Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Allen

We hadn't been to Olive Garden in years, but went last month and had the best experience ever. The young Asian woman was very very helpful and respectful and nice! We would give her and the food FIVE STARS! Because our experience was so great last month, we thought maybe the management had turned around and hired good people at last, so we went again this month for my husband's and my birthdays that occur in early Dec. Problems and rudeness began during the first moment we were inside the restaurant! The waiter at the front desk was on the phone, looked at us, turned his back, and left. We stood and waited at the empty desk. No one came for awhile, so I spoke loudly and asked if anyone would be helping us? A young woman came and tried to seat us in the remote (and usually freezing) dining room, where there was a screaming baby. I said, "Ma'am, we don't want to go in there" and I indicated the second dining area near the kitchen entrance. She "allowed" is to choose a table = what a concept! Does making customers happy seem like a new idea? Then we waited awhile for someone to help us. A young man named "Manny" finally came. After our order, he said the bread sticks would be late. Waiting quite awhile longer, he brought salad, which was very good. When he brought the bread sticks, they were so hard, they were inedible. I pointed it out to him later and his reply was, "Sorry" and he left. He made no attempt to get us any soft warm bread sticks. The time before, we'd heard people having "Happy Birthday" sung to them. I asked if that could be done for us. Manny said "Yes" and we'd also get a free dessert. We were surprised to learn that. After our main courses, which tasted very good, he brought an assistant singer with the desserts. But instead of an upbeat fun song, he sang "Happy Birthday" VERY SLOWLY and mournfully, like we were at a funeral! We are in our eighties and didn't think that was funny. I gestured for him to "pick it up" to a more rock 'n roll beat, but he continued the dirge to the bitter end. Yuk. Then I asked for the paper bill like we always get; we don't trust the table device. He insisted on using it "for us." Then he asked which tip percentage we wanted to give. All that was showing on the screen were percentages - NO numbers. I said, "I want a credit card paper bill that shows the numbers." Manny, acting annoyed, said: "I'll have to go in the back to do it." Again, another Big Deal! When he came back with the credit card paper, I saw the percents and decided to give the lowest (18%), due to his consistent rudeness to us throughout the whole dinner. But when I did the math, we had tipped him 28%, because the "free" dessert had been added in to the bill total! What a rip! Never again! Food good, wait staff VERY BAD, except for that ONE darling Asian girl, who was WONDERFUL. We've never...

We visited today for an early dinner. Katie our waitress was phenomenal! She was attentive with our order, kept our glasses filled and I even watched her help another table track down their car keys they had misplaced. Seriously, this girl is a rock star!

Our food was good. We started with Fried Mozzarella. It would have been perfect, with the exception of an odd sauce lightly poured down the middle...it made it a bit soggy. The salad was fresh and dressed perfectly and the breadsticks were hot light.

My husband had the 6oz sirloin and they allowed him to substitute the Alfredo for the garlic mashed potatoes. He ordered his steak medium well. It had blackened sections on the outside, but he's odd and likes that and the steak was still tender.

My son had the lasagna and absolutely loved it.

I had the Ravioli de Portabella. This was our only serious disappointment of the evening. I don't know if it was left on the warmer too long or what, but the sauce had separated and completely broken down, so there were massive puddles of grease in the bowl. It NEVER should have left the kitchen this way. EVER. I can't believe the guy running the food actually placed it in front of me.

Luckily, the manager stopped by not long after, we didn't ask for him, and when I pointed the dish out to him, he immediately made it right. He offered soup or salad while I waited and said they could remake the dish or I could order something else.

They remade the dish quickly and the manager not only took care of the cost of my meal, but also our appetizer and my son's dessert which was above and beyond.

Mistakes happen and things go wrong some times. But today, this location showed they will go above and beyond to make those...

Weird. This place is just weird. Like parallel universe weird.

Adults were served before kids. Entrees came before soup. Supposedly ‘bottomless’ salad and soup was never refilled. Trainee disappeared but other people we'd never seen before kept coming by just to ‘check and see if everything is alright.’

No. Everything is not alright.

One of four kids got wrong meal — which took an eternity to remedy while we all waited.

One of four kids got the right meal but half the portion of the other three and no side dish. No, no, no.

Then there was a bizarre mystery meatball which no one ordered but was placed on our table and sat there through our entire meal without inquiry.

And let's be honest about the breadsticks, people. Not that good. There, I said it. Not that good. Maybe if you live on Pillsbury pop-n-fresh, this might be a step up but really — not worth the hullabaloo.

And to top off my expierence, I didn't have enough money to pay for my food as I am a working man. I was put to work immediately. All of the chefs went on a smoke break so I was cooking all of the orders on a busy friday night. After hours of working I decided to take a break. I was taking my daily diabetes nap in the meat freezer because no one ever goes in there. ( side note I found a moldy green meatball ) I drifted off to sleep and woke up hours later only to be locked in the meat freezer. I checked the time on my phone and it was 1:00 in the morning. OLIVE GARDEN WAS CLOSED AND I WAS LOCKED IN THE MEAT FREEZER!!! I was insanely cold and hungry. All I had to eat that cold night was that moldy green meatball I found in the meat freezer. This Olive Garden experience has...