Carrabba's Italian Grill — Restaurant in Oro Valley

My wife and I dined at Carrabba‘s for my birthday yesterday and it was a fantastic experience! We don’t normally dine at chain restaurants and I don’t mean that to be insulting. It’s just a statement of our dining habits. And I hate to sound surprised that it was as good as it was, but it really exceeded our expectations - the food, Service, and ambience were all top-notch! AND the drinks were great, AND the warm bread with olive oil and herbs was great AND we felt truly welcomed and appreciated as customers AND the price was reasonable AND they have a rewards program AND there’s plenty of parking.

Do I need to go on?

Let alone the fact that they were open before noon on Sunday - don’t laugh, but we like to eat early and we liked the hours. And I think their happy hour is every day, not limited to weekdays.

The manager was great. He immediately greeted us, and smoothly transitioned to our excellent server, William. The manager was really welcoming (and helpful, for example, we did take advantage of one of the wine specials, but he also provided great menu information), but every staff member was pleasant (that includes a woman I think was the bartender).

William, our server, had great timing, and kept the experience running smoothly - drinks, checking on steak temperature shortly after the steak was delivered (I hate being abandoned with an undercooked steak, hoping to be able to get a server’s attention, as each minute feels like sinking in quicksand as the timing of both your and your dining partner’s meals gets screwed up), acknowledging my birthday, guiding us through menu choices.

Food was great. I got the Johnny Trio, which is a piece of the Tuscan sirloin (delicious, not over seasoned, and cooked to my medium well expectation), a piece of chicken Bryan (I didn’t think I’d like it as much as I did, thought the goat cheese and sun dried tomato would be too tangy, or too rich, but no and no, it just worked really well), and a good portion of the mezzaluna (wow, that ravioli may hav stolen the show, which is saying a lot because the steak and chicken were great). In fact, portion sizes were excellent all around. My wife loved the lobster ravioli, too.

Plenty of selection on the menu, too. Several pasta dishes I need to work my way through in the future (there WILL be future Carabba’s visits), plus chicken dishes and even the Mahi Mahi looks great and people seem to love it.

Really enjoyed the tiramisu for dessert. Good size, creamy, fresh, moist cake, with that nice little cylindrical shaped piece of chocolate atop. Tough call to make with that cannoli cake for two staring you in the face, but we all have to make tough choices. See what I’m saying about menu selection? Plus a good wine list and daily happy hour.

Drinks were great, too. My wife had a smoked Manhattan and she loved it. Tasted great, the smoke taste came through (and you could see the smoke hover over it), and it had t he big OFFICIAL ice cube).

So, we’re fans. Looking forward to...

On May 2nd 2022, my fiancé and I went to one of the restaurants in Tucson, Arizona and had one of the worst experiences ever! We finally was able to have a date night and had our son watched so we can enjoy a nice dinner out together. Something we do not do often. We order some mussels for a appetizer which was drenched in lemon juice so then order our regular dinner which was Linguine Positano. We always order this dish but the noddles always come out soggy which is why we now order for al dente noddles. What we received were very undercooked noddles that was noticeable as soon it was presented to us. We did not ask for Molto al dente which is slightly undercooked pasta! We notified the waiter then the manager Jesus Ochoa came over with the plates in hand asking if we wanted a different dish and argued with us as soon we said no we want that dish but with Al dente noddles. He was arguing with us that the noddles were Al dente. It started when I had ask the manager for a new cup because mine was dirty and wanted a clean fresh cup. Their glass cups for water are cloudy, unappealing and on top of that it a greasy lip stain! He had instant attitude with me. So after he had argued with us about what Al dente is he took the plates to have it redone but he was there with the cooks and serves making a fuss about what we requested and laughing at us. We were very offended and on top of that we just lost our Appetite because of the arrangement Jesus caused. My fiancé went to the pass and told him we like our checks and do not want to eat dinner. He then kept arguing with my fiancé then told out to leave and never return. We were so embarrassed and shocked that we were kick out that was over the noddles. It’s sad that you guys have a person like him running a Establishment that way with no care for customers. We been going here regularly and my fiancé family been going there since he was a kid and it’s not right at all to be treated this way! So if anyone wants to request Al dente noddles just forget about it because they will deny your request because they all ready pre cook their noddles so who know how old your noddles are. We’ll never return again. Another restaurant will be getting...

What a disappointment. The place is a shell of what it used to be. The greeter, who it turns out is the manager, seemed like he couldn't care less we were there. No big deal but it was a sign. Went there because of a nationwide promo - 4-course dinner for $65 - not bad. At the restaurant though, the price was $68. OK, the ad did say that local prices could vary.

When we looked at the offerings though, at our local Carrabba's several items were removed from possible selections. OK, screw the promo, we'll just order from the regular menu, starting with calamari. What arrived resembled calamari but I'm still not sure what it was. The flesh was paper thin, the breading was salty, and it had a fishy odor - fresh seafood does not smell fishy. We beckoned the waitress and said we couldn't eat it, please take it back. She got the manager to come over. I politely explained that this might be the worst calamari I've ever had and picked up a piece and crumbled it between my fingers to prove my point. He said fine, they'll remove it from the bill. No apology, no offer to bring a substitute, he just whisked it away.

Next came the wait. I rarely send food back because of the hassle for everyone and because I don't want to be labeled as problematic. But that's exactly what happened. We had to wait so long for the waitress to return to take our entree order that we very nearly left - and the place was not busy at all as it was an early dinner for us.

Order taken, food delivered. My wife's linguini with seafood was good but my lasagna was . . . interesting. A little crusty on top, fine, but inside was a homogeneous mush of pasta, ricotta, and ground meat - the noodles were way overcooked. Didnt even complain at this point, the evening was a bust.

Looks like really poor management and oversight has taken hold there and it's now on my no-go list. Too bad, used to be...