I have been back 2 times since my first review and I have to upgrade4 them for the pure consistency. I know a lot of people hate chain restaurants but chains become chains because they find a way to replicate something and do it well. The Carrabba's at this location does just that and has hands down some of the BEST service I have had in Denver.
Review Source:Carraba's knows how to treat their customers.
I have always been impressed with the staff at this location. Everyone is friendly and we have been recognized by waiters after a single visit with them.
Their Creamy Italian salad dressing is really tasty, and every time I am there I order a dish that was once a special and they still make it for me even though it is not on the menu anymore. I love the Apple Crustini desert.
I wasn't overly impressed with the fare. If I can cook it better than the restaurant, I am not real motivated to return. I LOVE Italian food, this just did not give you the homemade warm-fuzzies of a real Italian meal. I could have zapped a Stouffers lasagna and felt the same about this food. Meh. No thanks.
Review Source:My husband and I have been looking for a decent Italian restaurant in Aurora since we both just moved in and we're so glad to have found this place. Like most reviews mentioned, the place is casual and cozy, the service is great, and the food definitely satisfied my craving. I love pasta and not the fast food type but the authentic type. Although the noodles are a bit too soft, the flavors definitely keep you wanting more. I found my go-to Italian resto here!
Review Source:Came here for dinner and really enjoyed the laid back atmosphere. Â The menu options aren't as vast as other Italian places, but it makes ordering a bit easier. Â You also get a nice, hot bread basket with seasoned olive oil for dipping. Â
I had the bruschetta for an appetizer. Â I love the flavor of the topping, but the bread was a little too toasted for me and tore up my mouth. Â I ended up just eating the topping. Â For my entree, I had the pasta weesie. Â It's basically fettuccine alfredo with shrimp and mushrooms. Â The shrimp was very succulent and the alfredo sauce smooth. Â Very tasty! Â
The staff here are pretty attentive so you don't have to wait ten years to get your drink refilled. Â The prices are also very reasonable.
I know it's a chain restaurant! Â Big deal!
Took my parents there a day before Father's Day. Â All 6 of us (my parents, me, my husband and my kids) had different entrees but all of them were great. Â
I know, 5 stars might be too much but we had the best waiter Mario and we were also treated to a "show". Â they had only one busboy but what a worker! Â It was a pleasure to see him work. Â It took him less than a minute to clean out the table, wash everything and set it up again. Â And he did an excellent job! Â He was so fast it was even entertaining. Â Yes, we left an extra tip for him scpecifically and told the manager that he is awesome. Â Hope the kid gets some kind of a raise or reward.
We came here for my cousin's graduation dinner. It was decent - nothing too special or out of the ordinary, but nothing too terrible.
I think the best part of dinner was the calamari and bread. The calamari was so lightly battered, and crispy. I loved that it had black pepper and the marinara sauce was also a little spiced up, so it didn't feel too greasy/heavy. Â The bread was served with olive oil, basil, sea salt and pepper. The bread was warm and I loved the olive oil mixture.
Other than that, the entrees were only okay. Â We got the Chicken Trio - Chicken Bryan, Chicken Marsala and Rosa Maria. I thought the Chicken Bryan was TOO much. There was a huge chunk of goat cheese on it and all you tasted was the goat cheese. The Rosa Maria was too salty for me. But the Chicken Marsala was really good! So was the side of spinach.. it came with the garlic perfectly cooked - just the way I like it. We also got the chicken fettucine alfredo (one of the Founder's Pastas), which was also average.
The service was really good and Russell took care of us really well. Chain restaurants are not really a favorite for me, so I didn't really have big hopes for this place.
Veal Picatta without Capers???? This was my first time in a Carrabba's Italian Grill and I wasn't too impressed. I realize that some things on an Italian restaurant's menu aren't always made the same way. Chicken Cacciatore for and example, I've always known it to have chicken, green peppers, mushrooms and onions sauteed in a Marinara and served over rice or maybe pasta . At Carrabba's the chicken is served with red peppers and onions over polenta. I'm not going to even try it. I think the green peppers and mushrooms make the dish myself. Aaron was understanding and offered to have mushrooms added to the Chicken Cacciatore when I mentioned the lack of mushrooms when we were ordering but I declined and ordered the Veal Picatta instead. My wife and I shared an order of Calamari and as my wife stated in her review, it came out fast. I think they could have cooked it a little longer, it wasn't quite golden yet. I liked my Italian salad, it was the best part of my meal. Then out came the Veal Picatta, now given what I said earlier about certain Italian dishes made differently at different restaurants I have to say I've never heard of any restaurant serving any thing called "Picatta" without capers. As far as I know Picatta is lemon, capers and butter. Aaron offered to send my veal back and have capers added to it and sauteed a bit longer but that idea just sounded wrong to me. He was nice and did bring us complimentary mini desserts which were excellent but as far as I'm concerned Carrabba's already has two strikes. We will go back and give them another try but I guarantee you I won't be ordering the Chicken Cacciatore or the Picatta!
Review Source:First time eating at Carrabas...it was ok. I had the rigatoni al forno and it was not bad (not great either), DiCicco's is way better!!! We started with calamari and that was pretty good, although it came out so fast I question whether it was made to order. My salad was so-so....no tomatoes or onions, just lettuce, 2 nasty kalamata olives, carrots and celery (?)!!! My husband will be writing a review about his meal, so look for Rob's review. The server was Aaron and he was very good. When Rob questioned some ingredients Aaron was very quick to try to please. He gave us free mini desserts that were awesome!! The chocolate mousse with cookie crumbles and coconuts....YUMMMM!!!!! We will give them another try because of Aaron and get something else...I will update my review then.
Review Source:I created my Yelp account just to write this review.
5 stars might seem a bit extreme for a chain restaurant. Â I have worked at Carrabba's as a teenager and eaten at locations throughout Colorado, Virginia, Maryland.
THIS location is by far the best I have ever dealt with. Â I do like Carrabba's food- I lived in Italy for 5 years and it is nice to eat americanized-italian food that isn't all cheese and red sauces. Â Made from scratch alfredo (not that horrible stuff the get in vats at O.G.- I know, I worked there as a teen too) brick-oven pizza, & great chicken dishes set Carrabba's apart from other italian joints.
But what sets this location apart is the consistency and service. Â
I have utilized the Aurora Carrabba's for many work functions- I am a school secretary and they always come through with a delicious meal, that is reasonably priced. Â Whether busy or slow, food is always great when dining in.
And they go above and beyond. Â I had tickets to see a play downtown, and was meeting family first for dinner. Â Weather was kind of cruddy, and one of our party ran really late, cutting our time to dine to practically nothing. Â I called ahead and preordered our dinner to eat IN, we walked in and a hot plate of awesome Chicken Bryan with a caesar salad, bread and drink was waiting for me, my mom and my sister's Chicken Pizza came out as we were taking off our coats. Â Manager was completely accommodating, bartender who was waiting on our table was super quick, and we got out in no time.
Kudos to  a well run location!
Carrabba's has the BEST Italian food. This place has great service and great food. The smell inside is amazing. Everyone should try this place. My recommendation is the Italian Classics with cavatappi amatriciana and the Mediterranean salad. Someday I will try something different but I love this dish. Highly recommend Carrabb's no matter where it is.
Review Source:What keeps me coming back to Carrabba's is the Caesar salad.
Everyone here knows that I have a thing for Caesar salad. Â Oh, I know, it's terrible for you. Â But I love it. Â Gosh do I love it!
Carrabba's Caesar is just vinegary enough and has just a hint of anchovy. Â It also features good crutons and a nice amount of Parmesan cheese. Â Yum!
Other than that, everything we have tried has been very good. Â The service is good and we always enjoy it when we go to dinner at Carrabba's. Â
Oh, and the white wine sangria is very good, with bright citrus flavor.
This is the best italian restaurant you can visit in Denver and it's surroundings. Great customer services and even better food. I tried almost everything in the menu. Veal Marsala and the Spedino di mare are my favorites my husband loves the chicken Bryan and Chicken Rosa Maria, each one of this dishes have a fabulous flavor each bite it's unique and unforgettable. The minestrone soup it's divine, the best i ever had. I also recommend their Bruschetta and for dessert a Rosa Maria cake, just like grandma's
Review Source:We got the Pasta Weesie (Shrimp sautéed in a garlic, lemon butter, white wine sauce with sautéed mushrooms and scallions, served over fettuccine alfredo) and if it weren't for the gummy pasta, i would have really loved it.
We also got the Chicken & Spinach Cannelloni (Pasta stuffed with chicken, spinach, garlic, herbs, fontina and romano cheese, topped with pomodoro and cream sauce) and i did not like it at all. There was barely any chicken in it and again, the pasta was gummy.
I should have went with my first instinct and ordered plain old spaghetti like i usually do at an Italian eatery but now that i know that i don't like their pasta, I'll never know.
I give this 3 stars because the service was great but the food was just ok.
4 for the food and an extra star because of Marie's GRAND service. She is the best waitress I've ever had. Seriously. Checked in to make sure we were doing well. Offered drink refills, made suggestions...the whole 9 yards. She is awesome.
We had calamari for our antipasto which was really good. The small portion was more than enough for 2. We ended up taking some home.
I had the Pasta Weesie (Shrimp sauteed in a garlic, lemon butter, white wine sauce with sauteed mushrooms and scallions, served over fettuccine alfredo) was good. The shrimp was FRESH!!! The waitress, Marie, suggested I have it with the Newman's Own white wine and it matched well.
Then I had the panna cotta for dessert and that was awesome.
I tasted my friend's minestrone and it wasn't red! It was the first minestrone soup I had that was REALLY good.
This place serves warm bread with an olive oil with 9 different herbs.
So it is a chain... that isn't always a bad thing.
I have eaten at multiple Carrabba's across the US hundreds of times, in fact while my wife worked that the location in Woodbridge, VA in 2000, I ate there on average 4-5 times a week for about a year. Â Yes, this played hell on my waistline. Â We have always received outstanding service at the location in Aurora.
This is a restaurant that always delivers fresh, top quality, and truly great food. Â I have yet to find better Mussels in the Denver area, their steaks are fantastic as are their pasta dishes. Â With that said, I am of the opinion that if you are one of those who actually go out to eat Spaghetti then you are wasting your time, money, and are taking up a seat I could be sitting in. Â
The specials at Carrabba's are that... special. Â These are non-menu items that typically have a short run and have never disappointed. Â Whether it was braised Italian beef pot roast, lamb shank, or their Italian gnocchi.
Their desserts, are all equally delicious. Â I would recommend any one of them.
I love Carrabba's. I used to work there as a server for about a year and a half so I have first hand experience. The most important thing you should know about the food is that it is all made from scratch, from fresh ingredients delivered daily. The soup, salad dressings, every pasta sauce, breadcrumbs, the herb mix you use for the bread....all from scratch. The calamari, fried zucchini and mozzarella are breaded to order. This is why their prices are higher than other chains. Nothing on your plate was frozen, pre-made or processed. In my opinion, fresh homemade food is about as good as it gets.
Review Source:Got into Denver pretty late on a business trip and we had to find a dinner spot, and had to decide between Outback Steakhouse and Carrabba's. Â Didn't feel like steak so I was glad we went with the Italian choice even though Carrabba's is apparently a chain restaurant. Â Too bad Yelp doesn't have half stars because I'd say Carrabba's is a solid 3.5.
I got the chicken Santa Maria (waiter's recommended chicken entree) and it was very well cooked with olive oil and some cheese in between the chicken breasts sliced in half width wise. Â It was quite oily but in a good way with a side of spinach. Â We also grabbed a calamari/fried mozzarella as the appetizer and after everything was said and done, we were looking at $30/person. Â
Considering that we got there only 10 minutes before they officially closed and that we stayed for almost an hour after they officially closed, we were very happy they were servicing our needs.
The decor, from the chianti bottle door handles to the fake mosaic tabletops, was ridiculous. Â While the chicken was grilled nicely, and my boyfriend liked the fontina on top of his, the side dishes were not spectacular overall though I did like the garlic in the zucchini. Â Our desserts were tiny and oddly just given to us from the spread that our waiter was describing--that made us question whether we were getting food that had been sitting out a while. Â
The menus, regular and the summer grill fixe, were somewhat difficult to understand. Â It didn't actually seem to matter to our waiter what menu we were using. Â My boyfriend and I ended up with three side dishes, two salads, and two desserts between us even though we thought we were ordering from the regular menu which had more side dish choices to go with our main entrees.
In any case, while we enjoyed ourselves, the whole dinner was way more costly than what we expected to pay. Â We had been thinking more along the lines of Olive Garden or Applebee's pricing. Â Over $16 for most chicken dishes seemed steep. Â We'll probably stick with non-chain restaurants that are less expensive, too, in the future.
Pretty darn decent for a chain. 3.5 stars. Ate here recently with some relatives -- we all stuck to the spaghetti-and-meatball traditional stuff. Good food all around. They were crazy busy, and couldn't get waited on (couldn't even get water) for quite awhile. Finally, things calmed down and our service was A-OK.
The lentil soup was tasty, though since it contained quite a bit of Italian sausage, it was fairly salty. My spaghetti was sauced perfectly --- not at all drippy, just lightly tossed in tomato sauce.
We went back to Carrabba's again the other night. Â The service was fantastic, the food was wonderful and yet again I was far from disappointed!
It may be a chain, but Carrabba's is so delicious! Â The pasta weezie, a house salad and the ricardo calamari are my recommendations. Â But everything I've tried on the menu has been wonderful.
Just wanted to refresh my review and let everyone know that this chain rocks!
Have to admit I was a bit hesitant when we walked in, looked a little cheesier than I thought it'd be and a lot more casual. However, their summer menu is awesome, such a good deal and plenty of great food!
Chicken Bryan was fantastic, as was the mouth watering pollo Rosa Maria. The tomato salad is phenominal, such great tomatoes that hold up to the dressing an a wonderful fresh but not overwhelming taste of basil.
I'll go back again!
Had a pretty good meal here with my wife while in town. Â My bill seemed higher than I anticipated for the same kind of food at competitors. Anyway, the meal was good and the service was adequate. Sat around and talked after dinner for a bit and thouhgt about getting something else but the waiter never came back during the next 45 minutes to see if I might want another drink or desert.
Overall though the expereince here is good.
This may be a franchise restaurant but it is quite good.  Had some reservations about a "chain" restaurant and I was very surprised. First of all the staff could not have been more friendly, helpful and genuinely  service oriented, from the hostess to the server to the bus person. The menu had a good variety of offerings with moderate prices. My son and I both ordered house salads and an entree. We also received all the warm bread we could eat and my Diet Coke got refilled as soon as I had downed half of what was in the glass.  Portions were enough to fill you up nicely and the food was tasty, well seasoned and the pasta in both dishes was done correctly, not soggy at all. Check for two salads, two entrees, soft drinks came to $38.00, not bad.
Not your true Italian dining experience but good enough that I will return. I can do without the fancy tables, dinner ware, singers and often times arrogant staff.
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