Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Ankeny

I don't think I've had such a bad experience at this restaurant then today. I went with my family for a nice lunch before Thanksgiving. We asked for a booth due to having a family member with a service dog and the girl who sat us was very respectful and so kind about getting us a place where the dog could lay out of sight under the booth. I wish I would have caught her name because she was amazing ! Thank you.

My problem arose from the very start the waiter whose name on her name tag was Fall but when she said her name it was Autumn. I was going to comment on her name since it's a unique name but we went to order drinks and she asked about appetizers so we said our drink orders and asked about refills on not soda products. Then she asked for appetizers and we politely said we will pass and get the soup and salad with our meals, we barely looked at the menus and she was back already and said okay how can I serve you we said we need more time please and she walked away, again not even 2 minutes later she was back so we felt pressured to order so we just got the lunch specials, she started with the youngest first and they have some health issues so we had a few questions regarding ingredients so she was already annoyed from us not ordering right away and now she has to get asked questions about ingredients, that family member ordered and she moved to the oldest member which was across the table from the youngest person. They ordered and it was good then she came to me and I ordered and she said my order and I said for my meal I want salad with extra ranch and Italian dressing and so my family member said oh who is the extra dressings for so I said I don't like Italian dressing so I get ranch and then the extra Italian is for so and so, the waiter proceeded to say we give complimentary salad as a part of your meal so you have to eat it ( excuse me I didn't order another salad I ordered dressing and I don't think you get to say who eats the food when your my server ) so then we had to backtrack and all repeat our orders saying explicitly who was eating what meal which is unacceptable when I'm paying for everything we ordered thank you very much. So after explaining everything to her and getting our food she gets the salad without any dressing actually on the salad, the other two peoples soups and asked them if they want cheese or anything else and I said oh yes I would also like cheese on my salad so she said okay tell me when to stop and so I waited for her to give me a reasonable amount for the whole salad that apparently I'm eating and she then again asked if she could do anything for them never asked me and acted like I was a burden. She came back a few times to ask how the meal was and ignored me. I wanted a refill on my drink but thought it was to much to ask for my server to refill and I was planning on ordering dessert but after the encounter I decided I would put my money in another business. She asked how we want the bill we said all together and the machine wasnt working so we gave her the card to pay and I asked for boxes she gave us what she thought was enough since the salad was complimentary we couldn't take it home which again not her say if I can take it home or not so I asked for another box and was surprised we got 3 mints because with the interaction my family and I had I thought she would give us none or just 2 since I was ignored the whole meal. I wanted to talk to a manager at that time but my family said I should make sure people know and address it in a review so that others can see my experience.

I did later on go back and speak with a very nice manager who did say that is never the experience he wants from any customer and would speak with her about this encounter. I will not stop coming here since I love pasta but if she happens to be my server again I will politely ask for...

11/15/22 @ 10:10am: Last night on Monday 11/14/22 was my 1st trip to an Olive Garden for a few years and my 1st trip to this location in Ankeny, Iowa ever.

I helped an Olive Garden in the Twin Cities open up brand new in 1994 ad a 19 year old and it was extremely fun opening my 1st restaraunt as a Saute Cook as well as it was really fun working there.

So, last night I arrived at 7:30pm, walked in, was immediately greeted by a few people and was seated at a table in the bar area because I wanted watch the NFL game and witness the Washington Commanders beat the Philadelphia Eagles which they did.

I do not drink alcohol and never had an issue with alcohol but like the atmosphere in small bars like that and had to watch the Eagles lose because I'm from Minnesota and a Vikings fan, and the Eagles are the only team to beat the 8-1 Vikings this year so did sit in the bar area at a table.

My server was a terrific gal named Emma who worked the bar area. She almost immediately greeted me and asked how I was, I said great and asked her the same. Emma was absolutely amazing from cheerful, wonderful at her job from making suggestions to taking order correctly, preparing everything including salad swiftly and just I told her when she asked, and doing everything almost perfectly and very quickly. She was very accommodating and definitely knows her way around that place, how to treat people kindly and everything that goes with a job at a restaraunt and hospitality.

Emma was really sociable and we made some small talk and I mentioned I'm from Minneosta and do some hunting in Iowa, well, she asked where in Iowa I bow hunt for deer and told her, she said that's to funny as her Dad was originally from the same area and she went on telling me about all these neat and quaint little places, from small moms and pops shops to visit to some recreational type things which I didn't know about and truly do appreciate because I always head to the area to pretty much hunt and haven't spent any time smelling the local roses otherwise and visiting anywhere else besides the local gas stations, convenience stores and cafes for food however in the future I'll be taking a little more time to myself to explore some other things around the area and up & down the Mississippi River Valley as it all sounds really neat.

The food was absolutely amazing, especially due to the fact I hadn't eaten a real meal for a week because I had just driven in from Southwest South Dakota where I was bow hunting Mule Deer for the week, camping on the abandoned ranch and pretty much eating cold sandwiches or occasional fast food when I went to town to do laundry, get coffee or groceries and top of the fuel tank.

All in all in was a superb evening, wonderful experiences with all employees, comfortable atmosphere, delicious food and I got to watch the Eagles lose to Washingtom which was totally awesome!

I'll definitely be headed back to Olive Garden and most definitely this location without any...

Tonight my younger sister and I went for dinner. We were seated immediately and told the server would be with us soon. We were sat next to a table that was good friend with my sister so it was a nice treat (not purposely sat by them it was a coincidence). About 10 minutes in and we still hadn’t been acknowledged. The server who was serving the friends table had brought them an extra salad that they didn’t want to which we said we know them and would take it so it wouldn’t be wasted. She said ok and gave it to us. Never returned with plates or anything. She had stopped by multiple times to their table to check and didn’t notice we hadn’t been helped. 2 servers in our section had looked at us multiple times and didn’t come by. After 20 minutes I finally went to the front desk and asked if we were going to get drinks. The nice man up front said he would send someone immediately. Well about 10 minutes after that they finally come over and said that someone didn’t show up for their shift (??ok...) and that it wasn’t the current servers fault (to which I never said it was) and that once our meal is finished the manager would be over to talk to us and “take care of things”. Ok sounds good. We got our drinks and food etc. everything was fine and when it came time to pay we checked the kiosk machine to a bill that hadn’t been discounted at all. We don’t expect a full free check but they could’ve offered a free dessert or took off our drinks or something for the fact we had to wait 30 minutes of no drinks and to be forgotten about. So that’s pretty disappointing. We paid and we’re waiting for a little bit and a manager never came over. We ended up leaving anyways. What a disappointment. I won’t be going back unless Chastity is there because she is an awesome server who is always on top of everything....