The Black Olive- Elizabethton — Restaurant in Elizabethton

Hubby and I went last night and both of us had the breaded veal which came with a side of spaghetti and then we also ordered a side salad.

I have given this restaurant chain several opportunities to do a good job. No matter which restaurant we go to, the food is below par.

The veal last night was just ok. It was, in my opinion, borderline too salty. It was otherwise cooked properly and the breading was quite flavorful. The salad was a pile of iceberg lettuce and two cherry tomatoes and 2 cucumbers. I asked for ranch dressing to go with my salad and the dressing was terrible. It was just like a generic brand of ranch you would buy at Walmart...very little flavor. Almost tasted like fat free ranch dressing. I couldn't even eat my whole side salad, it was so lacking in flavor.

The spaghetti was cooked properly but the sauce was very bland. VERY bland. It tasted and looked like it had no seasonings in it at all. It tasted like they poured a can of chopped up tomatoes on the spaghetti.

They also put a very small loaf of what I giess was supposed to be French bread on the yable for two of us to share and when the waiter set it down, he said it was garlic bread. The bread didn't smell garlicky, so I thought maybe the butter / spread had garlic in it. Nope, it was just plain butter.

For a place that calls otself an Italian restaurant, it was seriously lacking in garlic...well, lacking in flavor in general.

The staff were all pleasant and friendly.

One more thing to mention...

My husband has a big belly. He wears a 4x shirt so he's a big guy. Most booths don't have enough belly room for him when he sits in one. Plus, I'm short (5'1") and when I sit in most booths, my feet don't touch the floor, which puts strain on my lower back. So for these reasons, and 8n order for us to be comfortable, we always ask for a table with chairs. This restaurant had every single table with chairs reserved for two large groups so the only seating available for us was a booth. So in addition, we spent the whole meal being uncomfortable.

I have no odea what makes this restaurant chain so popular. We won't...

Is the food great, yes. Friendly servers, yes again! But rated 3 stars because of mgmt methods we noticed that lead to bad service at no fault of the waiters or hostess. You're going to lose good employees and customer base if what we saw and experienced this evening happens frequently. We got there shortly before 8pm and all started great; greeted fast and waitress immediately with us to get drinks and answer questions very well! But here's where issues start. After order was taken, I overheard MGMT cutting staff to leave when the hostess was slammed with to-go orders and customers still flowing in. This left our waitress over-worked and not able to properly give needed table attention as I'm Fairly sure she was the only server left, or Maybe 1 of 2. After we finished eating, it was over 15 min before she was able to return to check on us and-or give us check. Not her fault. She gave us check, then we didn't see her for awhile so we went up to front to pay. More trouble here related to mgmt of staffing. (also you need more than one place where payments can be ran) The poor girl at the register was so overwhelmed it wasn't even funny. We brought our check up and she literally was on 2 phones taking orders, had 3 cars waiting for orders, and 2 guests waiting to pay for dine in. She even had to get the bus boy to help her with to-go stuff. That said, we stood there for another over 15 min just trying to pay for our bill. Again this is NOT the fault of the employee, she was working way too hard for what this job should call for and I'm sure underpaid for it too. Management needs to do much better at staffing, and also not cut ppl to go home too soon as I visibly witnessed. Overworked, underpaid employees won't be happy and stay, and not all customers will see through what the issue was like we did. I realize it's restaurant work and pay is not high, but at least give them the courtesy of adequate staffing. This will also prevent customers from waiting as much as we did too, even just to get our bill, and then even longer...

We asked to be seated outdoors on a very hot Sunday afternoon because we had our Westie seated in her stroller along with us. (She slept the whole time.) We were welcomed, seated, greeted and served right away. While the outdoor area is large, and completely covered, (no umbrellas on a hot sunny day!) and has a nice wrought iron fence around it with overhead fans and decent furniture, I found myself comparing it to the cozy, floral environment with the fountain at Black Olive's Jonesborough location. In Elizabethton you wind up looking at the bumpers of vehicles in the parking lot. The space could be dressed up. This location has a bar menu. This is especially helpful when your server might be young and unfamiliar with alcoholic beverages. We each had two drinks, So including taxes and tip, we spent $75. The food menu was identical to the Jonesborough location. He ordered the meat lasagna which was excellent, as usual. And I ordered the spicy shrimp and chicken pasta Alfredo. This was also excellent. The chicken was very tender and the portions are generous. Our server, Macala was extremely attentive and pleasant. In my opinion, Black Olive has the best Italian food in East Tennessee. I highly recommend The Black Olive in...