Olive Garden
Reviews and Complaints

I have a dairy allergy. Last week when I was at the Olive Garden in Mankato Minnesota I ordered a dairy free Entree along with a salad with balsamic vinegar and oil. I told my waitress to eliminate croutons from my salad which was done and to make sure no Dairy of any kind was on my entree. I also requested no butter on my bread sticks which she accommodated me with. When my entree came it had something on top of the grilled chicken which I did not recognize. I was told it was bread crumbs. Since I cannot have croutons I did not feel comfortable with these breadcrumbs. My waitress offered to go check with the cook and came back saying it was only bread crumbs. I still felt uncomfortable so she double-checked again. I was assured again it was only bread crumbs and she asked me if I would like if she reported it to the manager. A third time she came back and said do not eat it because the bread crumbs contained parmesan. My complaint is that the cook could not possibly have checked to see if the bread crumbs contain any dairy but just said they didn't. I feel I am lucky that I did not try eating this but was persistent in checking for sure. The Cook's must realize that allergies are real and I did not want to use my EpiPen!

Good Afternoon, On 1/20/2018 we visited Olive Garden in Cincinnati, OH @ 3290 Vandercar Way. Check #31143. The server was Chyloee and when I brought the issue with my food to her attention, I was told that's how it comes. My fiance and I went in for lunch on Saturday. We ordered Soup, Salad and Breadsticks. Something I do this time of year at least once a week. I am very familiar of what to expect at Olive Garden as I almost always get the exact same order however this Saturday was a terrible experience. My Pasta e Figioli arrived to my table looking as shown in the photo attached. This soup, had less liquid than the Lasagna does which is sad. I ordered soup and got a dish of OVER COOKED Pasta. The waitress met me with an attitude and I was told that's how it comes. I of course asked the waitress to please get me a manager. I was not able to see the managers name tag however she was a blonde haired expecting woman. She didn't seem too alarmed at the situation or that the server told me that's how it comes. In fact the managers response was...looks like they added too much pasta. WOW is all I can say. As we sat in our section...not very busy there was a young male doing a really good job training a new associate who was a young black female. The young lady who was getting trained constantly rolled her eyes and made by faces at the male associate that was doing a through and detailed job of training her. All in all, I could not wait to leave this restaurant location due to poor food and terrible associates and the new trainee rolling her eyes and making faces only made this awful experience even worse. They did attempt to bring out fresh soup about 20 minutes after by fiance was into eating his lunch and it was much better however it still was not the proper temperature. It was barely warm :( I have to share as this should never ever happen and you I was corporate to know that this restaurant does not meet my expectations for an Olive Garden. Thanks

If you look on the Olive Garden website menu, you are lead to believe the Cucina Mia costs 9.95. Upon receiving your check, you discover there is an extra charge for the meat topping. Nowhere on the menu does it say there is an extra charge for the meat topping.

I knew my bill should have been around 20 bucks plus tax, it was closer to 30. Upon reading the receipt for the additional (unmentioned) charge, I felt taken advantage of.

olive garden (og) 1433 yesterday afternoon. chicken parmesan. large portion meat was hard, no softness, needed steak knife not sharpened butter dish to cut, sauce couldnt be called tomato sauce, no flavor or body

bread sticks absent until soup half eaten, being "in oven" no help to us

service no problem

do not bother responding to this, give me no freebie, og is in past

same as red lobster

Olive Garden has been a very unpleasant, unprofessional, discriminate place to be. Management doesn't take time to address the concerns and complaints of the employees in every area of the restaurant. To the point that there is NO leadership, NO repercussions for insubordinate behavior, and employees (new hires and old) feels completely comfortable with their job security.. that they'll use profane language all the time with each other. Because everybody is sooooo unhappy and miserable at this location, that frustration and anger and disrespect is normal. Somebody please help us.. and give us new management that not only care about US but cares about DARDEN CORP. as well!
A surprise stop would be perfect

After our food was brought to us we couldn't get our servers attention. Even after waving her down. When we finally did instead of getting additional purchases we decided we wanted a box and check. Upon checking out we tried to put in a coupon code that wouldn't scan on the kiosk. Again we waived her down and asked for help. She said she would handle it and then she got a manager. The manager came over (female) and also said they would honor it. After we waited more than five minutes the general manager came out and said that they would not offer it and raised his voice and told me (as the customer) it was my fault I didn't give my coupon in advance and proceeded to ACTUALLY yell at me on front of my guests and the restaurant. Then on top of that we asked for a receipt because the kiosk didn't print and they took 10 more minutes then the waitress had the nerve to yell at us while she handed me the receipt. Calling me rude and saying I was unacceptable. I can't believe I would be treated like that at a restaurant I've always valued.

So Friday January 19 went to the Olive Garden in Southgate Michigan.
Thought I'd give them another try because this is not the first time they've messed up my orders this time I got the spiralized veggie pasta asked if I could have a regular linguine pasta so it's whole wheat I'm allergic to. Waiter said it would not be a problem. Brought my dish out and it was nothing but veggies and drownded watered-down scampi sauce. Tried to send it back told him I didn't like it it was not what I ordered brought it back the same dish with pasta throw it in and it was fettuccine pasta brought me some more water down sauce so am I still didn't like it could not see manager they turned off their little kiosk so I couldn't pay with my credit card and or do a survey he waiter treated me different after that and I'm stuck with a dish that tastes like watered-down noodles and vegetables will not go back to Olive Garden thought I'd give him another try I think they've steps down from other places their Cooks don't know how to cook or follow the recipes correctly and do not know the difference between fettuccine and linguine noodles.

Had very unhappy visit at the olive garden in liberty missouri. Poor service. Chicken gnocchi soup was watered down not creamy... Chicken tasted like it came out of a can and the hour and a half inside the restaurant was only one bowl of salad and two bowls of soup... For the unlimited. The older woman who bussed tables was leaning over the table to get dishes then tried to get me and lady behind me to scoot up so she could get thru rather than go around the table to take plates she couldnt reach from. Other side... The lettuce was not crunchy and was warm... I hadn't been to this restraint in a couple years and won't be back to this location. Very unhappy with the whole experience and drove about an hour to get there.
Child at the table was served her food 20 min after adults received theirs... Dry waiter and slow. Had to ask for check because we were tired of sutting so long and had to be other places and left still hungry... Then had to ask hostess desk for mints.

Went for a bowl of soup. Server rude right off the start as if I was a bother to her. I got my soup, it was cold. My server disappeared and never came back to check on me. When she cleared my FILLED bowl of soup from the table she didn't say anything about why I didn't finish it. I would have said something but by the time she finally came back to me I had to leave in time for my meeting. I'm extremely disappointed in the service and the soup. I will not be returning.

I visited the restaurant with 3 other friends and was not told that we would be charge 4.99 for each person at the table for salad that came with our meal. When I brought it up to the waitress she said that's how it's always charged. I have Never in 10yrs been charged per person for salad that came with my meal. So I asked to talk to the manager and he immediately began demanding we had the price explained to us before it was put on the table. Then raised his voice and said it didn't matter either way. His behavior brought so much unnecessary attention to us that it was the most embarrassing experience I have ever had in any restaurant I've been too. He also made some discriminatory statements regarding my capability of paying my bill. I just let him be right to deesclate the situation and get out of the restaurant as quickly as possible. I feel it is extremely necessary to make it known to the corporate office that there is further training that is definitely needed in customer service and discrimination practices at the Vancouver Mall location. I am so disappointed but I have decided I will not be returning to my favorite restaurant again.

On Saturday 1.13.18, my boyfriend and I went to the Olive Garden located in Laurel, MD. Our service was ok UNTIL...I witnessed a waitress (Rya) (not our server) submerge an used cloth napkin in a pitcher of ice water (the same ice water we were served from) and wipe a nearby table. She then submerged it again and wiped the game/ordering console on the table. the problem with this is she walked away and left the pitcher of water for other servers to grab and pour from. When our server (Ricky) returned I quietly and discreetly trying to not draw the attention of other diners, told him please throw that water out and don't serve anyone from that pitcher. At that point i didn't tell him why he just simply asked "why? what did she do?" Which leads me to believe this was not the first unsanitary issue involving Rya. After telling Ricky what we had witnessed, Ricky then reported the incident to the manager "Cat"and she approached out table with a not so professional approach to the situation. She went on the tell my how the incident was all the buzz in the BOH and she had to come over to see who saw this, ( not sure why) the Cat must have walked straight to Rya and told her what was reported. Before we could settle our bill Rya (the unsanitary server) approaches my table in a VERY unprofessional defensive almost aggressive manner claiming to apologize for what I saw (not exactly sure why). At this point attention of other diners were drawn to our table as this so called "APOLOGY" got a little heated. I told her to get away from my table, and as we were leaving after tracking down Cat I informed her I was going to contact the corporate office because the situation was handled improperly from the time the manager was informed. I feel in no way should Rya had approached my table at all. i feel this situation should have been handled better or maybe i should have been compensated if not for witnessing the unsanitary actions of your employee but the fact that she was able to approach me in such a manner leaves me quite preplexed.

Respectfully, On January 5, 2018, My mom 87 years old has just found out her sister passed away. We were at the mall across the street. This news was devastating to us. I thought of the Olive Garden, her favorite place to go. We could sit, chat, share good food and sip your wonderful wine maybe ease her pain. As my mom was in the ladies room, I mentioned this to your young hostess...we were then escorted to our seats.

We were literally tucked behind a party of 10 women, very loud women making it almost impossible for mom and I to talk let alone comfort her. The waitress was so busy pleasing and laughing with the large party...we waited quite awhile. We decided to move back a couple seats in hopes to catch her attention...finally she noticed.

Other customers in this area also moved. After a terrible lunch and experience we couldn't get out of there soon enough. On our way out, I asked to see a Manager. His name was "Eric" nice young man but no sympathy what so ever, almost didn't care about out experience. His response was..."this was the only area available with a waitress. We have customers come in stating they don't want to seat near children, but we can't accommodate them is areas aren't available".

With all due respect, and not to make mom upset. We left.

Olive Garden is our "go to" when we need family time, good food and cheer. I wanted to share this with you only for the fact that during such a difficult time, our service to your restaurant was not respected nor appreciated.

Maureen Flynn
11700 Park Blvd, 308A
Seminole, FL 33772
&[protected]

Huge complaint about Olive Garden today! ! Hubby and myself went shopping and to early dinner at Olive Garden. So we get there and they explain a small kitchen fire happen early this morning. The wait to be seated was 45 minutes which on a weekend that's not bad. Once seated our waitress came over and took our orders. We wanted stuffed mushrooms but they didn't have, So we order a different app. Waitress came back to say they didn't have that either. We said OK no problem so we ordered our meals. I had salad and hubby had soup while waiting on meal . Waited 30-40 minutes for meal to come ! My meal was grilled chicken with potatoes, the chicken was burnt.. I mean burnt charcoal and hard ! So they took meal back. So new meal came out and unbelievably burnt again ! Our waitress couldn't believe it was messed up twice.. The chicken has cheese and Alfredo sauce on top so I guess the cook thought he could cover it up and I wouldn't notice🙄 So manager comes over to say sorry for meal being burnt twice. By now hubby has finished his meal, manager asked if I wanted to try another one. I said no I doubt they can do one without burning the chicken. I was told also General Managers are there today which really shocked me. I even said wow you would think the GM would make sure the food was fine. So manager said he was sorry and they subtracted my meal since it was burnt 2 times and I never ate. That was it ! He didn't offer me a free meal, he didn't offer me a future free meal nothing. Our waitress was frustrated with the kitchen and manager. I would have thought they should have comp hubby meal since basically he ate alone. They should have offered me something! So basically I had the small side salad for dinner... Being management in the past for a bank I am shocked at the customer service! All I can say is wow 😠😬

I asked to be sat with my favorite server at the millenia location and the host told me that she got fired which was extremely unprofessional, i come in every Sunday to sit with her . The restaurant was very dirty and the music in the back was so loud I could hear it from my table . My drink was never refilled but the other servers or my own server did not realize bc they were all huddled on the side with their phones . Extremely bad experience this time around . I asked to speak to the manager on duty but the manager never came, i got extremely irritated and my husband and I left. I spoke to some of the employees i recognized from past visits to ask the name of the Manager and i was told Omar was the manager. Not coming back again I'd rather inconvenience myself driving to another restaurant other than going to that one .

I am a frequent customer of Olive Garden and was dining this evening with my family when a customer came in the dining area with his service/comfort dog and proceeded to sit at a table with it. I am completely disgusted and find it to be very unsanitary for the restaurant to allow animals in a place of business that serves food. Never mind the many other issues having a pet in a restaurant that could arise, such as is the pet clean, i.e. does it have fleas, is the animal healthy, many people have allergies to animals and could end up sick from just sitting near the animal. I complained to the manager who was very apologetic, however, I explained to her that because Olive Garden allows service pets in their restaurant and at the table, I will never eat at this restaurant again.

I will never be eating at any Olive Garden! after finally convincing my hubby to take us there I got the usual and had already gotten our soups our main course got here and I freaked out looked at my plate as I am taking my first bit and see a bug in my food I was discussed spit up what I had stoped my son from eating his food and hubby got lucky didn't even touch his food couldn't believe it why me got a sorry from the manager didn't pay a dime and left will never be going back‼‼‼‼‼‼‼

On 1/11/18 at 2:30 in the afternoon I walked in to place a to go order. The service from the front desk were pleasant. After ten minis my food was ready and off I went. When I got to work not only one exit away my food was not the quality I expected. First the salad was soggy wilted and the lettuce started to turn brown. One tomato no onion this was a poor salad and I specially came to OG because I love the salad. Then I opened the flat bread box the Alfredo had run all through the box and by the time I opened it the sauce and cheese had coagulated and was cold. My only other complaint was it was enough food for two people and I get 2 bread sticks really. Really disappointed by this.

On 1/10/18, my husband and I decided to celebrate his birthday at your Olive Garden #1760. We've been to this location many times with nothing but superb service and quality food. Sadly, that was not the case on this trip. My husband decided to order your bottomless chicken and gnocchi soup and water. I ordered a pasta bowl with sausage and salad. I told the waiter I wanted lettuce, onion, cheese, and Italian dressing only in my salad. He brought it with croutons, for which I cannot eat. Trying not to waste food, I begged my husband to eat them since he wasn't brought his soup until my main meal was served. We didn't ask why the delay, as we're not ones to complain. The waiter stopped by once to see if all was OK, but didn't ask if he should get another bowl of soup for my husband even though we specifically asked for bottomless soup. Plus my husband was almost out of water by the time his soup arrived but we had to push the kiosk Call Server button then summon the help when they wouldn't reply in 5 minutes. Still, we were not complaining and letting it go as perhaps the server had an overabundance of tables to attend. When the server brought the 2nd bowl of soup he brought a small cup 1/2 full of shredded cheese instead of the grater and no water. We reminded him of the water and asked for more cheese. Trying to be polite, but direct as well. All was OK. But my husband didn't want to wait 20 more minutes for more water or soup so we asked the kiosk for a bill. The waiter had charged my husband 10.99 for soup and salad instead of 4.99 for soup only. I asked why, thinking it was a simple oversight, and the waiter quickly replied that my husband "did have salad" and pointed to the bread plate that I had carefully put the 7 to 8 croutons on earlier. The croutons I did not order nor could eat. That I begged my husband to eat as not to waste food. This waiter considered them worth 5 dollars? When we explained, he said we didn't have to get upset and he would ask his manager if he could adjust the bill. In a tone loud and as if we were begging for free food. I typically tip 30% no matter what we order at a sit down restaurant. Waiting tables is a hard job. And typically underpaid. Well, at this point, since we had to wait 15 minutes for his first bowl of soup after my salad was served and then practically hunt down help to get a 2nd bowl only to have less than one crank of the grater worth of cheese placed in a tiny cup without asking, my husband and I both got the idea we were not welcome there. I have no clue why the waiter treated us as he did. Why he felt that my husband ate "salad" simply because 1 small cut of onion and some dressing were on the crouton plate (yes, it's hard not to get salad items off of croutons that are under cheese and dressing, but I had done my best because my husband didn't want salad because of the lettuce recall scare). Had the waiter spent ANY time checking in on us on a timely manner he would have watched my husband get the croutons from me and should have said that was against company policy and would cost us an extra $5. We would have given the plate with croutons on it to him. I still tipped, against my better judgement. But only 2.02. The embarrassment of his accusing my husband of sharing my salad, the wait for another bowl of soup, the extremely small side cup half full at best of shredded cheese and the rude looks of several other servers as we left truly firmed up one decision for my husband and I. Our multi-year routine of going to Olive Garden no less than 2 times a month as our only sit down restaurant choice has now ended. It's not worth the humiliation. We will take our business and monies elsewhere. Our check #57698, table 431, KaVon was our server. Time on bill is 18:22:00. We arrived at least 45 minutes beforehand.

January 7, 2018 Dinner From 7:30-10:00 I went to Olive Garden last nigh in concord North Carolina with my friends the food and the service was horrible I ordered hot water for my drink the cup was dirty so I asked the waitress to give me another cup. For my main food ordered Spiral veggie Pasta with Jumbo shrimp when they gave me my food they forgot to add shrimp I told the waitress that the shrimp is missing. She said she will go and ask them to cook shrimp on the side. My friends start eating and waited for my shrimp for 15mnutes before I start eating. After 20 minuets the waitress gave me the shrimp. I was not happy the shrimp was burnt. I complained to the manager she never said I am sorry after I talked to the manager she went to the kitchen came back after 2 minutes for another sides of shrimp look likes it was reheat from the microwave. I was really upset they gave me my bill they took off the shrimps on my bill. For me to go to an expensive and seated Restaurant the food and the service should not be like this. Olive Garden is one of my Favorite Restaurants I am putting them at the bottom of my list. my name is Rissa

My family and I went to Olive Garden last night. Had an excellent sever. The food was horrible. If I can send this picture of the food I will. I ordered the chicken scampi and when I got it the bell peppers looked like it was just cut up and put on the plate. The angel hair was dry. The chicken was burnt on the bottom side. For the time it took to make it it should have been perfect. Very disappointed with my food, don't think I will be going to Olive Garden.