Hidden Chain Gem? Panama City Beach Carrabba's Wows

Let me preface this article by saying that I do not work for the local Carabbas or have any vested interest in Carabbas as a corporation. To be completely honest, I've only been there once or twice. I'm an Olive Garden type of guy, bottomless breadsticks, maybe a Lasagna or a chicken parm. Definitely the salad. IMO, Olive Garden has the absolute best salad from a chain restaurant. Top it off with mounds of freshly grated Romano? I'm in cheese heaven. In reality, I typically choose local concepts over chain restaurants. Not only for the experience, but also to support local. At the same time, I realize that this isn't completely fair. All of the hardworking employees at your local chain are local residents, and many franchises are owned and operated by local residents who need your support as well. So, when we were given a "Bloomin Brands" gift card, we headed down to the Carrabas on Back Beach rd.

Nestled away in kind of a non descript shopping plaza by a motorcycle dealership and facing away from the main rd, it would be easy to miss Carrabas. We showed up at 8:30pm on a Tuesday night. The restaurant closes at 10pm, there was one other table and a single guest at the bar. Not deterred by the lack of clientele, we chose a booth on the restaurant side and were promptly greeted by our server. We both ordered a beverage and declined appetizers, mine a lush Cabernet from J. Lohr and her a sweet tea. Five minutes later, our server came back with the drinks and what could have possibly been the highlight of the meal: The bread service. Carrabas serves a loaf of warm, freshly sliced bread with seasoned olive oil for dipping. Honestly, I could have eaten 3 loaves of this and just boxed my entree to go but I showed restraint and limited it to 4 slices. We placed our orders and the server was back shortly with our italian salads. The salads were good, with crisp lettuce as well as kalamata olives and banana peppers in the house Italian vinaigrette. No fresh cracked pepper or hand grated cheese, this salad was good but not great. Definitely give the win to Olive Garden here. Finally, our entrees arrived. She chose the "Polla Rosa Maria", which she said was delicious. A juicy chicken breast covered in mushrooms with mashed potatoes on the side. I chose the "Johnny Trio," a 10oz sirloin steak covered in mushrooms, the "Pollo Bryan" which is a juicy chicken breast with goat cheese and finally the "Mezzaluna," a half moon ravioli with chicken, ricotta, romano and spinach served in the house red sauce. The steak, while not filet tender, was juicy and flavorful and cooked a perfect medium rare as I ordered it. The Chicken Bryan was even better, a tangy flavor with the goat cheese and red peppers on top. The mezzaluna was also good, although it didn't shine as much as the other two dishes.

The best part of the evening? when our server informed us that they were doing a $10 take home special, we could take any entree of equal or lesser value home with us for only $10! I couldnt resist a $10 steak and sides, so we doubled up and got some more bread to go (it was so good that I forgot about it and still ate it when it was hard!) Overall, Carrabas on Back beach was a nice value play. We had a great dinner for what we paid, especially with the take home meals!

Photo byDavid Wendt