Carrabba's - The Original on Voss — Restaurant in Houston

Phenomenal service, amazing ambience, but rather disappointing meal. My wife and I start our dinner with an appetizer of crab cake and meatball. The flavoring of the crab cake was above average, but was a little bit too busy and we find it hard to really taste the crab in the crab cake. The meat ball flavor was very on point and I really enjoyed the tomato sauce that came with it. I expected the meatball to have a little bit more chewiness instead of it falling apart so readily. If anything, the meatball feels more like meatloaf than traditional meatball.

For the main course, we ordered smoked salmon stuffed ravioli and a seafood pasta dished recommended by our amazing waiter. Once again, we ran into the same problem as we did with our appetizer. My seafood pasta flavor was once again pretty well above average, but unfortunately, everything was overcooked. The shrimp doesn't taste fresh, the pasta was past the Al-dente point, the scallop so overcooked that it was kind of rubbery. My wife's dish on the other hand while having great flavor, suffered from being a tab bit under-cooked.

Overall, the experience was really nice and I would be more than willing to give this restaurant a 5 stars review if it was The Olive Garden. However, this is not the olive garden, and for the price that we've paid, it is rather...

I grew up in the East End near Hobby Airport in a neighborhood called Glenbrook Valley. There wasn't any glen, brook, or valley. It was just your classic. 50's mid century modern home neighborhood. As a kid, I played with the other kids in the Carrabba family.

Carrabas, D’Amicos, Mandolas, Maidas….Italian families in the East End.

Long time ago. Doubt if they remember me. But I do remember walking into houses that had this amazing aroma of garlic and onions and all the things that never showed up in my mom's German Texan cooking repertoire. I sometimes chuckle to myself, wishing that I had maintain the friendships of my youth because I would probably be pretty high up in their restaurant organizations by this time.

Anyway, there were these two years running that an engineering buddy and I would meet regularly on Fridays during Houston restaurant weeks to try the different Houston restaurant week restaurant menus. But after a couple of weeks, we just looked at each other and said, "This is not fun. Let's just go to Voss Carrabba's where we know everything will be perfect."

This location and the one on Kirby are where it is at. The original recipes, overseen still by family members. Highly...

I have been dining at this location for MANY years and always thought it was outstanding. It is first class: professional. I want to share an experience I had the other night. I ate dinner at the pasta bar. I had the usual outstanding meal and professional experience. But this is not about the meal. It is about what happened after the meal. I left my wallet on the counter when I left without knowing it; obviously. (I must point out my "wallet" is simply a large paper clip and a LOT more cash than I should be carrying around.) About an hour later I looked at my cell phone. I had numerous e-mails and calls from the Carrabbas manager about my wallet. I rushed back to the restaurant and was greeted by several employees all knowing exactly who I was and why I was there. Then the manager appeared with my "wallet." Really just a stack of money. I need not mention every dollar still there. I am confident my $$ was just as safe as if it were in a bank. They went the extra mile to contact me by getting my phone number and e-mail off my business card. This is just a small reflection of the quality of the Carrabbas family and the way they run a business. I greatly appreciate...