Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Cookeville

We had to stop over for the night before heading back to South Carolina and decided to stop by for a family dinner. From the time we checked in until we finished dessert, our service was over the top excellent! I have been to many Olive Garden's in my life and this by far was the best one I have ever experienced. The main factor was definitely our server Kachina. If every restaurant in the country had someone with her knowledge and hospitality, every dining experience would be flawless. My youngest daughter was hangry from traveling and she was on the ball with getting her food ordered and brought out to the table fast. She was so knowledgeable with everything on the menu, our drinks never got below half way before she was coming back to top them off and checked on us many times throughout dinner. Olive Garden of Cookeville is very fortunate to have someone of her caliber and I hope they are treating her well because she is a tremendous asset to the business. She was very professional but also gave us that warm Southern hospitality that makes you feel welcome and at home. As I said before, best Olive Garden experience ever and it's all...

Our dear friend invited (5) of us to join him here at the Olive Garden for an early Christmas treat. We all gladly accepted his kind invitation. We were greeted by a beautiful, bright, and very attentive young lady called 'Emma.' Emma welcomed us with her bright smile and vast knowledge of the menu. We chose the fried mozzarella and the shrimp app special for starters; both were delicious. Our dinners consisted of shrimp scampi, seafood pasta, Italian sausage & meatball pasta, lasagna, seared salmon, and mushroom & shrimp fettuccine which were all phenomenal! The soups, salads, and breadsticks were picked at to save room for the entree, they were fresh and tasty alike. To end this pleasant friendly dinner, we topped it off with tiramisu and cheesecake for those who could hold dessert (present company excluded) 🤭 The entire experience was a fun, joyful, and playful time for all. Thank you Emma for your kindness, attentiveness, and your promptness. We truly enjoyed our dining experience a lot more because of you! Great time_ good food_ warm service, and building memories with our...

Olive Garden has been pretty consistent in the quality and taste of their food for me. It has a nice, old world Tuscany style decor and old school music by Dean Martin, Sinatra etc. for a nice relaxing atmosphere. There's a bar so you can order wine and mixed drinks; they used to offer samples of wine, not sure if they still offer that. The one exception was one time when appetizers I ordered tasted like they'd been reheated and weren't very good. Everything else has always been great. My favorite is their Zuppa Toscana soup which is a thin potato soup with potato chunks, bits of ground Italian sausage, kale and a touch of red pepper flakes (it's not spicy). Lots of people live their salad which comes tossed in a light but zesty Italian dressing that always has a fresh taste. Try ordering the Alfredo sauce to dip your bread sticks in...I'm not even a fan of Alfredo and I really like it. Desserts are a bit pricey but delicious. Lunch is the best time to eat here, price wise as they have some good deals. I've never had bad...