We love Carinos. Food is good. Our favorite is the Spicy Chicken and shrimp pasta, and the rosemary chicken pasta . They have a delicious $6 margarita every day. They could use a TV in there though, my husband hates to miss games and we end up on Famous Dave's side ;) read more

Johnny Carino's - Daily specials - Italian Near Me - Modesto, California

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The sign said: "Wait to be seated" After a few minutes of standing with no one acknowledging our presence we sat ourselves. Eventually a waitress came and gave us our menu. The "fresh bread" wasn't fresh. We asked for another loaf. We never received it. The loaf we took home turned hard enough to become a deadly weapon in a few short hours. The food was good, but you can get good food with better service at any other Italian restaurant. I don't think I'll be going back. read more

My husband and I have genuinely tried to eat here 3-4 times before today, but every time without fail, we would walk in, not be greeted by anyone, and wait for literally any employee to say anything to us for about 5 minutes before giving up and leaving. Then today we were with our kids and my father-in-law, when he said he would take us out to lunch, his treat. He picked Johnny Carino's and we decided to give it a shot. We were actually greeted this time and sat down to look at the menu. Not super impressed with the menu options, I decided to go with a simple soy and salad, (The menu said it was unlimited). My husband tried to order off the lunch menu as it was lunch time, but the waitress told him that it was "unavailable" on Sundays. Oh well, he just ordered the dinner portion and that was that. Mine and my daughter's salads were brought out first. A decent simple salad. Then our soup choice, I got minestrone, she got potato soup. Then the rest of the food was brought out. My husband got eggplant Parmesan and it was cut so thick that the eggplant wasn't even cooked all the way. Also it came with a bit of spaghetti that was so spicy, it was inedible. My soup was okay, nothing special, but I was looking forward to trying the potato soup on my next bowl. Unfortunately the service was so bad that she never came to check on us for the rest of our lunch. I was out of soup and water for about 20 minutes with no check in. Then everyone was finished and ready for the check so I just ate the rest of my daughter's potato soup so I could at least try it. For the high price I definitely would have expected better quality food and better service. Never coming here again, definitely not worth it. read more

Not much to say about this place. The drinks are okay. It's at the mall. I can't think of much else it has going for it.

Waited 20 minutes for our beverages. Food is sub-par....I'm not a chain restaurant fan. Nothing's fresh.

I can't believe I haven't written a review yet. We have dined at Johnny Carino's several times. The best server in my opinion is Lindy (I think it is short for Melinda). She is always so polite, friendly, and helpful! It makes for a wonderful dining experience. They have lots of email specials. It would behoove you to sign up. Especially, for large parties or families. They have their family platters half off occasionally through the email. It is usually on select Sundays and Mondays. It has a pretty wide open layout, they have a bar area, and two separate sections if needed. Their chocolate cake is to die for! It used to come as the birthday dessert, but I think they stopped a while back. Which is a shame. :( I enjoy several items on the menu. I love the wedge salad that has blue cheese crumbles, apple slices, and pecans. I also like their baked tortellini covered with ooey-gooey cheese! read more

I received my entree before the appetizer which was not that big of a deal as they brought it out later and I was not charged. The food was decent had the lasagna, Cesar salad, and calamari in that order . All the food was good then I ordered dessert to go my server bright a to go box for the leftover calamari which I didn't need and had completely forgot the dessert I ordered to go. Oh yeah I almost forgot I also watched as they delivered the food for the table behind me to the wrong table. If you go be patient service is slow and a little confused but very nice read more

When first being seated we should of walked out right then when we noticed that the table next to us had a dog, not sitting on the ground but On the owners lap with its head next to the table, I don't know if It was a service dog as it had no markings to display that, however, even if it was, it should have been on the floor. STRIKE 1. Also when we arrived there were 3 tables full of dirty dishes which never got bussed the whole time we were there. STRIKE 2! The staff was very friendly but considering there were only 3 other people in the restaurant it was ridiculous to wait almost an hour for our food to come out. The food was sub par at best, we took it home to give our dog and ordered dessert. The dessert was pre-made so all they had to do was put it on a plate and that still took another 20 minutes. STRIKE 3! DO BETTER JOHNNY CARINO''S read more

My Aunt & I visit family for the Holidays She enjoys dining at this establishment every year, however; we were disappointed with our recent lunch experience The restaurant now has a shared space with a separate restaurant. It's a bit odd as there are no wall dividing the two businesses The kitchen & bathrooms are also shared by the two establishments My Aunt's favorite dish on the menu is the Angel Hair Pasta with Artichokes, however; the server informed us that Angel Hair pasta is no longer offered The dish is now made with spaghetti My Aunt was disappointed but ordered the dish anyway The food was hot and delivered to our table in a timely manner but the Spaghetti with Artichokes did not include any artichokes When this was brought to our servers attention she informed us they were sold out of artichokes This was surprising to hear since the restaurant opened at 11:45am and we arrived at 12:05pm The server asked if my Aunt wanted to order something else in its place but my Aunt was not interested. My Aunt asked our server if Spaghetti with Artichokes could be taken off our bill. The server asked her manager and it was taken off our bill My Aunt had also wanted decaf tea or decaf coffee but neither were available I enjoyed a glass of red wine and the Stuffed Mushrooms Our server was friendly and attentive Unfortunately we decided to not return in the future read more

Johnny Carino's - Spaghetti with Artichokes Artichokes omitted from dish - Italian Near Me - Modesto, California

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It's 3 pm and the place dead and we're are the only one here and it took 30 min to get our lunch . Philly cheese steak sandwich was tough. Bbq chicken sandwich was so so. read more

My coworker recommended we eat here as she comes here with her kids often. I'd seen the reviews so I knew what to expect. The quality is similar to an Applebees in my opinion. I enjoyed my burger but I was also really hungry. The calamari was okay. The margarita was really sweet but as a light weight it got me pretty quickly. Server seemed overwhelmed but was really nice. Ambience was okay but the merge with the bbq spot was confusing and kind of weird. read more

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Fail! Waited over 20 minutes for cold food. Meals came out 10 minutes apart. Really difficult to swallow lasagna when the cheese is cold. Prime rib was sub par. Won't be back. One waitress for 9 tables. The salad came out after the meals. read more

the food is incredible and the service is great . servers are very good and it is a great environment for a good meal

The service is great our service person. Ashley was doing a great job. We got our food promptly on time. Great atmosphere nice and quiet not loud like Buffalo wild wings. We had great food. The wings are awesome. I really do recommend the 15 minute wings my wife and I had spaghetti with the meat sauce and the meatballs it was to die for is very good and to top it off the waitress kept coming to check on us to make sure that we were OK and we loved the service if you're looking for a place to bring your family and friends or you just wanna do a quick lunch break please come check out Johnny Carino's. You won't be dissatisfied. You will leave here happy and full. read more

Johnny Carino's - Plate t - Italian Near Me - Modesto, California

Took forever to get seated even though the restaurant was empty. Ordered steak sandwich with side salad the sandwich and salad appeared that someone just threw it together appeared as ready to toss in garbage ate a couple of bites and left terrible restaurant save your money. NOT RECOMMENDED!!!! read more

Trying to find a medium price Italian restaurant since Olive Garden closed, well this was not it. Ordered 3 choice chicken ( chicken, lasagna and spaghetti. Chicken was overcooked very dry, lasagna was ok the spaghetti also ok. Nothing to write home about. Will keep searching. read more

THIS IS THE "STUPIDEST " Most INEFFICIENT SETUP EVER! Seriously We have been Dining here for many years as Johnny Carino's. We would drive from Atwater now From Lodi especially during the Christmas Holidays to buy the Gifts Cards. So when we are in the area this is where we would eat. Now that Famous Dave is "A DIFFERENT- SEPARATE RESTAURANT " I don't Know ‍ I ordered my dinner and the Server said "I have to get someone else to take the order" WHAT??? I don't like working this hard to eat and Pay seriously We waited outside in the car 30 + minutes while there were at least 6 Open Tables and the Bar was COMPLETELY EMPTY and my Husband would have definitely been on his Second Beer but NO! The Hostess was is Charge- but NOT! It may a while before we are ready to do this DINING CHALLENGE SURPRISE SURPRISE THE FOOD WAS DELICIOUS read more

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Great low-key atmosphere. I had the lemon cake (SQUEEZE THE LEMON WEDGE OVER THE POWDERED SUGAR-you're welcome) and it was amazing! The Bellini was refreshing. I had zero complaints about the food, service or prices. read more

Johnny Carino's - Bellini - House Favorites Lemon Cream Cake - Italian Near Me - Modesto, California

This was only my 2nd time eating there in the 6 years since I moved back to Modesto, I was definitely not impressed today although my food was good. The service was not. There was one waitress to about seven tables. I heard the people behind me complained that their food was overcooked. It took us almost 10 minutes to get sugar after asking for it twice. I just don't see myself going back at all . read more

The bread and olive oil were amazing. We had tiramisu. All I can say was it was delicious the Italian soda was also yummy. The service was good, it is a cute restaurant with a diverse crowd. read more

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They never have half the item menu items, the servers and cooks have no communication and the servers can never tell people what is not available and what is. The servers take forever to get back to check on you when it is completely empty. The food is horrible nothing taste authentic or fresh, super plain and bland. After I had asked for some more bread I had waited over 10 minutes for, I notice an actual bug arm or leg of sort and I was disgusted immediately. They took the food off the tab but that's doesn't change what had been experienced here. read more

Service was good! Waitress was checking in with us the right amount of times. They started off with complimentary balsamic vinegar and oil with bread. The bread was amazing but the oil tasted off. It wasn't quality olive oil, but that doesn't matter to me as I came here for the dinner. We then ordered the calamari for our appetizer. It was SO GOOD! I loved it with the lemon they offered us. I couldn't put it down. We ordered the spicy shrimp and chicken pasta. We split the plate because the portions are hefty. Towards the end the waitress remembered to give us a coupon for the next time we come. Which will definitely happen again! read more

First time eating here and it won't be our last! Everything was perfect. Our "waiter" Marco was awesome. We ordered the sampler to start. The mozarella sticks are huge and homemade. Calamari was piled high and crispy. The nachos had chicken and white sauce and fried wonton skins. So good. Our order consisted of regular spaghetti with meatballs, bow tie pasta with just plain sauce, Timbalo ( spaghetti with pepperoni, onions , peppers, mushrooms topped with cheese and baked , and Chicken Cacciatore. Large plates and absolutely delicious! I found out as we were thanking our waiter Marco, that he was actually the bartender. 2 workers called in today so he became a greeter and a waiter. We will definitely make this our " go to " when we go to Modesto. ( 50 miles away) Thank you for a wonderful experience! read more

Johnny Carino's - This was the Timbalo. - Italian Near Me - Modesto, California

Save your $$ & buy a jar of Ragu! One of those reviews where you wish you could leave a zero as in "no star". This place is horrible & don't be fooled by the new decor & decorations. Serving staff is decent but understaffed. It's the food ...the food is under cooked, over cooked or just cooked wrong. This place does not serve Italian so save the $$ & go to Derwienerschnitzel. Drive over to Bella Italia & eat well. read more

Such good food and the staff is amazing everyone is so friendly and the little spot they are isiso cozy. Ashly and Melinda do such a great job and the hosts are so helpful to!! This place is a hidden gem!!! The spicy Romano is my fav a the pizza is so good they have thin crust and original for sure a must try!!! read more

The food was absolutely terrible especially for the prices. I ordered the lasagna and my husband ordered the chicken parm. His meal was okay nothing to brag about, but my plate was atrocious. My lasagna was extremely salty and dumped into a bowl not even plated nicely. The way it was dumped looking a hot mess not looking appetizing. We will not be coming. read more

Met some friends here for dinner...well, if you can classify it as dinner. All of us decided to order wings. This was the first time I've ever ate at a JCs. My friend is a regular. But he did comment on the fact that prices have gone up significantly. Even the price of the wings went up over 50% in the last couple years...just like my paycheck! Thanks boss! Oh wait...that last part about getting a raise didn't happen. I like hot and spicy and tried to order the habanero level. Our waiter said they don't sell either of the "hot" levels. I asked which one of the remaining was the hottest and he said the buffalo sauce...huh? So that's what I ordered. My buddy that showed up a few minutes late went through the exact same scenario. I asked to have my buffalo sauce on the side instead of coated on the wings...plus a ranch dressing. The bone-in wings were small and the size of the boneless varied a lot. But both were good enough. Throw in a couple $6 beers per the menu and we each called it dinner. This place is located outside of a big mall, so there's basically, unlimited parking. Waiting instead were a few people...no host for several minutes. The phone rang and a waitress (or host), came, and answered, head down so as not to make eye contact with any of us. Hung up and walked away. The place wasn't pack so I don't understand why it happened that way. Eating just wings and brews, the price wasn't too bad. However, sauces ordered as "a side" as opposed to being coated on the wings comes as an additional charge (ranch $.75 and buffalo $.90 each). Also, my receipt showed that I was charged $6.25 instead of $6 each for my beers. With two rounds of wings (cause you can only order 10 at a time), my bill was appx $4 more than I was expecting. So overall, things were off on this first time experience to JCs in my opinion. Not enough to downgrade them below average. But something to keep an eye on. I'll give them a try again one day...or maybe a different location. read more

Johnny Carino's - Italian Near Me - Modesto, California

Food was 2 out of 10. The Waitress Kristen was very nice but not very good at customer service. First, she said the bread was in the oven and she would bring it with olive oil and vinegar in just a few minutes. The bread never came even though we asked twice. There were just my husband and I and three older ladies in the entire restaurant (2 tables to take care of) it was 11:45am and they open at 11:30. Kristen very nicely took our order and we ordered soup before lunch, my husband had potato soup and I had minestrone soup. We waited 15 minutes for the soup. we both ordered ice tea and asked a couple of times for refills and were told sure no problem but our teas were never filled. The potato soup was sour, bitter and uneatable. The minestrone soup was basically watered down and mostly kidney beans, it tasted old like they took minestrone soup a few days old added water and a couple of cans of kidney beans. When I told Kristen about the potato soup and that there was something definitely wrong with the soup, she kindly apologized and said she could get us another cup of potato soup because they were making a fresh pot of potato soup, which was odd since we were one of their first customers of the day does that mean we did not get freshly made soup, was it old and had gone bad? Kristen took the soup off of our bill which was appreciated. My husband's lasagna was average at best nothing special. The cream sauce on my penne pasta did not taste good at all in fact I could only take four bites before I pushed it away. If you want good Italian food go to Palermo Modesto on H. Street the best Italian restaurant in Modesto. Sadly we will not be going back to Johnny Carino's!! read more

The two stars is for the food. This is my first time eating here with my boyfriend. There used to be a Johnny Carino's where I live and I was so excited to go to this one with my boyfriend because he's never ate at a Johnny Carino's. They give one roll of bread with olive oil for starters. I wish the basket had more than one roll of bread. It was okay. For appetizer, we ordered the baked stuffed mushrooms. The mushrooms were good but the stuffed part was hard. I ordered the wedge salad, I loved it. My boyfriend ordered the seafood rigatoni Alfredo. There was no flavor in the pasta and my boyfriend had to add a lot of pepper to it. I would not recommend this place to anyone. read more

Amazing service by Ashley, thank you for recommending the burger and tiramisu. The food was great and so was the service. read more

Wow! It has a nice small feel for being g part of a large building with the other restaurant. Great food. Great service.

"Another change".....rebranding i'm not too impressed with Johnny Carino's like I used to in the past. They've had several re-branding's over the years. Originally it was bar and grill. Then it was grill and bar... Now it's something else. Now it's more like a sports bar with all the monitors all over the restaurants. though, I did enjoy the calamari appetizer. Hubby, roommates, and I decided to have dinner here and as I expected, things changed again. It no longer has that family vibe... Italian ambience like it used to. Service was OK... Price has not changed, and quality is still the same... Quality of the food that is. This is possibly why we haven't been to this location in quite some time. Price: $$ Service: B Quality: A read more

This place is great! Management and staff go out of their way to help their customers! Melissa is a great manager at delegating and managing the staff. She has a great attitude and is helpful. Marco and the other servers are great servers at helping his customers and offering suggestions. Hugo and the other chefs are great at making the food look and taste exquisite and keep me coming back for more! read more

It's been a while sense I last enjoyed JC! However I noticed that they split the space with a BBQ place and it's great as the old space was way big it felt cold and empty... now it's an Italian cozy space with decent food... read more

Ashley was our server and she had great, she has great customer service skills. The bang for your buck for their Thursday special was awesome. Could feed six people under $100 easily. Great value and great ambience.. read more

This one star review is solely based on the food! I ordered the minestrone soup which was good and flavorful with ribeye steak and alfredo. First the steak was the most nastiest steak I have ever had EVER! Yuk gross took two bites after cutting it up and couldn't finish it. You could taste the charbroil grill all over it it was like burnt tasting but was supposed to be medium. Disgusting. Secondly don't ever order the alfredo the sauce is so bland and nasty I asked for a side of meat sauce to mix it thinking it would help and it didn't. It then tasted like a can of ravioli. As for the customer service it was awesome DEJA our server was so patient, sweet, and apologetic she's definitely a people person with great customer service. Also the manager comped my meal since they could see I didn't eat the meat and pasta and all that was really eaten was the bread and soup. Which was really nice of them to do so thanks for not letting me waste money on a meal that didn't get eaten. read more

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Came in Sunday night, was given menus, my girlfriend ordered something Italian and I tried to order the brisket and pulled pork off the menu, the waitress said no bbq even though it's on the menu that the bbq meats were being held for Monday for the Dave's bbq opening and that the only way to get bbq even though it's on the menu was to order it online and pick it up to go, we got up and left, read more

This place used to be one of my favorites; today we went so we dieted a Johnny's margarita, and a Bellini, they said they weren't able to serve those because their machine was not working, last March it was the same excuse..... we ended ordering a regular margarita, and they were so discussing, seems they put water, lemon juice tequila in a big glass of ice, no flavor no nothing, the waitress was not very smart. When I complained about the drink she apologized and said she was sorry; but the drink had tequila, and the recipe was followed the way it supposed to be. They charged me for those drinks even though we didn't finish them. Why they have that on the menu if they are not able to offer them ??????? Last time going to that place, quality obviously is going down big time..... read more

Went there at 1pm and we were the only 2 there. It was so cold, we were shivering, and I'm not exaggerating. The Waitress said they had to keep it cold because when it gets busy, it gets hot in there. Again we were the only 2 in there. My bf loves 1 of the pasta dishes, which he liked. I ordered chicken ceaser, which i was unaware came with tomatoes and black olives. The waitress took it back and had it remade like a normal ceaser, which still wasn't very good. Chicken was dry, overcooked. That place had gone down hill and unfortunately we will not be going back. read more

The blinds/window I sat next to was so dirty and dusty. It hadn't been cleaned in a long while, by the looks of it. The food was okay at best. Waste of 70.00 for two people. I will not be back. read more