Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Fargo

Just went there about 8pm last night and the host sat me down at a corner table. Kids must have just ate there as there was greasy finger prints all over the window and grated cheese all over the window sill. The table looked clean but as soon as I set my hands down, it got sticky so I went to the bathroom to wash them. The table ordering computer was not working and when picked up, the batteries were missing. I was thinking "Why'd they sit me here? This table is dirty, the window sill has grated cheese all over the window sill." Im not sure the host was very good at his job. I used to work in restaurants and seen way better hosts. Still, I thought that the waitress would correct it.

I mentioned it to the waitress but she smiled and said that yes, some children sat here and they clean the windows daily. I figured if I mentioned those 3 things, I'd get moved to a clean table. I noted there were open spots as the busser was going around cleaning tables. NOPE, didn't even offer. I should have just asked. That was the 1st bad sign.

I enjoyed the tiramisu with milk as an appetizer. The soup, chicken dumpling, was good and the bread sticks were OK. I did not get any sauce with the bread sticks as I thought it said in the menu. I ordered the shrimp & chicken carbonara.

What I ordered tasted like someone found the nearest fireplace, grabbed a hand of ashes and threw them on the food. I've eaten better shrimp & chicken from a boxed alfredo package at walmart. That was disappointing so I pushed it aside and thought, maybe that's the way its made? This was only the 3rd time I have ate at OG. Maybe I could take it home and see if my son my want to try some new food. Later, I just said, nope, trash it. 2nd bad sign.

So I tried again and ordered the Herb Grilled Salmon. Normally I don't like salmon but this was alright. I've had Sea Bass and other types of fish but won't be eating salmon again. The seasoning was good but the broccoli was disappointing. 2 failed dishes in a row discouraged my night out. Never bringing anyone here, including my son, the food is disappointing. I'd rather eat at dennys or frying pan at this point. I could tell the waitress was ashamed of the food and service by her body language and lack of eye contact. She must have known something by that point. $60 wasted. Last bad sign.

As I left, I tipped the waitress $25 for her service, she was excellent except the not being moved to a better, clean table. The previous experience, I had eaten there with my sister and we enjoyed our meal, greatly. This time, I was hugely disappointed. The parking lot was about half filled and there were not many eating at that time so I don't know why I had a terrible experience. The soup was wonderful, in retrospect. Maybe OG just isn't my type of dining though I remember eating there with my sister and the food we ordered was simply... the best. Different chef maybe?

I'll give it one more try, someday. If they still lack awareness on that level, there are several other places to eat...

Okay.... so, The good: The food tasted amazing! Really great! I got the Chicken Margherita and it was less than 600cals which was nice to have a healthier meal while out....

The less good: I ordered a delicious glass of Pinot Grigio but the glass had bright red lipstick on it - literally looked as though it came straight from the bus bin... the server was so quick and responsive to replace it and was clearly embarrassed as she said it's too dark in the restaurant to see well etc. And yes it's very dark in there, but if this is an ongoing issue as and said it was, then perhaps a server should thoroughly check prior to delivering a glass.

They were very attentive though, and even comped it, replacing it with a larger pour.. the thing though, is the server kept trash talking the dish staff and telling us how often they have to yell at them etc etc.... she's young and I understand these situations take a bit of experience to navigate with poise, but it was very unprofessional and off putting, this isn't Dennys.

About 10-15 mins into eating (less than 45mins after being seated), we even looked at the time to double check, and the server offered us to-go boxes, while we were literally chewing and only had a third of our plates eaten.... we let her know we were still eating and the server's response really shook us. She paused, stood back, looked at us both and said, "oh, really? Um, OK.... wow, you guys really like to talk a lot, don't you? I guess I'll just come back" ... it really bothered my friend and I, quite a bit. She later explained she had a bigger table to tend to so that's why there was an urgency, but again, how is that supposed to be our problem? It's not cool to put the weight of you needing us to leave when we just came out for a nice meal....

I still tipped her 25% though, because ND really doesn't pay servers enough for them to even bother caring, and she at least tried, I guess? Mostly though, principle.... it's also not her fault she may not be experienced enough to know proper server etiquette.... but yeah, maybe raise the bar for server training 👌

Atmosphere-wise, the backs of the booths are very stained. When you actually look at them, despite most of it being camouflaged in the very dimly lit space, they need to be steam cleaned or something.

The, indifferent: Value-wise... it's a tad spendy if you're used to $10-15 meals per person.... but it's always so good that to me I'm comfortable paying $20 for some Chicken and broccoli 😆 also, super cool that they have cold to-go meals for $6 (up to 5 per entree order)... you can choose from their fantastic 5 cheese Ziti, Alfredo, or spaghetti with meatballs. I brought 3 zitis home for the family and they were full portions and tasted fresh upon reheating the next day!!

Overall: I recommend as a place for take out... that's usually what we do when we eat here and NEVER have a negative experience...

This was an interesting experience to say the least. The service started out as usual the waitress was to our table promptly to take our drink orders. She was a bit slow bringing out the first round of beverages but we didn't think anything of it because she got everyone's order correct. The waitress then explained that she was new to the job which was foreshadowing for the rest of our experience. It took about 15 minutes for the first round of bread sticks, salad and soup to arrive and by that time the entire table was in dire need for refills on drinks. This cycle continued for an hour and a half as our party became more and more impatient waiting for our entree's to arrive. During this time two tables who arrived after us received their food. Finally we received our food but much to our dismay all but one entree was cold and crusty when they were served, so we requested to speak to the manager. The general manager A.K. sincerely apologised for the poor service and graciously compensated the meal for our party of 8 and brought us replacement meals that we're all served hot and quickly which was a nice change of pace for the afternoon. By this time I had eaten enough salad and bread sticks to leave me completely stuffed so I requested a box. A different manager named Leona brought box for a half portion of meal and I politely asked for a bigger box. She replied in the shortest and most disrespectful tone saying that it was largest box they had and that my full plate of food would fit in this box that was the size of an iPhone. Just as we thought our time at Olive Garden had turned around Leona spoke to me in a way that I couldn't let go unheard. The nerve of this unpleasant woman to speak to a guest of the restaurant who had just had such an unpleasant experience is something that cannot be tolerated. If I had other plans for the day they would've been ruined because we spent 2 and half hours at the restaurant, luckily I did not have anything else going on so we made time of it but the only thing that saved my entire day for being ruined was the fact that our entire $200+ ticket was compensated by A.K. All in all I will return this Olive Garden with the hopes of not having to deal with our waitress or Leona the spiteful, unpleasant shrew of a manager. I do however look forward to dealing with A.K. who was very...