Carrabba's Italian Grill Review

Carrabba's is an Italian restaurant chain that can be found across the nation. I love food and so I try to check out as many different restaurants as possible but my thing is usually Asian cuisine. So when my boyfriend and his parents were in Austin for a wedding they wanted to go out for dinner. They wanted to eat somewhere close to their hotel and that's how I ended up eating at Carrabba's Italian Grill. I'm well aware that it's been around a while I've just never found the opportunity to stop in until that weekend. I'm glad they chose this place because I probably would never have thought to stop in on my own.

I'll get to the point and break down my likes and dislikes for Carrabba's Italian Grill in Austin, Texas, the north IH-35 location near Highland Mall. I thought the staff were incredibly nice and patient with us considering we dropped by just thirty minutes before closing time. Our waiter was very friendly, helpful and knew his stuff. We had some trouble deciding on what to get and he made some great suggestions and explained specific dishes for us and how it was prepared. We ended up ordering our food based on his suggestions and were very pleased. Our meal was delicious and the portions were big enough for the four of us to split two dishes. Carrabba's was having a special when we were visiting that ended up saving us a lot of money. We went with their three course special that included a salad, a main dish and dessert. We told our waiter we were planning to split two dishes and they were nice enough to split our salad and main dish up for us before bringing it up.

What I was very surprised about was how late they stayed open. They didn't close until 11 p.m. We stayed until about midnight and not once did we feel rushed. In fact the staff kept on serving us and coming by to refill our drinks as though they were still open. The only complaints I have is that the location of the restaurant was a bad one. Not the little shopping area that it was located in but the fact that we had to drive around the other side of IH-35 and then make a U-turn in order to get to it. We actually passed it once because we didn't go far enough down the road before making a U-turn. My other complaint was the texture of my meat. I can't remember what I ordered but it was very delicious, however, it wasn't as tender as I had hoped it would be. In fact it was a tad on the chewy side.

Overall I had a very pleasant dining experience at Carrabba's Italian Grill. I would definitely go back again and try their other dishes. I would highly recommend this place for great Italian food with superb customer service, and the prices aren't so bad either.