Olive Garden
reviews and complaints

I live inGaffney SC and enjoy my local Olive Garden. However, myself and two other coworkers had a terrible experience Wednesday. We arrived and ordered lunch at 1:05 all three of us had soup and salad. To be specific we ordered zuppa. We got our salad around 1:15 which was fine. By 1:30 we were finished with our salad and our waiter asked if we were ready for soup. We told him yes we were on our lunch break. He replied that they were making fresh zuppa and he would check on it. He never asked if we wanted any other soup that they didn't have any zuppa ready. By 1:40 we still hadn't gotten our soup. Around 1:45 the manager brought it to the table as we were getting up to leave. She said she would box it up. Even though she boxed it up we didn't have time to eat it. When I got to the office I was going to take a bite and it was literally all broth but 1 piece of kale. I was so upset just because the situation could have been handled a lot differently. I called shortly after we left simply because we were hungry and we came for soup. The salad is always a plus but not enough to make a meal out of it. She said she wanted to give us gift cards could she have our email. I gave her all 3 of our emails. The gift cards were only for $10 (My 2 coworkers got their gift card but I did not)... I called today and left a message with an employee with my email and still haven't received my gift card. we paid $10 each for the "free salad" we just ate. So pretty much she just refunded our money. I feel that the gift card didn't make up for our lunch lost and I still haven't received my gift card. I was hoping that you could resolve this issue. I feel she really just brushed us aside. I don't want my hard earned money to go to waste and I feel like it did that day. I paid $10 for salad and didn't receive my "unlimited" soup just a bowl of broth Togo. It just very frustrating and I just expected the situation to be handled differently. Thank you for your time.

I had two interviews at olive garden and the manager said that i would get a email within a couples day and i never received the email so i called on a monday and she said she will call me on that Wednesday and she never called me and ive called Wednesday and thursday and she wasnt there so i called today (friday) and told her i was checking in because i havent heard from her and she told me that someone has filled the position i applied for, so my fiance (he works there) called me after i dropped him off and told me that she sat him aside and told him that the reason why she didnt give me the job is because she thinks we will argure (me and my fiance) which we wont! And there is plenty of boyfriend and girlfriends that work there and i feel very offended!

I was inside you store on City Ave, it thirty minutes ti just get some water and salad and breadsticks, then I place my order and the order that I asked for was completely wrong then, I tell the sever that my order was wrong and she give all this attitude, then I ask to speak to the manager she waa just as bad as the sever. This is the worst customer service I ever had.

Stephanie Atkerson

About three of tour weeks ago I placed a phone order for two fettuccini chicken Alfredo meals to go. When I got home I realized that they had given one and the second was some other type of pasta I was not familiar with. I called and spoke with the manager. I believe her name was Tanya. She offered for me to go back but I did not want to go all the way back so she offered me $20 gift card. She took my address and said I would be receiving it in the mail. To date I have received nothing. I wasted my money. I did not eat the meal they gave me as I had no clue what it was. Nor could they tell me what they gave me after describing it to them. I am really disappointed because I work hard for my money and for them not to send me my gift card is wrong. And this was not the first time the order was wrong. Sometimes it will be missing something. Like the bread sticks. But to give me completely the wrong food and not Make it right is disappointing.

We took my mom there for her birthday dinner this past sunday. We have not been there in some time. The spaghetti was horrible. The noodles did not seem to be cooked enough and it was very dry. Basically was like frozen food that was out of the microwave. It was a very long wait for the food. We all did the bottemless special. Im just very disappointed with olive garden. The bill was very expensive and we were not even pleased with our food. Both my parents love spaghetti and my dad could not even hardly eat it. There are many good places to go eat, so im sure i will not be back to a olive garden.
Thank you
Michele

Good evening. I was emailing in refeerence to a tip. On Saturday, March 17th i dined in at the Old Spanish Trail location in Houston, Texas. The hostess greeted us within a minute of arrival. Very friendly. The food was excellent. My dining experience was great..here it is Monday, March 19th and i looked at my credit card bill. There is a tip on my credit card that i didn't put there. I tipped my server cash, and i also wrote cash on the tip line. When i called the manager today, he said he would reimburse me my "tip" I'm not sure if this happens a lot at this location, but i definitely won't be coming back. My family and i frequently come to this location because it's right by my house. I feel violated, i never thought this would happen to me.

I love Olive Garden but their menu special for $12.99 is not $12.99 the first two items on the menu are $12.99 which means you have to pay $3 more for meat to put on the pasta and then every other item on the list is $16.99 and up then it goes $20 and up I mean I feel ripped off for my money because you're telling me $12.99 unlimited pasta in your tv commerical but I might as well I pay for a full meal there for the same price honestly I just feel ripped off for my money so your losing my business because I don't want to go there if I'm going to pay that much and not be able to choose which pasta or your old specials I can choose from when you're only giving me two options for the price of $12.99. I love olive garden but its already pricey. I love your speciala but they arent specials anymore.

My husband and myself went to Olive Garden this evening for dinner. Usually the food is amazing. This evening the lettuce in the salad was brown. The croutons were mushy. The breadsticks were hard and not very good . We had the soup and salad . Spent $31.00 on 2 bowls of soup. The raspberry tea you couldn't taste the raspberry. Was very disappointed.

This is my third attempt at emailing someone regarding my experience at your Tupelo all of garden location on Sunday, March 11, 2018. The restaurant was absolutely filthy, and understaffed. When we were told the wait would be 35 to 40 minutes we took a seat at the bar and then waited 25 minutes to even be at knowledged. The staff seemed very frustrated and overwhelmed and other patrons that had been sitting at the bar before us expressed the same thoughts. When we were finally sat at a table we asked to place our order right away and then waited another 30 minutes with still no food or drink refill. We asked a passing by hostess to grab the manager for us. The manager was very apologetic and tried to expedite our food but we were already very frustrated and had been there for almost 2 hours. Several servers for the last 20 minutes of our visit came over and that was kind of overwhelming. We ended up faxing the majority of our food and leaving as it was getting late. The restaurant was very poorly ran and it seemed like nobody really knew what they were doing. Trey jacks were sporadically placed around the restaurant which had trays piled high With dirty dishes. We were very disappointed with this visit, we are big fans of at the Olive Garden and usually have a good experience. We probably won't be back to this location ever again.

Last night we visited the Olive Garden at 100 W 125th Street New York, New York 10027 for dinner. Most likely we will never return. We ordered our favorite, soup and breadsticks. It took approximately 45 minutes for the waiter to bring soup and breadsticks, no salad, which usually comes first. When he finally returned with the salad we asked for more soup and breadsticks. and silverware for the salad. when he finally returned with soup, he brought no breadsticks, and by the time he did, my soup was cold. In the meantime, we requested silverware at least five times to eat the salad, and that never happened. we ended up taking silverware from another table. and we were also told on second bowl of soup that there was no more for the evening. so much for unlimited. We noticed that the table near us complained loudly regarding the extremely poor service and received a 10 gift card. We were entirely too frustrated, tired, and frankly intimidated by the extremely rude and horrible service that we expressed our dissatisfaction, but did not raise a fuss, and left as soon as possible. Absolutely a horrible experience, will not return. Plan to post as many social media reviews regarding the place as soon as I have the time and energy. Thought someone at Olive Garden should know and think about checking on this location

I am a new hire here at olive garden in Lakeland fl, on 3911 us hwy 98 north, am also a mystery shopper on my spare time, I would like to keep my identity unknown for Safety reasons. I am so upset with most of the employee here i got all there names by asking them. First of all Gustavo otero Peres, Jarvis Harper, akendi, those three names they are cooks and steal food everyday from the restaurant. I see them with my eyes, they all also have told me the work site has no cameras so it's easy for them to steal food. I've also caught Gustavo otero Perez in the break room with Amanda Thomas a married women with kids making out with Gustavo while on the clock when both should be working while on the clock. Sadly management is weak and doesn't see these things. Manager kat barroms brings her home issues to work which is inoperative. Employees Gustavo and Jarvis come to work high off marihuana everyday and akendi sniffs coke in the kitchen fast before work
It's terrible so sad. We need help getting rid of these 4 bad employees
New manager need to come in

My mom went to Olive Garden in Pasadena last week. When she took a bite of her souo their was metal in it. Appeared to be from a large industrial can. She asked for the manager and he accused her of planting it to get free food. He claimed it wasnt wet, therefore it wasnt in the soup. He never even checked the back of house. He refused to give his name and said "its on the building". She contacted their corporate office, but all she received is an automatic response. Hopefully someone here can ensure the safety of guests at this location because management and ownership are not doing their due diligence .

I took my husband out for his Birthday on March 12 th to Olive Garden West Springfield ma. It was me, my husband and his 90 year old mother and our two teenage kids. Right after we were seated I went to the hostage table and ask if they still sold the cakes for birthday like you had in many years in the past. They said no but they had a $45.00 cake and they would have the waitress came to the table and sing happy birthday to my husband. I thought it was way over priced for a cake but I was out all day and could not have the time to baked one myself so I was happy just to have a cake for him. At the end of the meal the waitress ask if we still wanted the cake and showed me the price on the bill. I said yes, I realized the price and wanted the cake just the same. We order coffee and drank the whole pot. I went up to the hostage table again and complained that we still didn't get the cake. They reassured me the cake would b coming right out. I ask them to let the manager know there was a problem. Back at our table our waitress finally came to our table and said she could bring us the cake because it was frozen! Why tell us it would be right out, plus they had more than enough time to defrost it because of the wait, we had appetizers, salad, dinner and coffee. I near saw one manager at all making the rounds and checking the dinning room or even come over to our table. Worst night ever!

First, it took 30 minutes to get our water we ordered and did not receive breadsticks and salad until 45 minutes after we ordered. At this time, we received our food at the same time as our salad, but did not receive breadsticks. Our waiter told us breadsticks were not ready, but tables around us were receiving breadsticks. Once we received our food, 3/4s of the orders had an error but our waiter did not check on us once for us to get this fixed. He then offered us desserts to make up for the horrible experience, but we were charged with each dessert. We were also misinformed about the unlimited food and we were also charged with each refill on soup that we received. Overall, the experience was horrible and everything that could have went wrong, did.

I went to the great northern mall location in CNY and was extremely disappointed in the entire meal... My server was awesome I believe her name was Audrey. My problem was that myself and my fiance both had entrees that were over $18 and were saddened by the quality of the food.. I had the tour of Italy, my pasta which was barely there, and was dry and hard and had barely any Alfredo sauce. My lasagna was burnt and dry around the edges... Our appetizer which was the sampler was also dissapointing... The calamari was a joke! The lasagna fritta was way over cooked!... The breadsticks were almost rock hard.. The only thing that saved the meal was the flavor and the fact that we were hungry... Like I said my server was awesome, she had gotten 8 top right after we got there and they were running her back and forth. She handled it very well and she was very nice, my complaint was that none of our plates were cleared off the table at all the entire time we were there. I spent a good Penny and definitely did feel the quality of the meal was worth it..

Re: item left on table couldn't be found only less than 12 hours upon leaving the restaurant 3303 W. Touhy Ave
Lincolnwood, Il [protected]

On Sat. March 10, 2018 we ate at location in Lincolnwood, Illinois about 12-1 where Lydia was our server. I called at 9:45 that night because my sunglasses were left on the table. I was places on hold for a long time. The guy(Wesley) said they only had key and he had me on hold for a manager. Finally, Carlos the GM said no glasses were in the lost and found and he would call the server and get back to me and he apologize. He left message saying he didn't reach Lydia at 10:45.

On Sun. Carlos called T 2:30 staying that he spoke to Lydia last night and she didn't see the sun glasses, not did th e bussers but they found purses, etc. in the lost and found. I dont understand, I called less than 12 hours later. I know I took them in and sat them on the table. I would think that when someone bussed the table they were seen or picked up with the napkins. Unfortunately, there are a couple of Loopholes in Carlos story . Carlos stated that they only found keys but the next day he said they found a list of items left by people in the lost and found more important he said that he didn't speak to Lydia that night in his voicemail and when he spoke to me on Sunday he said Lydia said I spoke to Lydia last night. Why would they lie? Bottom line is, I would like for my sunglasses to be replaced at a value of $99 he offered to give us a complimentary entree if we came back in today. However, I live in Wisconsin and I would like to take him up on that offer as well. We would appreciate the coupon or a gift card for our family of four to be sent to our home address at:

Nicole Johnson
4557 N. 24 St.
Milwaukee, WI 53209
[protected]

On 3/10/18 at 5 pm, our conference committee choose to celebrate our huge conference success at Olive Garden. We had a + $20, 000 state Deaf association conference expense at our local Marriott Hotel and worked hard. We are a non-profit organization but had no financial issues. Our treasurer called Olive Garden a few days prior to ensure we can pay by check, and was told it would be accepted

Before we were seated, I as the conference chair, and several others asked the hostess if they would accept our non-profit organization check. We had time to wait but the hostess said she would have to ask her supervisor. After a few minutes she confirmed that they will accept our check.

When we were paying for the bill, the waiter brought the check and bill to the front desk and the manager, Julia Stovie, came towards us and said they would not accept our check. Two people tried to explain to Julia Stovie that we called and ensured upon arriving if they would accept our check, and was told it would be fine. Julie made facial expressions and was impatience with our treasurer and several people. Another effort was made to try to explain that this was not fair at all-- and none of us wanted to use our personal credit card for a $440.00 bill. Julie told us they had a policy and was not willing honor Olive Garden's assurance with us.

It turned embarrassing. Julia should have taken the responsibility of ensuring that we checked with a hostess and we called, and moved on in fixing any misques rather than to lie to us and put is in an awkward situation. Our expense was very generous but the management showed no appreciation. Instead we were offended and lied to.

We would appreciate an sincere apology for Julia or some follow up plan to ensure that Olive Garden management takes this ill treatment seriously.

Iowa Association of the Deaf 2017 Conference committee chair

I went to Olive Garden ( 9280 E Roosevelt Blvd Phila Pa 19115 on Fri 3/9/2017 with a party of 8 for a birthday. It was a 45 min wait and after we sat down, the server asked if we wanted to try the new apple sangria. We agreed but when she brought out the glasses & poured the sample, all 8 cups were disgustingly dirty, several of them had lip marks as if they never had been clean! Then our server went to get new cups and they were still disgustingly dirty! We asked to speak to the manager, the manager came over apologized and then stated you do know it's machined washed, which was very unprofessional! Then the server brought out plates for our salads and soups and the plates where dirty. She brought out 3 different sets of plates all dirty. They had food stuck to them! Ustensials looked as if they never been washed. This was one of the worst experiences i ever had at any restaurant! The server was making a joke about it and laughing as if it was funny, and once again that was very unprofessional! She brought my soup out in a to go bowl & gave us plastic utensils. I am very disgusted with Olive Garden.

On 3-3-18 my husband and I decided we wanted to go to dinner to somewhere nice to have a few drinks and relax because we finally had a baby sitter so this isn't something we can regularly do. As we arrived to OG and walked in to be seated it took only 2 mins or so to be seated. After being seated about 5 mins later our waitress came over introduced herself and took our drink orders, which were alcoholic drinks. she asked for our ID's had small talk and then put our drink order in. Seemed like a good start to our night. 15 mins later is the next time we saw her. She didn't come back to take our food order or stop by to tell us she would be right with us or anything. after 15 mins she brings MY drink only and then walks away, my husband and I thinking okay she must be going to get his drink. She comes back about 2 mins later and says "you have the wrong drink, I can have the bartender remake yours" and takes the drink back. mind you already sitting about 20 plus mins now and still no order taken, there were only about 5 tables so they weren't busy, it was only 9pm. she finally after another 6 or 7 mins comes back with both our drinks and I tell her we have been ready to order, so she takes our order and I order alfredo sauce for the breadsticks. another 10 mins goes by and she comes back with ONLY the dish of alfredo sauce and another tables extras they needed and nothing else and says she will be right back with the breadsticks and salad. 15 more mins go by and our food comes out..still no breadsticks and now cold alfredo sauce. Not to mention no cutting knife for my husbands steak. We eventually notice the waitress we haven't no longer been seeing either. The table across from us starts complaining and a manager comes over and accompanies them and we over hear her say the waitress left for the evening because she's had a ruff night. As the manager walks back I catch her attention and explain to her our issue as well, what we are missing and what we needed and she goes to the back with 3 tables all needing something, because our waitress just "had too much for the day." Now my husband still hasn't touched his steak because no knife, we still have no breadsticks and just cold alfredo sauce and I had to request cheese be brought out for my soup and salad because although it is usually offered right away, this time it was not. another 10 mins goes by and I see the manager again coming to check on everyone. As she comes by our table I state to her we still have no salad plates and no breadsticks, she was sure she sent someone out with them and come to find out it was sent to the wrong table. she goes and comes back right away with everything needed and only 3 breadsticks that are hard as rocks. Mind you now it is about 10:45 and were just now getting to basically actually eat our now cold meal and they close at 11. the surrounding 2 tables leave at about this time so it becomes just us left in the restuarant. this last 15 mins is multiple employees walking by or peaking their head in and yelling back comments like "just one more" or "looks almost finished" which we understand they close at 11 I would want to be gone too, however it was very disturbing especially after all the BS we just went through for an order for 2. As another waiter comes to take away dishes and bring the check and ask for anything else needed. he states "and if you could just leave a nice comment for the waitress she's had a long day." For a second I thought is this a joke. I use to be a server years ago so I have very great leniency and understanding for service however when something is bad it just is and being not busy was uncalled for and I ABSOLUTELY love OG especially being I'm Italian. We recently moved from Florida and this was our first experience at our near by OG and it was not great at all for a $75.00 check and this being something we cant always do. Each guest should also be understood in how their day(s) have been also. This night out is what I've really needed with recently moving, working, my mom passing last month and so much stress my family has been going through and I don't let them this for pitty or be hostile and still to top the cherry with "leave a nice comment" and still having to pay for this horrible dining experience? however I still don't give up on OG and their service. One bad apple cant be always what it will be. I do in fact request if I could have a gift card for at least the same price of the $75 that we used to purchase our meal to hopefully come back when we can and enjoy in hopes of a better dining experience. I appreciate your time, understanding and listening. I hope things will be better next time.

Today my family and I dined in around 6:30 pm. We were expecting a peaceful evening out and we didn't get that. We got there and felt rushed. Our servers name was Alex. He took our orders and as soon as we got our soup/salad, we got our entrees about 10 minutes later. We didn't really get time to enjoy the soup and salad. Then, when we finished with our first never ending pasta bowl, the dirty dishes sat on the table until next entree came out. He had only three other tables and seemed like he was rushing us all. I understand it was busy and they were trying to flip tables, but being rushed to eat doesn't lead to good customer service in my opinion. We then asked for boxes and it took us a while to receive them. Wasn't asked if we wanted a soup/salad refill. This is one of the worst experiences I've recieved there.