Carrabba's is excellent food if one understands that it is a chain restaurant built around a clever theme. The grilled items are uniformly excellent and tasty, the pastas are cooked al dente and well prepared, and the sides are not overlooked. It is vastly superior to an Olive Garden, or its closest competitor Macaroni Grill. I've enjoyed several excellent meals there that exceeded my expectations. Is it truly highbrow Italian cuisine? No, but it doesn't pretend to be either like Il Fornaio. It hits the spot when we want to eat good food and don't feel like spending three hours or a hundred bucks to get something better.
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