IL Carino Restaurant — Restaurant in New York

A bad situation turned worse.

I had a GrubHub order through them because the restaurant and food looked good. My GrubHub driver brings me my food spilled, the sauce all over the bag and submerging the metal platter that holds the food. Quite disappointed, I contacted GrubHub support for help. I am very unfamiliar with how GrubHub arbitrates situations like these, as I’ve never really had an issue with any order before, but wow, was there a rude awakening awaiting for me.

Soon after an adjustment was placed, I get a call from an unknown number. There was an older man talking on the end and asked me why I adjusted the order. I said my food came spilled and that either the restaurant or the driver spilled my food, and that I put my bet that it was the driver that spilled it. The guy reassures me that they packed everything well and that now, they won’t get paid for the food. I had no idea that’s how it worked, assuming that GrubHub would punish the driver and pay off the restaurant. Before I could even think of anything because of shock, he then proceeds to ask me what I am going to do with the food? I said I don’t know, mainly because my bag is literally seeping in sauce. He then proceeds to say “You’re gonna eat it huh?”, and then proceeds to cuss me out multiple times, as if I was enjoying this situation any more, and slams the phone.

Maybe other people have freeloaded from them before, but I didn’t even get an opportunity to say sorry or have any remorse for them because of their first assumption of me being that I am taking advantage of them, when really, I don’t even know what’s going on besides my food being messed up.

I understand that situations like these are unfortunate, and I was hoping to just enjoy a normal dinner, but having been through this, I pray that customer service is much nicer in person than over the phone. I’m not saying to not try this restaurant, but I personally am very discouraged from going back. And if you do go, please do dine-in or pick up, so that way they don’t have anything to blame you on, and maybe your experience will be less hostile.

PS: I followed up with GrubHub to ensure that the restaurant will still get paid, despite everything that happened. The GrubHub representative told me that they (GrubHub) will still be paying them, as it was the courier’s fault.

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This is the first bad review I’ve ever written. This was literally the worst dining experience I have ever had. Red flag from the start was when the waiter told us to come in because “we were about to get great food!” The inside was super cute and clean, but we were one of about 5 tables taken out of 10 - 15 and our food took about an hour to come after they brought us 3 small pieces of stale bread with a strange, tiny slice of butter. The salad was the best part. Once the entrees finally arrived, my dad’s linguini was so undercooked it still snapped to break apart. He ordered the red clam sauce - it was not typical red clam sauce - it came with 4 clams in the shells (which were rubbery). I got the fettuccini with shrimp & fungi - the shrimp were cooked well but no seasoning. Just 2 sliced white mushrooms and raw slices of garlic with it. The sauce was so bland I had to add salt just to make it bearable. My husband ordered the pappardelle which was just edible. My dad had to send his dish back to be cooked, they never apologized and it took about 20 minutes to come back. He told them in a very polite tone that it is not typical red clam sauce - they made it something else. They said, don’t worry, we’ll bring you dessert. After they cleared our dishes, another 15 min went by (now there were only 3 tables taken in the place). Same waiter comes over - who was at first faking an Italian accent but now clearly Latin calling us “senor” and “senorita” (hilarious), and asks us would we like to see the dessert menu. I said no just the check please. (Thanks for that dessert you said was going to be on the house). 20 minutes go by, I’m not exaggerating - finally we stood up at our table to call attention to ourselves for the guy to bring us our check. They charged us $58 for 2 bottles of pellegrino and 3 bottles of Peroni. You kidding me? Worst $200 spent of my life. They should be ashamed of themselves. Oh, and the sign on the window outside says the chef is the old chef from...

Really bad experience. Went for my father in laws birthday with my family and initially started out okay. A small thing was the waiter seriously tried to up-sell us multiple times, for example by only offering sparkling water to start, and pushing us 3 times to order drinks before everyone even arrived, which both we rufesed. The real issue started when my fourteen year old niece asked if her uncle (the birthday man) could get dessert on the house 'secretly', which they agreed to bring something out. I was actually surprised they did but was willing to pay for ONE dessert with a candle or something if she had been mistaken so I was not worried. They brought out a beautiful plate of desserts which we all thought was really nice of them, until we received the check with a charge of four desserts for over $60 alone. When I asked about it they said that my neice (again who is fourteen) had ordered all four desserts. Which to be fair she did ask for something to be brought out with a candle, maybe it was wrong to assume it was on the house but charging for four desserts seemed like taking advantage of us, especially since they informed no one of this and it was ordered by a child! Additionally when I tried to explain this, the waiter became really rude and said that they had been so nice to us and 'even split the plate of two people that had been sharing' which we agreed was really thoughtful but we did not ask for at all, and to make it worse they charged us for each plate they split without informing us it would be more expensive. Eventually they took off the dessert but not without making a scene and bad mouthing us to customers at the next table which was embarrassing. Overall the service and food was okay but the deception and overcharging put a damper on the night, and ruined a birthday. I would not go again, instead invest your money at any of the other lovely restaurants near by with...