Carrabba's Italian Grill - North Canton

Last night I visited Carrabba's Italian Grill. It is located at 6560 Strip Ave NW in North Canton. It is a national chain restaurant featuring pasta and "wood fired" meats and pizzas.

I arrived at around 4:30 pm with a friend. We were quoted a 10-20 minute wait, but only waited about 5 minutes to be seated. Two other friends joined us.

The server was pleasant, but not overly friendly. He made sure our drinks were always refilled and checked on us several times, but did not become a nuisance. He did ask us if we had any questions about the menu and fulfilled all requests for "extras" such as extra salad dressing or a different side item than is offered on the menu.

All four of us enjoyed the food. Every one's dishes came out hot and prepared as we had asked. Two members of my party had the Chicken Trio. This is not an item listed on the menu, but you can ask for it. It is a half portion of each of the three chicken dishes - the Chicken Marsala, Pollo Rosa Maria, and Chicken Bryan. It comes with a pasta or potato side and salad or soup for a total of $19.49. I ordered the Pollo Rosa Maria. It is chicken stuffed with fontina cheese and prosciutto and topped with a butter lemon sauce and mushrooms. It also comes with a choice of side item and salad or soup for a total of $15.99. I thought that my chicken was cooked perfectly, done but still moist. My fettuccine alfredo was also cooked nicely - al dente and covered, but not dripping, in sauce. My salad was fine - the creamy parmesan dressing is always good and the lettuce was fresh and crisp. The bread that is brought to the table was excellent - warm from the oven, crispy outer crust with a soft interior. I also enjoy the olive oil and seasonings to dip it in although my friends all order extra creamy parmesan dressing as a bread topping. The fourth member of my party had the Sirloin Marsala for $17.49. She said the the steak was wonderful, very tender and smooth. She also said that the quality of the steak was better than that of steaks she has had at several steak restaurants lately.

The restaurant, although very busy, was clean. Our table and booth seats were clean and dry when we sat down. All the plates and silverware were clean and the cloth napkins were nice and white. The atmosphere of Carrabba's is generally nice, with low lighting and soft music. On this particular visit, it was rather noisy, but that was the fault of other customers and is addressed below in my rant section.

Overall, I would give this visit to Carrabba's Italian Grill 5 out of 5 forks. We received everything we asked for, just as we asked for it. I feel that the price is fair, as we had a filling portion of our entree and side, plus salad or soup, and all the bread we could eat. The server was very good and the restaurant was clean.

WARNING: RANT AHEAD
As an addition to this post, I would like to write about something that has nothing to do with Carrabba's itself, more to do with the lack of common courtesy of other customers of the restaurant. As anyone who has gone to the Strip shopping area on a weekend knows, Carrabba's becomes a very busy place at dinner time. As I mentioned earlier, we arrived well before the true dinner rush and had a short wait. By the time we left (around 5:30) the lobby and waiting area were packed. We were seated in a row of booths directly behind the hostess stand. I was on the inside seat of the booth, right by the half wall separating the booths from the bar/entrance area. There were people who were standing on the other side of this wall while waiting for their table. There were also three men standing in the dining room area of the restaurant, because the waiting area was so full. This made it hard for servers and customers to walk through these areas. It also made it hard for me to enjoy the conversation at my own table when I had two women talking right over my head. If you are waiting for a table and there is no room in the lobby or waiting area of a restaurant, please have some common courtesy for the people who are already seated and for the servers who need to go from the bar or kitchen to their customers. It was not that cold last night, people could have gone outside. Also, I know that Carrabba's offers call-ahead seating. Call an hour before, do some shopping, and then come over and have a short wait. I know that this may mean a small inconvenience to you, but wouldn't you want to eat your meal in a quieter, more relaxing atmosphere?