Cariera's Fresh Italian — Restaurant in Winter Garden

My husband and I have been dining at this restaurant for several years. I order the same dish all the time because I have food allergies and sensitivities. I get their chicken francese because it always agrees with me. When I received the chicken, it looked different. It was dark in color and looked like it was deep fried as there were a couple of french fries in the batter stuck to the chicken. The chicken was also very greasy. I spoke to Alex and showed her the chicken with the french fries, at which time she apologized and said they would make a new one. To make matters worse, I took a bite of the broccoli and the garlic was burnt. Again, Alex came over, took the plate and apologized. She said they would redo the broccoli as well. She then came back shortly with another chicken francese. It look like the first one but I took a couple bites but I could not tolerate it. It was greasy and tasted the same. I informed Alex that the chicken was not cooked the way it usually is. Something, was off… At this point, I told her that I did not want it and to please take it back. She said okay and apologized again. I informed her to please take the meal off our bill because it seems like it wasn’t being cooked correctly and my husband was done with his dinner. We waited for a while to see what Tommy was going to do but there was no response. So, I called Alex over again and asked her to refund us for the meal I did not have. She went into the kitchen and came out and said that we would have to wait until Tommy was finished with his five ticket orders.

At this point, my stomach is hurting, and my husband told Alex that we needed to leave and if she could take care of the refund. She went back into the kitchen and finally came out and said she would refund us, again sincerely apologizing.

This is a restaurant that I have brought my entire family of 12 to 15 people to enjoy a meal. We have also recommended this location to many friends and business colleagues. The reason we have been coming to Cariera’s is because of the quality of the food and friendly environment.

I am totally disappointed in the manner this was handled. I felt bad for Alex as she was stuck in the middle of this situation which should never have happened.

I am not sure what is going on, but I hope this issue can be rectified so that no one else goes through what we went...

Im posting this written review in response to the owner below who attacked me for only leaving a star review and not leaving a written review.. which is a wild and immature response to criticism... I don't recommend this place. My family and I did not enjoy our experience here. The food took a long time and when it arrived the taste was very off. We ordered an alfredo sauce for our bread that tasted like it came from a jar. None of us finished our plates because our main course was not any better, so we chose not to finish what we ordered. Our server who claimed to be the manager as well, and apparently left the below nasty response, was sparsely seen and when she finally came to the table after serving the food, she asked if we wanted boxes. When we said no, she never even asked how we liked the food or if there was anything wrong.. and when she returned from grabbing the bill, she obviously knew we didn't like it and began trying to sell us on coming back and promising it will taste better next time and she would "help us pick the right thing to order".. Im sorry but if you have items on youre menu that are not right they shouldnt be there at all... and she never took the initiative to make things right by marking anything off the bill, which we never asked for because we are decent people, and we did not go on to explain in detail why we didnt like our food because its uncomfortable to roast your restaurant to a manager. But I however did share that the sherry cream pasta was too rich/sweet for myself. So the owners response below is very incorrect. I am extremely blown away to the response i recieved.. Nobody came to my table and announced themselves as an owner so whoever typed the below response is a liar or confused on who left this review.. And i could go on to say more about what i didnt like but im not as viscous...

First be prepared if you go here, this is NOT a traditional "Italian Restaurant." It's more like a cafeteria pretending to be an Italian Restaurant. Sure they had pictures to depict being Italian and even the music to go with the FACADE but don't expect to be greeted to be seated, you go the counter place your order and pick a table. Oh and by the way, you have to get your own water and your own drinks.

I had the Spaghetti and meat balls. As a Sicilian we never mix meatballs with our Spaghetti so I asked if the meatballs could be placed in a separate dish. when the meal came it was one meat ball in a dish no gravy. As for the Spaghetti the gravy was runny, watery even, not the typical gravy you get in even a subpar wanna be Italian Restaurant. This was the most laughable part, when I asked for a big spoon to eat my pasta, they said sorry we don't have any big spoons and they gave me teaspoon. What Italian Restaurant doesn't have a big spoon to eat your pasta with?

My mother had the Lasagna, she said it was ok, I won't tell you what that means in Italian.

Bottom line where the food is concerned, I think they have a cook, definitely not a Chef, and definitely not an Italian Chef.

On to the deserts - my mother had the Tiramisu, it may have been the worst she has ever had, it was not even close.

Now I will say I had the Cannola and it was VERY GOOD, so I gave them a star for the Cannola, because had it not been for that if I could have given them zero stars i would have. They have sign out font that says VOTED BEST ITALINAN FOOD, wow sounds like the people that eat there have never had real Italian food. My recommendation is if you want real traditional Italian food you may want to look elsewhere.

My final thoughts:

quando il cibo è così cattivo potresti voler pensare a...