M'Boro Carrabbas Review

Okay, I know Carrabbas is not in LaVergne. But those of us in LaVergne don't have a whole lot of fine dining choices and often travel outside our fair city for meals. The first time I ate at Carrabbas was in Ft. Collins, Colorado last summer on a business trip. I had a wonderful time with three other real estate agents in my office and one spouse. We had wine, ate, laughed, etc. Fond memories. I was very excited to hear about the Carrabbas opening in Murfreesboro!

It's easy to find. From I-24 East, take the Manson Pike exit (76, I believe). Turn left and follow until you cross over Thompson Lane. It's on the right. We checked in and were told that our wait would be approximately 35-45 minutes since we requested a table for 5 in the no-smoking section. The hostess explained it would take a tad longer since we had to have a table rather than a booth. Well, that was fine. After an hour, though, I told my husband to ask how much longer because I would not be very pleasant. He asked. They said "Soon." We waited another 15-30 minutes. Finally they figured out that they had forgotten us... our name was so high up on the list that they just didn't see it anymore. I had steam coming out of my ears by that time, but was by-gosh determined I was going to eat there that night!

Thankfully, the manager intervened. She saw there was a problem and really stepped up to the plate. She was so gracious in her apology, then her next words were music to my ears, "The appetizers and desserts for your whole party are on the house tonight!" Ahhhhh... all was well again in Kathy-Land.

We ordered the appetizer sampler which had tasty bruschetta, ordinary mozzarella sticks, and rubbery calamari. We also had the new fried zucchini which was quite tasty, if a bit greasy. The bread was warm and soft, so was quite delish dipped in the virgin olive oil.

My salad had the house parmessan dressing which was on so thick that it really took away from the crispness of the lettuce and carrots. I was very jealous of my husband and mother in law's salad... they ordered vinagrette which also included tomatoes, onions (I would've picked off) and croutons. For dinner, I ordered a daily special - the pork chop in a marsala and mushroom sauce. It was superb. It came with fresh, grilled vegetables (a nice mix of yellow squash, carrots, zucchini, broccoli, and cauliflower). All the veggies except the broccoli and cauliflower were crisp - the others were a bit on the mushy side. I also had a side of an angel hair pasta with a tomato sauce. It was really good, especially with the fresh parmesan that was sprinkled on top. Husband had a scallop dish, mother-in-law joined me in the pork chop (but didn't eat it), one daughter had the pizza, and the other daughter had the kid's spaghetti with a giant meatball on top. We all had to pack up leftovers in the to-go boxes.

Dessert was very nice. They didn't embarrass anyone with an idiotic birthday song. A single candle on the terimasu was more than adequate. The terimasu was okay... it had too much rum in it for my taste. I did enjoy my mother-in-law's chocolate brownie concoction and a daughter's cake with fresh fruit. The canoli my other daughter ordered wasn't my favorite either... it is just not a dessert that appeals to me.

Overall, I'd definitely eat there again. But next time I won't be as patient for a table and will be ordering chocolate for dessert. You just can't go wrong with chocolate.