Carlucci's Italian Ristorante

Not worth it. Bland soup, bland sauce. Only three busy tables, three waiters and we still didn't get our drink order for 15 minutes. You're better off cooking at home.

I am all about second chances, so I decided to give Carlucci's another go after my first experience here which was more or less an epic lunchtime failure. The first go around, the place was packed with busy business people taking their lunch break and there was a 15-20 min wait. Well, when you only have an hour to dine and get back to the office, that's pushing it. So for my second visit to Carlucci's, I made a reservation for 3.

Upon arrival, the restaurant was much less crowded than our first visit which turned out to be a great thing since they never seemed to put down our reservations.  No big, we were seated right away and promptly attended to.

I, as well as my company, ordered the lunch special for 8$ which comes with a soup or salad, slice of pizza and choice of sub. When the salads came out, my lettuce was brown. The other two looked fine for the most part, but mine was pretty unappealing. I ate what I could of it, and all 3 of us made mention that our salads were really wet and that as a result, the dressing was diluted to a flavorless juice. It is pretty hard to mess up a simple side salad but Carlucci's champions in this.

The slice of pizza was good, no complaints. The chicken parm sub was decent too. I opted not to get the baked ziti again, it didn't leave a great impression after my first experience so I figured I'd give something else a shot. It's all just okay. The chicken parm sub is strips of chicken cutlets with sauce and cheese toasted on a hoagie roll. It is the same food you can get from the lunch time deal at Sal's, Rotelli's and the like, I'm talking identical. So this is a give away that it's frozen stuff. Not a fresh piece of chicken parm. I guess you get what you pay for.

I do have to commend their service. This restaurant is located in a predominantly commercial area and I would say a good majority of weekday diners are business people on their lunch break and Carlucci's does accommodate. However, the food is just not worth it. It's cheep, fast and convenient, but I'd rather skip it. I think I would rather pack a turkey sandwich from home if I'm being honest.

Met a colleague for lunch here, the staff was friendly and pizza was great!