Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Casa Grande

I typically have had good experiences with this location; my friend actually used to be the manager. Prior even when busy they went above and beyond for the customers. However, tonight was completely different. We arrived and were seated quickly within 5-10 minutes for a table of two. We got drinks in a timely fashion, salad came quite a bit before bread but no biggie there. Waitress was fine. She could tell as time went on were we getting increasingly more agitated. We have a dog that takes timed medication for seizures and there was NO sign of anyone around us who was seated before we got there getting food. So we just asked if they could bring our food as to-go because we wouldn't have time to eat. Maybe 10-ish minutes later they brought out one meal as a to-go and the other one a plate. As we were explaining, no we need BOTH to-go the manager decided to slide in. We never actually asked for a manager to speak to us, we just wanted our food to go because we couldn't wait any longer. She proceeded to say she was sorry it was busy and they weren't seating people anymore. My husband got upset at this point and stated that's really not our problem, and he was upset because he ordered a never ending pasta bowl and really wasn't getting a good value for it at this point. This is when the manager was in my opinion incredibly out of line and said something like, "if you're going home with food it's not like you're not eating." Then started to say something about she could see what she could do and she'll check the menu ect. I was really beyond upset at this point. My husband said he wasn't asking for a free meal he just didn't think it should take an hour and a half for pasta anyway. THEN she pulled out her tablet, "well to be exact you've only been sitting for an hour and a minute..." And started to make some other nonsense excuses. She was very argumentative and we really just wanted to go. He was pretty upset and just told her give me the check. But honestly I work in the service industry and have worked in restaurants. We were irritated but fine until that sorry excuse for a manager came over. Unfortunately, we won't be going there or recommending it to anyone anytime soon. It's sad we used to go on our Friday/Saturday date nights...

Today on 3/1/25 we entered this establishment we were told it would be 15 to 20 minutes ended up waiting about 35 minutes to be seated. As we are being seated, we waited for the waiter to come to ask for our drinks than another 2 people get seated a few minutes behind us mind you there was a table that had been waiting for their food for an hour from what the lady had spoken about to another employee mind you the 2 people who get seated a few minutes behind us get their drinks and food before us all within 5-10mins after they sat down and the table who had been waiting an hour still haven’t received their meals as me being the nosy person I am I over hear the employees talking bout the table who was seated a few minutes behind us one of them worked there and the 3 people who were waiting at the bar also worked there and got their food also before the guests who had been waiting for an hour it was just really upsetting that after paying 59$ for food that was under cooked and super salty and after waiting so long I ask the lady up front if she was the manager and she stated yes I’ll be with you after I help the others who are before you I said it’s ok I already paid I don’t want to stand here and wait. I just wanted to tell you your management team needs more work. It is ridiculous that we sat there waiting for our food and you have employees that got their food way before your guest that is so unprofessional and very rude. She didn’t say much I didn’t even hear an apology and the guest she was helping said yes that they waited for an 1hr&45mins ….I guess if we want great service we have to be employees … corporate needs to come down there and get to the bottom of this before the company gets run into the ground & to our server thank you for trying your best. I know it wasn’t your fault I appreciate you...

We walked in and the hostess seated us and the waitress said she would be right with us before we even sat down. Thought it was going to be a great night, based off that.

The server did come up and take our drink and food order. I ordered the tour of Italy and my wife ordered the chicken & shrimp carbonara. We got our breadsticks and enjoyed them. But our food took 45-55 minutes to arrive. I really wish I was kidding. My wife and I got full off 2 breadsticks each, because it took so long for food to arrive.

And when it did show up, she almost dropped the food! I tried to help by giving her my napkin to move the hot plate.

I instantly noticed the fettuccine was dried out. And then I moved more around and noticed more noodles were that way. So I said something to the server. I even asked her to pack it to go. She came back with the fettuccine in around 3-4 minutes. No way you can cook a fresh batch of pasta that quickly. And when it arrived, it was a smaller quantity than ordered. I truly feel they microwaved their TAKE HOME fettuccine alfredo dishes that are $6.

Then when we went to pay, we saw that they charged us for the COY (create your own) pasta, then comped it. Which goes to tell me that the pasta they gave me was a smaller portion than on the Tour of Italy.

We left almost exact for the total in cash and left. Couldn't even enjoy the rest of our drinks because it was one of the absolute worst experiences I've ever had inside Olive Garden. Waitress really didn't seem to care either.

Wife wanted to tell them it was my birthday today too. Glad she didn't. But literally, that place ruined my birthday because they just didn't care that food took so long to come out, and when it did, it...