Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Columbia

“When you are here, you are family”, the old logo retired in 2012. As I entered the restaurant I was told to follow the hostess, an older person that seemed stressed out, and they sat us by the sunny window (4:00 pm). I quickly asked if we could sit in a booth where then sun was not in our eyes. The hostess quickly moved the napkins to the table that was not a window but was not a booth either, then walked off. In my mind I’m thinking, it’s okay, at least the sun is not in my face anymore. I asked someone if they had the never ending pasta deal. They sarcastically replied: “Well yeah, it just started Monday!” I just laughed. I’m thinking why are people so unhappy or stressed out here? I just asked a question. Just answer with a yes or a no please. When someone requests a different table it would be nice if the hostess politely asks, “where would you like to sit?” I was well aware that that logo was retired: Not being treated like family here lol..!! I noticed a family of four (two of them in their 80’s) was being asked to sit super far away from the entrance. The couple’s son asked if there was a closer table as his parents were having a hard time to get to the table using canes. Those are just minor things. Businesses that have politeness and friendliness usually stay in customer’s hearts. Remember that I am giving you a point of you of my experience on that Friday around 4 pm. I am not criticizing or giving this restaurant a hard time. I also want the reader to have this in mind and tell the hostess where the reader would like to sit. We ordered the never ending pasta with a protein. The food was great. The Shrimp Fritto Misto appetizer, the Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, the Chicken and Gnocchi soup, and the garlic bread all were excellent. My waiter did forget to bring me my soup. After my second and final bowl of pasta I asked her if I could have my soup. Her response was that we had all ready had salad and that we could not get both. I responded that I never had salad or soup. Our waiter looked puzzled. I told her well did you write our order down? She immediately said: “oh yes, I’m sorry, I’ll bring it out immediately.” Like I said, I am not criticizing but do sympathize with the workers as it seems that management has these workers under lots of stress. There should be happiness among workers and that will convert to an amazing level of service and a great atmosphere for the best Italian meal. I chose not to complaint when management came out asking all of the tables if their food was hot and good. It shows that management wants to show good quality control. The hot meal is part of the experience. We chose coffee for our drinks. Our first coffee was warm and it quickly turned colder when we added the cold creamer. You tend to drink coffee faster when you drink cold coffee. When our waitress said I will get you more coffee and noticed we needed more creamer she said: “oh you like more cream… looks a like you drank creamer with coffee instead of coffee and creamer.” I have lots of patience and just smiled but I ask you: is that comment necessary? Whether it is a joke or not I believe a waitress should be on top of things to her best gratuity as possible. She still got 20% from us ($24 out of bill $112). I want you to know that while we ate we ordered a Large Pan Lasagna to go for like $65, good size for the price. The food was great! I will definitely come back soon as I loved the food here. I thank the unseen team members, like the cooks, that make this place a great place for a great meal. I encourage you to come to this Olive Garden in Colombia, Maryland and enjoy the great tastes this restaurant has to offer. I explain how my experience went down so that if you have a similar experience you too can practice your patience and understanding with the knowing that your tummy will be happy!!! Everything else that happened is like they say: “Water off a duck’s back”!!!...

Worst experience at OG I’ve ever had. Long story short.... kind of.... Went there last night. Our waitress “K” started out on 10. Great service, very attentive, offered to check with the kitchen to see if the veggies were cooked in oil or butter (I’m vegan). But then, we ended up waiting a very long time for our food. When she finally did bring it, my order was incorrect. She offered to remake both my & my Fiancées order so that both our meals would be warm when mine was ready. By the time she got it right (I ordered whole wheat linguine with marinara sauce, both vegan) we were more than ready to go. Took a few bites, and when she returned to check on us, we asked for to go boxes. She offered a free dessert as an apology for everything & suggested something to my Fiancée. She agreed, and the waitress entered our order, returned with boxes, and boxes up everything for us. We joked about being super tired once 10pm rolled around. All was well. We were all laughing. “K” leaves and returns with the dessert. On a plate. Here we are with bags of food boxed up, we’ve been there since 9pm and it’s going on 11, we’ve told you how tired we were.... why not box up the dessert as well?!! Still giving her the benefit of the doubt. After all, we didn’t say to box that up to go as well. When she sat it down, we complimented the presentation & asked to wrap it up & for the for the bill. Despite all the mistakes and long, long wait, we were never upset with her or her service. HOWEVER! Here’s what took down her service for me. She STOOD OVER THE TABLE AS WE WERE PAYING! I mean, hands on the table, leaning forward, and totally making us uncomfortable as we were using the table device to pay. Silence, with an occasional “is everything ok?” I eventually let out a long loud sigh that shoo’ed her away. At this point I assume because our overall experience was bogus, she feared we’d leave her a small tip or no tip at all. Which was never our thought. Everyone has bad days, and we gave her the benefit of the doubt the entire time. But THAT! Watching over us like a hawk! That was the last straw. So I thought. Now that’s it’s the next day, I decide to heat up my pasta. I stir it around and what do I find? PIECES OF MEAT! I made it VERY clear in the beginning of our visit that I am vegan. Ugh ,anyway. We won’t be back. Very...

We walked in at around 3:30 07/23/19. The place was practically empty but the hostess told us that we could either wait 15-20 minutes to be seated or that we could sit in the "cafe/bar" area. We sat in the cafe area, which was completely filthy, straw wrappers and food all over the floor. Our waitress (no name tag) came with an 'I don't care' attitude and mumbled something about what we wanted to drink. An older lady came into the restaurant about 5 minutes after we did and was told the same thing, 15-20 minute wait or sit in the cafe area. She was seated in the cafe area near us. We recieved our drinks and placed our orders. My friend asked for no cheese on her soup. Her soup and my salad arrived, the waitress did not offer cheese for my salad. The older lady who had been seated 15 minutes prior began to talk loudly to the hostess, she was upset but not unpleasant. She had not even been offered a drink. She ended up leaving the restaurant. I had to wave the waitress down for cheese for my salad and a refill even though my drink had been empty when she dropped off the soup and salad. All of the sudden I heard 3 employees talking about the older woman who had left unattended. They were making fun of her, cussing and carrying on. My entree arrived. My chicken parmigiana was scorched and smelled terrible. My friend wanted salt for her food, there was none on our table, I ended up getting up and grabbing one off the next table. I turned around to look for the waitress, she was sitting on the opposite side of the cafe area at a dining table scrolling through her phone. I had to wave at her to get her attention, when she came back with my entree it was well cooked that time. She went back to ignoring us until we were about to pay, then all of the sudden she became overwhelmingly friendly, asking if everything was okay, if we needed anything, asking about my friend's baby. Overall our experience was incredibly unprofessional and disappointing. We will not be returning to this...