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Review content:
On November 17, a couple of friends and myself went out to dinner at Carrabba's Italian Grill. The only other time I've ate Carrabba's was at a banquet for our swim team my junior year of high school, so needless to say I was pretty excited about having dinner there finally.
The moment we pulled up I could taste the melt-in-your-mouth Italian bread from its scent lingering heavily in the air. As we entered there were two hostesses, both with cheerful, smiling faces, ready to seat us. Unlike most hostesses that I have run into, the one who seated us was chatty the entire way to our booth. Personally it made me feel more relaxed and able to enjoy what was about to come.
After a few minutes our server, Randy, walked over to grab our drink order. He was very nice and knowledgeable of the menu (although he could never get any of us a refilled drink before the previous one was completely empty). My friend was going to order the Mezzaluna, a ravioli with chicken, ricotta, and spinach in a delicious tomato sauce; however, Randy suggested a rigatoni that was similar to the one she had chose. The rigatoni was loaded with chicken, unlike the Mezzaluna, which had a quarter of the chicken this dish had.
I, on the other hand, couldn't be talked out of my manicotti. Although the crisp, freshly baked Italian bread and Caesar salad were to die for, I, unfortunately, couldn't say the same for their manicotti. The noodles were undercooked, making them hard to cut and there was not an adequate amount of mozzarella cheese melted over them. Their pomodoro sauce was bland and added very little, if any, flavor to the dish. Also, it was a lot smaller than I had hoped for. There were two measly manicotti shells in an oval shaped bowl the size of a kids macaroni and cheese dish.
Overall, the experience was fairly a good one. The waiter could have been more attentive to our needs, such as bringing over fresh drinks before the old ones were almost three quarters gone. There could have also been larger portion sizes for the price of the meal. Up to that point I might have gone back and given it one more chance. As we were leaving though, the head chef was walking through the restaurant and asking everyone how they were enjoying their visit and the food. It was something I have never seen a chef do in all the years I have been going out to eat. I admired how the chef was walking through the restaurant interacting with his customers when the place wasn't exactly slow. He walked by everyone's table asking how the food and service had been. I will definitely go back at least one more time.
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