Carrabba's Italian Grill — Restaurant in Raleigh

Our server was awesome if I couldonlyremember his name but Hispanic and tall. Very very professional. The food we had to send back (a 16 oz ribeye $36.99) due to a overcook came back perfect the second time. I was a bit surprised as it was right at 10 pm their closing. But delighted in the end result. We took the liberty of ordering a to-go for half price. A great deal let me tell you. When my bill came I was slightly shell shocked. I was greeted with a $112 bill though we had no alcohol. Only tea and coke.

It was a clerical error and my bill only wound up being $70. But they had to take the bill back TWICE. Admittedly it was late when we were ready to leave. But found ourselves slightly disappointed when we realized we couldn't get to-go refills because they had already closed.

I was told they shut the machine down and pour the tea out at 10 pm to go home.

This is a foreign concept to me. As a entrepreneur minded individual and a customer focused individual, and having restaurant experience; i found it highly customer unfriendly to turn off the drinks immediately at close. This is just not done at any restaurant I have ever worked at OR PATRONIZED. I know everyone wants to go home but you should keep the restaurant in mostly full service til the customers depart. Send your cooks home. Unattending staff. Dishwasher. Whoever. But I know from experience that it only requires turning a key and removing the nozzles to clean them. This is a 5 to 10 min process and can be carried out as the manager is gathering their things to lock up.

When paying $3.50ish for my drink I would expect to be able to enjoy it up until I leave the unit. Or be given a heads up by the waitstaff that the drinks are about to be cut off and get them now or forever hold your peace. This wasn't done and I sensed some irritation or aggravation that I questioned this practice. As it's not practiced outside seemingly Raleigh. I guess the economy is so slow that they have grown accustomed to not having customers after 10 pm. And make preparations to shut down by 10. Where i come from you can walk into a restaurant at close and be seated, serviced and checked out after full service even if it is a hour or better.

The manager seemed to view us as a "necessary inconvenience" that was separating her and her going home.

And for those who would question why we were there til 10:45, our steak didn't come correctly til just after 10 and we were simply having such a pleasurable night we lost track of time.

Got lost in conversation with a very pleasant young lady by the name of Dee Dee I think. She really made us feel welcomed.

Maybe the manager lady just had a bad night. It didn't ruin it for us. Just forced us to make a unscheduled stop at Circle K for...

Jordan C was our server- wonderful, very patient and answered all of my party’s many questions. Neither of the issues below are a reflection on Jordan.

My only issues are: A.) the styrofoam to-go boxes. Styrofoam is one of the hardest materials to recycle (and people are much more likely to just throw it away as a result). I do recycle these by washing them and taking them to Publix curbside bin. The plastic to-go trays would be better than Styrofoam (can be recycled from your home) and best yet would be a thick paper that is compostable. I was surprised to see Carrabbas using styrofoam still when Olive Garden, a fierce competitor, had been using plastic for over a decade. As a person who really cares deeply about the environment and our impact on it, this piece alone would be reason to deter me from returning here.

B.) “Duo 2 for $45 meal”- I was in a party of 3 and we wanted to order the 2 for $45 which includes 2 soup/salads, 2 entrees, and 1 dessert. I know it is intended for two people. But I also knew I wasn’t going to eat an entire entree myself and it would have been plenty of food for the 3 of us (we all ended up taking home 1 styrofoam container). When we asked to order this, we were told that management doesn’t allow it. It must be 2 people to order the duo or if we had 4 people, we could order 2 of them. That doesn’t make sense to me. We were NOT asking for an extra portion for the 3rd person. We weren’t even asking THEM to split anything onto different bowls. I could understand if we wanted to split a drink with free refills, or it was a buffet and we didn't want to pay for a 3rd but snuck the food. Neither of those were the case. In my mind you are paying for the amount of food which will stay the same whether it’s for 2 people or 10 people. In our case it was just a matter of how much we had to take home (which was a lot). We didn’t fight it and just ordered an individual 3rd meal for our 3rd person. As a customer, the policy made me feel like management really just wants to make the most money possible, which didn’t sit right with me. Not great. I didn’t want to be a “Karen” and talk to management about it but this is a reason I wouldn’t go back to this restaurant. Next time I go to Chili's (2 for $20) I'm going to ask if they have a policy against 3 people splitting that...

Saturday the 22nd was the worst experience I’ve ever had dinning out, it was more like a live entertainment show. Whoever is in charge of this building needs a new management team. I’ve been in the restaurant industry for 10 years and I really don’t want to be rude but watching them was a joke. An hour and 45 minutes for HALF of our table’s food to come out. Then the other 2 plates come out cold. I can understand an extended wait but for the food to come out completely cold is something else. The actual staff was great but the manager by the window was actually eating what looked like bread sticks in between calling for tickets. She also looked very unprofessional attire and grooming wise but that’s beside the point. I could see the whole kitchen from where we sat and that staff just needs the proper direction to get it done. The other manager, that was there finally got behind with the kitchen (In my opinion, too late). But as hard as she tried, it was still a mess I’m assuming shes adjusting. Our server was great, we sat at the bar before getting sat a table and the bartenders were great! We witnessed some servers getting frustrated with both managers there, which is totally understandable, but weird thing was the managers did not seem bothered or empathetic at all. I overhead the short manager with glasses “just half their check” didn’t even bother going to the table she was referring to. I also heard about some of the issues they were having that night but I promise you it was no excuse for their performance. There is always a temporary fix for unexpected issues! Overall, only person that seemed to care about our inconvenience was our server Marshall and the sweet assistant Dana(may have that incorrect.) I watched her go to practically every table in there with such a sincere understanding for our impatience. I’m sure the only reason she’s not a manager there is because she knows better. Basically, I would avoid Carrabbas in Raleigh until they clean out their management team present that night with people...