It's been two days, and I'm STILL saddened by how poorly I spent $60 on three pasta dishes and a fountain drink. It was such a waste of money, and it behooves anyone who earned their money to give this place some time to get their act together. Our booth smelled like mildew or some sort of mold, and the entire dining room was humid. The food was pretty low quality. We ordered two plates of spaghetti and meat balls ($15 per plate), and I got pretty wild plate full of all kinds of ingredients ($17). Yeah, it was money wasted, in my opinion. Totally not worth it. The meatballs were extremely large, which is pretty dope, but they tasted like a school cafeteria meatloaf! The sauce was very dark and was sweet. I hate to say it, but... it had a viscosity similar to syrup. While one server might not be able to indicate how good the service staff is as a whole, I think it's worth mentioning I had a very odd waitress. She referred to me as ma'am literally every time she came to the table. I swear across my heart, that I definitely look like a dude. Okay, now I'm done. People of the world, go somewhere else. read more

I think that this place is pretty alright. Food: I had the Jalapeno Chicken Ravioli and it was delicious. I was really wanting something different and spicy and this really hit the spot. I actually split between my wife and I and it worked out well. For the most part, you can always split these meals into two meals. I always do because it is so expensive here. Discounts: There is always going to be some discount out there that you can find for this place. I found a groupon and it was totally worth it. Access: This one is in the Southpark Meadows. You can see it off the highway but one you turn in, its kind of a mess trying to get to the place. Service: I can not complain about the service. Although, somehow when I used my groupon, the way they treated me was kinda weird, like the waiter thought I was too cheap to leave a good tip. Which is the whole reason why I get the discounts in the first place, it is basically the normal price of the meal when you get done tipping. read more

I was very impressed at the Ladies who came to St. Paul's Catholic Church yesterday to provide a wonderful lunch for the Golden Hearts group! Amanda and Julie did an outstanding job! They were very professional & Friendly! There friendliness went above and beyond all expectations!!Thanks!!! read more

My family and I popped in to have a nice dinner before heading out to a friend's going away party. The good part.....we were seated promptly. And that about sums up the good with this visit. We sat and waited and no one acknowledged our existence for at least ten minutes. Then, a lady walks over and states her name and tells us that she is helping our waitress tonight. She handed us our menus and we all asked for water. Simple enough. Another small eternity passes and she comes back to take our order. We get our soup, salad, bread, and waters.....and wait. And we waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait. About half an hour later our dishes arrive. No one ever stopped by to ask if we needed refills, napkins, coffee....anything. Finally, I saw who was supposed to be our waitress and I yell to get her attention. She turns exasperated because I've asked her for our tab and 3 to go boxes. I know it's a tall order, but I'm sure she can handle it, right? Wrong. Said waitress NEVER returns. Instead we get a gentlemen handing us our boxes and ticket. So, in all "our waitress" only visited us because I flagged her down. She couldn't be bothered with actually doing her job. Here's the ticker...the food was decent and that's about it. I've made better spaghetti at home. If I'm paying near $20 a plate, I'd like it not only to be good, but I'd appreciate an iota of service, too. I felt as if the staff didn't give a rat's arse about its patrons because either way they were going to collect their paychecks. I told my husband if he even dared to leave a tip, I'd be moved to violence. The service was horrid, the food was mediocre and over-priced. The best part about my visit was leaving. I'll never go back. read more

Just had dinner there and was not satisfied. The service was slow, and the food was so so, on the top of that-- the price for "the meal for two', actually is for per person in very small print, kind miss lead. Won't suggest to any my friends. read more

After dining in at Johnny Carinos in SPM yesterday evening with my boyfriend we were on our way home when all of a sudden I got violently sick on the side of the road ! Later on in the evening he was also throwing up and tossing and turning all night . To add to the entire mess I'm 3 months pregnant and took myself to the minor emergency room where they confirmed salmonella poisoning . Now I understand that most restaurants have been closed during Covid but old food including chicken should be disposed of properly not served to guests ! The only thing we both ate was the thinly sliced chicken in pasta and nachos and I am still feeling horrible this evening which is why I decided to write this review . Please please store your food properly and dispose of expired or old food so this does not happen to anyone else ! read more

Tonight we give 5 stars to Carinos. Our table server was Gee and Gee, was she awesome! She was "Johnny on the spot" to serve and refill glasses, anticipating whatever might be needed. If there is new management, then kudos for bringing Carino's up to where a nice dining experience should be. All staff was friendly and spoke with us. Entrees were Magnificent! read more

What to expect? Lackluster chain Italian. The waitress was trying really hard I'll give her that. She was busy, training someone and still checking on us as often as possible. I tried the spaghetti and meatballs, what a disappointment. The meatballs were hard to cut into and then cold in the middle, not luke warm but cold. My boyfriend got a plate that included meatballs and his were he same way hard and cold. This is confusing because the meatballs are advertised as handmade, yet all the meat was cooked through. This was especially not acceptable after waiting at least 40 minutes between finishing our salads and getting our entrees. Luckily we were not in a hurry. When I received the check I was taken off guard that no discount was given about two meals having cold food. Will not be returning, trust in local places! read more

Deserts are the best!!! Chocolate cake with ic cream or cheesecake!! I wish I could eat them all and not gain weight. Worth the cheat ever time. read more

We came in an hour before close, and our waiter didn't rush us or seem pushy. The bread and salad is really good. Love the olive oil and garlic. The downside, the entrees. We ordered the angel hair pasta with shrimp and artichokes and the lasgana. My lasgana came out on a plate that was much hotter than the actual food on it. The lasgana wasn't bad, will be good when it is heated up later. The angel hair pasta wasn't angel hair, just regular spaghetti with fishy tasting rubber shrimp. I would give it 2 stars, but our waiter was great, so added a star. Plus, it is hard to go wrong with olive oil and garlic with bread. Noms. read more

Food is good, service keeps us coming back. Julie L. Is the absolute best in the bar! Keeps us coming again & again. Highly recommend the shrimp scampi & lasagna family means. Yum read more

Johnny Carino's - Italian Near Me - Austin, Texas

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My wife and I enjoyed the appetixer which was Italian nachos. The entere, seafood fetachini alfredao, was soupy and somewhat bland lacking seasoning and it took 30 minutes to come out read more

This is one of my favorite restaurants here, I know some dishes aren't great, but others like the lasagna and tortelloni are nice. You have to know what to order. If you do, everything will be good. But this is the second time I've gotten severe, lasts-several-days, hallucinate and see Mary the mother of God, food poisoning from the lobster ravioli. I can't think, work, be polite to others, anything, all I can think about is pain and the faint smell of rotten lobster making its way through me. I'm completely serious. The delirium is really something else. Again, not exaggerating here, it really made me that sick. Fool me once, fool me twice, I know, but I thought maybe the first time was a fluke. I moved here not long ago and I know it's an "inland" city and I shouldn't expect the best seafood, but I've never gotten deathly ill off of Red Lobster or Cypress Grill. Seafood isn't THAT easy to screw up. I've seen enough "Gordon Ramsay's 24 Hours to Hell and Back" to have some ideas of what could be wrong. Maybe the lobster isn't ordered often and the staff is trying to save on buying more by keeping it past when it's safe. Maybe the storage area for it is dirty or old. Maybe they're getting it from a cheap source. But as he famously said on that show, are you waiting for a (bleep)ing death? Either stop serving it entirely or shore up your safety measures, NOW. read more

EXCELLENT! We were in the mood for Italian but, being new to the area, we don't really know of many places around here yet. Johnny Carino's came up on a Google search and I'm glad we tried it. Service was FANTASTIC. The food was EVEN BETTER. We are DEFINITELY coming back here again! read more

Best experience so far, food was hot and fast even during dinner hours on a Friday. Our server Max was very attentive to add. Keep it up guys! read more

We've been to this location a few times. The meal is always good, but they could keep it cleaner. Tonight we waited extra long for our meal and mine came out wrong. The server, Ian was fantastic. He took care of it right away. The manager offered a free dessert which we opted not to get, but appreciated the offer. The hostess, long hair, is apparently responsible for cleaning the tables. Table after table she would just wipe all crumbs and napkins on the floor. Who is she expecting to come by and pick that up!? This really explains why the place looks like a wreck when we come in. This was not a busy night. The entire room could see her doing this. Take some pride in your work and the experience you create for your customers! Ian - again - great job! Hostess - you need far more training. read more

Extremely slow service. Went here with 4 friends for dinner; I ordered the Cesar salad with chicken, my husband ordered a chicken pasta dish and 3 friends ordered the same pasta dish. We waited for over an hour for our food and had to constantly ask for more water. Hopefully it was just an off night in the kitchen because the food was good. We complained to a manager and still nothing changed. Lousy service. read more

Great service, but food was awful. The bread came out cold and the lasagna tasted like dog food, it had to have been days old. Won't return. read more

The new style Carino's leaves a lot to be desired. Some of the old classic foods that distinguish the Old Carinos are gone. The prices are more or less the same but portions are very noticebly smaller. Gone is the option for the family size as well. Their pasta sauces on the dishes that I used to love a lot have changed. I rated the old carino as one of the best before, I wish they bring the old style back. I don't think we will be going back there again. read more

Took my wife to lunch here one Saturday. First we got the Italian Nachos, as an appetizer, the half portion is perfect for two. Very tasty! We both did the Market pasta create your own meal. We both had Green Chili Jalapeño Alfredo over fettuccine, I got mine with Italian sausage, she had hers with no added protein. I liked the sauce and the sausage but thought they could leave the jalapeños out of it. The jalapeños over powered the green chilies and the flavor of the Alfredo. The wife agreed with me and said there was not enough flavor in the Alfredo like it needed more butter and salt. The service was excellent! Ask for Amelia when you visit. read more

Johnny Carino's - Green Chili Jalapeño Alfredo over fettuccine with Italian sausage. - Italian Near Me - Austin, Texas

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The service was great but the food wasn't very good at all. Had fettuccini with chicken, the fettuccini and Alfredo sauce were flavorless and the chicken was bland. Wife had spaghetti, she didn't seem happy with it so I tried a spoonful and the sauce seemed watered down and underwhelming. Great service but we'll be going to macaroni grill instead next time we want convenient Italian food. read more

The plates that we ordered were swimming in butter. Brought it to the manager's attention. Her reply was "we will inform our cooks to pay attention next time." It took a while to get my food. Never again! read more

Carino's Southpark Meadows turned out to be a wonderful, reasonably priced place to host a rehearsal dinner event for 40 people. Gerardo, the general manager, was super helpful with all the planning and made my stress level so much less by offering great suggestions and working with every need and want we had for the evening. They even called several hours before the event to touch base so they could set up tables as we had requested. Our guests enjoyed a tasty buffet style meal plus salads and baskets of fresh bread in a lovely party room, where the servers made sure things went smoothly. Thanks, Carino's! read more

Ah the strip mall Italian restaurant. It can be a pretty decent meal or dog food, but usually you get somewhere in between. Here's the setup: -Valentines Day -My ex-wife -Me recently unemployed -Was going to cook dinner -It got late -Decided to go out -No reservations -My favorite, Vespaio is out of the question -What's close that can get us in under an hour -Southpark's Johnny Carino's Went to eat around 8:00 Pm and approached the hostess stand with only two guys in front of me. I had to laugh as the cowboy hat wearing guys in their 20s were pissed off they couldn't get a table for twelve when only 2 of them were there. Also, why would there be an hour wait? The hostess told us it would be 20 minutes so we went to the bar. I prefer a small wait when I get to a restaurant so I can take everything in and get my drink on, so it was no problem for the wait. 20 minutes later, we were sitting in a booth. The server was friendly and got to us promptly. He asked if we would like waters since we already had some drinks. Good move on his part, we did, we also wanted two more drinks. They foursome of tasty beverages arrived promptly accompanied by a warm loaf of bread and a plate of dipping oil. We ordered calamari for the start and it was good calamari except for the marinara that came with it. It was watery and tasteless, but the calamari was crisp and tender with a panko style crust. Typically when I'm at the strip mall Italian restaurant I go for the simple and this time was no different. Spaghetti and meatballs was my choice for entree and my beautiful ex-wife was having a pizza. Remembering the marinara on the calamari, I asked the server if this was one in the same for the entree. He told me it wasn't, that it was a thicker version. We added salads for $.99 extra because hey, it's V-day, why the heck not splurge. The salads were pretty lame compared to the bomb salad at OG (Olive Garden)! The entrees arrived with pretty perfect timing. The ex-wives pizza was great; a semolina crust with crispy pepperoni, Italian sausage, mushrooms, olives and sun-dried tomatoes. The spaghetti and meatballs was not so great. It was overcooked pasta with basically the same thin sauce as the calamari and about four ok tasting meatballs. It was pretty disappointing. All in all, I would not let one bad spaghetti dinner and crappy salad deter me from dining at Carino's ever again. I will be back I'm sure, I will just order differently. They had great service, good prices and got us in under 20 minutes. The gratuity was only $8.00 and I tipped about 25% so not bad on the pocketbook, but I need to get into Vespaio soon. read more

Pretty sad. My sister and I went to Carino's today for lunch and we found the menu had changed. The soup or salad option with your entree is now just salad, you have to pay $4 if you want soup, pretty nuts as my sister wanted soup but was not paying $4 for that....maybe $1 more but not $4. These changes turn people off and should be reconsidered as Carino's will lose regulars that are use to what they like. read more

The corporation reached out and offered me a coupon but I didnt take it. I've only ordered "To-Go" since then and the food hasn't had bugs or anything bad in it so they get an upgrade to 3 stars. You should probably consider why you are eating here and set your expectations to match. read more

A good American-Italian style restaurant with good entrees, hot, freshly baked rosemary bread, and one of the best wedge salads around. They offer an extensive menu, bar, and table service. This is one of our "every day" go to restaurants. read more

Awesome service and awesome food! I highly recommend their Pina coladas and chicken Alfredo it's the best in Southpark Meadows

Sucked brought wrong sized appitizer (my entree) wrong meat, drinks were always empty just bad service...

Worse service I have ever experienced in ANY restaurant. My girlfriend and I went to Carinos on my birthday. We arrived at 9:30 pm. We stood at the front desk for 10 mins while the hostess and waiters LOOKED at us. When only one customer was dining at that time. When we were finally seated the waitress walked away and NEVER came back. We sat for 15 minutes unattended..so we got up and left. I called the manager about this experience. I believe his name was TIM. He seemed sincere and told me he would send me 2 in guest coupons for me and my GF to eat for free. Well it's been 2 months..and I never got it Tim. I won't EVER eat here again. read more

The Southpark Meadows location is so poorly managed. Here's what happened; we reserved the restaurant 3 weeks ago for our Christmas luncheon. For a total of 25 or so people. We all arrive at the designated time and get seated, fine. Then our 1 (yes 1) server comes over to take drink orders. Poor guy couldn't get the orders right nor did he know who's drink was who's, problem! Then it's ordering time! He had no additional help at this time even though the restaurant was not busy and there were PLENTY of servers that could've and should've helped him, including the MOD. Nothing, not one person came over to help him! Needless to say (because if I don't cut this short we'll be here forever) the whole thing was a disaster. And it only got worse. Don't waste your time, your money or your lunch hour on this place. The one star is for the food, it was good, not great! read more

Pretty good for a chain restaurant. The Italian nachos are to die for, we got them as an appetizer and I had a Cesar chicken salad for an entree. I'm giving 4 stars because service wasn't all that fantastic.. my drink was empty for a long time and every time my waitress would come by she would quickly walk away before I could get a word in so I wasn't too pleased about that. read more

Spaghetti with meat sauce was okay. No garlic bread I wanted for with my dinner. The minestrone soup was lukewarm. I liked it HOT. Oh well I got a severe heartburn afterwards. I'd not recommend you to go there. It'd be my last visit. read more

I had their soup and salad lunch. For what you get, the food was fresh and delicious. I had the caesar salad and the broccoli parmesan soup. The salad was fresh and the soup was wonderful! EXcellent service. read more

I thought long and hard before posting this review as we have always loved the carinos restaurants. Sept 22 we went to the south Austin location for lunch. We are retired and rely on discounts such as groupon. When we presented these immediately the servers attitude changed and he said he would need to check with the manager to see if he could honor these coupons his attitude was just as bad. We were made to feel like we shouldn't be there the server made us ask for everything such as silverware and napkins.i have not given up on corinos but I will never eat at that location again bill h read more

Server made it seem like we were a burden. Very unfriendly. Once we ordered the food seemed to arrive in minutes which normally wouldn't be a complaint, however every dish seemed to be cooked by Chef Mike (microwave) very bland and watery. Chef Boyardee has more flavor and is by far cheaper. Will not be back. read more

I used to live in Victoria and always liked the Carino's there but recently had a date with my husband and daughter at the south park meadows carinos.. My daughter was vegetarian and my husband had a severe glutten alegery and the server Stephen was great!! He was very knowledgeable and accommodating. We decided to follow his suggestions on the angle hair artichokes and the gluten free jalapeno lobster! He was attentive and went above and beyond even packed up our left overs. My daughter said that's where she wants to eat on her birthday so we will return very soon with the whole family. Hope we get Stephen as our server. He made our visit memorable. Great food, great cooks and super wait staff. Exceeded my expectations read more

Went here today for an early dinner. Our server, Julie, was great! She was running around taking care of multiple tables and even though I didn't see her stop working once, she was very friendly and nice. The food was also pretty good. I felt the need to write a review to point out two things: the great service Julie gave us AND the rude comment I heard another waitress make, who earned the restaurant this unfortunate 3-star review. I was seated at a table right near the back pay stations and heard a waitress with a long blonde ponytail entering in some final receipts. She very loudly said to another hostess in the area, "I just got a $5 tip on a $90 ticket. I mean, are you kidding me?" She also rolled her eyes and and scoffed. I get it, I'd be frustrated too. But the fact that you said it loud enough for other patrons to hear and then immediately greeted another woman (who maybe looked like the manager on duty) was extremely off-putting. read more

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen! Okay I came to this Carino's location last night and I must say- I really wanted to review here today. Keep in mind though, I have been at many others before this location in this state as well. Upon arriving: When entering the restaurant you have very limited space from the hostess podium and the enter/exit door, so be careful. We were seated pretty quickly for a party of three, so that was nice. By the way, it was a little after 7:30pm in case anyone reading this is wondering about time. Server: Our server was delightful! Food: The food was delicious....once it was finally cooked and ready to serve to us. I say this because we had to wait for an hour for our food to arrive. Which is actually not the norm for me, even on a weekend evening. Matter of fact our server came by to apologize about the delay and slowness of the food. We ordered an appetizer, but sad to comment-it never arrived :-( We did get lots of bread to fill in the gap on behalf of this Carino's. Bathroom: Oh my! I really wanted to review the bathroom for all my readers! There is no room between the toilet and the stall door! You have to devise a plan of escape as you turn yourself to get out too!! That was just an awkward ordeal going in the stall and exiting out to leave. The silver lining to this would be that if your are carrying a purse, you won't lose sight if it-lol! Oh yeah, can't forget to tell you all about the maze walk to the bathroom.....I was seated on the opposite side of the restaurant to where the bathrooms were located, making this more of a pain. There was no space between tables and seats while walking to the bathroom, except for some where I had to turn my body sideways to carefully pass behind the people I could. (without rubbing my body on someones hand or back lol) So, that just added to the craziness as well as the stall space. WiFi: They do have a wireless internet connection, but it is secure and you need the pass code. Maybe due to all the people trying to connect or whatever...it didn't connect for us at least last night. Fun Sounds: We heard dishes breaking for a good potion of the evening too. Guess some workers came in mad that night. Overall: The food and server were great, but with the combination of everything else....I could not recommend this Carino's to myself again or the general public.....sorry. read more

Price is reasonable and food is enjoyable. Honestly Carino's is a good value and good food in my opinion - a place I choose to take my family out to regularly. The wedge salad is exceptional and lasagna consistently good. Unbiased recommendation from a regular customer. read more