Carpe Raci Italian Restaurant

They advertise a " culinary journey through Italy " and this is quite a stretch, but my wife and I enjoyed our meals and cozy atmosphere.We started with the burrata salad and it was fantastic. It came with pumpkin and candied pecans. The ingredients were fresh and flavorful. This was a nice dish for the fall season.I had the chicken parmigiana and it was well prepared and tasty, especially the tomato sauce. The pasta was not homemade, but cooked perfectly al dente. I believe the server mentioned the pasta was from Ohio City Pasta. My wife had the crab stuffed shrimp with asparagus and whipped potatoes. Again, the ingredients were high quality and she really enjoyed this dish.Since they still sell wines, there is a fantastic wine list with some great Italian wines. We enjoyed a bottle with our meal. There is a nice bar downstairs where they serve cocktails and aperitivi. The restaurant space up stairs is cozy but a bit stark. They should consider installing some local art on the walls to add some character to the space.The portion sizes were fine for us but I can agree with others that feel the prices are high for what you get. I think restaurants in general are a bit expensive which is why we don't go out to eat as often as we used to. But that said, we had a great evening and the service was great. Next time we will probably just come for aperitivi hour.

We come here often but haven't eaten here in a while and my goodness the new menu is just chefs kiss. The wedge salad was incredible and the dressing was so good I could literally drink it. Truffle fries were also addictive and delicious. My husband had the spaghetti pomodoro and the meatball which was super tender and had great flavor. Definitely the best wine list in the Southtowns - they do a great job of finding rare and unique bottles from all over the world. Highly recommend coming to check this place out this winter! It feels like a hallmark movie inside with the decor and low lighting and the bartenders and staff are all incredible. Happy we live so close and can come here so often.

Our first time visiting Carpe Raci. I almost made a reservation, but then thought I wouldn't need them on a Wednesday evening-- wrong, make the reservation. Unfortunately the downstairs was full and we were seated upstairs. There was one other table and the atmosphere was not very inviting. When I inquired on receiving the bottle list, I was told we had to go back downstairs and select a bottle. Ok-- but no assistance was provided. I had no idea how the wines were arranged, and NO prices were available. I was very uncomfortable selecting a bottle at random and would've appreciated guidance on what would have paired well with our meals. We came here for an experience and really did not have anything more than basic table service. Our server was sweet, food was good, but I was left wanting so much more from this establishment. May have to try again, sitting downstairs and requesting a little more attention.

Great atmosphere, on the first floor! We went for their live music and we were placed upstairs, away from wine bar environment. Meatballs were a bit too spicy, menu should specify that. Fluffy gnocchi! You get to pick out your own bottle of wine from the beautiful wine wall. Great spot for date night at the bar!

The bartender was very kind and the meatballs with polenta was great. I do believe the atmosphere is a bit cozier than it was.

Food was amazing! We've been meaning to try for a while and so glad we did. The salmon and black cod were so different and delicious. Our server was very accommodating the only negative was the kitchen was pretty slow. The server apologized but nothing he could do. We will try again soon.

Wow...Do tiny portions make your food fancy? I don't care how good your food is (which it wasn't) having tiny portions just leaves customers unsatisfied. It's like they thought "damn this shit's delicious! Let's give people the minimum amount of this!" I would rather have a bowl of Campbell's canned soup than one of their sparse pasta dishes. $100 poorer, we went to McDonald's after.I will add, the server was the best part of the experience!

On November 15 my wife,and I and two other couples visited for the first time. We had happy hour drinks then apps and dinner.... My wife and i split the lobster ravioli. Later that evening we both got violently ill. Which continued thru saturday. Its pretty clear the lobster ravioli was undercooked. As the restaurant was closed Sunday and Monday, I called Tuesday before it opened. A gentleman took my name and number and said I would get a call back. I never did. I also tried to contact them directly via the contact page on their website but it wouldn't submit.

We are here now eating and I'm so disappointed that I decided now was the best time to write this review. We waited 30 minutes before we even got a chance to put in a drink order. When we finally ordered our wine, at a wine bar, he came back about 20 minutes later telling us they didn't have it and offered a replacement. We had to ask if we could order our appetizers. The appetizer and salad did come very quickly and were quite frankly better than our meals. The flatbread an asparagus salad were absolutely delicious! I asked for a refill of water and lost count of time after 20 minutes. Dinner was finally served and it went down hill from here. The owners joined the table next to us, guests who complained about everything during our entire time here. From the size of the wine glasses to the spaghetti parmigiana minus the parmigiana and the cook not getting the order right. The owner then joins their table for four and the group of four turned into a group of 7. It got to be so loud that we couldn't even hear ourselves talk. I had to literally cover one ear to drown out their conversation and foul mouths. The food ... yeah, dinner was ok. I wasn't blown away by some amazing Italian food, and it definitely was not the best I've ever had as posted in other post. I had the chicken parm while my husband had the special. I found the spaghetti to be mildly bland compared to the spices in the chicken breading. The lemoncello dessert was pretty good! Nothing here worth my time or a trip back.

I previously dined here and had mixed experiences. Good friends of mine encouraged me to give it another try since there was a new kitchen staff. Tonight was a disappointment with service, food and cocktail prices! Service was extremely slow, we repeatedly had to flag our server down for ordering, water refills, food status, and clearing of dishes. Order time until entree arrival was one hour. The cost of a gin martini was $23. When I questioned the bartender on the cost he replied that if price was a concern I should have asked the price before ordering. I replied that the restaurant may want to do a market price comparison with other area establishments, such as Lockkeepers, with a martini with the same gin costing $15. At that point I went on to explain our overall experience at the restaurant when the same bartender said if we had said the things during our dining experience and not when paying our bill it would have been corrected (which we repeatedly did throughout the evening. Instead of apologizing and asking what they could do differently in the future he simply put his head down. The sad thing is this space had so much potential to be a go to spot and a star in the Brecksville area, however they just can't get it right. Never again !!