Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Colorado Springs

Came in tonight (Monday) around 6:30pm. Not busy at all, good employee interaction, and great service...until it wasn't. Ordered the seafood stuffed mushrooms (and mozzerella), which I previously thought to myself with curiosity, "Unless it's a giant portobello mushroom, how do you exactly stuff mushrooms?" Well, to prove my thoughts correctly: they were not. The seafood was placed on top of the little mushrooms. They were the extra fishy kind of seafood, but otherwise fine. I think $10 for 3 cheese squares and a few mushrooms is a bit much, but Colorado does that to you. Our entree came (sirloin and alfredo combo, with zucchini)...and when I tell you that both my girlfriend and I finished the pasta in 2 bites, I mean it. Quite honestly, I could have fit one giant bite in my mouth, if that describes the portion size to you. So, at most, there were 4 bites of pasta that came with the dish (it was plated in 2, as we split the entree between us).I looked over at another table's Tour of Italy dish, and was shocked to see her incredibly small portion sizes as well. I know prices go up with minimum wage increases, but I didn't know that the portion sizes had to suffer extremely as well. I was upset to have paid $18 for my 4 bites of alfredo & 6 oz sirloin, but I would have been even more so to pay for the T.O.I. dish at the even higher price, for the lack of food she received. The other issue I had, was the fact that no one (our server, nor the food runner) asked us to check our steak to see if it was cooked properly. Something every restaurant should be versed on is when red meat is made to order, you need to verify with the customer that it was cooked the way they ordered it. I wasn't asked until I had one bite left of my steak, so the question kind of becomes obsolete at that point. Next, we order dessert. I don't know how this got overlooked by your expo/FC, as well as our server who brought the dish out, but it still had some parchment paper (the kind that comes on all frozen desserts you get at the store, for slice separation) on the side. Glad I noticed it, before I ended up eating it. The last issue we had was the lack of communication about the up-charge for unlimited salad. I have eaten Olive Garden for years, as much of America has, and I have been sharing meals for just as many of those days. However, I have never been charged an extra plate fee ($5) for the salad. Apparently it is a new rule that if you share an entree, the salad is charged twice, instead of the complementary unlimited soup/salad. We asked our waitress about it, and she explained this, and apologized. And, I get why they do it...but they never have before, so this information should really be shared with the customer. You wouldn't just have customers throw proteins onto their pastas without communicating about the upcharge, so the same principle should apply. Had I know this, I would have paid the difference, and just gotten my own entree...because it wasn't about the $5 at that point, but rather the food I was thinking I was getting included. I wouldn't have minded spending the $12ish on a second entree. All in all, our waitress was very friendly and polite. The steak was, ironically, cooked perfectly. The pasta (even though I only got two fork-fulls of it) was delicious. Our black tie cake, sans paper, was good. The execution and delivery of it all was just...very much dissatisfying and disappointing.

P.S. the breadsticks definitely...

Update - 09/25. I had lasagna, which was a new one for me. It was meh, just OK. Kind of like most of their food. It had definitely been sitting under a heat lamp so the textures were inconsistent. Some chewy bits, some softer. The sauce was OK, as was the meat. I make better at home. My wife had the endless pasta bowl, also just OK. I wish they didn't like coming here for average, corporate pasta made without love or passion, but sometimes we have to give into the family.

08/24 - I've never really been a fan of Olive Garden. For me, it's really hard to elevate pasta, and hard to justify paying for something I can do at home very easily. But I live with two pasta nuts, so we came for the Endless Pasta Bowl. The bread sticks were plentiful, but pretty dried out, and tough. We remembered them softer and tastier. The salad was slathered in a very vinegary dressing which I found inedible. My guests were not bothered.

My Bowl eater started with the Fettuccine Alfredo, and got plenty of extra sauce. It looked like glue to me, but she approved. She followed that with the 5 cheese, which also received approval. I tried that, and it was decent sauce. Both were taken home.

Guest #2 had the Chicken Marsala Fettuccine, and while he said it was OK, it was the first time I can remember he didn't finish the meal. (He's 19, and eats everything)

I had the eggplant parmesan, and it was quite good. The trick is to get the eggplant just right - not mushy when overcooked, and not tough when under. This was right on, and the breading was crispy. The side of spagetti was average, and the sauce was too acidic for me.

Our server was pleasant enough, but seemed uncomfortable at her job. It was strange.

Value - It was about $80 including tax and tip and one beer. That feels like a lot for pasta, but comparable for other chain sit down restaurants. I think there are others that are better (Cheddars, Texas Roadhouse, Bad Daddy's) for...

I recently went to Olive Garden this past week, and although I've had it before, It always tends to cater to my hunger and always tastes delicious. Surprisingly, for arriving at dinner time, there wasn't a wait, and I was immediately seated. The surface of my table and chair was clean, and there weren't any leftover crumbs. The service was immaculate, my waiter was very attentive, and I didn't lack service, always refilling my drinks when it was empty and constantly catering to my needs.

On the topic of food, for appetizers, I got some calamari, the sauces were great, and it was crispy. I also got their famous salad, which never disappoints. It was incredibly fresh! I also got a Zuppa Toscana, which I highly recommend, olive garden has the best sort of soup when it comes to that. it's always consistent with every ingredient in every bite. Onto the main course, I got the Lasagna Classico, which was hot! Everything from the sauce to the cheese to even the noodles was good! All flavors were extremely accurate of its flavor, not lacking! I also saw some other dishes that looked stunning! On the topic of price, olive garden is a step up from your average fast food restaurant, so it's oblivously going to be slightly more expensive. The quality is generally better overall, though!

Overall, I feel you can't go wrong with anything at Olive Garden! It's a great atmosphere, the service is always on top of it. And you can expect the food to be consistent! I recommend...