Felicia Pittman

Review of Johnny Carino's

So was visiting the Austin area and decided to get...

So was visiting the Austin area and decided to get a meal to go from this establishment. I walked into the ToGo door. A waiter came and took my order and I asked him if I needed to go to my car or stay inside and wait. He said it didn't matter. So, I came inside and walked over to a booth near the bar and sat down. The place was relatively empty. There was a party in the group area. I began to watch sports on the TVs when I was approached by a lady telling me that I needed to move from the booth. There were 3 booths in this section. One was occupied and 2 were empty. I sat at one of the empty ones, leaving another one vacant. I said I'm just waiting for a ToGo order. Then another lady came over saying I had to sit at the bar. There were no signs stating this; so, I asked why. She said the booths are for patrons. I thought I was a patron. Ha! I told her I am not going to be there long. And there were tables in the bar area as well. I moved over to the bar since they seemed to really stress that these booths needed to be available. As a visitor to this city and establishment, I didn't appreciate the necessity of keeping this area patron free. The entire restaurant was relatively empty. I've given them 2 stars for the food. The bowtie festival is an excellent dish and my waiter prepped it all well for me to take back to my hotel. I enjoyed my meal. Treat people well when they arrive and allow them to sit where they want. Maybe it will help your restaurant stay full of patrons during dinner and happy hour. I can see now why they stay away. Customer is always right!!!