Carrabba's Italian Grill — Restaurant in Town of Manlius

Update 12/14/24

KATRINA at Carrabba’s Italian Grill was phenomenal! From the start, she made us feel welcome with her friendly personality and top-notch service. Her recommendations were spot-on, and she ensured everything was perfect. Katrina truly elevated our experience—we’ll definitely be back to see her again. Thank you for an amazing night!

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 We have been regulars at Carrabba's Italian Grill for over 20 years. We've been eating at the 550 Towne Dr., Fayetteville, NY 13066 location for 8 years. We live in the Fort Drum, NY area, which is an hour and 15 minutes away from this location, so we don't go as often as we'd like, but we make the long drive just to eat here because it's so good.

CUSTOMER SERVICE: Customer service is always excellent! Workers (hosts, waiters, and cooks) are always professional, courteous, and efficient. To avoid an extended wait, we added ourselves to the waitlist online. We have never had to wait longer than 3-5 minutes. On three of the last four visits, we've had the pleasure of being attended to by a young lady named EMILY. Our first encounter with her was extremely pleasant, and she took special care to improve our visits. The following visit, we had another amazing young lady as our server, and she was equally wonderful. Ms. Emily was taking care of the other guests. After a short while, she approached our table to thank us for returning. She asked how we were. We were thrilled that she remembered us. Our next visit, we sat in Ms. Emily's area and were overjoyed to see her again. She remembered our son and our favorite dishes. She even remembered and informed us that the cappuccino machine had been fixed since our last interaction. Haha! Over two months had passed since our last visit. Ms. Emily was there as soon as we sat down! She remembered us and came directly to serve us! As usual, she accommodated our menu changes, recommended the special wine of the night, and even reminded us about the Dine Rewards program and our military discount. We felt welcomed, happy, and had a wonderful conversation with her. Ms. Emily is a truly extraordinary worker. She goes above and beyond to make all of her clients feel special and have the best experience possible. Her recommendations are spot on, and her personalized service is commendable. Thank you, Ms. Emily!!!

FOOD: Carrabba's is an Italian restaurant, so don't expect to eat burgers or breakfast there. However, it offers Italian dishes to suit every dietary requirement and preference. The menu is broad and consistent. We never have to worry about menu changes, including flavor, quality, portion sizes, and/or pricing. We know that our favorite dish will always be on the menu, will taste as delicious, will be prepared with high-quality ingredients, will be adequate for the price (approx. $25 per person), and will leave us with a happy smile and a full stomach. Very satisfied! Our favorite dishes are Tuscan-Grilled Chicken, Tuscan-Grilled Sirloin, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Ceasar Salad, Spaghetti with Meat sauce, Shrimp Scampi, Tomato Caprese with Fresh Burrata, Zucchini Fritte, Calamari, Mozzarella Sticks, Salmon Saporito, and for dessert, Strawberry Cheesecake, Cappuccino Coffee and John Cole Vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce and roasted cinnamon rum pecans. Yum!

Oh! I can't forget the delicious fresh warm loaf of bread with Italian spices and olive oil. We always eat it while we wait for our main course! So delicious! Our son is a picky eater, but he eats lots of it and they always accommodate his preferences. Can we eat it without mushrooms? Yes! Can I get more parmesan cheese? Of course. Can I get an extra cup of noodles? Sure thing! What about plain vanilla ice cream without the caramel or pecans? You bet!

It's no surprise that Carrabba's at 550 Towne Dr, Fayetteville, NY 13066 has become our go-to spot for special occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries, visiting family from out of town, Valentine's Day, and more. We wholeheartedly...

The food is not good. Bottom line. Pasta way overcooked, sauce Luke warm and lacked seasoning and the portions were ridiculous. We really thought it would be a little better, yes it's a chain Carrabba's, but, remember them being better. {10+years ago, that is}

We didn't go very late, got sat right down, and enjoyed the server's sense of humor. We decided to get a bottle of wine, which would indicate that we wanted to take our time, and things went downhill from there. Bread, soup, salad, appetizer, all on the table. Could barely fit any more, let alone sip the wine. There was no reason to rush us, it was well before closing time. We were eating our salad and the same person came out with our entrees! It was pushy, rushed and uncomfortable. During the initial wait, the server was up selling their promotion for a take home another entree for $10, which we opted in for because we were hungry and it sounded good to have leftovers for lunch, etc.. all before we got our food, stupid customers! Well played by the salesperson, I mean server, who helped us rack up a $150+ dollar bill. Now, subtract the wine, at $41, that's 110 for some baseline acceptable food.

The Italian Classic Trio: The chicken Parm is one small chicken breast, not very crispy crust, tasted ok... The Alfredo was tasteless, and the pasta overcooked. Pasta more resembled thin egg noodles rather than linguini or fettuccine and was mushy. Then, the lasagna. I had 2 bites, the second just to be sure, but, it was bad. Not only was it the size that you may feed a kindergartener at lunch time, it was just plain gross. Way overcooked lasagna noodles, awkward sized chunks of what looked like sausage but was probably ground meat, all covered up in a bright red marinara sauce and decorated with micro-shredded, plastic looking cheese that didn't have much to add... Her dish was ok, same pasta though. Altogether it was a disaster and a swift kick in the pants for almost $200 with a tip. {Yes, still tipped the server, they did their job and need their money too} It should have been less than half of this amount...

Wouldn't have written the novel but it has to be said. It should have been a lot less money or a ton more food. We should have been ablr to enjoy 2 glasses of wine each, as well.

Advise against. The other place has free soup, salad, AND...

This is the second time I've gone here in a good time span and it just be subpar. The other times were great which is why I came back, but the last 2. I thought the second to last was just a fluke. It wasn't. The 2nd to last visit I ordered their chicken parm,Alfredo and lasagna. The lasagna was awful, cold and not appetizing. I didn't even eat it. The waitress was ok. This recent visit I unfortunately got the same waitress. I don't know her name but she was on the heavier side which doesn't make a difference, I'm just trying to be descriptive but considerate. Anyway to sum this up I was not asked if we wanted more bread,I had to ask 2 or 3 times for more water. My dates meal was missing the artichokes which in waiting for my waitress to acknowledge me she would sit and chat with other workers which is fine if I don't need anything. When she finally came over my date was done and full but mentioned the missing artichokes and needed a togo box Anyway. she added some in,which I mean by some it was some. My meal was ok but for 22 dollars it was just ok and to top it off the new bread pudding dessert, yes it was hot and my ice cream looked like soup ( yes it all melted when she brought it over)but that was all that was explained. I'm sure if I took a picture corporate would not have that picture on their menu. I paid, I left I probably won't be back after these recent visits. My waitress was nice, but not as attentive as I...