Carrabba's Italian Grill

Very disappointed.

Atmosphere was as expected and the hostess was charming. That's the only positive component of our visit tonight 8/24/23.

Calamari app was overdone and both smaller in portion than previously and rife with crumbs and clumps of breading devoid of calamari.

My wife's pollo Rosa Maria was fine, though nothing special.

I made the mistake of ordering the Italian classic trio. Don't make my mistake. The lasagna portion was the size of and tasted like a charcoal briquette. The interior was chalky and dry while the exterior, though thinly covered in sauce, was so over baked it needed a steak knife to cut it. The parmesan chicken fared no better. I expected a thin piece of chicken and was not disappointed. However, it was so overdone that it had no juices left in it. The edges were crunchy like a cracker, and the barely melted cheese and splash of red sauce failed to hydrate this poultry to what I'd call food. A coaster would've compared favorably to this poor abused sliver of chicken breast. The only reason I didn't leave hungry is because the fettuccini Alfredo was marginally palatable. While it didn't arrive hot, it at least had enough fluidity to the sauce to help wash down some of the coaster and charcoal it was served with.

I needed the Alfredo to wash down my food because our server RACHEL F never offered or brought drink refills. I understand team service, but she was never the one to bring the initial drinks and bread or the bread re order we did get. The attached picture is our table at the end of our visit.

Note the desperately empty glasses, if you can discern them from EVERY OTHER piece of plate ware ever brought to the table. Our table was never pre-bussed at all. Bread, salad, appetizer, soup and dinner plates proudly on display by Rachel, perhaps as a flex on the other servers to brag about her add on sales? I'd take it personally but as we left we saw at least 3 other tables in a similar state where guests had (presumably) recently departed.

What we didn't see, however, was a manager in the dining room, much less coming to check on our experience. Perhaps they were out back smoking weed with the bus boy?

We may return to A Carabbas in the future, but no time soon and definitely not to THIS one. The food was awful, service distinctly lacking, and it could have been managed this well by a 19 year old stoned high school drop-out.