Carrows

I don’t think Carrow’s even knows what cuisine it is. Whatever it turns out to be, it’s not good. Cheaply priced entrees are everywhere on the menu, but they either don’t look or don’t taste good. A bad entrée course is followed by a pretty awful slice of pie to finish off a cheap but dissatisfying meal.

We went to Carrows twice since the last review update. The first time, the service was fantastic and so was the food. We thought, great, they’ve finally cleaned it up! We can be regulars again!
WRONG!
We brought an out-​of-​town friend who had never been here before, and what a slap in the face to a first-​timer. The food took 40 minutes to arrive (how long does it take to cook a few pancakes and pour some coffee?), after waiting an eternity just to get our beverages. It took so long that we had to have them wrap it «to go» so our friend could get to her next destination on time. How disappointing.
There was no excuse for being treated this way. The kitchen was full of staff, yakking, laughing, and carrying on very unprofessionally while a restaurant full of people waited eons for their food. If they were understaffed I could understand it more, but there were certainly enough people there for gossip and foolishness.
So, we’re back to not going back. Two stars because the food was good and the waiter was polite. They know what they can do with their 40-​minute wait, however.

We had slow service. Place was near empty. 1 waiter 1 cook and some homeless bum sipping on a coffee

It’s good for what it is … a place you can go to in the middle of the night when you have the munchies.
I used to come here all the time when I was in highschool, but the older I get, the less I seem to end up here.

If I could give this place negative stars I would.
Sadly this is the only place open during late nights. The management cuts corners and staffs one waitress for roughly 20 tables, which is insane. What’s even worse is the average customer gets angry at the waitress, when it fact it’s the management’s fault for under-​staffing the establishment. They clearly have a booming business at night, but they still decide to under-​staff the establishment to lower labor costs.
There are two reasons why people come here at night: 1. They can’t cook and are at the verge of starvation. 2. They have never experienced acceptable service in a restaurant.

This Carrows can suck it! We waited 20 minutes for someone to take our order last night, as we watched our waiter take orders from 2 other tables that came AFTER us. I finally asked the manager for service and informed him that we’ve been waiting for nearly 30 minutes. He gave a smart ass remark saying that «oh no, I’ve been watching and it’s been an hour.» How low class, rude and unprofessional, and he was the manager! I get faster and better service at Taco Bell. I would give negative stars if I could.

This being one of the very few options for late night food, my friends and I often end up here. The other option, Denny’s, means having to deal with more drunk people. At least Carrows seems more chill.
I like their food and I have no complaints here. To me, their late night food is better than Denny’s and the service is usually better. I only give them 3 stars because everything could be better. However, I understand their limitations. I know it sounds like I’m contradicting myself but what I actually mean is that Carrows does mediocrity very well. I come into this restaurant expecting sustenance and not satisfying, gourmet food. With these expectations, I always seems to have a great time at Carrows.
My only gripe is that, like most late-​night eateries, they always seems to be understaffed. Tonight, there were at least 7 tables of at least 4 people at each table and yet there was only one server (very cute by the way… I see you Carlos *wink*). We always have to either wave him down or get out of our seat to get his attention if we needed anything. That’s not really a complaint though because we mostly felt bad that he had to deal with multiple tables of drunk people.
Oh, the bathrooms here are gross (even more gross than Denny’s if that’s even believable). Ironic that Carrows has an uninviting restroom yet their food will most likely induce the uncontrollable need to use them.
It’s also sad that I only ever get to see diners like this during the night when it’s all weirdos eating there and there’s only a couple of guys staffing the place. I’m sure this establishment is quite normal during the day. Unfortunately, I doubt I’ll ever come here during the day. Main reason: because I’d be sober.

Update: CLOSED.
The appetizer sampler is a good deal at $ 10. While the waitress was accommodating, had to ask for coffee refills and she got us the wrong check. Then, the manager had to double check the bill more than once. Plus, pay at the front.
Opens 24-​hours. Not hard to find and plenty of parking. Lots of clubbers started stopping in after 1:30am.

My husband and I came here today since the place we were going to across the street, Mamma Mia’s was closed. They open at four for dinner on Sunday and it was three when we got there. So we went here instead. This place isn’t bad for a diner. It was fairly empty at that time. We got the Italian Sampler which comes with mozzarella sticks, onion strings, fried zucchini, and chicken strips. It comes with a side of marinara and ranch dressing. It’s large for a sampler and costs $ 9.99.
For the entrée, I got the make your own lunch combo. I got the half turkey club sandwich which comes with avocado, bacon, cheese, tomato, lettuce, and turkey on a croissant. You get to choose a side of fruit, side salad, Caesar salad, fries, or soup with it. I got the Caesar salad. My husband got a huge bowl of the cream of broccoli soup and a steak dish that came with garlic bread. My entrée came with a soft and yummy oatmeal raisin cookie. It wasn’t bad. Everything was good and the service was fast.
I don’t know why a few people have given this place such low reviews. It’s not a gourmet place obviously. Perhaps they just ordered the wrong thing. If you order a steak or fish, or anything fancy sounding at this place and expect it to be top notch, you may be disappointed. If you get a burger, breakfast item, or sandwich, then you’ll probably be fine unless you’re a picky foodie snob.

You know what you’re getting when you go to a Carrows — decent food at a decent price at any time of the day. So why still write a review about Carrows? Because I am just that upset about my recent experience.
For my birthday, I decided to enjoy a low key, late night meal with eleven other guests. Before sending out my spontaneous invites, I called Carrows and spoke to a male associate to make sure that they were open for business as usual. The associate told me that on this particular night, they would be closing for a routine cleaning at 1:00am. I asked, «will you still be able to serve a party of twelve if we arrive by 11:30pm?» The man replied, «we should be able to serve you if everyone ordered before 12am.» PERFECT!
I sent out my invites via text messages with confidence. My guests and I arrive at the restaurant at 11:30pm on the dot. As my boyfriend and I walk in to the restaurant before the rest of the folks, the hostess greets us and asks, «table for two?» When we told her that we were the party of twelve, she went on to say that she would not be able to take us because they will be shutting off their grills in the next thirty seconds. Even if I called beforehand to make sure that we could be accommodated? Yes. Not cool.
Two stars because this Carrows has been there for me in the past when I needed late night food to satisfy my hunger. The quality of their food and service is usually pretty consistent.

I used to come here late at night with my girlfriend after a late nite. The food was good. I wasn’t expecting a gourmet meal, just something to fill me up. Carrows does a good job of that without breaking the wallet. They also have free refills on oj which is great.
One thing me and the gf noticed about Carrow’s is the late night crowd attracts a lot of gay people there. Literally, us and like one other table will be straight while the rest is gay. Just found that interesting.
Also morning breakfasts are good. Before 11am, you can get 2 pancakes, 2 pieces of bacon, and 2 eggs for 3.99. Throw in hashbrowns for a dollar more. Deal in a half if you ask me.

I love this place late at night, its fun and the staff is funny and very friendly. My favorite dish is the scampi pasta and the cholocate cake. Alot of old people and stupied people go there and like to complain about things but whatever, they dont tip good anyways. One thing tho if your not a regular or nice to the staff you are not going to get good service, and if you dont tip they will remember you and give you even worse service next time, also if you seat yourself you will not get service lmao…

The place doesn’t even try. The food is lackluster and the service leaves a lot to be desired. I miss the gay manager who used to try make things run properly late at night when all the drunkards came in.
I will still come here late at night with friends. It’s just no guarantee I will eat any of their dry, bland, flavorless food. And it’s a guarantee that if I do eat, I will certainly not pay for it.
That’s what friends (that drag friends to crappy restaurants) are for, right?

You really are going to rate this place on it’s food. Really?
Dude. C’mon.
You go to Carrows if you are wanting something FRIED, FRIED, and more FRIED.
You go to Carrows for a slice of choco pie or a sundae.
You go to Carrows after a night of drinking and dancing.
You go to Carrows after 1:50AM.
D and I were at the perfect place at the right time. We sure met some characters, and this was the BEST entertainment. You would be surprised how many men grow a pair deep in the night when they don’t care about anything.
Really. Go to Carrows for the YAHOO’S!

TERRIBLE!!!
I ordered the Pot Roast sandwhich, well aside from the sandwhich coming to me super SUPER hot, I mean it was so hot that I had to wait a few minutes to eat it… The sandwhich had absolutely NO TASTE… pretty much fried grease on a bun.
The customers in there seemed like they were from the deepest part of creepy land. The waiter who asked us booth or table? I said booth, so he sat us face to face with another very creepy & sad looking middle aged couple who kept staring at my buddy & myself.
Infact everyone at that location looked like they crawled out of the gutter.
My buddy who ordered the Southern Breakfast said his biscuits tasted like dried out hocky pucks… and the gravy was straight out gross!
The help in the back was all about talking spanish and enjoying them selves way too much… not too mention making all types of noise in the back, we were seated right in front of the kitchen.
But the center of the dining room was totatly empty???
Oh! the last thing, if you go to a restaurant and the place is pretty much 60% empty… well what would be the reason for all the tables to have had dirty dishes on them? even that creepy couple who was staring at us, must have been sitting there for at least 20 minutes, kind of enjoying their after dinner coffee, even their dirty dishes were not even picked up???
But in the kitchen all you heard was spanish from the help all wrapping spanish and having a great time?
Tacky & GHETTO!

While I’m not a Carrows fan normally because of this guy I used to know, Miss Noe and I decided to stop by here for a late night meal. By late night, I mean it was 1AM. By late night meal, I mean CHICKEN AND WAFFLES!
Oh, greasy fried chicken and thick Belgian waffle! How amazing you two taste not only separately but together as well! You know Pigs in Blankets? It’s kind of like that but better! Mmm. The perfect late night snack. To top it off, our server was nice and funny! You have to come here if you don’t want to drive all the way to Mini Gourmet. It’s a good late night alternative that is open 24 hours a day!

So I ended up going here last night somehow by default… after burrying my frog (no comment)… so this was one of the last places standing and we gave my step-​father the choice of where he wanted to eat out of the late night dive list aka… Coco’s, Carrows, Dennys, or Jimmyz… I refused to drive all the way to TGIFs…
So we were seated immediately when we walked in and we got a huge corner booth for the four of us which was nice. They weren’t very busy when we got there around 10:15ish… they failed to give me the breakfast specials menu so I asked for it…
the orders around the table consisted of… a belgian waffle, chicken and waffle, a mile high club sandwich with fries, and I got the peach crêpe special.
The food was actually good, although I was pretty hungry, the crêpe was pretty pancakey but the peaches were really sweet and yummy and I was in the mood for eggs… the waffles were really nice, big, and fluffy too… apparently the club sandwich and fries were good too because they disappeared rather quickly.
For desert the table consisted of a red white and blue berry sundae, a slice of lemon pie, and some sort of a monkey sundae that had coffee ice cream and bananas with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. personally I had the iced vanilla coffee which was good and had whipped cream but didn’t taste like coffee and seemed to have some sort of syrupy stuff on the bottom ?? I don’t know, I drank it and it was good… hehe…
They have about four stuffed animals left in their claw machine so that prolly hasn’t been re-​filled since the 80’s and they have this crazy old time Campbell map on the wall that’s entertaining to look at… has all the old shopping centers and cartoon people… even has the old Carrow’s from Camden still shown on there. so that’s fun to look at…
Overall, if you’re in the mood for some late night above Denny’s fare but nothing extraordinary this is the place to go… and they have good strawberry milkshakes… however they got rid of the irish nachos which were the place to be back in high school!

My dear Unilocal readership, while this most certainly isn’t five star eats, just give this diner-​style joint its fair due! Certainly, some servers during particular hours get it nearly completely wrong. But if you’re located close to this Hamilton location, you know where you can go during the wee hours if you crave a snack or a huge meal, as well as a pretty inexpensive sit down meal.
When I do have a choice, I must say do prefer Mini-​Gourmet (
).

How hard is it to seat 5 people at 10:30pm on a Thurs night? Apparently, very hard.
I had just left Darling-​Fisher for a viewing for my grandmother and was in desperate need of some comfort food. The restaurant was ²⁄₃ empty…1 person in our group asked for a table while we all went to the bathroom. We come back and still no table. We wait around a couple of minutes while 4 workers just mingle around the host stand. I go up and ask if we are going to get seated any time soon. One of the servers asks how many is in our group. Ummm…5 (as i look behind me at my 4 other friends). She goes back to the server area and pretends to look busy doing something other than looking for a table for us.
We leave and go out to eat at Mini Gourmet (where we got seated immediately).

Hungry at 3am? GO TO CARROWS! Their food is decent. A little on the greasy side, but hey, can’t go wrong with a restaurant that’s open 24 hours.
Sure, service can be slow but really, who wants to be at work at 2am?!