Carrabba's Italian Grill — Restaurant in Portage

My boyfriend and I had dinner with his dad here, and it was honestly a pretty bad experience. I haven't been there in over a decade, but remembered that I liked the food and atmosphere, so was excited to go back. It was quite crowded, and the spacing in between tables is so tight that I had to walk all the way around several tables to go to the restroom nearby. The food was pretty sub par, especially for what they charge. But nothing disappointed me as much as what happened as we were leaving.

After we walked out of the restaurant, we both hugged my boyfriends dad, and he walked to his car. As we started walking away, a guy saying he was the manager had come outside and asked us to step over to the side with him. Apparently one of the female servers of the establishment accused my boyfriend of inappropriately touching him by the restrooms! We were totally floored by this!! During the time that we were there, we both had gone to the restroom twice, and right after the other. The only time he could remember even walking past a female server was when he came out of the bathroom around when she came out of the kitchen door nearby, and she apologized for almost getting in his way. But they hadn't even actually ran into eachother or anything!

This was totally mind boggling, and of course we immediately disputed this blatantly horrifying lie of an accusation, to which the "manager" instantly backtracked and apologized. Especially after my boyfriend told him that one of the times he walked to the restoom, was at the same time the "manager" himself went in, so he would have been a witness to this.. After wracking our brains for a few minutes on the way home, the only thing we could think of was that the female server either chose my boyfriend as a way to try and start some kind of drama, finding him an easy target (he is 6'5 and 240 pounds, so has always dealt with people treating him like he's a predator), or because we had mentioned that our roommate had worked there until recently. That maybe our server had mentioned this to the other servers, and the girl had some kind of beef with him, so had decided to pick on my boyfriend as some kind of sick revenge or something.. And sadly enough, after talking a little more with our roommate, he mentioned that there has been alot of sexual harassment claims just callously thrown around within staff there just to get others in trouble. But now, it's apparently branched out to the customers! This is a very sad and serious thing going on within this establishment, sexual harassment should never be used as a way of revenge or to start drama.

We are definitely not planning on coming back ever again, and caution anyone else who steps foot inside. The high priced food, small and confined space, with unappealing lighting is apparently the least of worries if you dine here. Because if you find yourself the target of a bored, drama hungry twenty something year old here, you might find yourself as the victim of a sexual harassment...

My family and I have been loyal customers of Carrabba’s Italian Grill for over 15 years, but what happened during our recent visit was absolutely unacceptable and deeply disappointing.

We came in Tuesday around 2:45 PM for lunch. The restaurant was nearly empty with several servers standing around, yet we were unfortunately served by someone named Matthew. He was a large man, unfriendly from the moment we sat down, and clearly did not want to be there. His demeanor was cold and unwelcoming ,nothing like the service we’ve been used to at this location.

When he came to take our order, we politely asked for light sauce on a sandwich. Instead of just noting our request, he argued with us, saying he’d just make it without sauce instead. I had to explain again that we wanted light sauce, not no sauce, and asked him to simply do what we asked. Rather than honoring a basic request, he became loud, rude, and dismissive almost as if he was trying to force us to order things his way.

I then politely asked for a different server, but he refused, saying “I’m the only one here” despite several other staff visibly standing around. At that point, Matthew became aggressive, raised his voice, and even pointed his finger at me in a very disrespectful and threatening manner. It was humiliating. Not a single staff member stepped in. No manager came over. Everyone just stood and watched.

We chose to leave. About 15 minutes later, I called the restaurant to report the incident. A woman who answered apologized and connected me with the manager. I explained everything how Matthew was completely disrespectful to me and my family for no reason. I even wondered if this treatment had something to do with me not being white, as the whole situation felt extremely personal and targeted.

Unfortunately, the manager handled the situation poorly. His response was weak, simply saying “I wasn’t there” and offering us a free lunch, which I found insulting. This was never about getting something for free. This was about being treated with dignity and respect something we’ve always had at this location until now.

This experience has left a bitter taste in our mouths, and I truly hope Carrabba’s takes a hard look at the staff they’re hiring. If this is how long-term, loyal customers are treated, I fear for anyone walking in for the first time.

Absolutely unacceptable. I don’t think we’ll...

I am the wife of an executive chef and have been around the world of professional kitchens in many capacities for seventeen years and have had the chance to eat in some of the best restaurants in major "foodie" destinations, many in my longtime former home, New Orleans. I am usually very vocal about my dislike of national chain restaurants...usually the food quality takes a backseat to quantity and tastes like it came straight from the industrial containers trucked in by certain well-known national vendors/restaurant supply giants that shall remain nameless. The wait was a bit long; it was prime dinner service time on a Saturday night, and while reservations were not taken, we had called ahead to get written in for a general time. We arrived early. The waiting area was packed wall to wall...normally this would make me want to turn around and run, but the very efficient greeter was attentive and apologized that our projected seating time might be a bit later, and gave us choices/options to cut down our wait time. We wanted to be served by our dining companions' usual server, so we elected to wait until something opened in his section. The restaurant went out of their way to make this happen, very unusual for a chain. Once seated, the menu also surprised me. Interesting and varied menu, not the usual Americanized Italian food. Each of our foursome ordered different things from the wide selection of starters and main dishes. Everything I tried tasted truly good, it was clear the food was fresh and well-prepared. The portions were appropriate, as were the prices, and our server, despite having to cover multiple tops in his full section, was friendly, funny, attentive, accurate. Despite the very large amount of diners in the room, the ambience was pleasant and it wasn't too loud for us to have relaxed conversations at reasonable speaking volume. I honestly never would have tried this restaurant if I had not been invited, but I am pleased to say it deserves to be set above the usual suburban shopping mall dining chain category, and I would gladly dine there again. I was very...