Carrabba's Italian Grill — Restaurant in Melbourne

First let me say this was our first time ever stepping foot in a Carrabba’s. We saw commercials sometimes and thought one day when we live near one we should try it. So yesterday was our first time. We got seated right away in which was nice. Our waitress on the other hand was unprofessional throughout times. As we sat with family which including children. She gave us napkins for our table but instead of placing nicely they were thrown. That was mistake number 1. As our ordered was placed we noticed we waiting ridiculous long time for our meals to come back to us. We saw people next to us coming later and being served faster. We had. 6 and 7 year old that is clearly unacceptable to just be eating plain bread because it took to long. Waitress Vienna G then came up to us and said the cook was new and that is why our food didn’t come out. Why would you disclose that to us. When she served the food instead of going around each of us to hand our plates she was reaching over. To lazy to go around. We ate our food and I ordered one dessert. That was a mistake it took forever just to bring 1 tiramisu. Waitress came to us and said oh the cooking area never saw your item. Again she is throwing the cooking area under the bus so to speak instead of admitting her failures. This was a terrible experience and will not go back to this place. It was not worth the aggravation. If you do please see another waitress!! We spent over $100 btw!

Update 08/27/21 Valerie contacted me after the review and apologized and sent me a package in the mail. It was a letter and some gift cards to come back. They promised a better experience. We went back today and had a wonderful waitress named Melissa. Melissa was amazing from beginning to end. At the end we used most of the gift cards and the manager Mitch must have notice something was wrong previously and came to introduce himself and we spoke for a few minutes. I explained that my family and I had a bad experience last time and he knew the rest because of the other manager Valerie. I also explained that tonight’s food and service was excellent. I told Mitch I would update my review to reflect the situation. Hopefully good experiences...

Carrabba’s Italian Grill (Chain Restaurant Review)-1575 Palm Bay Road NE, Palm Bay, FL

3-Stars

I frequented Carrabba's when the Big Boy actually focused on losing weight at a time long since passed. Established in 1986 by John Charles "Johnny" Carrabba III and his uncle, Damian Mandola, and now a part of Bloomin’ Brands Inc. (think Outback and Bonefish Grill) since 2021, Carrabba’s is the 2nd largest Italian-themed chain in the US; Florida is currently home to more Carrabba’s than any other state and they have my second favorite salad in the whole world: the Johnny Rocco. It is a mélange of crisp romaine lettuce, roasted red peppers, meaty Kalamata olives, and a mild, yet salty, this salad is delightful. Though no longer weight watching, I elected to rekindle my palate with my old friend, substituting creamy Parmesan dressing for the standard house Italian vinaigrette. This salad has withstood the test of time and remains resolute. I cannot tout the same for the rest of the meal. You might consider me a zoilist as you read further; trust that I am not. I neither nitpick over trivialities nor excoriate undeservingly. Before continuing, I must digress and laud our waiter, Raymond. He was outstanding in his service and though it's still early, he is a contender for Big Boy Dining Out's Top 5 Best Waitstaff, 2nd Quarter. Attentive, personable, and knowledgeable, Raymond showed himself to be a consummate professional. Now onto the rest of the meal. I ordered both the Fettuccine Carrabba and the Spaghetti Bolognese. These are simple, dishes that require little effort. Still, I’m uncertain how the cooking of such fare could be translated so marginally. The Fettuccine Carrabba was lackluster. Such blandness left me mystified as to how a sauce can taste nothing like its ingredients. There was no rich, buttery, Parmesan cheesiness to enjoy here. The Spaghetti Bolognese was equally underwhelming, under sauced, and the noodles were crispy. Yes, crispy. I can appreciate a good Al dente noodle, but this was a cry away from a dental visit.

The Big Boy says, “Try the Johnny Rocco. Take the kids and give them the average pasta. They will...

I hadn't been here in a while, we were looking forward to enjoying a nice meal. We walked in, it was Early so the indoors was half empty, we decided that we wanted to eat outdoors. We walk up to the hostess booth, a young girl, there's no greeting, she just looks at us, we say that we'd like to eat outdoors was that all right? She says yes, she'll send someone out. We wait, no one comes, there's another couple getting ready to leave, the waitress stops over their table a few times, without even acknowledging us. We're the only couple outside, besides the couple that are leaving shortly. I am thinking this waitress, must not be our waitress, but it would have been nice had she said to us, hello, I will let someone know you're here. No, nothing, we go in one more time to hostess booth, this time there's a young man there, no hello, no "May I help you." We tell him that we're outside and no one has come by, he says he'll send someone out. We wait and wait, nothing... Finally waitress that had waited on couple leaving, came over and said she'd be our waitress... I'm bewildered because she's passed us a few times without even a glance. She asks what we want to drink, I want water with extra lemon, my friend wants unsweet tea. It takes forever to get our drinks, I have no lemon despite asking for extra lemon, she takes our order, took forever for our salad, still no lemon or bread. Our steaks come out, I'd asked for medium rare, I got medium well. I didn't say anything, I ate it, I was hungry. I ask for my lemon and steak sauce, I Never received my steak sauce! She asked if my friend would like another tea, he said yes, she never brought. It was horrible service, my friend, finally got up and asked for the manager. It wasn't even crowded and we received...