On our way back in an Uber from Animal Kingdom earlier on in the trip we had a rather... Animated driver. He never stopped talking for a whole 20 min journey. By the end of the ride we knew his whole life, what his friends do, his favourite places to eat even down to what he orders. He was exhausting but pleasant enough.

One of the restaurants he kept raving about was Carrabba's and by the end of his life story he had us intrigued (maybe he is on commission lol) so we decided to give it a go instead of the planned evening at Olive Garden.

When we arrived, it was fairly quiet which I was so thankful for given the convention crowds the previous days.

The staff were great and we were seated, ordered drinks & delivered bread very quickly.



Warm crusty, fluffy bread.



Served with a garlic & herb olive oil dip. OMG this was to die for!

To drink we shared a pitcher.

Peach Sangria
Bright and Crisp. White Zinfandel, Absolut Apeach, Patrón Citronge, cranberry and orange juice. $32



Not cheap very really delicious & refreshing. There was loads in it too (the picture was after the server poured us each a glass).



Entrées are served with a cup of soup or a side salad and a choice of side. We both chose a different soup and shared.

Mama Mandola's Sicilian Chicken Soup
Spicy chicken soup that has soothed the family for generations



Minestrone
Traditional Italian vegetable soup



The Minestrone was good but the Sicilian Chicken was superb. It had a nice spicy kick and we both loved it.

For entrees we had:

Chicken Marsala
Wood-grilled and topped with mushrooms and our Lombardo Marsala wine sauce. $18.99





This was Andy's choice. He opted for garlic mashed potatoes as his side which whilst not very photogenic were delicious. This had a great wood-grilled flavour and was a nice sized portion.

I had the

Pollo Rosa Maria
Wood-grilled chicken stuffed with fontina cheese and prosciutto, topped with mushrooms and our basil lemon butter sauce. $19.49



Also with the garlic mashed potatoes. This looks remarkably similar to Andy's but the sauce was actually quite different, it was a bit lighter. I really enjoyed this too.

No room for dessert at the restaurant again boo

I thought the prices here for the meals were very reasonable considering it included the bread, a soup/salad. I much preferred Carrabba's to Olive Garden, which I don't think will get a look in anymore (sorry O.G!). The atmosphere was very cosy and it was perfect for our final dinner of the trip

As usual, the walk back to hotel had cleared some belly room and I fancied something sweet. We stopped in at Wagreen's and grabbed ice cream.

I only have a picture of mine because despite the very short walk back they were both rapidly melting!





An ice cream taco! As it says on the pack, it's genius!

IHOP breakfast the next morning was a right saga! So i'm leaving that one for another time when I have a while

I looovvveeee thiiiiiis!

Love the updates, Carabbas looks yum!

Great updates!

Carrabbas now on my to-do-list for our offsite stay next year!

Carabbas looks so good! Never heard of it but definitely putting it on the "off site" list for the future!

That peach sangria tho

Aww thanks. Cant wait to read your next one.

Thanks, yes it was very much yum.

Good, good.

You definitely should.

This is a bit of a saga so feel free to just look at the pictures & scroll past lol.

Not being big breakfast eaters, we had never been to IHOP, Denny’s etc for pancakes whilst in America.

As our airport pickup was going to be fairly early in the afternoon, we decided to remedy that and head to IHOP. I Googled which branch was closest (9990 Intl Drive near the Convention Centre) and although we had originally planned to walk there, it was raining so we grabbed an Uber.

On arrival, it was very busy, I guess because it was a Saturday morning. There were people congregating outside the main door and it was heaving in the reception area. Thankfully as only a party of two we managed to grab the last couple of seats at the serving bar overlooking the kitchen. It was a bit of a tight squeeze but it seemed OK.. at first.



Once we’d placed our order and waited for food to be delivered a huge argument broke out between a customer standing right beside us who had placed a large order to take-out. I think she had customised nearly every meal and they had made a complete hash of it. The server trying to sort it was getting a bit snippy and they were having to go through every box (there were loads) to see what was right, move stuff around and add extra items. I would have been mad if I was the customer as whilst they were faffing around it was all getting cold. It would have been best to just start over.

However, to say the customer was mad was an understatement. She was yelling and swearing about it being awful service (I’m cleaning the language up as the Dibb is a family site). I didn’t know where to put myself lol! Thankfully the manager stepped in and eased the situation after 10 minutes.

Anyway to break up my ramblings… FOOD.

I ordered a Large Orange Juice.



Which was a pint, in hindsight a small would have done because I find pure OJ a bit sickly.

Andy had coffee.

My breakfast was:

Quick 2-Egg Breakfast
This combo cooks up two eggs any way you like them, two hickory-smoked bacon strips or two savory pork sausage links, hash browns and toast. $7.29



From what I remember I didn’t get given the toast (I certainly don’t have a picture) which is fine as I was too full to eat it anyway.

This was tasty enough but why?! WHY?! Didn’t I get the cupcake frosting pancakes instead?



Andy chose;

Sirloin Tips & Eggs
Straight from the grill, our tender USDA Select sirloin tips are sweet and savoury, topped with fresh grilled onions and mushrooms. Two eggs, two fluffy buttermilk pancakes and our golden hash browns make this combo complete. $11.79





He wasn’t a big fan. The steak tips were a bit sweet (as mentioned in the description but I think he missed this) which he found a bit weird. I however really liked them so we did a bit of swapping and sharing. He stuck mostly to the pancakes which he really liked.

If we were to return I think we would both stick to pancakes - It’s called Int’l House of Pancakes for a reason right? I think that’s a bit of a mute point really though as I don’t know if we would go back. The experience was way too frantic for a last day goodbye breakfast and the hygiene/cooking techniques left a lot to be desired. Sitting at the serving bar looking into the kitchen and watching them cook is certainly an eye opener.

This included putting chicken into a pan out of a plastic wrapper, lifting the empty plastic wrapper across cooked food on the side, narrowly avoiding dripping raw chicken juices onto prepared meals. The juices thankfully landed just next to the plates, where they were then cleaned up with kitchen towel only (no cleaner or anything).

Steak tips sitting done for 10-15 minutes, then being reheated in microwave (same with LOADS of pancakes). Meals were just piling up and they couldn’t cope. Unfortunately this was after we’d eaten . I'm not even that much of a germophobe either!

Maybe it was just this branch though?

Sorry didn’t mean for that to be such an essay!

Carabbas looks lovely - Ihop sounds not so lovely! That's the one we went to last year - it was also heaving and a bit chaotic then. My pancakes were nice - I'm glad I couldn't see what they may have done to them