A Serving of Life Review: Carrabba’s Italian Grill

Last Thursday we both took the day off of work and headed to Milwaukee. Our mission was two-fold: catch the Brewers game and get dinner.

Little did we know that the Brewers game would leave us soaked after a walk in the rain to our car. After a side trip to Jeff’s parents house to dry our clothes we invited them to dinner with us. We’d been planning to visit Carrabba’s Italian Grill (and I’m going to be honest with you here) because a marketing person for that restaurant contacted me through my blog and asked if they could send me a gift certificate to review their restaurant. As an aside, the people at the restaurant didn’t know who I was, or that I was important, until after the meal when I handed them the gift certificate. We didn’t make a reservation, we just showed up around 6 p.m. and were immediately seated.

I should say that we were pleasantly surprised Jeff’s mom (Hi Sandi!) came with to dinner because she had previously been to Carrabba’s and didn’t like it.

The atmosphere was truly that of an Italian restaurant – warm colors, dim lights and it smelled very familiar as the six of us walked in. Our waiter was young and joked with us a lot. Jeff and I ordered wine because it was happy hour. I had Pinot Grigio and he had the house red. The waiter brought us bread, which was really good and clearly freshly baked, to dip in spice mixture olive oil blend while we looked at the menu and ordered. The service was prompt and we didn’t wait longer than we should have for each of our food items to come.

Soup and Salad: Most of the meals on the menu came with a choice of soup or salad. Since I filled up on way too much bread and Jeff’s meal (he got the special for that day) didn’t come with soup, he had mine. He and his dad both ordered Mama Mandola’s Sicilian chicken soup (cup $2.99/ bowl $4.49). Allison, Jeff’s niece ordered the minestrone, which she said was good (same price). I shared a little of the Sicilian chicken soup and thought it was really good. The flavor was rich and while it wasn’t spicy there was a hint of something spicy in the background.

Main Course: Jeff and his dad ordered the same thing – the sampler dinner platter, which came with chicken Parmesan and lasagna and a side of broccoli. (I don’t remember for sure but I think it was priced around $15.99). The portions were huge and if it were me I could have probably eaten either the lasagna or the chicken Parmesan and brought the other home. But they both did a really good job eating most of theirs (with the help of me trying a few bites), with no complaints. Sandi ordered the chicken gratella ($13.99) which was a grilled chicken breast basted with olive oil and herbs. Jeff’s mom is watching what she’s eating so she wanted something a little more healthy. Jeff’s nephew, Tyler, took a liking to Sandi’s chicken and I think he actually ate most of it. But they both said they liked it. However, he did ordered spaghetti with meatballs of the kids menu. He liked it, he said. And when Tyler says he likes something, chances are, it’s pretty good.Because I was eating on someone else’s dollar, I admit, I tried something I probably would not have otherwise. I got the linguine pescatore ($15.99). The linguine pescatore was shrimp, scallops and mussels tossed with linguine and a spicy marinara sauce. The scallops were huge and well cooked and the shrimp were cooked properly, as well. And the mussels, I loved the mussels. Just recently, I learned that even though they look gross, they taste amazing. The mussels were well flavored and went great with the slightly spicy sauce and the rest of the seafood in the dish. I finished all of the seafood in my dish and some of the pasta, but since I picked the good stuff out, I left my remaining pasta behind.The menu featured a variety of options, I thought it was decent sized. From soup, to salad, to grilled entrées and wood-fired pizzas, I think almost anyone could find something they would like at Carrabba’s.

Dessert: You cannot reasonably go to an Italian restaurant without trying the tiramisu. Each restaurant makes it a little different, which always makes me curious. And so we did try the tiramisu. Allison also ordered another dessert – dessert rosa – butter cake topped with pastry cream, bananas, strawberries, pineapple and whipped cream. I was not disappointed with the tiramisu, but I didn’t think it stood out as the best, either. However, it wasn’t too boozy, or too coffee tasting and it seemed like it was pretty fresh. I actually really enjoyed the dessert Allison ordered more, though, something I would have never ordered on my own.

Traditional cannoli stuffed with sweet ricotta and a Kahlua brownie dessert were also on the menu.

After we got the bill, which we all agreed everything was pretty reasonably priced, the owner came out to thank us for coming to dinner. I assume this is because the gift certificate said something about a very important person on the top. As the owner was talking to us I think he thought Jeff’s mom was the very important person, which I was not offended by. I do look VERY young. He talked to us a little about the meal and we gave a little feedback, which I thought was very nice of him.

All in all, I think I’d visit Carrabba’s again. On the way home after dinner Jeff and I were talking about Italian restaurants and how you rank how good they are and I think the thing about eating out Italian is everybody wants something familiar. Usually the things on the menu could be copied at home but you go out so someone else can fuss over making dinner. From Italian dining, I expect familiar flavors, which I got from Carrabba’s. I don’t think, in general that one Italian meal can beat out the next, but I do think that one Italian meal can brutally fail when compared to another, and Carrabba’s did not fail, in my opinion.

I had fun doing this sort of ‘unofficial’ review and I’m going to try to make it a constant part of A Serving of Life. If you have any restaurants you are interested in seeing reviewed, please let me know and I’ll put it on my list of places to eat next.