Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Greenville

I wanted to apologize for taking my girlfriend to your restaurant on her birthday this week. It was arrogant of us to expect quality service and food from your establishment with only 50 minutes until closing time.

We appreciate the female server in our area who was cleaning up while we were dining clearly making fun of customers she had been serving earlier and disparaging other customers who dined past the hard close of 10:00 pm she so rightfully covets. It was gracious of her to be talking loud and close enough that we could hear her so distinctly and over the music. We had no other option than to listen to her rant and I also apologize for our eavesdropping. Perhaps next time I will be thoughtful enough to bring earplugs or something similar. Perhaps this is also an item your restaurant may want to consider offering in the future?

In addition to this, her clear apathy towards customers both absent and present put my girlfriend and I in our place, and definitely made us feel as unwelcome as we should have for the audacity of dining there.

We also wanted to express our appreciation for the other gentleman who tenaciously used his scraper to purge the bottom of tables beside us with great fervor of whatever items previous guests may have left behind on the underside of the tables. Seeing the determined effort that he put in and the fruit of his labors definitely helped to draw a contrast between that and our food. It too helped frame our entire dining experience and ensured my girlfriend did not eat too much.

Not to mention the lack of plates for our breadsticks. It was fun trying to remember which piece of bread I had started to eat but had nowhere to place other than back in basket. Was it mine? Was it hers? The whimsy this inspired was a fantastic extra touch, and further helped to cement how intrusive we were being.

Our appetizer, which was clearly overly microwaved and recycled from earlier, definitely was more appetizing than his findings, and it was kind of him to be considerate enough for us to see that while we dined.

After all, we understood that the staff's priority was there were more important places for them to be than at your restaurant, and they wanted to get there as quickly as possible. This was evidenced by their words and actions. We do not fault them for doing everything they possibly could do to expedite their departure with reckless abandon for our dining experience.

Also, thank you for your staff being absent minded enough that they did not worry about ensuring that we had our food in a timely manner, contributing to our further understanding that we were unwelcome interlopers, and also not worrying about our drinks. I trust their assessment that we were properly hydrated and did not require additional refreshment despite our thirst. I appreciate the value they place on tea and should have savored the tea I was given with more reverence. I know that now.

Also, thank you for ensuring that we received our "take one" entree only after having to remind our server we had ordered it. The waiter was gracious enough to provide the check prior to this allowing me to read and point it out. Had the check not been provided I most likely would have forgotten what we had ordered and were being requested to pay.

Lastly, I wish to thank the one staff member who only momentarily glanced up from his phone on our way out to offer a flat and half-hearted courtesy. It was kind of him to avoid us as best he could, as by this time we were thoroughly ashamed at having chosen your restaurant and diverting your staff from doing activities they certainly would have rather been doing than waiting on us.

The overall lack of attention to any resemblance of service or detail by all involved was a kindness and made my earlier birthday preparations stand out in contrast. I apologize again and now know to set the bar much lower to ensure that I do not leave with unmet basic expectations when...

We celebrated my nephew’s 18th birthday dinner last night at the Greenville, NC Olive Garden. We were a party of 15 guests. While waiting outside for our tables, a young man and the restaurant manager had an altercation in the vestibule. Apparently the young man was an employee that was either quitting or being fired. The altercation became physical. It was alarming and uncomfortable.

After the young man left the building, the manager came outside and apologized jokingly saying, “The show was free, dinner isn’t.” I thought that was inappropriate, especially considering what had just transpired. The manager returned into the restaurant, and the young man came back to the front of the restaurant. He began swearing and yelling at us, making direct eye contact with me personally. He was making verbal threats at the employees inside. He said, “If they want to call the police for a disturbance of the peace, I’m going to show them a disturbance.” He said our food would have roaches, because the restaurant was filled with roaches. He continued to pace frantically and shout out expletives.

I was surprised no one came outside to ask him to leave the property. It was an extremely uncomfortable and volatile experience. Our table was called about 5 minutes later, and so we went into the restaurant. I have no idea what transpired after that, as we were seated far into the restaurant.

Given the violence that regularly happens in Greenville, and the unpredictability of people these days, I was disappointed in that whole experience. I think whatever issue was going on between the employee and management should have been handled privately and definitely after hours. Creating that scenario was reckless, and joking about it being a “show” was inappropriate.

On the bright side, the two young women that waitressed our party were excellent. They would likely do well to work in a classier restaurant. I will never return to this establishment...

I’ve dined at this Olive Garden countless times over the past year with friends and family, but after what happened recently, I will never return. The blatant discrimination my friend and I experienced was shocking and unacceptable.

About 15 minutes into our lunch—after ordering appetizers and entrées and enjoying our sides—our server suddenly informed us of a "new policy" the manager had supposedly implemented. According to this policy, customers are required to pay for their meals in full within 20 minutes of being seated. We were asked to pay before even receiving our entrées.

When we questioned this, the server explained that "apparently some customers have tried to get over in the past,” which was cited as one of the reasons for this policy. This had absolutely nothing to do with us, yet it insinuated that my friend and I might behave the same way. It was offensive and felt like an unjust assumption based solely on assumed stereotypes.

I’ve never heard of such a policy at any Olive Garden franchise, and it felt targeted and discriminatory. We didn’t hear any other guests being asked to follow this rule. When we refused and asked to speak to the manager, they never even bothered to come over to explain or address the situation.

The insinuation and treatment we received were beyond offensive. This experience has completely ruined what used to be a go-to...