Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Hickory

We used to enjoy going to the Olive Garden in Hickory as a special treat for the family.

Shortly after we were sat, our server, AMY H., took our drink order and we were off to what I thought was a good start. My daughter accidentally spilled her Goody powder in my water so I asked for a new one. Hoping our breadsticks were on their way, I asked for water a second time. We ended up ordering our food some time later and I ended up asking for water for a third time. Soon, our dips, and breadsticks arrived along with my husband’s soup and salad. I asked our server for small plates because they were forgotten and that was when I realized I didn’t order soup with my meal. The server didn’t ask me which side I wanted with my meal and assumed I wanted salad. Thinking It was a simple misunderstanding , I asked for soup instead of using the salad plate she placed in front of me. This seemed to upset her. Honestly it seemed like everything we asked for was beneath her. Flash forward to our meal. I took a couple of bites and noticed my meal was cold. Trying not to anger our already frustrated waitress, I asked for another side of Alfredo, rather than replace the meal. I hoped the fresh Alfredo would warm up my noodles but unfortunately it didn’t work.. My family was practically finished with their meals so when I walked one daughter to the restroom, I asked the greeters/hostess if they could have someone remove my meal due to its temperature. They were understanding and offered to replace it for me. I declined their offer simply because I needed to get my little ones home in time for bed because it was getting late. I did not tell them how rude Amy was to us the entire time. Shortly after, I went back to my table to pay and my the lady from the front stopped me to make sure I waited for my meal to be taken off the bill. After I payed, my teenagers returned from the bathroom and warned me not to eat my order. Curious as to why, I asked them what happened. My girls informed me that our server clearly hated me. That she poured what looked like water onto my still full plate. Never have I been more frustrated while trying to have a nice night out with my family. Unfortunately, I already tipped 15%, even with her terrible service, thinking maybe she was just having a bad day. I wish I would have known before I tipped. She intentionally messed with my food when I wasn’t there. What was she trying to prove? She is lucky I was taking the meal off for a reason. What if there was something in the water and I went back for one...

The restaurant was busy this Saturday dinner service, it was very crowded and noisy with long lines of customers waiting for a table. I only had to wait 15 minutes as I sat alone. I ordered the fettuccine alfredo, with chicken strips (all you can eat pasta, paid an additional $5.00 for the chicken, giving me the choice of spaghetti with meatballs or gonarch with Italian sausage if I wanted on my subsequent servings). When my chicken Alfredo arrived at my table, it had only four very thinly slice pieces of chicken approximately two inches in length, that were dry, tough and very difficult to chew! It was obvious that they had been previously cooked long before my arrival to the restaurant! The Alfredo sauce was bland without any remote taste of garlic or basel. The only thing cooked adequately was the fettuccine itself. During my meal, I got up from my table and walked to my waitress (Fran) and asked her were the bathroom was located. She directed me to the restroom where I had to wait to use their only toilet! When the blond haired young waiter man (who was a staff waiter) finished using the toilet he exited the stall and went to the sink to wash his hands. I opened the stall door and found the toilet seat was left down and the toilet was not flushed! I immediately stopped and told the young waiter that it was nasty of him not to flush the toilet and to have left the seat down while he urinated into the toilet! He just started at me like a dear in a car's headlights! When I got back to my table only a few minutes afterwards, I found my drink had been removed, and a second smaller bowl of the same poorly made chicken Alfredo was sitting on my table. My waitress never asked me which pasta bowl I wanted for my next order and instead brought me the same as my original order, and had it sitting on my table getting cold while I was using the toilet! So I told her I didn't want another chicken Alfredo, and didn't order another bowl of it, especially since I never finished eating the first one that was so poorly made! So Fran then asked me if I wanted a take home box for the second bowl of Alfredo!! At that point I got up and left, after telling the hostess about my terrible experience I had this evening! This was the second time my table got cleared after telling my waitress in advance I will be right back after I use the toilet! It had happened to me just two weeks earlier when I was gone from my table for.only seven minutes timed! I will never return to this olive Garden again! Fine dinning...

Haven't been to the Hickory NC restaurant in a long time, a year or more. Decided to go there for our anniversary. Upon arriving at the hostess stand with 3 employees standing around talking (right before the dinner crowd), I had to greet them since they couldn't be bothered to greet us with a smile. We were quickly ushered to a table in the middle of the room, right next to a table with rowdy kids. I declined the table and asked for a booth. The hostess said they didn't have any booths that weren't close to kids. Hmmmm, I saw several empty booths and I'm sure there were some on the other side as well, but again, no, none were available. Our hostess then ushered us to a large table that sat 8 (there are two of us). Our waitress then suggested a table by the wall. Ok, still very large, but whatever, it was a tad more intimate. After we ordered, we received our drinks, bread and salads, the wonderful hostess sat a family with young kids close to us. There were several other areas not being sat, can you say vindictive? (Several other servers were coming on shift by this time) (By the way, the bread was a tad stale and cold, the salad bowl was barely full and had hardly any dressing.) The food was served quickly. But, our waitress did let my husband's drink go empty for way too long. Mind you, the place was not busy. I guess since I finished first and put my plate to the side, she assumed we were ready to go and brought my husband a to go drink -- HE WAS STILL EATING!!!!! My husband doesn't let things get to him, but the fact she couldn't/wouldn't bring him a drink in a glass to finish his meal, really put him off. Regardless of the service, we still tip well, above the suggested amount. Knowing how much the wait staff makes an hour, and there is a lot of preparation that goes on in the back, and we want to make sure that they go home with more than just $2-$3 an hour. I say all this to let you guys know, you need to step up the game. Our next Italian meal will be at...