Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Asheville

Warning: LONG REVIEW. This was the first time we have been back since our horrible experience last December. My review is for that experience. My granndaughters had saved their money for months just to take myself and their aunt to Olive Garden! Horrible, horrible experience, that these girls still talk about! Waitress was new, I get it. Entrees came before salad and bread. We all needed refills. Our waitress let us know that she has to put the salads together herself and the cooks can get the entrees more quickley. She told us that she should not have been put in such a busy section. When we did get our bread, she dropped some our ours and the two tables beside of us. I asked for butter, and the look on her face....! My granddaughters were looking at us, like what is going on? They had planned this "present" for us for 8 or 9 months! They were so disappointed! Another waitress finally notified the manager. He came an spoke with us and the two other tables. I did not want someone to lose their job because of me. I told him, the entrees came before salad/bread then dropped them. No refills, but i think it will all work out ok. Then overheard him tell the other two table their meals would be on the house. Maybe because ther only had 2 to a table. Maybe if i had told him the waitress was ticked off and complaining. I do not like to make a fuss. So the girls are watching all of this, eyes wide, "why do we have to pay?" So their aunt paid for her meal, and asked for a seperate check....omg..other people had to come over for her to pay! (She had a coupon which we all tried to say just forget it!) We just wanted to get out of there! Then my grandaughters pulled out their savings to pay for $80+ bill AND left a small tip. So in total we spent around $120 for what was truly the worst dining experiences EVER. And the longest! Just trying to pay was over 30 minutes! Did I mentioned the waitress us free desert for our troubles? But she informed me "oh, not all of you! Just 2 and you could spit it! Sorry, i just had to get this out, since we all still talk about this and I needed to give these girls a voice to express their frustration. Yes, I should have done that when it happened. Lesson...

It was around 3 o'clock, hardly anyone there. Shown to our table instantly. Server arrived to say her name was Felicia & she would be taking care of us. Also said she wasn't braining very well today. Wife ordered what she loves, soup, salad & breads sticks. I ordered my favorite Lasagna Fritta, an appetizer for the meal. Its generally very good. Soup, chicken gnocchi, arrived in minutes. We ask about bread sticks, she said they are cooking. As I enjoyed the salad & partner enjoy soup & salad, we commented its better with bread sticks. Next time server appeared we ask about them. I'll go check she said & appeared later with them. Soup & salad gone at this point. I'll admit they were the best bread sticks we'd had there, soft & warm. More time passed & no Lasagna Fritta. Server spent her time chatting with a new couple who sat at table beside ours, about tattoos & dog. Literally the only other table in that section. As she finally wrapped up that conversation about tattoos & dogs I ask about the appetizer I had ordered & said don't bring it & please take if off the bill. Oh no I can't do that. It has to be a manager Amanda or Jason & should she send them over. I said please send someone. Jason appeared with apologizes & said it was ready & he would take it off the bill & bring it out. I said no thanks because its been sitting back there under the heat lamp & we've been here long enough. He offered to put in a to go box & we could take it home. I turned it down, as we don't live next door & it would be in the car for hours. I finally relented & said ok, we'll take it. On our way out we opened it up to take a look & it literally looked like crap & obviously melted down under the heat lamps. We left it with them. We will continue to enjoy Olive Garden, but not the one on Tunnel Road in Asheville. Sorry, I have no picture of it, it...

I would give tonight a negative star if I could. Tonight my fiance and a couple of our friends went to have dinner at Olive Garden. We went in at 8:30 and were seated in the far corner of the restaurant with Kaylie S. as our server. I knew things were going to go downhill fast when she took our appetizer order and then walked away. 15 minutes later she came back with our appetizers and then at that point took our food order (which she could have gotten 15 minutes before hand). 10 minutes later she came back with our salad/soup. Then another 25 minutes later our entrees came out. Note here that 2 other tables sat after we did and were done before we were. 50 minutes into the meal and we are served COLD entrees. My pasta and both my friend's pasta were all cool to the touch. My fiance's medium rare steak was a cold medium to medium well at best and his potatoes were congealed. Seriously, you could have played ball with that scoop of potatoes. So, we pointed it out to the server- who in this 53 minutes had yet to refill a single drink on our table- who says she will send the manager over. Guess who NEVER CAME TO THE TABLE....yep. Mr. Andy Jones- the night floor manager. (I only know this name because the sweet host was nice enough to give us his card.) They were nice enough to comp the meal after much debate with the waitress. As we were leaving, Mr. Jones was standing at the host stand. When we brought the situation up to him, he said and I quote "What do you want? We comped the meal." On a scale of 1-10 tonight was a -2. And Mr. Jones needs to learn how to be a manager. If someone wants to speak to you, listen, then respond with tact....