Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Chula Vista

A friend of mine gave me a gift card to olive garden and I decided to invite my mother to go there for lunch . I'm actually not the biggest fan of Italian food but I really do like the soup and salad combo for lunch at the Olive Garden and my mother does also so we went to the location nearest to my house in Chula Vista. I was very surprised by the atmosphere inside. It was around 1:00 pm and the restaurant was quite busy. The manager was who greeted us and there was a friendly guy who took us to our table. I love the space between the different seating whether be booth or table. Cozy and quiet but not secluded. A lady across from where we sat, at a booth, was dining alone and reading a book. Gives you an idea that the surroundings are serene enough for her to read. Our waiter was Pablo. Young and great personality! He had several tables around us but was excellent with his ability to multitask his service to each group or guest. We both ordered soup and salad. I never dreamed the soup would be SO DELICIOUS!!! Some chicken in white cream sauce. Wow!!! Pablo brought our lunch quickly and he was delightful in his sense of humor and was very attentive. My mother who can sometimes be kinda critical in how she rates servers was also impressed with Pablo. When I went to pay with my gift card at the table, there were issues and Pablo was helpful and also was unable to process the gift card at the table so he went off and tended to the process elsewhere. I had no cash and me and my mother was responsible for Pablos tip where she gave him $5.00 I have worked in restaurants and actually see that gesture of $5 for his tip as a sign of dissatisfaction. I hope this young man did not feel insulted but we were VERY HAPPY AND PLEASED beyond our expectations with the entire visit. To whomever reads this review I RECOMMEND NOT ONLY THE OLIVE GARDEN RESTAURANT BUT SPECIFICALLY THIS LOCATION IN CHULA VISTA MALL FOR LUNCH OR DINNER. I wasn't expecting lunch with Mama to be so delightful. Thanks and shout out to my friend DAVID CUNNINGHAM for the amazing gesture of friendship to bless my mother and myself with the gift card. May God bless all who are a blessing to others....

Title: Disheartening Experience at Chula Vista Olive Garden

I am sharing my recent disappointing experience at the Chula Vista Olive Garden, a place I've been a loyal customer to for a long time.

My family and I decided to have dinner at this location, and it turned into an ordeal. Despite being told there was a 30-minute wait, we ended up waiting for over an hour, witnessing other parties being seated ahead of us. When I approached the hostess about our concerns, I was told there was nothing they could do due to a lack of available large tables.

Attempts to discuss the matter with a manager named Yamileth were met with rudeness and dismissive behavior. This was particularly disheartening, and it felt like more than just poor service; it felt like discrimination. As my family, including my hungry children, continued to wait, my youngest daughter even fell asleep without having dinner.

What made this experience even more disheartening was that I had my parents visiting from Mexico, trying Olive Garden for the first time. Unfortunately, their introduction to the restaurant was marred by this negative encounter.

Feeling frustrated and seemingly unnoticed, we decided to leave the restaurant. However, upon returning 15 minutes later, we were surprised to find that every table we saw waiting had been seated.

This experience was far from the quality of service I've come to expect from Olive Garden. As a long-time customer, it is disheartening to have such a negative encounter. I hope that management takes steps to address these issues, including the feeling of discrimination, and ensures that others do not face a similar situation.

Sincerely,...

Terrible experience at this location. First we were missed in the "call to table" process, The people at the front said they "forgot" as we were not carrying our phones and could not leave a number...however we were sitting in the waiting area and made it clear to the person we would remain in the seated area. My husband had follow up and miraculously we were next. We were then seated and waited and waited to get our drink order taken. There were 2 tables in our area that were overfilled with dirty dishes...the servers however just kept piling them on there. Both tables were in our sight line. Servers dropped straws, napkins etc...they did not pick anything up. The meal was taking forever and our server apologized saying the kitchen was backed up Finally a person showed up to buss tables...he cleaned the one behind us and dropped food and napkins on floor. But then left and did not come to the second one for at least 10 mins. he did not pick up the items he dropped on the floor. Reminded our server we ordered a 6.00 take out ...she had forgotten. The place was messy and very unprofessional. Lots of chit chat between staff and saw no presence of a manager. We travel alot for work and sadly found this to be the most unpleasant Olive Garden ...we search out Olive Gardens as the service, operations and food should be consistent throughout your chain. This is not the case in Chula Vista CA. I would expect a response to this email. Will be escalating as this experience...