Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Gastonia

I have always loved the Olive Garden.

I would say I eat here once every two months.

This was the place to go when I was in the mood for breadsticks, salad and soup.

My visit last week was extremely disappointing all the way around.

When we first sat down at a table, we waited for about 15 minutes before anybody came over and offered us drinks or anything.

When the waiting staff did come by, it was two of them arguing about who was covering what, one of them was there so long and can’t wait to get out of there, talking bad about another server and how they were lazy and several other things right next to our table, as if we were not there .

So all I said was “can somebody bring us some water, please? And also could you take that conversation somewhere else that’s more appropriate instead of front of the customer?”

The one lady rolled her eyes and told us “you don’t know what it’s like to work with some people”

My response was “maybe not, but don’t make your problems the customer’s problems, please “

Three different staff members finally threw up and down, long waiting periods, and a very unpleasant energy to be around was able to bring us our breadsticks, salad, and eventually soup .

The salad was dry, plain without the usual goodness.

The breadsticks were not baked fully, and did not have the usual seasoning or glaze on it. They were very dry.

The soup was decent, but came out cold.

This was a bad enough experience to where I truly don’t know if I’m going to come back.

If management would like to reach out to me to discuss this, they are more than welcome to.

I am a business owner myself, and I understand that sometimes things go haywire .

This was a really bad experience

When we also ordered the calamari, it came out so overcooked it was crispy and we couldn’t really finish it or eat it and took it home for our dogs.

As of right now, I would have to advise that this might be a location that would not be wise to go to.

This is typically a very good restaurant, our experience all the way around was horrible.

This is the closest one to my house, I really hope that everything can get pulled together and things really change.

Until I hear different, I will not be giving that a try at this location...

This was the worst experience of my life at an Olive Garden. We placed our order on the app and it stated it would be ready 25 minutes from that point. We get there about 28 minutes later and pull into a spot. My husband calls and to let them know we were outside. They stated they'd be out shortly. We waited...and we waited...and hell, we waited a little more. About 45 minutes went by. I was trying to make excuses. Restaurants have just opened up here in NC and with the limited capacity requirements and I know things are tough. I called them back and let them know we had been waiting for SEVERAL minutes. She went to check and about 5 minutes later here comes our food. The little gentleman that brought it out wanted a tip. My husband says yea, take $5. I'm in the passenger seat glaring daggers at him. Our food was crazy late. That warrants no tip. I start passing out food to my girls and come up a salad short. Great. They shorted me one. My eldest starts going after her salad and pulls out the NASTIEST piece of lettuce I've ever seen. Brown and slimy...and that wasn't the only one. My husband has since left the restaurant and gone to get gas because we sat in the parking lot so long the light came on. I looked at him and he sighed. He knows what I'm about to do. I want to go BACK to this restaurant. He obliges and while I'm in the restaurant he is advised to eat. I go in, get in touch with the manager and this really gets me no where. He grabbed two more salads and states that he will log a complaint with their distributer because the salad comes into that like them. But they still should have caught that. I mention having to wait and he explains they're understaffed. In my mind, that's not my problem. I get back to the car and my husband was eating his Eggplant Parmigiano. The look on his face said it all. The noodles were dry, there was hardly any sauce on it and the eggplant was overcooked. ALL the food was cold. Which led me to believe that our food was ready the whole time...someone just forgot about it. We wasted $75 on this food and my husband was big mad. I would certainly not recommend this Olive Garden and quite frankly, we will probably never grace another one of those restaurants with...

One of my Friends' and I went here for Valentine's Day, on the way home from seeing her husband (one of my best friends) in Charlotte Hospital. He had Heart Transplant. Been admitted since Dec.25th. (So, you can imagine how we were feeling.) We decided to sit at the bar, because it was 1.5 hour wait for 2 people, for a table! BUT, We were so glad we did! "Vanessa" & "The Other "lil" lady" (didn't get her name) were AWESOME!!! Laid Back Atmosphere and Great Service!! Food could of been better, BUT the service, (from those 2 HARD WORKING LADIES) made up for the kitchens' slack! THANK YOU LADIES, for making our Valentines Night.. Keep up all your hard work.. AND GREAT TEAM WORK! *YOU, TWO LADIES, ONLY CARE ABOUT "TAKING CARE OF CUSTOMERS" & making sure everyone has what they need for a "great dining experience". YOU DON'T care if "it's your section/table!" YOU TWO LADIES DESERVE A RAISE & NEED TO DO A TRAINING SESSION FOR MOST ALL OTHER SERVERS !! (to teach them its not about "WHO'S" sections/tables! Its just about the customer being taken care of.. (Restaurants will have more customers coming through the door & all servers will have bigger tips, if you help each other out) NOT ONCE, did we hear either one of you, (Vanessa or other Lady) say, "I WILL LET "YOUR" SERVER KNOW!!" YOU TWO LADIES saw "something" needed done, NO MATTER WHO OR WHERE IT WAS AND YOU LADIES TOOK CARE OF IT! I hope you 2 get acknowledgement for your hard work! If I ever come back through the area, I hope to remember to stop & see you both.. I hope I can catch you both working again! AWESOME SERVERS!!!👏 AWESOME TEAM WORK!!👏 *PS. He passed away end of April & My Husband passed away, Very Suddenly, 2 mths. later. So, THANK YOU again, for making "2 old ladies, LAST 💝 Valentine's Day, really special, without even knowing or trying! (B4 We both become widows) 😇 HUGS to BOTH of YOU, Special...