Classic Italian chain restaurant serving familiar & modern fare in a family-friendly setting.
Address and Contact Information
Address: 1303 US-127 Suit 600, Frankfort, KY 40601
Phone: (502) 223-4401
Website: https://www.carinos.com/frankfort-ky/location/detail
Menu Photos
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Johnny Carino’s: Your Local Italian Restaurant
Join us for your Italian Favorites – Johnny’s Fresh-Baked Lasagna, Wood-Fired Pizzas, Tiramisu and much more. Available for dine-in, pickup or delivery.
~Breaking News~ Johnny Carino’s (Franklin Square) is now …
Breaking News~ Johnny Carino’s (Franklin Square) is now permanently closed … Downtown Frankfort , Ky Picture Postcard Time … Mar 2, 2026 · 2.6 …
Johnny Carino’s | Frankfort KY – Facebook
Johnny Carino’s, Frankfort. 159 likes · 645 were here. Offering Italian classics and wood-fired pizzas handcrafted from the finest, freshest ingredients.
Reviews
David Miller
Went on a Saturday evening; got a table right away. Jessica was the bartender and our server and took excellent care of us. We had Johnny’s dinner special: an appetizer to share, 2 salads, 2 entrees from a select menu, and a dessert. We started with mozzarella cheese sticks. I thought they had been fried a bit too long. Salads were okay, but not special. Try the bread with olive oil instead of butter. I had classic chicken fettuccine, again good, but not special. She had the chicken bowties, and that was great, just a little spicy. We splurged for an extra dessert: strawberry cheesecake, and chocolate cake with ice cream. The cheesecake was the better of the two. Overall an excellent dining experience.
… moreJamila Simpson
I had a great ladies night at Johnny Carinos. Our waitress, Jessica, was wonderful and the blackberry and spicy margarita was really good. The pecan chicken salad was tasty, the calamari was okay but different from before Covid hit, and the wings were really good which were lemon pepper and buffalo hot sauce. My sisters enjoyed their Italian nachos. Though I wish they would bring back the Italian pot roast, which was always my favorite. Overall, I would give everything a 4 out of 5 stars.
… moreYana Ya
This was my first time in this restaurant in the 1.5 years that I have been living here. Because my husband spoke badly about his very, very distant visit, I think it was 10 years ago. But I said that a lot of time has passed and now I can check the quality of the dinner myself.
I came from the Russian capital, Moscow, and we have many excellent restaurants there, so I have something to compare with and I know a lot about good restaurants.
Now about this Jihnny Carino’s:
Quite a large room, many tables, more than half was full and our boarding was quick.
We were served by a very pleasant and sweet waiter Alex R and the three of us really liked him. He was not a robot and was very friendly, did not forget about us, often came to our table to check if everything was ok and if anything else was needed.
Each of us ordered a different dish and everything turned out to be very tasty! Chicken Masala, Pasta Carbonara and Meat Lasagna, the portions are very large (as usual in the USA) and really tasty. We had to ask for containers to take the leftovers home because… I didn’t want to part with the delicious food.
We liked that salad and delicious bread with oil and spices are included free in the restaurant’s dinner.
We also ordered a peach margarita. The glasses size was huge and impressed us; we jokingly called them an aquarium for our pet fish. But the Margarita taste was too sweet and not too alcoholic, we don’t really like that much syrup in tequila.
Result from the visit:
All three of us enjoyed dinner,
we liked the place,
we liked the service,
we liked the prices
we will definitely come here again.
P.S. a couple of tips for the restaurant if the owner reads me.
If the tables are covered with tablecloths, the restaurant will look more cozy, Italian.
It is better for bearded and hairy employees in the kitchen to wear protection so that there is no fear of hair getting into the food and visitors will not be afraid of this when looking at them.
I wish your restaurant success and many kind visitors!
… moreI came from the Russian capital, Moscow, and we have many excellent restaurants there, so I have something to compare with and I know a lot about good restaurants.
Now about this Jihnny Carino’s:
Quite a large room, many tables, more than half was full and our boarding was quick.
We were served by a very pleasant and sweet waiter Alex R and the three of us really liked him. He was not a robot and was very friendly, did not forget about us, often came to our table to check if everything was ok and if anything else was needed.
Each of us ordered a different dish and everything turned out to be very tasty! Chicken Masala, Pasta Carbonara and Meat Lasagna, the portions are very large (as usual in the USA) and really tasty. We had to ask for containers to take the leftovers home because… I didn’t want to part with the delicious food.
We liked that salad and delicious bread with oil and spices are included free in the restaurant’s dinner.
We also ordered a peach margarita. The glasses size was huge and impressed us; we jokingly called them an aquarium for our pet fish. But the Margarita taste was too sweet and not too alcoholic, we don’t really like that much syrup in tequila.
Result from the visit:
All three of us enjoyed dinner,
we liked the place,
we liked the service,
we liked the prices
we will definitely come here again.
P.S. a couple of tips for the restaurant if the owner reads me.
If the tables are covered with tablecloths, the restaurant will look more cozy, Italian.
It is better for bearded and hairy employees in the kitchen to wear protection so that there is no fear of hair getting into the food and visitors will not be afraid of this when looking at them.
I wish your restaurant success and many kind visitors!
L Edwards
Ate here despite the low rating because I haven’t eaten at Carinos in so long and I missed it. Not sure if Carinos has changed, or if it is just this one. The fried cheese used to be big wedges. I noticed these were teeny sticks.
Our waitress was friendly, but robotic. She didn’t really listen to what we said, didn’t write it down, and even though we ordered a meal to share she didn’t offer an extra plate, much less being one.
My boyfriend loved the bread and oil and had two loaves. Men in food prep area not wearing hair/beard nets. The one with the beard appeared to be preparing the salads/cold stuff. We didn’t have any issues with stray hairs, but…. seems unsanitary.
Ordered a spicy romano chicken with gluten free pasta, and bleu cheese dressing on the side of the salad.
Iceberg salad came already dressed with bland Bleu cheese (likely bottled). Pasta meal was NOT gluten free. Chicken was rubbery (very weird), the large pieces of artichoke were pre-marinated (clashed with the dish) and difficult to eat, but the sauce was tasty.
An edible meal, but I won’t be back. If you have celiac or are avoiding gluten, I would avoid this place all together. They have NO idea what gluten is nor could they have cared less.
If you like honest, detailed reviews, follow me for more.
… moreOur waitress was friendly, but robotic. She didn’t really listen to what we said, didn’t write it down, and even though we ordered a meal to share she didn’t offer an extra plate, much less being one.
My boyfriend loved the bread and oil and had two loaves. Men in food prep area not wearing hair/beard nets. The one with the beard appeared to be preparing the salads/cold stuff. We didn’t have any issues with stray hairs, but…. seems unsanitary.
Ordered a spicy romano chicken with gluten free pasta, and bleu cheese dressing on the side of the salad.
Iceberg salad came already dressed with bland Bleu cheese (likely bottled). Pasta meal was NOT gluten free. Chicken was rubbery (very weird), the large pieces of artichoke were pre-marinated (clashed with the dish) and difficult to eat, but the sauce was tasty.
An edible meal, but I won’t be back. If you have celiac or are avoiding gluten, I would avoid this place all together. They have NO idea what gluten is nor could they have cared less.
If you like honest, detailed reviews, follow me for more.
Bryan Thompson
Brought the family and a friend in for dinner tonight. Service was friendly, however someone other than our waitress had to get us started after sitting here waiting for 15 minutes(less than half the restaurant seats filled). My main complaint is the lack of quality in the actual meal. I ordered the lobster ravioli, and was severely underwhelmed. First, there’s only six pieces in a $21 meal, with no sides other than a house salad. The ravioli barely had any filling whatsoever, to the point that all you could taste is mildly undercooked dough swimming in a pool of oil or melted butter…Pretty disappointing that the only classy Italian spot in town doesn’t take pride in serving quality to their customers
… moreLeonard H.
My wife and I wanted a nice 31st anniversary dinner. She wanted pizza. I suggested Johnny Carinos. We have had many great meals there at the Frankfort store. We hadn’t been there for a while and it was refreshing to see the nice fresh look. Unfortunately that was the only part that was good.
We went August 1 about 2:30. The waitress showed us to a small table and asked for our drink order. There was a total of 5 people there besides us. Three of those were leaving. After a few minutes, the waitress stopped to get our order. My wife ordered the Johnnys Favorite pizza and I asked for lasagna. We both ordered the wedge salad. My wedge was to cost $5.99 but hers was $11.99 since pizza is not considered an entree so sayeth the waitress. Ok, we’re celebrating so we said ok. The drinks finally arrived after about 10 minutes The salads arrived with a smidgen of dressing poured on the plate and the wedge set atop the dressing. No dressing poured on the lettuce just on the plate. Never saw that before but we thought maybe it’s something new. We finished our salad just in time to have my lasagna arrive. No pizza. Waitress said it’d be right out. My lasagna stared me in the face as we waited for the pizza. We were there to have dinner together for our anniversary so I waited on my wife’s food. About 10 minutes later the waitress showed up with the pizza. She started apologizing before she even showed the pizza. She told us the manager was cooking and she was the only one on the floor. Apparently the manager was busy so the waitress made the pizza herself. It was burnt…so badly that she cut the crust off over half the pizza. She said my wife could try eating around the burnt part or we could wait while she made a new one. She said there would be no chrge for it. My wife said she’d try but it was really gross. The green peppers were not cooked at all. There was no tomato sauce on it. The toppings were burnt. The waitress said she would make a kids size pizza for my wife to take home with no charge. I cut my lasagna in half so my wife would have something to eat. I gagged down a piece of the pizza and stopped. The waitress saw I cut my lasagna in half and suggested I take advantage of their $5.99 take home special. I declined but had to admire her cheeky attempt at an upsell. I asked for the bill.
The bill was delivered with a total of $58.86!!!
A said to the waitress you said no charge for the pizza. She said no that was for a carry out kids pizza. So here we were with a partially eaten, burned, disgusting pizza at full price.
I was so disgusted and angered. I didn’t want to get into an argument. So I gave her $60 and said your tip is $1.14. She replied I don’t care.
I know it’s hard to get any help nowadays. I also know that 2:30 in the afternoon is low staffing period. I also know that it’s not difficult to take care of 4 patrons in a restaurant. This entire so called meal should have been comped. The manager never even cAme by after we complained.
You all are going to have to do a lot better to get our business back. This makes us very leery of visiting ANY Johnny Carinos in the future.
… moreWe went August 1 about 2:30. The waitress showed us to a small table and asked for our drink order. There was a total of 5 people there besides us. Three of those were leaving. After a few minutes, the waitress stopped to get our order. My wife ordered the Johnnys Favorite pizza and I asked for lasagna. We both ordered the wedge salad. My wedge was to cost $5.99 but hers was $11.99 since pizza is not considered an entree so sayeth the waitress. Ok, we’re celebrating so we said ok. The drinks finally arrived after about 10 minutes The salads arrived with a smidgen of dressing poured on the plate and the wedge set atop the dressing. No dressing poured on the lettuce just on the plate. Never saw that before but we thought maybe it’s something new. We finished our salad just in time to have my lasagna arrive. No pizza. Waitress said it’d be right out. My lasagna stared me in the face as we waited for the pizza. We were there to have dinner together for our anniversary so I waited on my wife’s food. About 10 minutes later the waitress showed up with the pizza. She started apologizing before she even showed the pizza. She told us the manager was cooking and she was the only one on the floor. Apparently the manager was busy so the waitress made the pizza herself. It was burnt…so badly that she cut the crust off over half the pizza. She said my wife could try eating around the burnt part or we could wait while she made a new one. She said there would be no chrge for it. My wife said she’d try but it was really gross. The green peppers were not cooked at all. There was no tomato sauce on it. The toppings were burnt. The waitress said she would make a kids size pizza for my wife to take home with no charge. I cut my lasagna in half so my wife would have something to eat. I gagged down a piece of the pizza and stopped. The waitress saw I cut my lasagna in half and suggested I take advantage of their $5.99 take home special. I declined but had to admire her cheeky attempt at an upsell. I asked for the bill.
The bill was delivered with a total of $58.86!!!
A said to the waitress you said no charge for the pizza. She said no that was for a carry out kids pizza. So here we were with a partially eaten, burned, disgusting pizza at full price.
I was so disgusted and angered. I didn’t want to get into an argument. So I gave her $60 and said your tip is $1.14. She replied I don’t care.
I know it’s hard to get any help nowadays. I also know that 2:30 in the afternoon is low staffing period. I also know that it’s not difficult to take care of 4 patrons in a restaurant. This entire so called meal should have been comped. The manager never even cAme by after we complained.
You all are going to have to do a lot better to get our business back. This makes us very leery of visiting ANY Johnny Carinos in the future.
SimpsonCrew
What has happened? Did 2020 really take a toll on this restaurant? No more Italian pot roast. No warm soft but crispy bread that came out with the oil and somewhat crispy minced garlic? No Lambrusco! No Moscato What happened..? I know Frankfort Kentucky didn’t have quite the variety of great food for my taste but atleast I used to have regular meals at certain places. I don’t even get the pleasure of that anymore. Pure disappointment! I hope for a miracle.
… moreJoseph Badgett
Friendly staff, okay service and the food is average at best. Would recommend checking it out, and would eat here again more than likely in the distant future. I personally ordered the pizza, the crust was great but the rest was bland. I did finish it though if that counts for anything. One of their best pros is their bread and dipping oil they serve before your meal – fantastic combo! All in all, good overall experience.
… moreSabrina
I’m just going to say this… do NOT get the lobster ravioli ENTREE if you’re hungry. It comes with literally SIX pieces of ravioli and they’re not very big, might I add. It was good, I’ll give it that but seriously? I’m not sure if they were running low or if that’s the amount it should come with but it was definitely a surprise.
… moreJulie Salters
I have loved Johnny Carino’s for a long time. Lately I have noticed quality diminishing with every visit. I think today takes the cake. Medium sized nachos were tiny and lacked toppings. I guess the mouse in the chef’s hat couldn’t get all the correct amounts on the plate. It is a shame!
… more