Carrabba's Italian Grill — Restaurant in Town of Amherst

Let's just say that putting your best foot forward, really means putting effort in at the door. After a shopping spree at Best Buy, we decided to stop in at the behest of my mother. Who had never been to Carrabba's before, and despite my warnings did not listen to me. Carrabba's it is, I figured OK well, I'll give them a second chance after my first bad experience with this restaurant some years ago. Post Covid not really an improvement. The host station had four people, we were not greeted when we walked in rather the hosts continued bickering over their seating arrangement and finally acknowledged us. Saw that we were a party of three and asked us if we were a party of three to which we replied yes. They asked for a name and I said Terri four times which they could not hear. Jeri? The male host, gave us a very unfavorable look when we told him that we did not call to make reservations ahead of time despite the restaurant being mostly empty. However, the seating area was completely full. They did not offer us a seat at the bar while we were waiting, but rather we elected to go outside and sit on the patio furniture. The one hostess said we'd prefer you to stay inside, in a lobby of course that was full with no seating. The male host corrected her and said that was fine so we went outdoors and waited. Once indoor seating became available, we were ushered inside to sit in the waiting area of which we were there for all of three minutes before we were called to our seats. At our table, they took our drink order, which of course was wine. The server brought the wine over and didn't remember who ordered what. They also brought us water, which was very much needed. After our water ran out, they never returned the table to offer us another glass or another glass of wine for that matter it was clear that we were on a one track ride to get pushed in and out of the restaurant as quickly as possible. The food was disappointing at best and quite comparable to Olive Garden these days, though I would be remiss if I had to choose, which entrée had the higher sodium levels. My Bolognese was bland and extremely generic, my mother's shrimp scampi did not come with rice as is customary with shrimp scampi but it was served with garlic toast, my boyfriend's chicken was well seasoned, but the pasta was dry and over salted. The waitresses attitude was quick and curt, overall the experience was quite poor. I'm afraid that was my final time...

HIT or MISS at this ‘Franchise Restaurant of CARRABBA’S’ located at 1645 Niagara Falls Blvd, 14228. We made a Five star review a few months ago and are now making a well-deserved One-star review, regarding this date 02/12/2025. Lesson learned, now we will consider a local 'Mom and Pop' Italian Restaurant this coming weekend.

Manager “Carlos” take notice, you did not personally see to it that our order was carried out, and you failed your ‘personal promise’ during our order. My dinner was far from “al dente pasta” as you explained you would personally oversee and start the fresh water boil. It was more like cement as it was all stuck together and it was obvious by all, when immediately served. You did not pay attention to our order, as we could see you were fully involved in a conversation with a man who appeared to be the CEO or your GM. Well, I can’t say that I blame you for forgetting us, however you and our server should have made our request to the cook. Too many people blame the chefs, however in his defense, I do not think so with this explanation. The server should have noticed the fact I took the entire plate full of over cooked pasta in a take-out container to our home. The server also should have noticed and “reported” my hand written note on our credit card receipt, again mentioning your name, manager Carlos. You gave us an inexperienced nice young lady to be our sever who had to be reminded 3 times the fact she forgot something with our order, starting with napkins when served. I had to waive her down for a 4th request after patiently waiting for her to pass by again without noticing, for two glasses of wine (@$26.58) for my guests. Her mind was not on her work as our whole table have noticed. I feel cheated and disappointed by the results of two people that was important to us; the Manager Carlos and the server Karina. Cheated because dinner was not enjoyed, and it was not worth a 22% tip. Paying a high price for an expected good dinner was a wasted part of my money. However, my guests were not made aware in order not to ruin their evening. If there is a next time, only due to your ‘convenient location and our client request to meet up’, you will know by hopefully a good review from Michael Guadagno. You can do better, so please make this a...

We (a group of 4-6) visit the area twice a year and usually visit Olive Garden however this time we decided to visit Carrabba's for our Italian meal thinking/hoping the food and service would be good. We were so wrong. We had to wait an hour for a table in a virtually empty restaurant. When we sat down there were only 3 other tables occupied. They were not helpful with the 2 in our group requiring their meals to be gluten free stating check the menu and not knowing if something was gluten free. We had to request cheese topping and part of the meals. One meal (lasagne) was cold in spots and warm in spots however with the issues it was felt it wouldn't be heated. We finished the food we received and still had to request the mashed potatoes (I'd think the easiest part of the meal). After multiple requests and the potatoes still not ready the two gluten free were offered a dessert in place of the potatoes. I don't know if attention wasn't paid to our table or the staff do not know what gluten free means and the requirements. As I was walking back from the washroom I overheard who I'm assuming is the manager saying to the waitress 'offer them a dessert' which the waitress replied 'they're gluten free'. Dessert isn't always the remedy and especially when you only receive part of your meal. These two had the salad and meat portion only however not the rest of the meal. In the end we received 10% off and finally the mashed potatoes to go when we said we will wanted them since they needed to eat and the 10% off didn't fix the ruined dinner. Needless to say we were not impressed. I overheard they were short-staffed however it may have been helpful to let us know when we first arrived. We still don't know why we had to wait an hour for a table in a virtually empty restaurant and not sure why it took so long to make mashed potatoes. Nobody (except for the waitress) seemed to care. We're debating whether to give it another chance when we return in November however at this time I can honestly say I'd rather go back to Olive Garden where the staff cared that we required gluten free meals, were pleasant and our full meal...