Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Gadsden

I would give 0 stars if I could

May 9, 2024

A party of 12 people and I went to this Olive Garden after celebrating my cousin and I graduation ceremony. My two friends who were ahead of us in traffic arrived before the rest of us and made arrangements for a table approx. 8:35/8:40pm. We arrived approx 9:00pm.

We were seated at our table and after about 10 minutes our drink orders were finally taken. When the drinks came the waitress threw straws onto the table. There wasn’t enough for us so one person was without a straw.

Everyone at the table got their drinks. One drink ended up being wrong and watered down. (After taking one sip he walked out of the restaurant and went to the car) I was the only one at the table who didn’t receive my sweat tea. I requested it 4 times to the waitress . There was a sweat tea sitting on a tray in a togo cup but it was taken to the back. After the third time requesting the tea she asked if I wanted it in a togo cup and I told her “no it doesn’t have to be”. The fourth time I was told that the tea had to be brewed. My cousin had to ask 2-3 times for a straw to be able to drink her drink.

After our orders were taken she snatched the menus out of our hands.

We finally received soup, salad, and breadsticks but everything was cold and the salad didn’t have croutons. We were told that we would receive them but never did.

We were brought food and drinks that we didn’t order and they tried to charge us for them .

We basically had to beg for cheese on our food and anything really! When asked for cheese and refills the waitress rolled her eyes. At this point we didn’t want to ask for anything else.

One of the entrees (Tour of Italy) wasn’t able to be fully made due to “not having lasagna”. This person was told that the lasagna could be substituted out for something else and that they could receive the part of the entree that was available along with the substituted part. The person said they would take shrimp alfredo in place of the lasagna on the Tour of Italy. The waitress brought out a plate of shrimp alfredo and told my friend that the rest of the food would be brought out . Minutes passed and still no food. When asked about it she told him that she would check on it. More minutes went by and when asked again Sydney told my friend that the kitchen was closed. This led to him telling her that he didn’t want the food anymore since it wasn’t what he requested and since he didn’t get what she had promised him.

^^THIS PERSON DID NOT GET TO EAT mind you he just sat for 2 hours at a hot graduation and sat there for an hour waiting on his food to be finished.

In the midst of the issue with the Tour of Italy a plate of shrimp and chicken carbonara was sent back and remade. The shrimp and chicken carbonara wasn’t fresh and the noodles were clumping together. This was made aware to the manager. This was the only thing the manager fixed.

The rest of our complaints were made known to the manager, but he disregarded everything said and told us that he didn’t know why service was how it was because the server wanted to serve us when she saw us and that he would talk to her.

The waitress never came back to the table and the bartender saw what was going on and came to take care of us. He was the only person who treated us correctly.

We left highly unsatisfied with how we were treated and with the condition that we received our food in. If it was too much to serve us I would’ve rather been told at the door. We paid just like everyone else and felt that we should’ve been treated like valued customers. This is my first time in my 23 years on this earth having an experience like this! I come to Olive Garden OFTEN for casual outings and to celebrate special occasions. This by far has put a HORRIBLE taste in my mouth. DISCRIMINATION AT ITS FINEST. It’s 2024!!!! This needs to be looked into and dealt with...

Went to Olive Garden to treat my lady to a nice Valentine’s dinner, February 14, 2024. We are elderly and move a little slower. So, knowing that it would be a busy night, I called Olive Garden in the morning to be put on the waiting list. The employee was very nice and put us on the list. At 10:48am we received a text confirmation. We checked in at 5:12pm and received a text confirmation and a web site Wait List link. The site said we were number 3 in the wait line and told there is a wait of about 30 minutes which was reasonable. As we are near 70 years old with several leg surgeries, we sat in the lobby. After waiting 40 minutes and seeing couples get seated that had arrived much later than us, we inquired if we were still on the list. Hostess checked and we were told we were still on the list and it would be just a few more minutes. So we stood in the lobby only 8-10 feet from desk to hear our name called. The Wait List web link never changed. We watched several couples get seated and after another 15 minutes we inquired with the hostess again. Candace was on duty and told us that we didn’t answer our text message that our table was ready and that we were put back in the wait line. I showed her my phone and that there was no text sent. And that we were near enough to desk to hear our name called. So, we asked politely if she could help us out to get a table since we had been there for an hour already. Candace told us to wait in the corner or we could go somewhere else. We’ve never been treated so disrespectfully and publicly humiliated. Maybe we were treated that way because we were elderly or had mobility difficulty. We patiently waited in the corner as we were scolded to do. After numerous young couples were seated and the lobby was emptier and another 15 minutes passed, we asked what number we were in the waiting line. Candace told us we were number 20. We asked to see the manager to help us out. She said she was the manager and there was no one higher up that could talk to. She said we could wait or leave. Asking again if there was someone above her we could talk to, she gave us her card and said we could contact the cooperate office email on the card. That was a lie. The email was to the catering and not cooperate office. We were now tired after over an hour waiting, hungry and very humiliated after being treated with such disrespect for the elderly. We told her we would have to go somewhere else. We went next door and were seated immediately with great respect for our age and mobility issues. While at the other restaurant, at 6:51pm we received a text from Olive Garden that our table was ready. One hour and 39 minutes after checking in at Olive Garden. We feel we were treated like second class citizens possibly due to our age and we were very disrespected by the hostess! Never going there again and telling all elderly couples to avoid. Have posted on several social media...

The Manager today was the issue. No customer service skills and very abusive. We were yelled at publicly. Asked to leave. Which I calmly refused and I never raised my voice. What made her crazy? We had been there 50 minutes and noticed any food. No salad. No bread. I had ordered 2 appetizers. They sent them to the table next to us. Waiter came out and apologized it went to wrong table. Said we would get it in 2 minutes. 15 minutes later. Nothing. So my wife went to search for a manager. Hostess pointed to a lady laying down on a bench in a closed section. My wife calmly asked where our food was and could we please get some service. It seemed to aggravate the manager when my wife told me she found the manager laying in a booth. So the manager said our food was free. And they brought the salad and bread. When they set it down. My wife asked the server. “What happened to the service here. We’ve never had a problem like we have today”. And when she said that the manager came over and started yelling. You aren’t going to treat my staff like this. I’ll make you a reservation somewhere else because you are leaving my restaurant. And pointed us at the door. I calmly just asked. What did we say that was rude. We just questioned why the poor service. And she just kept yelling. I told her I wasn’t leaving. She said I’ve already paid for your food. What else do you want. And I said. I just want my food. I can pay for it myself. It’s not about free food. I’m hungry and we’ve been here an hour and just got our breadsticks. She said well I’ll take over this table and I’ll serve you. What did you order. And I said just soup and salad. It’s already made. You just have to bring it to me. So she went back and got my soup. And set it on the table. And said is there anything else. And I said. Well a spoon would be nice. I tipped the original water a $20 and told him it wasn’t his fault. That a manager shouldn’t be laying down and watching the staff crash during lunch. And told the manager I wished to pay for my lunch. Which...