Carrabba's Italian Grill — Restaurant in South Whitehall Township

My husband and I went out to dinner for our anniversary this past Saturday evening, and we did call ahead seating due to the usual rush. When we arrived we were told we could sit at a high top table or wait (hostess estimated about 15 min) for a regular table. We wouldn’t have minded the wait, but figured, why not just sit at the high top since we didn’t have our kids with us. There were several tables (4-5 tables) including ours that were not waited on or even greeted by anyone for about 15-20 min. I knew at least one or two of the tables near us went up to the hostess and complained. We were then told by the one couple next to us that we were receiving the bartenders as our server for the evening. Meanwhile the bartenders were busy with a full bar, and we were not sitting at the bar. We knew we would have been waiting a really long time to get drinks. My husband and I have both worked in the restaurant industry before so we know and understand how busy the bartender gets just with the bar alone. Not really fair to either of us on a busy Saturday night, but we understand that’s how it works some nights especially if they’re short staffed. I guess after multiple table complaints, our entire section sitting at tables had a server sent to us immediately, which was greatly appreciated. Our server’s name was Ques. As busy as we could see she was, she was a wonderful server with a great personality. Right off the bat she came over to ALL tables with bread, oil & herbs and took everyone’s drink orders, and took our entire food order no problem. She returned very quickly and brought 2 drinks at a time, which is great for us personally. Not once did we have to ask for a refill, she just kept bringing them out, which we loved! I knew right away we were going to have excellent service with her, and we absolutely did. My meal was not made correctly and it was not her fault. She read my meal back to me, as well as my husbands, correctly. She took my meal back and had it corrected within minutes and had it taken off of the bill. Same with our dessert. We ordered cannolis without pistachios due to my food allergies, and they came out with pistachios on it. She allowed us to keep the ones we had for my husband and brought out another order no charge. It was greatly appreciated with how prompt and efficient our service was because of her. She made us feel understood as the customer, and was such a pleasure to talk to each time she stopped by to check on us. Overall we had one of the best dining experiences with Ques than we have ever had before. We will definitely come back again, even with the mishaps with our food, because of our fantastic service we...

This review is specific to the location in Allentown PA. Over the past year, we have traveled far to eat at Carraba's at least 5 times, with each visit failung to meet reasonable expectations.

Sometimes the food is not good. Lasanga undercooked -- still refrigerated in the center. Chicken overcooked completely dry (on multiple occasions)

Each time we got substandard food, we escalated to a manager. Each time, it was clear that the managers are just there to be empathetic.

I would suggest the real job of a manager is to build a culture of excellence.... and to work the pass and inspect what is going out.

Each time we were served substandard meals, it was easily recognizable by sight -- if anyone with a trained eye would care to look.

We didn't go back for quite a while, and decided to try again on 8/8/2023. This time service was poor.

Because we have an hour drive, and it was a birthday celebration, we called to make a 7:30 reservation for 4. We arrived early, at 6:50 before our guests arrived.

So we went to the bar to have a glass of wine. Service was fine there. But as 7:30 was nearing, my wife went to the hostess to check in.

We were told, "we don't do reservations, we do call ahead". Um, ok, we called ahead. "It will be about 10 minutes."

At this point, I want to say, when we arrived the place was empty, but near 7:30 it was pretty full.

I would have thought a restaurant would give preference to guests that are before their planned time, and drop $40 at the bar to kill time.

We were seated at 7:48, and things went fairly well at that point. Our server seemed happy and attentive, until the food came and she then started spending a lot of time with two men at another table.

The server was less attentive at this point. But as it came time to pack leftovers, we asked for boxes and waited, and waited, while the server was hanging at that other table.

After about 15 minutes, I went over to the station and grabbed boxes. The server saw this and now she had to come acting like she was doing it.

Then it took a while to get the check, etc.

We got out a little after 9:15pm. At that time, the place was empty again. So we arrived before the rush, and were nearly the last ones out.

We had opted to skip desert, because service was so slow -- even though we were celebrating a birthday.

We also didn't bother trying to get the reward points, because again it would have just taken more time.

We are most certainly done with this Carrabba's, and probably the entire chain. Because management simply has failed to build a culture of excellence.

That is the...

I've always wanted to go to Carrabba's since they first opened in Allentown. I finally got around to going and it was such a disappointment.

Pros: the pasta was noticeably fresh and seemed to truly be made on site. My friend's eggplant parm was the best we have ever had... Thin and fried perfectly, with good cheese. The server was very friendly and checked on us at the perfect rate - not too often or too early, but not lacking at all.

Cons: the lack of cleanliness overwhelmingly brought down the experience we had. Even at the front door, you got the impression that they hadn't cleaned their windows and doors in weeks. Greasy fingerprints just...everywhere. Taking in the decor, I noticed so many tables and chairs with chipped off veneers. It made me wonder if Carrabba's is doing poorly as a company. As a chain, you would think there are district and regional managers that would see this and make sure corporate is refreshing these places as needed. It made me wonder if they had ever upgraded anything since they opened. What's it been? 20 years? We sat down to a slightly sticky table with very noticeably dirty wine glasses. I was so grateful the server took them away before she realized I wanted wine. I'm really just hoping the new one she brought out was better. I just tried not looking too close at it. I got the fettuccine alfredo with chicken, peas, and mushrooms. The chicken was extremely dry so I packed it to take home to the dog. On a side note, the children's menu choices could be so much better. Overall, the food wasn't too bad besides that extremely dry chicken. I wasn't impressed with the alfredo sauce or the tiramisu - two things I always try everywhere I go. Although the pasta tasted fresh, it was a bit thin and light for me. It just isn't what I prefer, but it wasn't bad. It's hard to enjoy your food though when you're constantly noticing filth even when you're not trying to look for it. I'm not a germaphobe, but when it comes to food, there are some standards you expect in the whole establishment. Your front of house is the face of the restaurant. If it's that bad out there, how is it in the kitchen? I stopped in the bathroom before we left, and the abundance of dried on drips down the stall doors made me wonder how lazy the person is who is supposed to be cleaning the bathrooms...and how does management let that fly? On the way out, I caught a glimpse of the grease and dust combo film on the decorative wine jugs on shelves and was just so happy to be leaving, even if that meant that I needed to elbow my way out of the...