Olive Garden
reviews and complaints

My girlfriend I dined at Olive Garden restaurant located on 1638 Owen Dr, 1638 Owen Dr, Fayetteville, NC 2830 last approximately 8:00pm needless to say the service was poor even the manager needs retraining. The restaurant was not crowded We each ordered soup& salad along with a sample of wine, it took us almost an hour and a half just to get our first serve enough soup no wine until asking for a manager. Even after registering concerns to the manager the service was still substandard. My girlfriend and I tried to make the best out of the meal as possible we were given a free meal but the staff needs to be retrained having dined at many Olive Gardens this is lously and being in a popular area as this this is unacceptable.

What an awful experience. I place a pick up order and the person completely thought I was broke and change my order from olive garden to pinch a penny. I asked for 3 hot dinner plates and instead got 2 hot meals. Hanna mentioned over the phone that if I was going to go with the to go special there was a $3.29 up charge per plate. I completely understood that. Now, how did I get 2 hot plate to go and was charge 3 times for the to go order?. I called back to the restaurant thinking this is an easy fix. Domingo the acting manager completely blames me for their mistake and was very unprofessional. We had a huge argument over a simple fix. This is embarrassing. Was it that difficult to provide a solution?. He instantly assumed I speak spanish so, he started to speak to me in spanish. Last time I checked... Profiling is illegal. So, check the law before you speak domingo. Then he called me mi amor? What that fu€¥... Again, think before you speak. So unprofessional. Call people by their names first domingo. It really was an easy fix. Like it or not... The customer is always right... I did not call so you can prove me wrong. I called so that you can solve the issue, if anything... I was trying to pay you more money. You are representing a brand/major company. I will never eat at olive garden.

My husband and I stopped to eat yesterday at the Branson Missouri location and as they were walking us to a table in the back corner the air got colder and colder.
We were not the only ones saying it was cold. Also I'm not fond of being seated in a corner.
I went to the front to ask if we could possible sit in another area, perhaps a booth on the sides where it was warmer and out of the corner. Or the bar area? She said no waiters for that area. The lady turned and said she would tell them to turn the air up. We didn't want to go back and sit in the cold corner waiting for it to warm up. So we stood there not knowing what to do. We just left. They were not very accommodating . They weren't rude, but just not helpful.
We went across the street to Crackerbarrel.

About 20 days ago I went to the Olive Garden in Cherry Hill NJ. I got Curbside yo go.
The order when I got it home was wrong. I called the manager, Andy, and he said he would send a gift card for a future visit. It was 2 tour of Italy meals and BOTH. we're wrong. They didn't include what I asked for, Ckn parm and it had lasagna with meat in it. Not what I had ordered. I haven't heard back from Andy and I am really disappointed.

Hi,

My girlfriend and I were both able to get to the payment screen for the pasta passes. We both inputted our information. Unfortunately, due to some technical error on the Olive Garden website it told my girlfriend that only one user per card and would not let her purchase the pasta pass even though her information was correct and her credit card was not being used anywhere else. We don't understand what happened and it was not explaining what was wrong. Due to the technical difficulties on your website, I would like to be given the opportunity to refuse my pass and get a refund. Without my girlfriend having a pass there is no reason for me to have one, I will not be able afford purchasing her meal and cannot leave her behind while I eat at olive garden daily. I sincerely hope you understand why this pass is useless to me after your website refused to allow her to complete her purchase and why the situation may be frustrating given how close we were to both having one. Thank you for any consideration you can give me.

Regards,

Austin Banghart

I attempted to purchase a pasta pass; however, a pop up appeared stating that there was an error, so I checked all my information, and it was all correct... I tried again, still stated an error, so I tried a different credit card... same thing... stated an error... there is no problem with either card... it is now 41 minutes after the passes went on sale, and the cart site is still up on my smart phone... a circle keeps moving around... not sure if the purchase went through or not! should I close it out? also attempted to place a phone call to Olive Garden customer service... still on hold after 25 minutes! Both my husband and I bought the pasta passes last year with no problem... very disappointed... this reflects very poorly on Olive Garden...I realize there are a limited number to be purchased, but this is not the issue... the processing is! and... still on hold with customer service! Love Olive Garden food... even purchased it for take out on Mother's Day for 20 people! Disgusted! and... yes... still on hold with customer service! Guess where we are NOT eating tonight?

Worst experience my family and I ever had at any Olive Garden. Food was horrible and ice cold we told the waitress who sent over some lady over who was extremely rude and embarrassed all of us at our table Keira or Katie Williams, said she was the "General Manager" who knows? never apologized worst experience in a restaurant my family ever had, that lady should be fired! she shouldn't manage anything! Manchester, NH

Hello,
This evening I went to dinner at Olive garden with a friend. When I got home I was looking at my receipt and noticed there was an additional charge on my ticket for an add on of grilled shrimp. First off I did not order this and when our server was going through the receipt he did not remove this. Secondly, the service was okay until about half way through. First off my tea was half gone most of our dinner and had no ice, just a warm beverage sitting there the entire meal until I requested more .I opted for soup rather than salad and when he came to get my friends second bowl of soup he just left my empty bowl sitting there, no offer for refill or to remove my empty bowl. He seemed to be getting more annoyed by the min. Towards the end, I had to ask for some take home dishes, he gave us a cup with no lids, I had to ask for a container for my gravy boat twice, and then I spoon to put it away. I asked for a bag for the bread sticks and when we walked over to ask him he says, "what else do you guys need now"? He didn't offer to put our food away, ND basically ignored us towards the end making it very obvious he was done with us. He was not courteous and very clearly annoyed with us. I don't know if he was upset by my friends tip, I do not know what she tipped him, but the fact we had to ask five six times for containers and assistance did not make this a pleasant experience. I love Olive garden was looking forward to dinner with a friend but we were taking turns asking for things from him because we were both scared of irritating him any more. I rarely complain about food or service but felt this time it was not good. To top off the fact my charges were not accurate. I urge you to advise your servers that all these actions should be something offered without question. I have attached the receipt for you to review if you would like to. I appreciate your sight allowing us to explain service to hopefully make our next experience a more enjoyable one. My contact is [protected], should you care to discuss in person. Thank you

Elisabeth

Watch out...when you receive the bill, you will notice suggested tip amounts. However, this calculation i cludes tax which IS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN. The tip is to be based on subtotal of actual food costs. Never had this happen anywhere else. Local Oluve Garden said this is the way their corporate system figures bill...it is wrong.

Do not let them get extra money for their coffers in this way! Spred the word.

I live in Post Falls, which means the Olive Garden closest to me is in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. This Olive Garden has got to be the worst one in the organization. If this was the only Olive Garden I had been to, I would never sit down in another one.
I was there yesterday 8/20/2018 at around 2 pm with my husband, daughter, grandson, and a visiting cousin. My daughter and I ordered our salads without pepperoncinis and extra olives, but two different dressings (I wanted ranch and she wanted the house dressing). My husband ordered soup and his cousin ordered a house salad without olives. This apparently was too much for the staff because they sent out two bowls of basic salad mix and everything out on separate plates so we could build our own salads. I do mean everything we had a separate plate for the pepperoncinis, the olives (which 10 is considered extra for 2 salads), the onions, the tomatoes, the croutons, and the salad dressings. I might as well have gone to a buffet, but what was worse was waiting for them to bring plates. I had to flag down the waitress to let her know we didn't get any plates to put the salad on. Then I had to flag them down for cheese on the salad and they only did my salad and I had to flag them down again to get cheese on everyone else's food. I then had to ask for the little plates so we could make my 2 year old grandson his own salad. We finally were eating our salads and had barely taken a bite when they brought out our food. I told them I wanted it held in the kitchen under the heat lamp until we could eat our salads. They seemed put out but did it. Then the manager or supervisor came to our table, "Mandy", I am not sure which she was she never introduced herself. She kept interrupting me when I tried to explain what happened and why I was unhappy. She wasn't rude per say but she was short and obviously annoyed with me. She remade our cousins salad because my daughter and I had already made our own salads and didn't want more. Mandy then said she would have our food fresh made, which meant we sat there for about ten minutes after our salads were done. Then they brought out our food, my alfredo was separated instead of nice and smooth like it should have been. They never asked us how the rest of the meal was or if there was anything else they could do. Mandy brought out three $10 gift cards since we were on three separate checks. Then my son came by to hi to his cousin on his way to next college class and he asked me why I was upset. Mandy was apparently eavesdropping while I was telling him the story and she interrupted us to say she was going to just take care of my bill and not to worry about it. I told them they didn't have to since we did eat, but she insisted. Then they waitress came up to my daughter and cousin and told them they still needed to pay their bills. Mandy had only taken care of mine and they still needed to pay theirs even though they had shared the same upsetting experience that I had. You can imagine the irritated conversation in the car home. This was just the last of many bad experiences I have had with this Olive Garden. I don't know how they can be so poorly organized and have there alfredo sauce screwed up so often. It is like a craps shoot every time I go there. Our poor cousin has only seen them at there worst. Last time he came down (last October) it took two hours to get our food from start to finish and they only had six tables occupied in the store. We came in at 8:30 and they got our beverage order right away, then we waited nearly 30 minutes for them to take our order and they didn't refill drinks until after they took the order. Then they screwed up how many soups and the two salads. My husband, daughter, son, son-in-law, grandson, and cousin were all there. So if you count my grandson as a person (which Mandy didn't because she didn't bring him a mint and she handed one out to each person walking around the table to it.), then there was seven of us total. Not a small group, but certainly not a large one for Olive Garden either. When they brought out the food about 45 minutes after the salads, they forgot two orders and we had to wait for them while everyone else ate. When they finally brought the other two orders they informed us that actually close at 10 and that since they were doing clean-up they might not be as attentive as they usually were. Oh and they brought the check and mints with the two meals. At this time they had only refilled our drinks once and we had to ask them to, and they were inconvenienced when we asked for refills again because it was after 10 and they had taken apart the machine to clean it. The waiter actually asked me if we would all settle for water instead. Then they came over and asked less than 5 minutes apart if we wanted boxes while we were still eating our late delivered meals. It was absurd. We finally just left. At that time they didn't apologize or anything, I paid over $100 to be treated worse than a McDonalds would on its worse day. I was appalled. I didn't eat there for over 6 months after that. This last visit was only the second time I had been back. We only went because our cousin doesn't have Olive Garden where he lives and when we lived in Vancouver, WA it was his favorite place to go while visiting. I now go to Tomato Street, Tito's Grill, or Tony's, when I am home. I only visit Olive Garden when I am on trips on the West side of Washington. You really need to go to the Coeur d'Alene, ID restaurant and put them straight. As I said earlier in this email, I would not go back if this was the first Olive Garden I tried. How many customers are they losing this company. I believe word of mouth is important and you can just imagine what I have to say to others about the experience. I know restaurants can have a bad day but what are they odds that I am there for every one of them. Please put your house in order and make this an Olive Garden I can't wait to go to, instead of one I dread.

My husband and I had not been to Olive Garden in quite some time, but since he received a gift card from his employer, we decided to go. The server, who was a black male, never immediately served us our salad and breadsticks. We had to eventually ask him if we were supposed to receive them. After that we placed our order, and when he finally brought our order out to us, he sat it down, not on our table, then walked away to the table next to ours to talk with some children and give them high fives. I said to him, excuse me, but that's not acceptable. People have germs on their hands, and now you want to serve our food? We immediately asked for a to-go box and our check. We believe he thought maybe if he was more friendly with the certain people, he would get a bigger tip or something. He was very very rude to us, and we left Olive Garden very displeased. How can your establishment rectify this?

My name is Luis Ortega and I'm currently employed by Olive Garden store 4415 but currently on suspension because of this situation. I've been involved in an incident at work that has left many of us angry and i decided to make a stand against a certain manager since it began affecting my position at work or atleast I felt like i was being targeted. I was on disability with the company and was told I made too much money and that they had to cut my disability short and called work and was told I needed to report back to work or I would be wiped from the system. I get back with a cast because I'm in final stages of healing process and everything is fine I'm back to doing what I love doing because I feel like I'm awesome at my job and I hear from multiple people telling me to be on my p's and q's because Tim didn't wanna deal with me being on the floor and said that they needed to get rid of me since they feel id be flawed but I've shown absolutely no slack in my work and there was absolutely no guests complaints I'm 100% of that. I was then being written up and I had to make a statement about why I took off a soup and salad without having management do it and I just began to feel insulted in my statement as I was writing it and everything about management that had been bothering me came out in the statement..I even said I'd resign because of how things are going and how we are being treated. I brought up my defense against one of our workers who is an elderly woman whom I felt was being discriminated because of her age and that they were trying to get rid of her because she is slow, old and grumpy but some of our servers just can't seem to stay out of the weeds over a salad so maybe she isn't the entire problem. Then I bring up my situation where I feel like I was being harassed and plotted on over my wrist and then I brought up the sexual harassment of the manager always feeling on and calling baby to a dear friend of mine and she came to me on countless occasions scared and nervous to come forward to management because she was scared to lose her job or hours so she just kept her mouth shut...for almost a year guys and I had to hear about it all the time. So after my statement I'm told I'm being suspended and would hear from management. Since my suspension Tim the manager has been fired after an investigation and a bunch of people came forward about him either making them feel uncomfortable or them seeing it happen. I have yet to hear back from the company or management atleast and that's pretty disappointing especially considering how everything played out so everyone knows I'm not lying now. So I'm coming to you asking what I should do next. Lawyer says to sue since everyone at the company wants to help me but I'm not the kind of guy to want to go through with that I just want to get back to work now that the poison is gone

On Saturday afternoon, 16:30 hr. I and my wife stopped at the Wausau Olive Garden, The parking lot was not full, which is a good sign that seating should be prompt, But such was not the case, Patrons were stacked up out the door, Yet half the tables were empty, This is the third time I have had the displeasure of this happening at this restaurant. I have talked to the manager, and She explained that there is a new policy of, people being able to call in and get placed on the wait list, and being able to walk in and be seated almost immediately, While people like I and my wife sit for up to 45 minuets to be served, Even though half the table in the restaurant are empty.

Olive Garden is a restaurant that I and my wife visit at least 1 a month, It has always been first through the door, first seated, we choose off peak times to go before 17:30, because being disable it is very difficult to stand and wait for tables and as the waiting area is very limited in seating capacity, and with this new policy of people being able to reserve a spot on the waiting list, For the third time we have not been able to dine at your restaurant, Now having talked to other friends, I am advised by them that they have been having this problem too, and are no longer going to the Garden because of the new seating policy that leave us standing, waiting for tables, while those who call in from off the road are seated before us, despite the fact that we were trough the door first. I am deeply disappointed in that I am now driven to no long dine at your restaurants any more, and will be advising my friend about the problems of getting seated due to your new seating policy.

Robert J Ecklund

Just had the worst experience at Olive Garden on Lindbergh in St. Louis, MO. arrived around 1:30, busy but not a huge crowd. Our server came pretty quickly and brought our drinks. We placed our order, I ordered angel hair pasta with meat sauce. I told her I wanted very little pasta, mostly sauce. Came with very little sauce, mostly pasta. Asked for more sauce, about 10 minutes later she came out with a small ramekin of sauce, about 1/4 cup. I told her I'd probably need about 3 times that. About 10 minutes later she brought the same amount and said she had spoken to the manager and I would have to pay for additional sauce. Since what I ordered was less pasta I feel they should have either remade the dish or given me the amount of sauce I requested...at no additional charge. The breadsticks came out after we had finished soup and salad. Another person in the party requested a second bowl of soup and that took about 10 minutes to get. My mom asked for lemon for her tea, again a long wait. All in all, bad service. We will not return!

Wallked in straight to bar...they had no seating...came to hostess at front...she just stared at me, along with 2 other girls standing there, and said yes? Like I was bothering her. I said can I eat she said it'll be about 5-10 minutes wait. I said okay and that was fine. Didn't say hi, hello, may I help you...nothing except. Yes? However, my host Heather was super nice and pleasant. Maybe they could take some training from her

My husband and I ordered the Tour of Italy and told our server we would be splitting it. We were seated at a table for four; my husband sitting to my right. When the food arrived, the server placed it in the corner between us, which was very awkward and then asked if we would like another plate. Of course we did! After waiting five minutes with our food not getting any warmer, my husband just used his salad plate. A couple of minutes later, our server shows up with a plate. She never came back to refill our water glasses which had been empty for some time. We had places to go and were afraid the stores would close before we could get there. Long after we had finished eating, our server came by to see if we wanted any dessert. My husband told her that we were in a hurry and just wanted our check. She immediately went to the POS and walked away. We waited and waited, and finally she returned to ask if my husband had paid as they showed he had. It took another 15 minutes to get it straightened out. By then, we were unable to complete our shopping. We have no reason to return to Olive Garden after this experience. (The last time we were there, we had a similar experience.)

I've been with Olive Garden in Hickory NC store 1407 for 2 years. Managment has tried to get corporate to realize that on 1 side of the restaurant, the floor stays soaking wet, the vents are black with mold. The smell is horrendous. I have personally cleaned mold off this exact spot on the wall, only to find it grew back the next week. Im tired of coming to work only to have allergic reactions. It is disgusting.

To Whom it May Concern,
I am writing to you about your 125th Street Olive Garden in New York, NY 10027. On 8/13/18, a companion and myself entered the establishment at 6:35pm, my companion gave her name to the hostesses. One of the two hostesses informed us that, it would be a 10 minute wait. There were no other guests there The place was empty. However, we waited for 20 minutes with no mention of a table being ready. Being that it was my first time going to eat at an Olive Garden, I felt very neglected and unwelcomed. It would have been nice to have your staff acknowledge or update us within the 10 minutes set as the original timeframe on our table wait time. Please address your staff on this matter and kindly respond to my concerns. I can be reached at, [protected]@Yahoo.com, [protected] or
Celeste Cole
3000 Park Avenue
Bronx. New York, 10453
#6D
Thank you
Celeste Cole

Yesterday evening we attempted to go to the Tukwila restaurant. As per the website we called ahead (6 people or less) and put our names down.

1. When you actually call the restaurant pressing option 2 it does not state that this is for parties of 6 or less. The person who answered was extremely rude

2. When we arrived we actually turned around and left because the smell of old stale food was abundantly evident - it in fact made my stomach turn

3. Furthermore, I know they were busy, but it seemed totally chaotic inside the facility. The staff really do need further training

Thank you
Dr Peter van Breda

Aug 12th 2018. visited the Olive Garden in Santa Clarita around 7:30pm. Party of 4 adults. Ordered a Strawberry Margarita. My server gave me a price of $13.00 for a premium tequila or $7.00 for the house tequila. I chose the house tequila. When the drink arrived it tasted like sweet strawberries minus any alcohol. When I asked the server about this she said.."Yes we put very little alcohol in the drinks as this a family friendly restaurant". I responded with "well I would at least like to be able to taste some alcohol. She said I could order another shot of liquor so I did. When the drink came back it was still very weak for a Margarita but at this point I just drank it as our service was already slow enough, our food had still not arrived (we were dining on the outside patio) and we just wanted to eat and get back on the road to Bakersfield. To my disappointment when my bill arrived, I was charged $6.00 for that "extra shot". That made my drink $13.00 anyway. ..Wow...I should have ordered the premium drink to begin with right? Probably would have had a real drink at that price and maybe better service?

Btw...good thing we are honest customers...we practically had to hunt down someone to take our money before we left. Very unorganized.

Thanks for letting me vent. Probably will not visit that location again.

Teressa Newell Acosta
[protected]
contact.[protected]@yahoo.com