. My wish is that she is recognized for her efforts. I hope she knows that her kindness and attitude help make others day brighter and is very much...

First I provide my reviews on our experiences just so others will know how the visit went. I don't give good or critical reviews to get something. If things are really unsatisfactory then I'll notify the management, and even if they offer a freebie I'll decline and have done so on those occasions. We make of a point of being nice, friendly, undemanding customers. I comment on quality of food, service, atmosphere, and if necessary cleanliness.

So here we go,...

We were traveling and around 6pm stopped into the Hickory NC Carrabba's. Plenty if customers but in no way crowded so we were able to sit at a window table in the bar and that is where things started downhill.

We watched a server taking care of the table next to us, then pass us by without even a look. Another server did the same and yet another, then repeat, repeat. For well over ten minutes, perhaps 15 not a single person stopped or looked at us. After another pass by I opened my phone to look how far it was to the Ruby Tuesdays. It was at this point the bartender came over and said he noticed we were not being helped. I told him we were leaving but he (Mathew) convinced us to stay and he would take care of us.

At that point everything changed, wonderful service from Mathew, great food, a most pleasant time having dinner. When the manager stopped by I told him of our experience and gave a rave review of Mathew.

We tipped Mathew very well, and then handed him an extra twenty. On our next drive that direction we'll stop in again and hopefully Mathew will be working.

The only reason I rated 4 instead of 5 was the way the rest of the staff, simply...

Went here for my mother's birthday as we do every year. The hostess walked up behind my mom who was standing with her back turned holding my baby and even though there was 3 feet of open space on the other side where she could of walked by she snapped excuse me in a ugly tone at my mom's back. My mom was startled but moved out of the way. The hostess then asked us about our party size with an attitude as if we bothered her by breathing. She walked away for a minute then came back and asked if I was taking my stroller to the table. I said yes and she said it would be 10 minutes. I gave her my name and told her we'd be outside waiting. Over 10 minutes later another large group came in and was seated immediately. I went in and spoke to the manager. She says the other group called ahead and while that is understandable we arrived before them to an almost empty restaurant and had to wait about 30 minutes before we were at at a table. There were several servers standing around talking. A man came to our table and brought bread. About 10 minutes later he came back and apologized that we didn't have a server and offered to get us drinks while they figured it out. He was nice and we appreciate him as well as the server that eventually made it out to take our order. The food was not great. The calamari was severely over seasoned. The Alfredo sauce was as thin as milk. I would've left if it wasn't my mom's preferred birthday spot. After leaving she told me she wished we would've left too. It's really sad. This place used to be...