Johnny Carino's — Restaurant in Victorville

I hadn't been here in years but it was always better than Olive Garden so we stopped for lunch.

Seating was quick for a large party which was nice. We got a spot kind of away from others which seemed good at first but later it felt like we were forgotten.

No complaints until we sat down. The tables for super sticky, the forks were dirty or bent, and the menus were missing pages. Some of us had a section for drinks and some did not, some had appetizers and some did not.

The waiter was nice and took our drink order by memory which is always impressive. He did not return to the table often and even though our orders were exact, he constantly forgot to bring things when we asked for them. I never got the booster seat for my toddler, or the extra water. It took 3 tries to get Parmesan cheese, 2 tries for more bread, etc. It was kind of surprising that we only got 2 pieces of bread for a party of 8. It felt like we had to continually ask for more due to the small size given each time.

One member of our party had to use the bathroom and the waitress came to take our order while they were gone. We asked the waitress to come back after our party was whole again and she kind of argued with us. It wasn't that big of a deal but it was unusual. After we had everyone back at the table, we waited for quite some time before they came back to take our order. It felt like they forgot that we were there, hidden in a separate corner from the larger dining area.

Now the only reason I am not giving 1 or 2 stars with this level of service is because of my Salmon. I order fish often when I eat out and this was by far the best Salmon I'd had in a long while. Every bite was bursting with flavor! I didn't need to add salt, pepper, or even a squeeze of lemon. I skipped on the mushrooms which I didn't know were in the dish but the other veggies were delicious too! Not everyone had an amazing plate but I would suffer through the service again for a dish like this. I wish I could get the recipe for the sauce and how they cooked it, I'd probably have it daily at...

After our last experience, which was honestly one of the worst we'd ever had, my wife and I were not ever going to eat here again. I left a review on Yelp and someone reached out to me to get some more details and convinced my wife and I to give them another shot.

We are so glad we decided to give it one last try. Our waiter, Greg, was amazing. He not only made us feel welcome but was extremely friendly, inviting, and seemed to genuinely care about providing nothing short of excellent service. It was apparent that on this trip the service was going to be great.

The bread and oil they give you tastes great and it is so good that one could gorge themselves on bread and have full stomachs when their food comes.

My wife and I ordered steaks. I ordered the 14 oz. and my wife, the 7oz. and they tasted amazing. They came on a cast iron skillet and were still cooking when they arrived. The aroma from these steaks had our mouths watering and the actual taste was amazing. A lot of places will bring you ketchup and A1 sauce, but my personal opinion is that if your steak is done right then you don't need that. The flavor was so good and it was cooked perfectly. Even the fries that came with the steak were pretty good.

My daughter ordered the bowtie pasta with Alfredo sauce and she commented that it was good, so I tried a bite of it. Not only was the temperature perfect but the Alfredo sauce had great flavor.

We are so happy that we decided to give this business another shot because it was honestly a wonderful experience. The food was great but was completely overshadowed by the wonderful service that Greg provided us with.

It's nice to know that a business cares enough to actually reach out to their customers, especially the ones who had a bad experience, but I can honestly say that this great experience completely erases the memory of the past one.

I strongly recommend you give this...

Johnny Carino's turned into a complete mess. Ordered a steak a shrimp meal that comes with pasta and salad. The salads good, that's about all that was good about it. I got the food and I took a bite of the fried shrimp and it was pretty much raw. I cut the tiny tiny steak I got that I ordered medium rare and it came almost blue rare on one part with some areas being over cooked somehow. Then the pasta was completely cold.

So I told the waiter and they said they'd take care of it. I got my food again and it was the same plate except they chopped a chunk off my steak and thre the plate in the microwave. It was even worse than before and they forgot my shrimp sauce. They obviously took it off the plate because the sauce was in a metal container and obviously the plate went right on the microwave.

I got the waiter again and they actually remade it this time. But it was very very bad. The steak was basically a thin Chuck roast that was thrown in the griddle. The shrimps were now completely over cooked and the pasta was just prego on barely edible noodles. And by the time I got it everyone else finished the passable pizza they got.

I used to love going here and it was a nice place but how it's just a husk. A shell of its former self. The cooks need to be fired and replaced and the need better meat quality. our waiter who's been there a long time apologized for this disaster. Shout out to him because it's not him or the wait staffs fault. It's the cooks and the owners who need to tighten up. Avoid carinos for now. You'd be better off at olive garden at this point until they clean up their act. Also the tables are sticky and dirty. I shouldn't be able to scrape of layer of gunk off of your table.

PS, this is the second time I've been there and they couldn't make the food right. I have it another chance for an early faywjra day dinner but I highly regret it. I really miss the...