Johnny Carino's
Reviews and Complaints

Good afternoon. I am sending this message to inform the Johnny Carino's Italian Restaurant in Lake Jackson and the entire company of a certain waitress that is making you all look terrible. Attached below is a screenshot of a tweet from a miss Elissa Knoch. She clearly stated that she hates waiting on Mexicans as they do not seem to "tip" well and are always "extra needy". She would much rather have a table of teenagers than a table of Mexicans. I myself have been a waitress before for many years at a tex-mex restaurant in the same area and although I understand her frustration of not being tipped what she *believes* she deserved, there is absolutely no reason to bring the factor of the table's race into it. I don't think it ever occurred to her that maybe her service was not up to par or as great as she believed it to be, thus being reflected in the tip. There was no excuse or reason as to why she had to go out in social media and make such a statement, other than to get attention and hurt others' feelings. She tweeted this today on her twitter account : @enknoch, and has since deleted the tweet and made her account private. Clearly she's received some backlash and isn't feeling as hyped about her statement as she originally had. I surely hope you terminate her as this is disgusting and simply shameful. If no action is taken, it will be clear on the restaurant and the company's stance on this matter. Hope you all make this right.

For starters I don't appreciate that your so-called goody good manager George had the audacity to call my husband a drug at it in a woman beater in the fact nothing gets done about it and then last night when you yawls new female managers I think her name is Kathy with shelving on my husband over and over physically and nobody did anything about it I'm just wanting y'all to be made aware of how yawls employees get treated by management at Johnny Carino‘s in North Little Rock and if y'all can't do something about it I'll go To the head boss whatever I have to do to get justice for my husband because frankly that store is [censored]ty and everyone in that store you've got drug dealers you've got to coked out bartender all the time so y'all might want to start looking into it

Ordered $112 takeout order, it was horrible..old, hard, disgusting. This was the third time we had ordered because 5he two prior times we were happy...after the last order being so horrible we were told we could get a credit of $50 or we could have order replaced. Opted to have $50 credit to find out when I get to restaraunt that it was a gift card for Johnny Carino..I then opted to have my whole meal replaced, not to Merion the fact the manager was the rudest and had to wait 15 minutes for her to even come speak to me. When I received my order it didn't have the salads or 5he bread just the entrees...we get home my daughter had cheese raviolis and within 30 minutes of eating them she was vomiting...this went on to the point where she was vomiting bile. I had to rush her to the Emergency Room to incur over a $1, 000 in medical bills. We then went to her stomach doctor who reviewed everything from the emergency room and he stated it was a definite case of food poisoining. I don't feel that we should have to incur the medical bills for this as if we wouldn't have went back to your restaurant located off of IH-35 in Austin TX then we would have not ever incurred these bills. I would appreciate someone reaching out to me so that we can take care of this. Email address is [protected]@gmail.com, Julie Chamrad or by phone at [protected] or [protected].

On 8-24-18 we visited Johnny Carino's establishment in El Centro to dine and have a couple of drinks with my family. We ate and had drinks in the bar area and everything seemed to be good, as far as the service and the meal. When I paid my bill I paid with my debit card and left a 15% cash tip. When I check with my bank there was an overcharged different than the billed that I had signed at the restaurant. This has happened before that is why I'm writing this complaint.

We were at JC for a celebration. My daughter, 40, and myself, 63. We had a booth in the bar. The waiter, NATHAN, gave us our drinks. Did not provide silverware, napkins, water, or plates. We asked him several times. He brought things one at a time. He slammed our plates down on the table. We had to ask for oil and vi gear for the bread. He let it sit on the bar in plain sight and then walked by and slung it onto our table. There was a couple - a preacher and his wife - who came in after us who received exemplary service. They were in the booth beside us. After he doted on them, we would ask for something. They told management we were yelling at him. We never raised our voices nor were we angry. We just called his name and asked for essentials. After forty minutes of him ignoring us, we got his attention and asked him when our food would be out. He shrugged his shoulders and said he never turned in our order. The manager came over as per our request and defended the employee. Saying there had been a report we were yelling at him. As the manager was at our table, NATHAN walked by several times laughing and pointing at us. The manager out in our food order and never apologized. When it was ready, NATHAN brought it in a to-go box. We said we were going to eat it there. He screamed OH MY GOD! Walked off and flipped us off. My daughter went to ask him about his behavior and he started screaming YOURE CUT OFF! Min you, my daughter had 1 beer and myself 1 glass of wine. We waited for the manager to come back and finally sent someone to get he so we could pay our check. We didn't want to be accused of not paying. She came over all huffy and said she had comped the check. We left traumatized and we left our food. And hour and a half of abuse. And last we checked, NATHAN is still working there. My daughter had never been to Carinos before and I was excited to take her! I go with friends and family at least 1-2 times a month and spend never less than $100. I need this resolved. I am still furious that I cannot ever go back to my favorite restaurant!

I was walking around before work in an area surrounded by restaurants. I stopped into one and was talking with my friend, Chris, to kill time before work and he set down a glass of white wine on the bar top. Next thing I know, my manager, Caity, showed up out of nowhere and spatted at me, "There's alcohol in front of you! You can't come in tonight!" Then she left. I didn't get to say a word. She upset me so I had a few drinks. Why not? I called and talked to her later but I don't remember much except I don't have a job anymore. Everything would've been fine had she not stalked me. She scares me. The host at the restaurant I went to said she was watching me through the windows. Creepy! She left the Johnny Catino's Property and followed me with no idea of where I was going. Then she watched me through the restaurant windows and freaked out the teenage host. She made a scene in a restaurant long before I was due to be at work. This is my complaint.

On July 5, 2018 we entered the store, in El Centro, looking to dine on wings and Bellinis, and watch our Sam Diego Padres! After doing so, our bill reflected a price that was higher than expected. I alerted our server and she said that she would take care of the mistake. When she returned the bill was still incorrect and advised that it is computer error and that she has no control over that. She asked if I would like to speak with her manager, to which I agreed. When the manager approached, I advised her of the discrepancy, the Bellinis were charged $1 more, being that it is a special of Thursday's happy hour, also that were charged for ranch dressing that we did not order not did we use, being lactose intolerant! She also stated that it was a computer error but that she would fix it. While waiting for this to be resolved, I recalled receiving an email about but 2 entrees receive 2 entrees free. As manger approached with our now corrected bill. I advised her that we were looking to try the 2 for 2 special, at which time the manager, named Veronica, told us that we would have to move to the dining room, as it is not allowed to be served in the bar. I found that to be inconvenient, but obliged to move to the dining room, with our happy hour drinks, where I could no longer watch the game, that I had been watching. We ordered the chicken scallapini and lasagne. Service and the did were excellent! When this bill came, it showed us being charged for 2 chicken scallapinis and the lasagnas being the free entrees. I once again pointed this out to our server, who was more than happy to bring it to the attention of her manager, Veronica, again. After explaining to Veronica the problem, she advised me that the computer automatically does that. I advised her that my original order was 1 scallapini and 1 lasagne. I also showed her the email, that in no way reflected this type of transaction. Meaning, that I should have been charged for 1 scallapini and 1 lasagne. She said that she would do it this time, but, not again. We paid our bill and were happy as we exited.

July 8, 2018, at 945pm we entered the El Centro store with intentions of dining on your fine food once again! I placed my order
and was immediately advised that the Bellinis were not available due to the cleaning of the machine. I asked why, being that the bar area is open till 12am. I was also advised that the kitchen was closed. The schedule out front shows the dining room on until 10pm. Our server asked if we would like to speak to her manager. I said yes and lo and behold Veronica appeared as if to be "waiting in the wings" knowing there would be an issue. I asked why we would not be able to dine, as it was not yet 10pm. She had no answer. I asked if I could have a number that I would be able to address my recent experiences. She came out and handed me a "Post It" with a number for a district manager named John, [protected]. She also advised me that he would be expecting my call, as she had already alerted him of this incident. We then left the restaurant, disappointed. While on the way home I contacted John and advised him of my last 2 experience. He said that the kitchen should have been closed and that Bellini machine should have been operable. When referring to the 2 for 2 discrepancy. We agreed to disagree on the process. But before that John said that if I was not happy with his response that maybe I should return to your restaurant! I asked John if he said what I had just heard, he again repeated what he said! I could not believe it! I looked at my girlfriend, in disbelief, as she was hearing the whole conversation via speaker phone. Being the tone that I was receiving from John, I politely asked if I could get done kind of response to my experiences. He said that he would repremand the manager and would not give me any response to my issues. He then abruptly hung up! Therefore, I am disappointed in the professionalism of your staff. I have been dining with Carino's since you came to our valley. I have always highly recommended your bar area and happy hour! I am depleted at this time.

06/23/18 party of 20 for my mothers 93rd birthday at your Airway location in El Paso, TX. The service was great, the problems were with the food. 1st the portion of the chicken jerusalem that my mother received was sizeably less than what was served to us monday the 11th (I took her there to lunch the previous monday). that monday the portion was large enough that we were able to share the food and was quite good. Yesterdays portion was much smaller. I brought it to the waiters attention and I asked to speak to the manager, he insisted that portion was the norm, I proceeded to tell him about our lunch experience on the 11th. anyways nothing was resolved on this issue. 2nd my niece found a hair in her spagetti, the manager removed the charge for it and did ask if she wanted something else instead...after a hair in her food, she didnt have much of an appetite. 3rd a hair was also found in one of the salads, that niece chose not to complain. 4th we all got our food at the same time with the exception of my 16 yr old grandson, his spagetti/meatballs came about over 5 mins later...which was by that time cold...by this time I was tired of complaining. My portion of the bill was 145.08 plus accidently my husband included an additional 20.00, our stupid fault. The fault was not the servers with the exception of my grandsons cold food, it must have just sat there waiting for someone to bring it to us. Also my ticket #1598600 says 16 guests, there were 19. Anyways thought I would mention this mess, might help you all get it together on the weekends. My mother and I do visit this restaurant about once a month and have NEVER had an issue, but no longer. We will not eat there aga

Yesterday 05/20/18 I visited the North Little Rock location around 9:30pm . I order 2 Chicken timballos and when I got home opened them up they had no sauce in the spaghetti and were missing the olives. I did not want the onions and bell peppers. It had spaghetti noodles, chicken, pepperoni, mushrooms, and cheese...no sauce?!
Attached is the picture of the food both looked exactly the same...dry with no sauce. I have attached my receipt as well. To spend over 30 dollars for food for it to be thrown together is not acceptable. I called back up to the store at 9:57 pm and was told by Joshua that he would give my complaint to a manager and I would receive a call. I did not receive a call so I called this morning around 10:56 am and talked with a manager..he said he did not have anything and if I had the food..i told him i threw it away but I did take a picture...he then adks me to send it to him so now I have to prove that I am not lying be sending pictures. I understand that the store was closing in 30 minutes but that no excuse on the quality of food I should receive. I am upset that my food was just thrown together and now I have to call and file complaints in order to get some type of resolution. My name is Tansha Rogers and my telephone number is 501.908.9015. 

On Tuesday April 24, 2018 I went to the Victoria Texas location. Upon arrival, it took a while for a hostess to even come and greet us, while we were waiting another family came in waiting to be seated as well. The hostess was busy talking to someone else and then walked around trying to find a seat for us (group of 4) and the whole restaurant was fairly empty. We were seated by the bar and the waitress also took a while to get drinks, bread etc. She eventually brought our salads first and when I was eating mine I noticed something red. It was a LADYBUG! I was appalled and disgusted to have found it in my salad! I had already eaten part of my salad and the ladybug was dead so I know the lettuce was not washed properly. I informed the waitress and she offered a replacement but I lost my appetite and declined. She said she would take it off the bill but finding a dead bug in a salad is completely disgusting! I barely touched my entree and after spending close to $90 there I felt something more should of been done.

Unprofessional and Uncourteous management at Carinos in North Little Rock Arkansas. My family and I had the most unpleasant experience we have ever had. The manager counted the meats on my husband's nachos which in fact the nacho looked quite naked, He left over half of the plate. My grandson ordered the chicken fettuccini and the chicken was not appetizing. He pulled the meat out of the
pasta. Let me just say we are definitely not pleased. We should have just went to Olive Garden. Also it was cash only and they locked the doors on us.

My family and I visited Carino's San Marcos on Friday March 16th. We were promptly seated in a far corner of the restaurant at a dirty wobbly table. The floor was filthy, the seats were not wiped down, and the table was so wobbly that we had to be moved because we had a little with us and everytime she colored or leaned on the table we had to hold it so that the plates and everything else on the table wouldn't fall off. Our waitress was pretty good (it was obvious that she was a little slow so that taken into account she did well with taking the orders); however she did not follow up AT ALL, I believe this is not her fault but the team leader's as it is his job to make sure she (the waitress) is okay and not in the weeds. We ordered calamari, it was cold and the breading was not all that great, we were served a tomato syrup looking marinara that was obviously substituted for what should have been marinara. While drinking our overpriced stupidly marked up wine which Carino's is obviously taking advantage of the public wine drinker, we asked for water, about 20 minutes later we received water. But in order to receive water we had to get up and break up the staff party to disturb one to pay attention to the paying customer that was NOT invited to the party. The staff was loud, cursing, and messy for the most part. The food was pretty good, the mac and cheese was so awful that my granddaughter couldn't even eat it, and we tasted it, she was correct. The Milano was great, the spicy shrimp & chicken was good at best, but we were starving so we ate the less than quality food anyway. We had to wait over 20 minutes to get our check and then had to go find someone to take and process our ticket. This is not a complaint regarding the actual waitress, it is based on management style. A good manager can actually run a good store by supporting his employees. This is/was a 2nd chance visit, as the last time that I actually went there (not this location) the food at that store was no fit to serve to guests. I spent over $120.00 on our meal and should NOT have been charged but maybe a service fee of some sort. The entire experience was very disappointing, I love my chicken Milano but I am not willing to dine in a dirty and unkempt store to get it.

I previously submitted a complaint. I visited the restaurant today 11/21/17. I arrived at about 12:10 and ordered my food by 12:15. The restaurant was pretty empty and the waitress Dora T was our server. I orders mozzo sticks and a pizza from the all day happy hour menu along with two drinks for the bar. My total bills was approx. 25 dollars. The restaurant was pretty much empty so I don't think it would take more than 25 minutes to receive my food. After 20 minutes I asked the server if I could just get my food to go and she said it would take about another 5 minutes. I advised her that I was on lunch and couldn't really wait any longer and her response was that next time I should say I am in a hurry. I don't see how that would make a difference but I said okay well can I just get the food to go. After another 5 minutes I told the manager and he said well she'll bring the food out. I also don't think that's an appropriate response 5 out of the 8 of us received food and the rest of us had to take it to go. I honestly think she forgot to put the order in and didn't even apologize or anything. We didn't get asked for refills or anything. We just got the office and opened our food and we didn't get what we ordered, my pizza tastes undercooked. Overall this was a horrible experience and I want my money back. I was in such a hurry to come back to work that I didn't get my receipt but I had get a statement from my back showing how much I paid.

Hello, I am a frequent customer at the Laredo Carinos. My family and I were there yesterday at night for dinner. i used my pasta credit points so my tab totaled 10.79. i left a 5.21 tip for it to even out to 16.00. i checked my bank today and it posted 18.00. i found it odd, so i called the restaurant and asked to speak with a manager. i spoke to Cathy who was extremely helpful and i told her my situation and she sent me a copy of my receipt where i wrote the tip and signed, and guess what... it wasn't my signature nor did i leave that amount of tip to the waiter that mind you told us it was his 2nd day on the job. I am extremely surprised and upset by this situation. i know you probably think its just a 1.XX of a difference which is fine but its still FRAUD! He forged my signature (did a lousy job at it, not even close to my signature). I am astonished by the whole situation. what if the next customer he gets, he add a 10 or 20 tip to the receipt. It was naive of me to leave my customer copy on the table blank, but it doesn't give him a right to forge my signature and add a tip i didn't leave, mind you i was nice to leave him 5.00 because the service wan't all that good to begin with. The manager said she would take care of the situation with the waiter and apologized for the mishap, but i told her i was still going to file a complaint because what he did is not acceptable in a work place! i need a response on what corporate is going to do about this. my email is [protected]@yahoo.com. you can check my pasta points as well. its under the same email. I look forward to hearing from you asap!
JMorrison

On March 26th my family of 17 met from out of town in Albany oregon to celebrate my father's 77th birthday. Upon arrival we discovered that our reservation was for 15 and not 17, we always ask for the private room because there are so many of us. When the server came to help us rearrange our tables to accommodate us the assistant manager came in and said we were not a private party to the server and now she was going to not be able to accommodate the other party of 12 who had reservation also she then proceeded to open up all of drapes that opened up into the dining room giving us no privacy, I closed the drapes she came back and complained again to the server. There was still half the room available for us to share with the other party, instead of talking to us proceeded to complain to the server and open the drapes again I closed them again and she rudely opened them up in my face and said this was not a party and not to be able close the drapes, she continued to complain to the other employees so we got up all 17 of us and started to walk out the door and let them know that was so rude unprofessional and we would not be back. She proceeded to say that's your choice and we were asked to leave from there. I have work in the food industry for a number of years and am now a social worker, I have never experienced the amount of unprofessional conduct of the manager on duty that day.

I went to your Carino's Austin, Texas location with my girlfriend on Jan. 16. After we were sat we waited around 10 minutes to be greeted. When our server finally appeared he greeted us with "what do you want to drink" in a harsh tone. We were never told our servers name, he didn't apologize for the wait, and and he didn't act even mildly happy to be representing your restaurant. Even after the poor start to our meal we kept an open mind, as we have both been to your restaurant several times and have never had a bad experience, but the meal got increasingly worse from there. After we were brought our meals and ate for about 5 minutes we were immediately brought our check. We again weren't asked if we wanted dessert (which we did) or if we were enjoying the meal that we had barely started eating, just given our check as if our server couldn't get us out the door fast enough. After finishing our meal I paid with my debit card and signed the check. On the tip line I wrote "cash" and put a line across the rest of the line, as we had intended to leave $5 in cash on our $28 tab. Which was gracious for the awful service we were given. The next day I checked my bank statement and noticed that I was charged $38 for our meal. I knew this was a mistake because I left a cash tip and therefore should've only been charged $28. I called the location and explained the situation to the manager, Joshua Silva, who informed me that he would "look into the situation and refund me my $10" and if I wasn't refunded in 4 days I should call back. It was then that I learned our servers name was Jack. 4 days later I still had not been refunded so I called back and explained my situation to the host and asked to speak to a manager. 5 minutes later the host got back on the phone and said the manager knew who I was and that he would call me back when he was free. After not being contacted for an additional 3 days I called again. This time I spoke to a new manager and again explained my situation. All I asked for was my $10 that I was overcharged. I was again told that the situation would be investigated and that I should call back if I wasn't refunded in 4 days. 6 days later I still had not been refunded so my girlfriend and I went to the location and asked to speak to a manager. I spoke to Joshua Silvia again while there and told him that I want a full refund because of how poorly the situation was handled. Joshua apologized and immediately refunded me and gave me a $40 gift card. I'm not complaining to get anything further as far as compensation for my troubles goes, I would just like you to know about the kind of people your restaurants employ and how poorly your management handled the situation. If I had been refunded my $10 after the first call I would've been fine and I would've left it at that. However, the mishandling of the situation cost your restaurant a total of $78 and the bad reputation that it now has with my family and friends as well as my girlfriends family and friends

On Monday the 30th of January we went to the Johnny Carino's in Twin Falls, Idaho for dinner and wine. The wine glasses we were given were absolutely disgusting and my date wanted the glasses returned for clean ones. While waiting for our server, I noticed, and took a photo of the glasses behind the bar and decided I had one of the cleaner ones in the establishment.

This is an email I wrote to the District Manager of a Carinos location in Boise Idaho regarding a visit on 11 December 2010, and have yet to get even an acknowledgment that it was received. Names, other that Mr. Hollis, are altered for obvious reasons:

Mr. Hollis,
I am writing to register a rather distressing complaint on my recent visit to Carino's at 3551 E. Fairview Ave in Meridian, Idaho. On 11 December 2010, I visited your establishment with my girlfriend, Monica, and friend William. While we enjoyed the meal and were satisfied with the service during the meal, the issue herein lies with the server's mistakes when ringing up our cards to pay for the bill (which took 15 minutes from the time she took our cards to the time she brought the receipts). We asked Kelsey M. (10061) to split the $62.72 bill as follows: $13.50 on William's card, and the remainder to be halved between my card and Monica's ($24.61 each). When we received our receipts, mine and William's appeared correct as the receipts showed the amounts mentioned previously. However, Monica's showed that the entire bill ($62.72) had been charged to her card instead of just $24.61. Upon seeing this, Monica proceeded to log onto her mobile banking site to check the charge and discovered she had indeed been charged for the full bill. This then prompted William and I to check ours, too. William's was correct at $13.50. My bank, however, didn't even match the receipt I was asked to sign ($24.61), and showed two separate charges of $13.50 and $49.22. When we asked Kelsey, and showed her our phones with the current charges, she assured us that everything was correct and that "that's just the way it gets printed out." We asked her to double check the transactions and Kelsey took all three cards again, including the receipts, and did not return for another 15 minutes. When she returned, the $62.72 receipt for Monica's card had disappeared and Monica was given one instead for $24.61. Kelsey did not explain what, if any, issues there were, did not offer an apology or even tell us that the charges had been corrected; she just left the table and did not come back. As this was not an acceptable situation, Monica went to find the store Manager, Meaghan, as we felt uncomfortable leaving the restaurant without knowing for sure the status of the charges rendered. We explained the ordeal and showed her the info from our banks. Meaghan then took our receipts and cards, and came back, explaining that she did something so that the charges would not go through since as a manager, she had to approve the charges anyway. Her explanation was very ambiguous and didn't satisfactorily remove our doubt that the issue had been corrected. However, we took her word that it would be fixed, signed our respective receipts and departed.
The big issue here, Mr. Hollis, is that this debacle tied up an extra $62.72 between mine and Monica's accounts for 4 days. With this being the Information Age, and the way banks are trying to squeeze every dime in fees they can from the consumer, this was an especially dangerous blunder since today’s banks view a “pending” charge the same as an approved charge. In other words, I did not have the extra monies available to me and thus was unable to complete my errands for over half a week. And as I'm sure you're aware, times are tight along with the Holidays being among us. That night was supposed to be a treat for the three of us, along with a Christmas shopping day, both of which were thwarted by erroneous human error and general lack of customer service or compassion. As of the sending of this email (16 December 2010), the charges have been corrected on both mine and Monica’s accounts.
What I would like to know is your plan for ensuring this circumstance never happens again: Whether it involves retraining your staff on proper procedures when handling credit cards; reminding your management that while the wait staff may make more mistakes due to their high-stress jobs, your managers should be more apologetic toward their customers when mistakes are made; a written apology from you and Meaghan with a promise to do right by the patrons who help keep you in business; or an incentive put our faith back in your restaurant and come back again one day. Had a phrase anywhere close to “Oh my gosh, I am so sorry about this. This was an honest mistake, I’ll take care of it right away!” been given at the dinner table that night, you would not be receiving this email and you would have 3 returning customers. As of now, none of us plan on visiting your establishment anymore.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the receipt and charge totals:
Total Bill $62.72

$13.50 William's receipt
$24.61 my receipt
$62.72 Monica's receipt

$13.50 charged to William
$13.50 charged to me
$49.22 charged to me
$62.72 charged to Monica

$138.94 total charged among all three cards for the initial $62.72 bill
**Time stamped screenshots of our banks’ online banking websites are available, along with the receipts, upon your request.

Sincerely,
Bradley