Where oh where to eat in El Centro......met some work associates for dinner here tonight. My first time. Solid place for a meal. My opinion it's definitely better then the Olive place . Portions were large and food was good. Lasagna was a bit on the spicy side. Good for me, maybe not for you. Bread and the calamari app was also good. Definitely worth the stop. My only complaint was the incredibly slow water service and took much too long to get are check and pay. read more

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My mother and I have been fancying this place for quite a while now and it never stops impressing us. We can't speak for the entire menu, but our usuals are the 16 layer lasagna, and the Chicken Parmesan, and they're absolutely delightful. With everything being cooked fresh we expect a little wait-time, but in the mean time we got treated with frwshly baked bread which was very well baked, with just a hint of garlic butter. The main courses were no exception, hearty portions and good ones at that, the chicken was juicy and well seasoned, and the lasagna was not over or undercooked at all. Overrall one of our favorite restaurants 5/5 read more

Yes! I recommend the carbonara pasta with shrimps was delicious but the steak was horrible, it was dry, burnt and it was supposed to be medium well and it was hard as a rock, we ordered some wings and they were cold as ice, the frozen strawberry margarita was bussin and the Dr Pepper was slapping :) hope this helps read more

My husband had a business meeting and this was my first time here in El Centro. We wanted to try some new so we gave it a try. Well our Calamari was really good. My husband really enjoyed his Lasagna and my Chicken Alfredo was good too. Btw this was on 11/21/16 read more

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Safari good cheese rich food la debate never ceases to surprise me chicken parmesan very excellent I love this place

Always has issues! No ingredients , no pizza , no calzones, incorrect orders always something

I hadn't been here since way before the remodel. I thought the bar addition was pretty cool. I've heard they have really good drink specials during the week but I have yet to check that out. There was a 20 minute wait but we got seated before the twenty minutes were up. Our server was on point. She was friendly and she was timely. Didn't keep us waiting too long and didn't come to our table every 5 minutes. She was the perfect in between! The food was really good and hot! We ordered the baked cheese tortellini and the Pinot Grigio chicken. Both dishes were awesome. You can sometimes tell when the plates have sat for a little while after they're prepared but you could tell that these dishes were fresh off the stove. I was really satisfied with our visit here. We'll probably be coming back to Carinos for our pasta dinners since Olive Garden is too hyped up right now. read more

Johnny Carino's - Italian Near Me - El Centro, California

Veronica!!!! She is awesome, sweet & efficient!! In these days, she is the face of Carinos at the take out window. She is such a pleasure and always gets the order right!!! So, my sincere thanks to her (and the kitchen staff, of course). Whenever I am close by I'll bring an order and by the way, I'm on the email list and there are specials quite frequently that I'm more than happy to take advantage of. ESPECIALLY knowing that I'll get to visit for a moment with Veronica AND use my coupon. In fact this last time I gave her my order and my email discount, to which she responded... "Ah, and you come well prepared!!!" With a smile on her face. She is so cool (and easy on the eyes, if you know what I mean). Many many thanks V, can't wait to get back to El Centro and stop by... Your friend, Bruce Anderson read more

Excellent food and service! Our server Christian was on her game and very accommodating despite being obviously swamped. The only thing that I found that needs attention is the air conditioning, otherwise It was great. I will definitely return. read more

We used to eat here years ago and then took probably a three year break until tonight when we were running errands in El Centro I needed a place to have dinner. We stopped in and were served by Juliana G who literally was probably the best waitress we've had in quite a while! The food was good her service was excellent. We will definitely be back. read more

This place is worse than cancer. Please avoid...bad service and bad food. Waiters take forever to serve you. Me and my friends waited almost 20 minutes to get our drinks ordered , which no one ever came. read more

I used to love this place. The quality of food has changed. My lasagna was overcooked, dry and cold- the hot plate warmer was a scam to make the lasagna appear hot. Only good thing was the ice cold mug for the beer. read more

Only been here once. The ambiance was decent and had a real comfortable feeling to it. As for the food, everything I ate here was decent. We had a large group so we are able to try different things. All the pastas I tried were what I expected them to be. Nothing was undercooked or overcooked. More than the food. The reason I gave this place 4 starts is due to the ambiance. This is a good place to go to wind down after a long day at work. Everyone seemed to be local and knew each other. It was somewhat loud but understandable given that there is a bar at one end. If I'm ever in the area again, I would definitely come back, and eat and hangout. read more

I usually never leave negative reviews, but I was really disappointed with the quality of our food. We ordered the fettuccine with chicken and the boneless Buffalo wings for take out. The fettuccine sauce unfortunately tasted like it was from a store bought jar, it was also very bland, and the pasta came with no cheese on top. The boneless wings were made from a processed patty meat, and not actual breast meat, and was mainly breading. Considering the fettuccine was 22$+ and the boneless wings were 18$, I feel like the quality should have been much better. This saddens me because this is not the quality I remember from years past. read more

Horrible horrible service. Let me take that back NO service at the bar. Waited for 20 minutes not even a high from any servers. Rather pay more and get better service elsewhere read more

Initial service was great. We were met at the door and immediately showed to a requested booth. At the start, service was fine. Meals ordered and delivered to our table within expected time. Trying to pay our bill was exasperating to say the least. Waiting for our check took as long as eating our meal and then some. read more

It's a shame that most restaurants in the Valley have such low standards in customer service. Food is mediocre, tasteless, I ordered my steak medium. The server asked me to cut through it to check if it cooked the way I wanted it. To say the least, the meat was overly well done and dry. Who overcooks a nice piece of meat like that? Ugh, the salad was old and I took several pieces of wilted lettuce. Then, my hubby ordered wings, which they brought the wrong order to our table, and when the right order of wings was brought out they were rubbery and yucky. Not going back here again. read more

I can't believe the horrible reviews for this place. Granted we were en route, returning to San Diego and if I had to eat at another TGI Fridays, Chili's or Applebees, I was gonna lose it. We stopped in El Centro to pee and I was more than content with some spicy chex mix and a tall can of Modelo for the remainder of our journey but the fam craved sustenance in the form of sit down dinner and perhaps they wanted to savor the last few hours of this family road trip. Anywho, we are in this huge spread apart shopping center with a Dillard's the size of Cost Co when we spot Johnny Carinos. First thoughts upon entrance were of a glorified Olive Garden, large open kitchen, kitschy wall decorations and Italian music. We actually had to wait about 5 minutes for a table. We were seated and ordered drinks. I had the Pomegranate Granita which was basically a pomegranate slushy with rum and Cointreau and it was fabulous. They give you warm french bread alongside a plate of dried garlic. They pour EVOO and balsamic over the dried garlic to make an excellent dipping sauce. They have some "deals" on their menus ( a la chili's, et al..) There is a basic 2 for twenty deal. Two salads, two pastas, two mini desserts for 20 buckaroos. Papa and I had this, he had a shrimp picatta pasta, I had the artichoke angel hair. The artichoke angel hair was delicious and light, filled with capers, tomatoes, black olives, artichoke hearts and garlic. I loved it and I had leftovers. The rest of the family had a gorgonzola pasta - sinfully rich; a kid's pizza with ham and basil- perfect sized; and chicken picatta- good but not fabulous. The mini deserts were the perfect size. We all had leftovers and our attentive (and attractive) waiter packed them up nicely with extra bread and dried garlic. We headed home with full tummys and in great spirits. This is a great place to stop if you are in the area and definitely a four star chain restaurant. read more

The recent remodeling of the bar area was a fantastic idea. They have daily food and drink specials, half priced pizzas, tons of beer on tap and over 25 varieties of martinis. The atmosphere is more fun now. We never had a problem with the bar at Johnny Carinos before, but now with the new seating, TVs for sports and the expanded area/menu, it's proof that even great things can be improved upon. They went in a completely different direction, which is perfectly timed. Olive Garden opens in 3 days, and while I love Carino's, I think Olive Garden has the market on family style Italian food chains. The Johnny's bar breathes some new life into Carinos. I'm only sad because I have the feeling that this place will be a lot more crowded from now on. read more

It's a knock off of Olive Garden... But it will do. I have never had bad service or had food that wasn't acceptable, but in order for it to get 4 stars or achieve that "yay I'm a fan" level, it would need to bring something different to the table. The food is not out of this world, it's average Italian, but it is a welcomed change from the tiresome local Burgers & Beer, Mexican Food, or fast food run. It's not authentic (i.e. Italian Nachos?) but it's also a chain restaurant. What do you really expect? They serve that delicious fresh bread with olive oil and garlic bits that no one can resist..no matter how anti-chain-restraunt you are. It is a bit pricey, but for some variation, I'm willing to pay. Check out "Wind Down Wednesday's" for good wine specials. read more

The food isn't bad, and the service is good but the restaurant area has been really let go; the windows are dirty. The air conditioning never really works. It's hard to enjoy the food when it's hot and stuffy. The bar area on the other hand is cool and fresh, the selection of beer is great and the area is well kept. read more

If you're craving Italian, this is not the place to go. Their food lacks flavor & their pizzas are sloppy. The music is more Italian than their food. The only thing I liked was their Italian soda. The service was very good & the place seemed clean. I just wish the food was something to brag about. The person bringing us to this place usually visits the bar... Prices on alcohol aren't that bad. read more

Johnny Carino's - Their pizza is simply edible. Nothing fancy. - Italian Near Me - El Centro, California

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I really like this place the bread is delicious and the wings and pasta I order yummmy

First of all, this is not an Italian restaurant, but like Olive Garden, is Italian themed. This is not to say the food is not good, just not authentic. I must say this place is better than Olive Garden, the 16 layer lasagna is pretty darn good. Service could have been better, especially being that we were in the bar area and it was average crowd for Wednesday night. Typical chain I guess.... I would come back but it would be a long while before I did because it is just average. read more

Service was great and food was amazing. Even on a busy night the food came out in a timely manner and didn't have us waiting. Staff was friendly to us and made sure everyone at our table was satisfied. read more

Very bad service. Waited for my salad for over 30 mins. Waitress doesn't even acknowledged or checked in with my party until I called her in and asked to be serviced. I will not come back to this place. read more

Chicken panini + caesar salad = amazing. staff is kind of pushy "you done?!" "no...you just gave me my food..." Very clean, and nice cold AC other than that. read more

This place is trying to be an upscale Olive Garden, which is not saying much. The food selection is typical Americanized-Italian to the -enth degree. Lots of grilled this, parmesean that, all covered in a red or white sauce. It's really bad when there is not one salad on their menu that is considered on of their "fit fare". Service was slow and the olive oil used for dipping the bread in was flavorless. My vegetable pasta primavera was heavy on oil and angel hair pasta, and light on vegetables. The bread was fresh out of the oven though. They have a happy hour from 4pm until closing, which was another plus. Overall, however, there are much better places to eat and spend your calories on. read more

Good service, good food. Better than other places in the area. Mixed frozen blended alcoholic drinks are a bit strong. Had to give mine to a friend because I couldn't drink it. Can't complain. My friend enjoyed it. The combo with the lasagna, pasta, and (I think) fried steak is good. I like the lasagna and Spicy Romano pasta dish (not too spicy). read more

I came specifically for the tiramisu which used to be epic, but now they've changed to a new recipe to save money. Major fail. I'm never coming back. The new tiramisu tastes commercially made. read more

The quality of this place just keeps going downhill and they no longer have curbside service. YUCK read more

4 of us when for dinner at Carinos for our first time. We were told to go on Monday,s for the half off platters. We ordered the 16 layers lasagna and the Ceaser salad. Both of those were enough for all 4 of us to eat and be full. The sauce on the lasagna was marvelous, . Where can you go and get a great dinner like that for $25.00???? We will be back read more

This is the worst place I've ever been to. Extremely rude personal. Veronica was the name of the person "serving" our table, super rude. Lack of costumer service skills in every possible way. Plus her personal appearance was of someone who doesn't care about her image nevertheless the costumers ..hair down serving food and a pen between her breast. Disgusting! Never going back. If I can give zero stars I would. read more

JCs was just average. The tip I can offer straight off the bat is to get the dressing or sauces on the side. I came her on a Tuesday night hoping for a nice light dinner. We shared a soup, salad and entree. The soup (minestrone) was pretty good as was the Italian Wedge Salad. However, the salad was drenched in dressing that everything was wilted. Even worse was the Balsamic Chicken and angel hair pasta (sounded awesome, but the balsamic sauce was overbearing and actually dripping off the chicken leaving a puddle underneath and all over the pasta). I would suggest asking for light dressing or on the side, and hopefully it would be better. Otherwise I would suggest the lasagna or make your own pasta. Waitstaff was friendly and efficient. read more

This place isn't amazing but it's better than the Olive Garden. I really enjoyed my minestrone soup and the complimentary table bread. The chicken Parmesan sandwich was just okay. I didn't really like the olive oil dip for the bread but I won't hold that against them since it's free. read more

Fabulous food and awesome service! We came on a busy Sunday afternoon after doing some shopping but we were seated and served very quickly. Highly recommend the stuffed mushrooms and asking for Parmesan to mix in with the oil used for dipping your bread in. The Caeser salad was perfect and endless. Come on an empty stomach... the portions can easily feed 2 people! read more

Johnny Carino's - Yum!!! Chocolate cake for four! - Italian Near Me - El Centro, California

I got to admit I am in love with the bar area of Carinos, big selection on their cold beers, prices are reasonable and you can order anything from their dining menu plus their wing Thursday (.35) is awesome and service read more

Johnny Carinos in EC lost its delicious food, customer service and the prices are higher for smaller portions. Lemon Herb Salmon plate I ordered was loaded with artificial lemon juice, and the plate was not what it was before. Nachos were dry , dry pieces of sausage and such a small portion it was surprising. Wine was limited and the only one available was 12.00 a glass because they didn't have anything else to offer. The food was not good, drinks were limited, place didn't look as clean as before and the customer service was NOT there. Beware of the new after COVID-19 Carinos. read more

I don't know why I tried the place again... I felt like Italian food and so I ordered something I thought would be hard to screw up... it said it came with marinara but now that I look at the menu after getting it I had a choice of marinara or Alfredo and they chose Alfredo for me... so that's on me... I did get about three dollars worth of seafood for the $21, so I won't have to go to a fast food place on the way to work... they came out to my car to do the transaction because of Covid and then never brought my food out until I called again... I will not make the mistake of going there again... if you're going to charge $21 for a dish put some seafood in it... and the medium 25 to 29 shrimp for $10.99 bag isn't exactly the shrimp I'm looking for at a restaurant... I did get eight super small mussels... I wonder why it took them 15 minutes to make this disappointment in the kitchen? The French bread that came with it wasn't bad but it would've been nice if they had given me some butter... read more

I've tried a couple if Italian restaurants in the valley and always find pasta based dishes to be bland or pasta to squishy ...anyhow finally tried Johnny's and food was pretty good! I enjoyed dinner!!! We had calamari, 16 layer lasagna which was good! Though I thought it would be bigger but anyhow was delicious and also tried their pizza :) food was good and liked the atmosphere ..service was good too ....I will post pic :p read more

Johnny Carino's - Calamari, 16 layer lasagna, Johnny's pizza - Italian Near Me - El Centro, California