johnny carino's

very disappointed!!!. my wife and i go to johnny carinos all of the time and not every visit can be perfect, but this last visit was just down right terrible. the waitress was very rude and treated my wife and i like second rate citizens because we didn'torderan appetizer. then after we ordered our food she completely ignored us until our food was ready. when the food came out i had to ask her if this was the lunch portion because it was so small. i ordered the chicken scallopini and it came with both chicken breast but hardly any pasta, plus the sauce gated like it had be sitting in awarder all day and had a burnt taste to iron top of that. my wife ordered the spicy chicken and shrimp and her portion was also small and way too salty. johnny carinos has always been mine and my wifes date place but i think for now on we are going to find somewhere else.

i've been a returning customer of johnny carino's for the past 4 years. in addition to be a returning customer, i've also highly recommended johnny carino's to family, friends as well as celebrated many birthdays there; however, today at 12:00pm, 09/13/2016, i've received one of the worst managerial handled situations i've ever had not only at johnny carino's but also within corpus christi area. the individual, who stated he was kitchen manager did not resolve the issue and chose to make it worse by remaining condescending during the entire conversation. it's very conducive for a business to train their staff well and understand how lunch specials works before any customer makes an order. i placed anorderfor the 2 for 1 special, which was gladly received by the waiter. while waiting for the food, the waiter came back and told me i'm not permitted toorderthe 2 for 1 special and take the second plate to go. it would have been fine being told this at first instead of minutes before my primary plate was being placed on the table. furthermore, if he would have provided me with the second plate to go and utilized this as an attempt to train his staff then it would have been handled as it should have been. however, due to his lacking in both managerial relations as well as customer relations, the customer is the one who loses? managers are the forefront of any business and in most cases managers seek to make a situation better than worse as he had chosen. for this, i've chosen to give johnny carinos 1 star and will publish this on facebook as well contact the chain.

-larry medrano

good food, good prices. carino's plays in a tough market: chain-based italian food. they've got a menu similar to olive garden's, the ability toorderfamily-sized meals like buca di bepo, some of the finer touches and fresh bread like carrabas and the freshness of a macaroni grill. *shwew!*

but somehow throughout all of that, we were pleased with our meal and our service at this carino's location. the waiter and entire waitstaff were so pleasant and patient with our children, it made us happy. the special drink of the night was a bellini which was so strong, that it should've came with a "no smoking" sign hanging off of it. at $4 a pop, there's no complaints from this side of the table. my chicken balsamico was amaze-balls just as i would've assumed anything that hints to the use of balsamic vinaigrette to be. our kids also absolutely destroyed the fried zucchini sticks. i couldn't believe it. as a parent who just wants their kids to eat vegetables, this was about as close as i can get. bonus points for carino's for that.

overall, it was a very pleasant and fun evening here and next time my wife insists on chain-based italian food, carino's is probably going to become our new standard. i guess i can live with that.

i am convinced that there is a reason you don't try steaks from places that don't specialize in steaks. outside the sirloin there are now 2 steak options on the menu. i decided to try one of the new summer flavor items, the tuscan ribeye was medium on the outside as i like & well done full of fat throughout. now the seasoning was awesome in flavor. i opted for the combo skillitini instead of trying another steak


-----13 may, 2013-----

skillitini. jonny carino's skillitini combo is really good. you get a sizzling cast iron skillet of pasta with the choice of either chicken or sausage. i chose to get both. the only thing i didn’t care too much for was the big chunky slices of bell pepper and onion. i had to chop them down a bit. the cast iron skillet kept my pasta really hot. this visit was really good. the bartender was very nice


-----04 apr, 2013-----

3rd visit, not a charm, but horrible experience. i decide to use one of my gift certificates at johnnie carrino’s. to avoid problems i call myorderin ordering chicken italian nachos i wait 15 minutes like the guy says whom took my order. no one came out to curbside. it’s now 22minutes passed and i had to be back to work shortly. i get out of my car, in which there is supposed to be someone at the door to deliver call in orders via curbside. the door is locked! i get back in my car and drive around to the front entrance and asked for a manger. i first ask her, how long does it take for a mini chicken italian nacho, she has me follow her to the curbside location, in which no one is attending too. the manager then said there is noorderin the system for nachos and asked me how long ago did iordermy nacho’s. i tell her by now it’s been almost 30 minutes. she apologizes and says they can make it really quick and for me to save my gift certificate.

but before that she says she has to verify that i actually called the right location and would need to see my phone. for one i found that offensive because really she was trying to imply that i was trying to get free food. i do not lie about my food and wouldn’t to get free food. i love food and don’t mind paying for food. in all actuality your establishment messed up horribly yet again. i tell the manger the reason why i stopped to get something to eat, was to use the gift certificates that were given to me because myorderwas screwed the last time i was in the visit. the time before that the food was cold. it was so cold in temperature that i had a manager place her hand directly on my pasta meal. her face was priceless because the food wasn’t even slightly warm. she offered to make me something else but i had 15 minutes to get back to work and i had a better chance stopping by mcdonalds to get some hot fast food.

but this is my third visit, surely jonnies can’t be this bad in food and service. back to the manager today april 4, 2013 asking me to verify, by going back to my car to get my phone to prove to her i actually did call. here is the thing if i would have been the same nationality or an elderly women, there is no way in hell this manager would have asked me to show proof that i called in my order. if that were the case i could have just dialed the number and hung up, that didn’t prove anything. this is why i am offended. why not go find out which one of your staff members forgot to enter my order. as my battery had no bars on it, i prayed it would stay on to prove my point. i first let her see that before i called it in i got the phone number off urbanspoon.com where i am a prime top food blogger for oklahoma city. # 1 in 7 of the 9 categories. she then changes her reason for verifying to make sure i called theorderinto the right location and gave me this b.s. story of how people always get the southside and memorial numbers crossed. blank stare.... blink blink ...... lady please don’t try to fix your assumption of you thinking i was trying to get free food. i show her the time i called including the time, now showing 35 minutes since i called in my order. i get my free food didn’t even check it was, just trying to get my behind back to work.

i get to work and i have italian sausage and chicken nachos..... uhmm i don’t like italian meat sausage, i ordered chicken. the funny thing is they guy on the phone suggested combination and i remember saying no i want chicken. so why in the hell did my nachos have italian sausage. i don’t even eat italian sausage on pizza. ijs what if i didn’t eat pork. smh. i still have three gift certificates to johnnie carrino’s and i will not be back to use them, but i plan to give away.


-----13 mar, 2013-----

looked & sounded amazing! it.... chicken bowtie festival however the pasta was cold.the lunch menu didn't say this dish had bacon or tomatoes. i guess those ingredients meant festival. ijs what if i didn't eat pork, & surprise
bacon. that's something people should be aware of. jeez


-----31 jan, 2013-----

great management customer service. on january 11th a manager was supposed to be sending me some gift certificates for messing up my to go order. she said i would get them in a day or two. i had so forgot about them until on january 24, 2013, i had passed johnny carino's, so i called to talk to another manager to inform them that i still had not received them. i talked to store manager dianne whom wrote an apology letter for the delay and to always give feedback to the restaurant because this was not their standard of service.

i did receive my gift certificate in the mail within a couple of days. so i will be going back soon.


-----11 jan, 2013-----

stale chips!. i go in to johnny carinos for their delicious italian chicken nachos with alfredo sauce peppers, black olives and tomatoes. my mouth was ready only to find the alfredo sauce was luke warm & my chips were stale as hell. highly upset! i call and talk with the manager to inform her of this. the manager offers for me to come back and they remake the order. she say's " i dont thing your chips were stale, but maybe not fried long enough because we cook our chips fresh daily". well regardless fact remains is that they were stale. i was on my lunch break very hungy so i ordered the large order, but was unable to eat due to the stale chips. two things i dont like people messing with my money and my food. in the end the manager agreed to send me some gift cards. i guess i will give them another try another day.

my favorite italian food!. i love johnny carinos the bread is always hot and soft, the salad is so fresh and i alwaysorderthe chicken balsamico its no longer on the menu but they still always make it for me! i always enjoy coming here.

catering for out of town dinners. we have eaten in the restaurant several times and the food and service has been great, but you should also try their catering. we live about an hour from okc and have used their catering service several times for birthdays, holidays, etc. everyone loves it! the cost for about 8 adults and 4 children is ~$100.00 (excuding dessert) and it is well worth it. (buying groceries for a special dinner would probably be almost as much, and we don't have to do the work so we can enjoy the event!). we get a big pan of spaghetti for the kids, a chicken pasta and a fish pasta for the grownups, as well as salad and breadsticks. you call in your order, tell them when you will arrive, describe the car you will be driving, and as soon as you drive up they run theorderout to your car. the food is so well packaged that it is still very warm by the time we get home. i am phoning in ourorderthis morning for a dinner tonight. 'can't beat it!

enjoyed a family dinner. i went with my family and we enjoyed a pleasant meal, i loved my pepperoni macaroni that i ordered with a sideorderof soup. i will warn that if your child doesn't really like sourdough style bread to notorderthe pizza, because that was the only item we got that wasn't the best. server was excellent and on point at every minute we were dinning.

seated quickly. bread and drinkordertaken immediately by friendly and attentive waitress. food was hot and delicious. we eat out all over texas and this is a place i would recommend for anyone who enjoys italian food and good service!

not bad for a chain. it's not our favorite chain italian but it isn't bad. certainly doesn't deserve the "glad i could review a place that's not good" remark. if you really don't like a place, how about being more specific on what it is that you don't like. not simply saying..ohh, not good. ohh really bad. give me a break! don't come on urbanspoon and post lame reviews. and multiple lame reviews at that!!

their freshly baked bread is wonderful and i love that they encourage you to break it up and eat it with your hands (as long as you are dining with hands you don't mind)! my hubby loves this place because he loves spice and he canorderany dish with extra spice added to it! i like their bowtie festival and tortellini. their calamari is pretty darn good too.

a step up from usual okc italian. we frequent this johnnie carinos often due to the service and well-prepared italian food that is far more than the usual goopy fare found at places like the olive garden. this is substantial, bold food that is easy to imagine is based on what hard-working country people in italy might eat. spices aren't out of control; but, significant. this is the only italian restaurant that we have located that makes their caesar dressing using a slight amount of anchovy, which was included in the original caesar dressing recipes and is still in recipes that aren't trying to compete with the ubiquitous ranch dressing. this takes nerve in a city where most dressings have sickeningly noticeable levels of sugar and corn syrup. the appetizers, especially the italian nachos, are all so good that sometimes we will justorderseveral of those and share them. the lasagna has a flavorful sausage and a bold, smokey tomato sauce that is a delight. my only complaint is that the main room is so noisy from big parties and especially from the nearby open kitchen that two people can hardly visit quietly over a meal. if it's a date, ask for one of the little side nooks.

i've had good, i've had bad. i really like the good!. i love carino's lasagna. i'm not a huge lasagna fan but theirs is quite good. i love, love the fried garlic with olive oil and "balsamic" vinegar to dip the nice, crusty(ish) bread into. bread isn't as nice as true italian loaves and the balsamic isn't the real stuff. but then, where you gonna find either in okc? not at any restaurant.

anyway, they have a wine list. it might be good but i neverorderwine at a restaurant, so someone else will have to comment. last time i was there they had sam adams on tap, so i was happy.

the bad? well, spaghetti is just filler, the pot roast kinda dinner was chewy i'd call it. coulda been an off night for it. service is up and down, typical of any chain restaurant. that's about it. most everything else is good.