Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Gardendale

(1-14-24)💥 BEST LIL RESTARAUNT 💥 🌟IVE EATEN LIKE A 👸🏻 4 bout 2 mo.s now, (& here’s why…) & Being Sicilian..This is always my GO TO food-Italian..(b/c when you actually ARE SICILIAN DECENT…it’s ALL I GREW UP EATING!!🤓) Therefore, THIS LOC./FRANCHISE?G-dale? Primo👌🏼Bellaissimo!!! WE NEEDED* THIS O.G. & BADLY—— THE Quality….that’s put into ea/ & every dish- HAVE BEEN SUPERB…ONLY THING I WOULD CHANGE? …. Maybe the fact that they took out orders sometimes set for 20 to 30 minutes too long b/c I can look at my food and tell physically and literally how long it has sat…(which can EASILY be fixed!!!☺️✌🏼❤️) Therefore… You’re not enjoying the exact same meal if you were going inside the restaurant and I really don’t find that fair especially when I’m paying just as much as them even the tip as well…. HAVING SAID THAT? They have this place running tiptop great… The only thing I hope for at this point for this particular location of Olive Garden? The fact that I hope they can keep it as close to top notch top level.. closest to five-star restaurant as they ARE doing right now…Their best. I believe if they can keep things together like that maybe not let to go order sit…maybe so long?- without warmth… just to the point that the marinara sauce from MY OWN lasagna from my tour of Italy that I ordered… Had look of the gravy/marinara starting to separate and look the gravy/sauce starting to look chunky on top.🤯 I HAVE NOT HAD ANY BAD EXPERIENCES ! HOPEFULLY I DON’T!👍🏼😂 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟STAR DISHES IVE TRIED….

-“tour of Italy”….~ you are going to be getting a great amount of food as well as either they’re amazing and fresh salad every single day, or your choice of soup and of course breadsticks and we all know those are amazing ?!!!!!!—1 of the best..u get a little bit of Italy…from every corner w/ this dish!! (If u DO LOOK ONLINE-THIS IS 1 of THE MOST ORDERED DISHES!!👍🏼👌🏼💥) ⭐️“the 5 cheese ziti”…~ THIS IS MY OWN PERSON FAVE- we’re talking about PURE 💥👌🏼👆🏼AWESOMENESS on a plate! U like cheese? THEN YOULL NEED 2 DEFINITELY NEED 2-give ‘THE ZITI’ a chance… IVE NEVER 👎🏼 BEEN LET DWN W/ this dish- so much so…MY FIANCÉE IS PICKING THAT ORDER UP AS. WE. SPEAK!!!!!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🥳👍🏼 ⭐️“shrimp scampi”….~ A wonderful, tasty, lighter feel on a meal…A CLASSICO, too! The shrimp, of course sautéed in a garlic sauce mixed with asparagus, tomatoes, and of course angel hair pasta 🍝!!! ⭐️“house spaghetti 🍝 w/ meat marinara”…~ THE BEST ‘HOUSE-MADE’ Italia gravy IVE EVER EATEN!!!!! If you even like spaghetti… You ARE really in for a treat trying THEIR HOUSE/HAND MADE MEAT/SAUCE MARNARA for the first time…& I PROOOMISE U… you try this dish once… You will definitely be ordering it again. #justfactsandtruth ⭐️salad/soup/breadsticks…~OMGARSH EVERYONE LOVES The amazing fresh salad always crispy… I’m one who ops for only croutons shredded Parmesan cheese and house Italian I’m pretty easy there… Now, the salads are always so crispy and fresh even onto the next day if you decide to eat the rest the next day? It is still amazing! There is so many dishes that I thought of sitting here… LOL.., that I SHOULD ADD… but I don’t want to overwhelm anyone with the links of explanation of my own review to Gardendale and they’re fresh franchise/location of Olive Garden in their midst!! GO TRY THIS SPECIFIC SPOT! OLIVE GARDEN IS THE WHOOOOOOOLE piece a Italy 🇮🇹 we all need 2 feel at...

Two weeks of my time was dedicated to training at this establishment and learning so I could deliver great service upon opening. I spent those two weeks working doubles(morning shifts at Olive Garden, & afternoons at Applebee’s). Spite not having a car, I still had reliable transportation to these places. I went through the stress of helping teenagers during their process of training because their trainers weren’t paying them enough attention, and they needed more help because they had never served before. I asked all the questions I needed to ask, I was vigilant and excited about learning and being apart of this new opportunity. The day before we opened the manager (Troy) they fired me for “not being a good fit”. I truly didn’t understand what I did wrong, they tried to tell me I had an attitude problem because I asked a question about the training. They were sticking us in front of laptops and expecting that to teach us the system we would be working on.. I told them that method of learning wasn’t working for me and I would just need a bit more repetition. Instead of working with me, the manager sat me down at my last day of training and fired me. I assured him that I was a “great asset to his team and I could be of great help, so please do don’t this, I really need this right now,” but instead of talking to me or considering me, Troy looked me in the eyes and said “Not at this time, You can try to come back”. I was willing to fix wherever I had went wrong, but instead of listening to me with compassion he told me I wasn’t even allowed to wait in the lobby on my ride. I was made to sit outside is 100°+ weather waiting on my ride thanks to Troy.

Let me also add that I brought Troy many servers, kitchen crew, etc. But he then decided to do me bogus.

Since I wasn’t “good enough” or a “good fit” I decided to go eat at Olive Garden right after being fired to see what a good fit for Olive Garden is. Our waitress didn’t even know what sides they offered with the steaks and salmon, I had to basically take our order when our waitress came. Not to mention our host stepped all over our shoes and threw our silverware on the table. Our pasta was dry and unseasoned, therefore I didn't eat it.

I find it funny I wasn’t a good fit but the servers you decided to keep gave my family and I a bad experience, and others bad experiences from what I have heard around town. People come into our restaurant talking about the Olive Garden servers and the service they give. Try again Troy, because your employees come and spend their money tipping me where...

We live between this Olive Garden and the one in Decatur. Let's start off with service. Our server continually talked over us. She sat at the table with my wife and mother-in-law to get our drink orders while I was in the bathroom. It made my wife very nervous and uncomfortable. We have been to Olive Garden in Ohio, Virginia, Tennessee, Indiana, and Maryland. NEVER had a server sit with us to take an order. I chose chicken nokee..soup. I'm sure that's spelled wrong. It was very very watery and had grease floating on top. My wife ordered eggplant parmigiana for her entree. The eggplant was very greasy and undercooked. We brought it to our servers attention and her idea to remedy the situation was to bring her the dish deconstructed. NEVER have we ever seen that. It was ridiculous. My wife was tired with the entire issue and ate on salad while we ate. My mother in law got the spaghetti with meatballs. The meatballs were desert dry. My father in law had the shrimp pasta dish. His was okay. I ordered the 3 meat manicotti. Not enough sauce on it. Manicotti shells were overcooked and tough. The server had a comeback from everything we brought up. The server NEVER asked or offered to refill our drinks. We asked for to go drinks. She brought out cups for us to put our drinks into. Only one problem. My father in law and I had empty glasses. I asked for a drink to go. She looked right past me as if I didn't say anything saying our bills were ready to checkout on the table kiosk. The whole reason we were in the Gardendale area is because a family member had been in the hospital for 10 days and we were on the way home to Cullman. The outcome at the hospital wasn't what we were hoping for and this sure visit to Olive Garden didn't make it any better. I will not be back to this Olive Garden. This is not the Olive Garden experience we are use to. I do not recommend this location. And if asked, I will not recommend it. Server and food was a big fail. I guess the lack of cars in the parking lot and lack of people in the restaurant during hours they should have been busy was a...