Olive Garden
Reviews and Complaints

I went to Olive Garden in Oxford, al on July 1, 2018. I ordered my usual chicken and shrimp carbonara but to my surprise it arrived not the usual way it comes. The shrimp were the cheap kind that has no taste. When I asked my waiter why it was different she said it's been like this since I worked here. Approximately 15 minutes later she came back and said, I asked another employee she said they changed it about 3 months ago because people didn't like to pull the tail off the shrimp. Yeah right you just found a cheaper way to make it at the same price. Why would they order this if they knew it came with shells if they didn't Like it. You could have at least noted this change on the menu. I tell you it disgusted me, it sat in my fridge fir three days until I threw it away. No taste at least you could change the price also.

Today's date, 7/5/2018, my wife and I decided to have an early dinner. I had been craving some pasta of some sort, so we decided on The Olive Garden in Denton, TX.

I will only sit at the bar not only there, but almost anywhere I eat. The bar at the Denton location was empty with the exception of 1 other customer sitting at the bar.
We were greeted, given a menu, and asked what we wanted to drink. We both decided to try the " new " strawberry mango tea. Absolutely the worst thing I have ever tried, as far as tea goes. They dumped it for us, brought us " sweet tea " after which we added 2 packages of sweet and low to get a true sweet tea.

I explained to the bartendress that on my previous the food was excellent and the main reason was because it was actually served HOT, not at their normal room temperature. I ordered The Tour of Italy, my wife asked about the " new " chicken lasagna. She asked her if it was good, her response, " I don't eat lasagna, but the employees seem to like it. "

I always order my salad with no croutons, no peppers, croutons on the side, ( my wife likes them ) and extra dressing. The " shift change " bartendress was there, and I said, " I forgot to tell her how I wanted my salad. " I will tell her. " Of course, when she brought the salad, it was normal. Instead of saying, let me replace this, I picked the croutons and peppers out with my fingers. Then waited, for my extra dressing.
We were served 1 serving of bread sticks, which were not even warm, and never asked if we cared for more.

When the food arrived, mine what hot. My wife took a bite of her " new " chicken lasagna and said, " this is terrible, take a bite. " I told her to tell them and have them replace it with something else, which I did, and they did, with normal lasagna.
By the time she got it, I was finished. Remember, there was hardly anyone in the restaurant.

This is where it gets really interesting. While I was waiting, I asked the bartendress, " does your employer provide you with liquid valium, or do they provide it in pill form ? " At the same time, I asked her, " are they running a day care center in the lobby ? "
She laughed, " pretty much ! " Me, " is this an every day thing ? " Her, " yes, almost every day. "

To further explain, immediately behind me, in THE LOBBY, there were TWO very young children, that were, and had been, my ENTIRE MEAL, raising holy cane. She went on to explain that the children, belonged to an employee there, who's husband, picked them up, THERE, after he got off work. REALLY ?

The food experience was bad enough, but the fact that the manager, allows an employee to bring two small children to work and allow them to disrupt the guests is beyond my comprehension.

I will let you make the decision as to how to rectify this. I do not want a complimentary meal, I will never go back there. You might want to consider a refund, but like I said, I will let you make the decision.

Bob Gould / Marsha Davis

OLIVE GARDEN 1611
check# 44501
Table 4
server: Shelby L
16:42 07/05/2018
Transaction # [protected]
CHECK AMOUNT $43.46
TIP $8.00
TOTAL $51.46

You may fell free to contact me at [protected] if you have any questions or need any further information.

Hello, we had lunch on 07/05/2018, receipt # 53042. The service was very bad and slow. My salad was the half of my husband salad. On of the entrees came wrong. I received a refill of the salad after all the entrees were already on the table. The bill was with an extra entree on it. And the manager just said I'm sorry, without any effort on improving the service.

Salisbury, MD Olive Garden is the location of my complaint. My elderly parents went to dinner and arrived at 8:00. They placed their order and the server brought them salad. They ate the salad and the server did not return until my mother a hour later went to the hostess and asked to speak to the manager. A heavy set lady came up 10 minutes later and asked her "what her problem was" (this was the manager). My mother explained she had been waiting over a hour for their meal to come out and the server had not checked on them sInce bringing the salad. The manager asked where they were sitting. My mother told her at the table right in front of the door the food was coming out. The manager had been standing most of the time in the doorway and had not noticed that they had not received their food. The manager said they could give them a free dessert. My mother said she did not want anything free, they just wanted to leave they were so upset by the the lack of empathy the manager showed. She did not once apologize for the lack of attention the server gave them or for the food not coming out. My husband owns a restaurant and is a hotel franchise owner. Being in the hospitality business I would be outraged if any of our customers were treated so poorly by a staff member, especially one of my managers. This needs to be addressed by corporate. My parents dont want anything in return for the rude manager but the lack of professionalism and lack of attention she was giving to the customers needs to be addressed.

Tonight my husband and I had dinner at Your Olive Garden, Danvers, MA location. The server was outstanding and the food was good. I was getting to the bottom of my glass of wine and saw a couple of things in the glass. When I took them out they were two chards of glass. I put them on a plate and my husband called the manager over after we paid our bill just to let her know so it would not happen to someone else. She said that couldn't have happened because their glasses hang upside down and my quartino was in tact. I stated well it did because they're there. My husband said good thing my wife is a sipper and not a gulper. She repeated his statement and then walked away. I could have been seriously injured had I swallowed it. She took no accountability for the restaurant nor was a sincere apology given. We will never go back and I will be sure to let all of my family and friends in the area know as well. We shouldn't be made to feel bad for pointing something out that's serious and should be brought to her attention but she managed to try to do that - unacceptable!

It was no dressing in the salad and soup was very dry, a bad quality.

even the main dish was tossed to the table by a server.

When a Togo box was requested but a Togo bag was not provided and I wrapped the leftover good in paper napkin.

My meal was very uncomfortable visit from the unacceptable behavior of a server.

Food quality was very bad as well.

We went to olive garden last night in spring hill tn. Our dinner was awful. We ordered the pasta [censored]olli soup and there was no meat in it... Except for a meatball. Are you kidding me. When did we start getting a meatball? We asked the server and he said it was a free meatball? The alfredo pasta we ordered was ok if we could get passed the under cooked pasta. I would have sent it back but after the look we got from the waiter about the meatball, I had concerns about doing that. At the very least our waiter could have combed his hair before coming to work. Very sad olive garden we expected better.

I was invited to eat at your restaurant, store number 1477, with a free desert as inducement, which is a good policy as have eaten there before. Service and food was good and before ordering desert I showed waiter my free coupon. When I received my bill I realized your restaurant charged me much more for what I ordered and readily complained. Of course there was no excuse and waiter apologized and quickly went to changed the pricing. I also told him that the free desert was half the size that I usually get when I have eaten there and said I should not have told you it was free before ordering it. As I am writing this I just realized that perhaps Olive Garden's policy is purposely charging more for their meals when a patron comes to dine, hoping they don't check the bill.
This is not only a terrible experience, but perhaps ill legal and should be reported. I reported the incident to your Manager, Chase Flexon, for her response and was surprised by her indifference. I then asked for her business card and left.

Saturday June 30, 2018 @2:00pm. My 15yr old daughter and myself dined in. Daughter had ordered Mozzerella sticks. When it was being brought to our table. The bowl of HOT Marinara sauce slid off the plate and hit the floor. This caused it to splatter. It went onto my daughter's shirt, hair, and arm. It also went onto the clothes of the couple at the table behind us. The waitress very plain with no emotion said "Sorry about that" and went to the other table and was apologizing for their clothes. At this point I started to become upset that we didn't get the same type of apology. She then walked away. Thats when my daughter had said she was burned on her arm. It was turning red. Due to be dark skinned. It wasnt as obvious to see. Coming back with something for that table. The waitress continued to apologize to them. I had to interupt her to ask for a cold wet cloth because my daughter was burned. She went to get one. Came back with it and ice. At this point she did apologize a bit more. About 20mins later. The manager is making rounds. He went to the other table to apologize for their clothes. The waitress had to point out that it had got onto my daughter. As I explained that she was burned. He took her arm to look. The look on his face pretty much was like he didn't seem too concerned. He did offer to get some burn cream. But i was so irratated at this point. I said no she is fine. He did say he was sorry. But nothing like how a manager should have handled it. Or how the other couple was treated. I guess the bigger insult came when the waitress offered to buy us deserts. Even though I declined. She did go ahead and give us some. And removed the Mozzerella sticks from the bill. But honestly. I do not feel we should have had to pay the remainder of the bill (17.00). I understand accidents happen. Been there. But the lack of care or sincere apology left a pretty bad taste in my mouth. Now my daughter is fine. Her shirt is stained. But nothing for me to care about. I would appreciate that the staff be retrained on how to handle a situation if this was to happen again. As for stepping back into that location. Probably wont happen again. I was so irritated that I left my copy of the receipt on the table. But did pay by debit card at about 345pm.

I come to your restaurant a couple of times a week.. I always get soup and salad.. I get the gnocchi soup and it always only has two gnocchi's in it.. I've been told that's all they are supposed to put in which is ridiculous.. it's gnocchi soup not chicken soup.. I've asked for extra a few times and most of the time it is ignored.. I love the soup but you need to change your policy of only two per bowl.. I'm very disappointed and am actually thinking of trying to find another Italian restaurant which I hate to do cause my husband loves your restaurant.. very disappointed that it keeps happening over and over even when I request more.. if it stays the same I will definitely stop coming.. disappointed patron in Altamonte Springs, Fl.. thank you in advance for reply.. thanks!

We just finished our dinner at the Olive Garden in Tupelo MS. We have eaten at several Olive Garden in the past, and have never had such a poor experience. First the waitress ask if she could sit down while she took our order. I thought, are you kidding me. If she is that tired she should go home, or get a different job.
It went downhill from there. She brought the salad and we waited for her to go back to get the salad dressing. She kept coming back every few minutes to ask if everything was ok.
When our food finally came mine was luke warm. The pasta was tough as it it had been sitting under a heat lamp and dried it out. When I said something to the waitress she said she brought it out as soon as it was sit out. Problem is she is not the person that brought out our meal.
We spent $34 for a meal that was !was than the standard Olive Garden expects or that we have experienced in the past. We were very disappointed. We are on our vacation and sure wished we had chosen someplace else.
Harold Wilson
4054 WThorn Creek Ct
Meridian Idaho

To whom it may concern,

I was currently fired from the Lynnwood Olive Garden (store number 1209) due to a customer complaint I was only 1/3 part of. Allow me to explain.

A complaint came in claiming I openly criticized a guest for wanting more bread to bring home (as if that's an uncommon thing) and saying I was complaining about them to another table. These things are both extremely false. Moreover, I was k my mentioned at the beginning of their lengthy complaint. The rest was full of remarks concerning coworkers, whom honestly I don't recall given it was a weekend, complaining LOUDLY about their tips and how much they hated their job. Let me make something clear; I have never, within earshot of guests, spoken poorly about the tips I've earned or my opinion of the work place.

I spoke with my general manager, Paula, today confirming my dismissal and she even admitted because it was my table and the other two people involved could not be identified that I was solely taking the blame for the incident. I get it. The location in question is under renovation and to compensate for the less than ideal aesthetic (see yelp reviews) Paula is compensating by letting guests get away with whatever they want. I was onboard but this is ridiculous.

The couple who complained about my service claimed to have come from their nephew's funeral, meaning they were either already emotionally on edge or just plain lying (let's not pretend it's not uncommon).

My problem is this; I was made a scapegoat by a manager who wanted someone to punish to keep guests happy during a time of potential business decline. I'm not asking for my job back what kind of work environment would that be for me? I'm bringing to light a problem within this company. I've worked for Darden before and suffered their nonsense too often. At my previous location in Jonesboro, AR, a kitchen manager threw a serving tray at me. And in Lynnwood, after I picked up an extra shift fresh out of training, I had to leave suddenly because my dog was killed. When I told the manager on duty, Nester, he laughed at me and thought I was a liar then accused me of stealing and blamed me for having to pay for a $170+ meal.

Am I expecting change? Of course not. I'm just casting a line, hoping maybe someone who reads this will bring to light the flaws within the company.

Regards,

Cody Sexton

Hello,
I would like to start off by saying there was absolutely nothing wrong with the people or the type of service we received with our takeout order yesterday 06/29/18 at the
9280 E Roosevelt Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19115 confirmation number [protected]. When my husband came back with the food my daughters chicken tenders were unable to even be cut up for her they were hard as rocks. My eggplant was straight rubbery and unable to cut up let alone chew. We order from Olive garden frequently and this time the food was a total miss. the take out members were very nice and attentive it was just the food was horrible. We didn't call in to complain because honestly we had a long day and didn't want to have to go back out to get new food it was already kinda late.

My daughter just had a cast put on her an kle that she broke and was on crutches
when we arrived for lunch at Olive Garden in Henrietta, New York. The floor was all
wet and the rubber on her crutch slipped and she almost fell. We told a hostess
and she wiped some of it so we could get to a table. When we were leaving it was still
all wet in the entrance and she needed to get to the bathroom, so I called for someone
to help and by the time they showed up we were in the bathroom, which had a sign
slippery, but not out in the entrance. I told them that it was very dangerous, and did
call the manager today, but with little satisfaction.
I don't usually complain but we were very afraid my daughter would fall. The hostess
should have got the manager out to see the floor.

Hello!

I visited the Alamo Ranch San Antonio Texas store number 1783 location and the employee Eric was AWESOME SAUCE! Very professional and attentive to customer needs. He didn't miss a beat. From filling our daughter's apple juice before it was gone to asking if we needed more salad and suggestively selling us cheesecake. I don't typically think to send appreciation notes, but I couldn't resist this one. Kudos to him! I'm sure others will experience the same level of care and excellence if Eric serves them. Please share this compliment with him.

Our server Xeina L was at first very nice but we got there about 1:25 pm and she never came back to table I had to share my tea with my granddaughter she needed more and the server never came back for a while then we asked another server ( a male server) to get us some more bread and then we asked him to get our server so we could get more money o drink and she finally came and filled her tea then it took another 15 to 20 mins to get our dessert order and then again a while to get it to us. It was only 2 strawberry and white chocolate and then again for ever to bring us our bill so we got up and went to front to get it and they had to called her up there then I gave her a 100.00 and she had to get change from other people 3 times before giving me my change then she gave me 2 (10's ) 2 ( 3"5's )and the rest in ones I asked to speak to the manager and all she said was I am so sorry and walked off. I was not happy with the sever and the food wasn't great the desserts was fine I need someone from home office to contact me please this was the first time I have been in there since y'all opened up
[protected]
My name is Ann Bennett

Me and my family came Tuesday June 26th 2018 and was sat at table 302. My kids ordered the kids meals and I ask if we could get the side of shrimp with price on the kids menu states 1.50 waitress politely says yes. So we ordered all 3 kids meals with sides of shrimp. And the adults order our food. First we get our salads and one bowl had brown rotten lettuce in it and my husband would not eat it but he is not the type to complain he just didn't eat it. Then we get the bill and not only did they charge us 1.50 for one of the girls shrimps they charged us 3.79 for the 6(6) extra shrimp we ordered for her cause shrimp was all she wanted. But they charged us $3.79 for the other 2 girls 6 pieces of shrimp they got they we thought was suppose to be 1.50. Since we ordered kids meals and drinks and paid 1.50 for their drinks too. They waitress said she would talk to the manager and he should adjust the charges but either she didn't talk to him or he just didn't care about us ever coming back. Because she said the manager said that's the charges I mean I've worked in a lot of restaurants and been to a lot I hardly ever complain but I can tell you that it not a response a manager of a respectable place should be giving to a customer guy at least try to help. Not this time. Very disappointed oh well we paid and left very unhappy

To Whom it may concern,

I, Kellie Hutchins, would like to tell you a story about racial profiling and discrimination against my family.

My daughter Tisha and her husband Andrew (both are African American) went to Olive Garden in Winchester VA on June 24, 2018. (I am going to make this story short as I am very upset and angry right now). Both my daughter and son-in-law live in Winchester VA where they are raising their two sons.

While being there they were racially discriminated in every way. The waitress (Caucasian) came to take their order and the entire time was very rude and had a look of being disgusted. She brought their food back to the table and when handing my son-in-laws food she dropped the plate on the table... the plate shattered and food went everywhere (my son-in-law is dark skinned and dresses very nice), her only comment was "at least it didn't get on your shoes"! The manager came out and asked if everyone was ok and my son-in-law said yes. (my son-in-law is very polite and does not have a mean bone in his body). The waitress brought him another plate of food and when they received the bill my son-in-law was DOUBLE BILLED, my daughter called the manager over to ask why did they get charged double after what happened. The manager said he was going to fix it and brought another bill back, my daughter then asked why is my son-in-law even being charged for his dinner after what happened and again the manager said "you know what, your mean is free"

This is absolutely ridiculous and something needs to be done with this. Both my son-in-law and my daughter have good jobs and have two children that they take care of. This is definitely a racial issue and will not be tolerated.
Olive Garden
Address: 2590 S Pleasant Valley Rd, Winchester, VA 22601
Phone: [protected]

* legal action will be taking *

I hope to hear from you soon.

Thank you,

Kellie Hutchins
[protected] cell
[protected]@gmail.com

Hi, im not sure if this is where I go at to report a worker. But I had a couple issues with you employee anye hollis. She been harrassing me constantly using the store phone to contact me acting like a hiring manager so I can come up there. Also, she post very disturbing things on social media about your company. I really hope your company handle this matter as soon as possible so I can feel safe and comfortable eating there with my family.

Today my husband and i wanted to enjoy some pasta. The moment we came in the place smelled horrible. My husnand convinced me to stay, said the food will smell better. So i stayed, i ordered the rigatoni with shrimp and my husband the chicken alfredo. We got bread sticks and they were hard and stale. Terrible. And when my food came the shrimp was so chewy and gross. After eating i felt like gagging. This was a terrible experience at an olive garden.