Johnny Carino's - San Marcos

I'm, they have all day, every day happy hour. Like what? Ok, I can get into that! Wednesday they also have half priced bottles of wine which is a win! Came in here Halloween after being extremely let down at Nissan of SM and then getting poured on. I was wet, cold, and angry. They turned on their fireplace immediately and let us sit next to it. A bottle of wine each, some warm bread and mozzarella sticks appetizer happy hour special got me feeling much better. I love their wedge salad and their potato soup hit the spot. Left in much better spirits!

The booth wall was filthy for starters (the picture really doesn't do it justice. The server was less than enthusiastic about being there, apparently, she had a long night (her words and this was supposed to be the excuse for being so slow. We were there on our lunch hour and though I told her this, I would look over and she would be on her phone. Very frustrating. We have been coming to this restaurant for a while now for pronto Tuesday or sometimes just because we want to and the service has gotten worse and worse. And. The bread. One could break down a wall with that stuff, it is SO hard and stale. One would think, they would know, sticking bread in a warmer for a while, at some point makes the bread hard as a rock. This place use to be good, food and service, maybe make some changes in management and clean this place up. Update- 1/22/19 Place is still dirty and getting worse. Our server knew we were in a hurry and still took his time. Had a very casual/disrespectful attitude. Even sat down while taking our order!!! Food is awful, I got a huge chunk of the lettuce root base in my salad, just sad. The pronto pasta may be a good deal, but the food and service just don't make it worth going anymore.

I like their open floor plan and how you can see the food being prepared in their open kitchen. The service was great. I had Mama's Spaghetti Feast and it was huge! I had to take about half of it home.

This place is a solid 3. Exactly what to be expected from a chain but with really awful salads. Do they not know about healthy leafy greens? Pure iceberg lettuce house salad. The calamari was so good it was gone in about 5 minutes. Very tender. My husband had the chicken parmesan which was tasty and tender. I had the Ravioli with fresh pesto sauce which wasn't to my liking at all. I do normally like the ravioli. There was just something wrong with the fresh pesto. The food is unimaginative. The italian sodas are very good here with free refills. The server was attentive and sweet.

I went to this location on the New year. We sat next to the bar.. even with a peacot I felt cold inside.. we ordered shrimp and chicken platter, which is supposed to be half priced on Mondays. The food seemed Way to pricey for the portions served.. I can certainly say that this is not the best Italian restaurant I have ever been to. I liked the ambience and decorations.. certainly not food.. it can be better