I'll always have a little connection to Carino's Italian. When I met my wife, she worked at the location in Denton, TX. I spent a few night's there eating and try to impress her.We've been a few times since moving to Abilene. Most of the visits have been good. Our latest trip would be characterized as maybe, a little bit, kind of good?
First and foremost, the menu has changed! Some of the changes are great. They now offer "mini" versions of appetizers, so you don't have to spoil your meal. They also have a number of new dishes that looked great (http://www.carinos.com/menu/default.aspx). On the downside, the prices seemed higher than the last time I went. I wouldn't be surprised if most plates increased by a buck or so.
On this night, I ordered the new Grilled Italian Sirloin. It's a steak doused in a mushroom marsala sauce. It comes with a side of green beans and your choice of pasta or potatoes. I decided to be difficult and asked for pasta and potatoes instead of green beans. What can I say? Waiters tend to hate me. Compared to most other meals, it's not too bad of a deal at $13.99.
After about 20 minutes of waiting, I was told the kitchen was out of potatoes. No biggie, I decided to get a double side of pasta.
After another 20 minutes, we asked our waiter if I food would be coming anytime soon. He looked confused and didn't respond. A little strange...
A few minutes later, we checked with a manager who said he'd go hunting for our meals.After about an hour of waiting, our food arrived! Needless to say, we were ready to down some grub. Unfortunately, my meal didn't come quite as advertised. My "medium" steak was well done to the second power...and where was the fancy mushroom sauce on top of my steak? Nowhere to be found. I could've made this meal at home!
In the end, the meal wasn't horrible...it just took all evening to get it! The manager was kind enough to offer us dessert for free, but we had somewhere else to be and declined. He still took care of us -- giving us 10 dollars off.
In the end, no real harm done. Next time, we may be more inclined to head to Spano's or Olive Garden when we have a hunch for Italian.
I was particularly perturbed knowing that at "my" Carino's in Denton, when the food is taking a long time you do whatever you can to keep the customer happy. Plus, when you look at the plate, you know exactly what it should look like. If there's something significantly wrong with it, like the sauce completely missing, you fix it before it gets to the table.
ReplyDeleteMy #1 complaint was that the manager didn't really have the "here's what I'm going to do to make sure you return" attitude that I expected and know so well.
My #2 complaint was that the waiter was so incredibly oblivious to the fact that our food took almost an hour. The only two times we ever got him to acknowledge it were the two times he passively pointed out that it wasn't his fault.
I love the food, and like Austin said, I have a sentimental attitude toward Carino's. But I think it will be a while before we return to this one.