Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Honolulu

A friend and I entered the door and were poorly greeted. The 2 hosts at the time stared at us and just asked “How many?”. We answered “Two.” They asked us if we’d be willing to wait 5 minutes for a high top seating, and we agreed we can wait. They asked us to wait on the side until it was ready. I then went to the restroom and came right back to where my friend was waiting. Our waiting area is right in front of the host stand, just off by the wall where they can see us in plain sight. They had greeted several families, sat some and told others it will be a wait so they were welcome to wait outside. Almost 10 minutes went by, and when the entrance was clear of families coming in, the host named Lily asked if we had been helped yet. She is the same person who had “greeted” us in the beginning, JUST 10 minutes ago. My friend said yes, you asked us to wait on the side for 5 minutes. The other host asked me if we had gotten a text saying our table was ready. I told her our phone number was never taken so how would I receive a text? (In the 10 minutes we waited, my friend and I both watched the facial expressions and attitude these hosts had towards the people inquiring for a table. They seemed rude and very unprofessional.) The hosts then looked at each other and shrugged and Lily asked us to follow her to our table. At this point when we sat, we felt like we wanted to leave but we had already waited, so we wanted to give the service a chance. We understand this was a Friday night at dinner time, so I anticipated there to be a wait as it’s busy, but we were never given a courtesy notice of the delay by our server. After taking our order then getting our drinks, we had never even seen our server until she came once to check if we were okay. We only ordered an entree that came with soup. A different server (who was much more pleasant) was the one to sit our plates down on our table. Our chicken gnocchi soup came out watery with maybe one gnocchi in each of our bowls, but at least our entree came right out afterwards. We had eaten halfway through our meal before the breadsticks ever came out. The only good thing to come of this is that my friend and I received our own to-go serving of breadsticks. This felt like a waste of time and money and we love to come to Olive Garden but not if this is the service we receive. We will stick to the...

My recent visit to Olive Garden was a huge disappointment from start to finish. After opting out of the high table and patio seating due to muggy weather, we were placed in what seemed like a quiet, regular indoor area corridor table next to the wine. While it wasn't busy and there were lots of open tables, I could not understand why we were asked to wait 5 minutes. However, we soon realized that we were seated next to the restaurant's operational hub hangout. The steady stream of employees and a shift manager walking past and sitting next to our table disrupted any semblance of privacy. At one point, I counted seven employees around our table, prompting me to stop eating and observe what felt like an impromptu staff meeting. One employee even asked another if a task had been completed, to which the reply was, "No, they were talking my ear off!" — a remarkably unprofessional comment to overhear. I also watched tips being counted and an employee eating at the table, all while the shift manager was seated with them figuring out their schedules and joking around. I could not believe that no one seemed to care that we were seated right next to them while all that was taking place.

Although our server was polite and our food came quickly she rushed through our interactions, making the experience feel more transactional than enjoyable. The final straw came when the bill was delivered. Rather than being placed in a checkbook, which the server had in her possession, it was carelessly set in front of my spouse, despite my asking for the check, along with our dessert and an extra to-go plate. Given that we were dressed for a special evening, this oversight felt low-class and entirely incongruent with our expectations.

The whole experience has tarnished my view of Olive Garden, leaving me with the impression that the restaurant's unspoken message is, "Sit where we want you to, pay the bill, and leave! We have more important people to cater to! " To avoid another lackluster experience, I'll be dining elsewhere in the future and recommend you do the same until major improvements...

After having a horrible meal at Olive Garden’s now closed Center City Philadelphia location back in 2012, I had no interest in dining at their first Hawaii location. My spouse mentioned they had good drinks at their Kapolei spot, so, why not…

ATMOSPHERE: Located in Ala Moana Center’s 4th level Ho’okipa Terrace, they’ve taken over the old Bubba Gump’s spot. Indoor seating is quite plentiful and sports an outdoor lanai with ocean views to boot.

RESERVATIONS: We walked in on a Sunday at 5:30pm and got seated immediately, though it filled up an hour later.

PARKING: Plenty of free stalls available at the world’s largest open-air mall.

MENU: Solid cocktail selections, traditional Italian fare with an American twist, but no pizza. All entrées come with unlimited soup OR salad and breadsticks.

BEVERAGE: Sicilian Sunset - $8.75 New to the menu, it’s Vodka-based with fruity notes. Refreshing but a tad too sweet for me.

FOOD: Chicken Marsala Fettuccine - $28.39 On top of its generous portion, it hit all the hallmarks - tender chicken filets, fresh mushrooms and a creamy brown sauce that wasn’t gut-heavy.

The breadsticks were moist, garlicky and savory. The minestrone soup was not bad for a chain recipe, but could’ve been served hotter in temperature. The bites of salad I had were mainstream.

Meatballs - $5.79 (3 pcs.) My spouse wanted to try some meatballs and asked the server for “a couple to try”, in which we ended up with the topping option (3 pcs.) from the Create Your Own Pasta menu. While undressed of any melted cheese, they were dense, yet moist and tasty.

Chicken Parmigiana - $27.79 My spouse’s dish. I didn’t try the chicken but the marinara sauce was sweet-savory, tasting eerily similar to Pizza Hut’s concoction.

SERVICE: Makenna took great care of us. She had to be the most attentive server ever, especially for her young age.

TIP: The Darden brand also includes Long Horn Steakhouse, Yard House, Ruth’s Chris, Cheddar’s, Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Eddie V’s and Bahama Breeze.

OVERALL: Definitely a better experience than before, but not...