Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Fort Walton Beach

Well for starters it's not this cracked up to be Italian restaurant yes the restaurant it looks like it's clean and tidy but it's not a five-star restaurant which I'm sure it's not supposed to be claiming to be one. Also you have to wait and sometimes get ignored to be seated when the restaurant is literally at maybe 10% full. Also they put you smack together with other patrons and when you asked to be moved to another table it's kind of like I don't want to. Well I ordered the soup salad and breadsticks unlimited because on the website the Olive garden website it said it was like $10 on the weekday until 3:00 you order it off the main menu in the restaurant it's like $12 for the soup salad and breadsticks. Don't get me wrong it's an okay deal for a lunch special but it should be at the $10 because the soups are not made fresh daily I can guarantee you. 2nd the salad is something you'd buy in bulk in big bags at Walmart or Sam's club. It literally is all lettuce you get one tomato a couple of olives and some shredded carrot that's what you get for a salad don't get me wrong it's a great deal but it's bagged salad they could chop it and prep it daily in the restaurant. And the tea the sweet tea is not very sweet. Which I'm glad it's not I don't like overpowering sugary sweet tea but it's bland and like it's 90% water 10% old tea bag. The breadsticks the first batch we're fine that I got the second batch that I got were 3/4 hard as a rock. Completely inedible couldn't eat them very disappointing because I would've loved to be able to dip them in my soups but not edible. Also the only soup that I would recommend is the pasta fagioli and the chicken gnocchi soup. The others are horrible. The Tuscan zuppa soup was horrible over peppered like they had doused it with black pepper. And I know a Tuscan zuppa soup. When it's made correctly and fresh it is amazing you can't get enough of it this one don't waste your taste buds or your money on it it's not worth it. Completely inedible. All I can say that saved my meal was my incredible server named Blake he was impeccable knowledgeable customer service perfection. I can't say the same for the other ladies that were working there was one that had Kool-Aid red Wendy's hamburger restaurant hair and another that was either heavy set or pregnant with dirty blonde hair I didn't catch their names because they weren't my servers but she would stack up her dirty dishes from her table instead of bringing it to the galley to the dish pit and just stack them up on a tray on a shelf next to me like literally 2 ft away not something a patron that's sitting at a table trying to have lunch wants to see dirty dishes stacked up next to them. Another one that was just talking to the Kool-Aid red hair colored young lady in the galley, and I could hear everything they were saying about customers. Very very rude and it was in ear shot of patrons we don't need to hear their comments or insults or their sarcasm if you're in customer service you don't talk about your customers in front of customers very unprofessional. Absolutely not the epitome of customer service. If I wanted to listen to sarcasm and rudeness I could just go to a fast food joint like McDonald's or Burger King but this is a sit-down restaurant with some respect not the greatest restaurant obviously but it's not a fast food joint. Overall the food was mediocre at best no salt except for the Tuscan zuppa which is too much pepper and they're not made fresh daily the salad is Walmart brand or Sam's. The only thing that saved it was Blake he was amazing and if I ever do come back for lunch again I hope Blake is working because I will not have anybody else that I had witnessed on that shift yesterday at 1:00 pm in the afternoon on a Thursday. So nonetheless like I said I don't expect it to be a five-star or even honestly a 2.5 Star restaurant because it's all bagged or canned or old but whoever trained Blake did a great job because he's an amazing young man. That's what saved my experience. Olive garden...

Literal lifetime FWB Olive Garden fan. I have eaten here since I could talk. I went in today for a quick bite for lunch, and it was so bad. I was by myself, so I was seated immediately. I waited around 4-5 minutes to initially be acknowledged by my server. Once she noticed me, she said she’d be right with me. I understand service industry so, yep, no problem! I waited another 10-11 minutes, so at this point about 15 minutes total, sitting there. No beverage or any sort of food like breadsticks/salad etc. I, finally, politely asked another server walking by if I could just get a water, soup, and salad bc that’s literally all I wanted—no real meal or anything. She promptly took my order and apologized. Then, I waited another 4-5 minutes, still don’t even have water, and my actual server comes up to take my order. I told her I was sorry, but I was super hungry and I flagged down another waitress for my order. She said “Oh okay?” and asked me what she looked like. At this point, about 20-25 minutes in (still no beverage) and hangry as all get out, my answer is “I don’t know”. Couldn’t tell you what she looked like. I just wanted water and salad and soup! So then my actual waitress takes my order and then vanishes again. My flagged down pseudo waitress brings me water and breadsticks. At this point, I don’t mind chilling and waiting. I understand servers get busy. But then, my actual waitress comes to my table 4-5 minutes later and has water, breadsticks, soup and salad all at once. Which was great! But she didn’t realize the other waitress had brought me a couple things already. She looked at me and said “Well, I guess you don’t need these.” — referencing the breadsticks and water. She gave me my soup and salad. At this point, I just wanted to eat and leave. I had been there almost 30 minutes and all I wanted was pre-made food. Soup and salad. The salad was covered in purple onions and— I love onions—but there were soooo many!! There were 2 black olives— Olive Garden? And nothing else except lettuce, a couple croutons, one piece of tomato and one pepper. The zuppa toscanna was also so bad, bitter, and tasted sour. I ate enough to cure my hanger, tipped my waitress and left. I highly considered talking to the woman who seemed like she was in charge, but regretfully didn’t. She was bent over the hostess stand talking loudly to another waitress about how many big parties they’re going to have to deal with tonight, and didn’t even acknowledge me when I walked in or walked out. I have been going to this OG for 30 years and, sadly, I won’t be back. I understand this is just the way things are these days, but there are plenty of places overcoming economic challenges and still putting customer...

So last night I went to Olive Garden to celebrate my 30th birthday with my Managers and colleague. The table was filled with “Happy Birthday” balloons and the atmosphere in Olive Garden was so exciting, multiple persons we’re celebrating a birthday and it was just the perfect place to be... or so I thought! My waiter ((whose name I will not disclose )), who only came to the table after another guest told him my boss looks like she wants something, came with lightening speed and would leave in lightening speed. He took our orders with the most haste, he was so untouched with our table and never once acknowledged that we were a birthday party even though we made jokes about it being a birthday celebration while he was there breaking the world record for the fastest service. Yes, the service was fast which we appreciated on a busy night, but it was at the cost of our usual friendly and welcoming Olive Garden experience.

To top that off, I only had an appetizer and everyone else had Entrees and soups&Salad, so decided that I will take a spoonful out of the bowl of salad in the table and was charged for doing so. The waiter did not want to deal with the situation and called the manager in which she then explained that persons are not allowed to share foods and Olive Garden. I will not be returning to what was once my favorite Italian restaurant.

Ps. My Manager is still waiting on the water...