Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Jacksonville

LISTENNNNN.....I can't even siT STILL w.o the experience I just had @ this Olive Garden "pop" back in my head(prepare to be cringed)....k so MIND YOU...this JUST happened like 2hrs ago.... I was enjoying My Meal...mmm.. it was so good.. just me,myself, and I, enjoying lunch and I had a lil margarita or w.e and my waitress brought me some chocolate along with my to go box. After my meal was over I was trying to enjoy myself, drank my dranKk, and eat my chocolate. All of a sudden a "water bug, roach, WHATEVER, a big brown bug with paint on top, like it had been living there,, feasting,, idk it was something white on top of its back, it crawl from behind me, idk I can't remember, it was so scary, because ewww! IS that a bug while I'm eating?! I should have known they'd have bugs(no judgement), however, y'alls silverware especially the folk thing Olive gardens puts in your salad to scoop with and put the salad on your plate. THAT THING STINKS. It was so distracting/foul. Anyway back to the bug... he was just a crawling. And the manager Tall, bald, with glasses, he gave off racist vibes. ANYWAYS he's standing BESIDE me but he's talking to the people sitting around me... he's like "oh I just need to call pest control" and I'm like that doesn't have anything to do with me. I'm trying to enjoy what my hard earn money paid for and you're talking like bugs crawling around while you're eating is normal. no! This is America, we don't do that here. The lady in the booth behind me was like oh this is Florida, get used to seeing bugs. I ignored her because...1ST OF ALL) I AM THE JAGS BIGGEST FAN, I AM SO DUVAL(ST. VINCENT BABY) And Jacksonville has CLASS, theres no right reason why this Olive Garden should have bugs crawling around their customers, 2nd ) MIND YOUR BUSINESS LADY..

Back to the manager... idk I was so disappointed and disgusted I started to ignore him too, cuz like DANG! You shown no remorse, no sympathy, I'm in a FRENZY, dang gone! A frantic position! I could have threw up...and he wanted to be okay with dining with roaches. WHERE THEY DO THAT AT?

ANDDDDDD.........SO now I'm all jumpy. I'm okay with bugs being inside, you pick them up and put them back outside, BUT IM NOT OKAY WITH HAVING BUGS WHERE YOU EAT AT! I Don't live my life like that, I wasn't raised with bugs crawling around and I'm eating unless it was a small critter on the ceiling and/or I can't get to it. And I don't raise my kids to eat around bugs. My kids would lose their appetite and start cleaning. Okay!

O.A.N. My waitress was experiencing racism from this couple sitting in front of me( she's Cuban, I know cuz the man rudely asked her), if the management can't handle the pest in their dining area they definitely don't address the abuse that these waitress go through dealing with difficult patrons. Shame on the management there, your waitress have feelings, and yall should have a zero tolerance for racism there, but yall don't even use cleaning products, soap to clean with,, ANYTHING rather. When you walk through the restaurant it smells like a boys locker room. How could I ever think this place was worth paying even $1 for when I've had better/safer/cleaner experiences EATING at a football game, Outside!

I feel sick. The smell. The bug. The manager. The racism. The silverware. The water taste like "yuck". The uncleanliness How yall talk to that old bald head man that bus tables for yall. This place has no integrity. No hospitality. No clean air. Just spiritless. How embarrassing.

Yall can do better. I'm so disappointed, I should have went to chili's up the...

Myself and my 1 year old daughter went to dinner here last night (4/15) and when we sat down our server came over and asked what we wanted to drink and I told her 2 waters for right now, (I was getting my daughter situated in her highchair, found out it didn’t have a front buckle, it was missing) and then I asked her do you have another highchair with a front buckle because she likes to stand up, she told me no they don’t and that they all come like that so I asked for a booster seat (maybe that would have worked but didn’t, so I set it on the ground) In that meantime while she was getting a booster seat, I ordered my daughter’s meal on the Ziosk. When she came back with the booster seat she saw the light was blue and that I ordered something, she then took the ziosk out of my hand and told me that “the orders don’t show up in the back, so what did you want” I told her what I ordered and then I asked what I wanted, I said I haven’t got a chance to look at the menu, we can just start with my daughters meal. I then ordered on the ziosk an Alfredo dip and an appetizer. I guess in that meantime she told a manager that I was looking for a highchair with a front buckle and then shortly he came over with one. So as I’m putting my daughter in the new highchair she then asks me again, would you like to order? I said not right now, just the things we started with is fine (I barely looked at the menu at this point) she then asks me am I having a good day? I said yes I am. I’m just trying to get my daughter to sit in her highchair. I’m not sure what we did to trigger her (maybe taking to long to order? I don’t know) but then she got loud with me and said “it’s my job!” walked away from the table “it’s my job” so when she came back with my daughters meal, she dropped it off and I said thank you and she didn’t say anything back and walked away. Her meal came with maybe 10 fries, so I asked her when she came back does this meal usually come with this many fries? She told me that it does, her manager gave her that plate. So I asked if I could speak to him to see, she goes and gets him and he comes and said that’s not a problem, I’ll get her some more. She then comes back with my appetizer and asks if I’m ready to order and I told her I’m still waiting on my alfredo dip and breadsticks. As she is walking away again she scoffs loudly enough for me to hear it. so as she is walking by I get her attention and ask if I can get another server. I’m not sure what we did for you to get so argumentative with me and then she told me “it’s not me, I just think it’s your energy, you have bad energy” walked away and got a manager and another sever helped me out. He was great with no problems! Managers were helpful! also as she greeted a table sitting next to us she talked about my daughter talking loudly to them, they said it’s fine we have 4 grandkids.. then myself and the table next to me had great conversation and loved my daughter. I didn’t catch her name, but talking about my daughter to another table was COMPLETELY uncalled for. That had me extremely upset. I’ve worked for Darden for 6 years now, I know how the ziosks and screens work. The lying straight to my face was...

Unfortunately I left here twice disappointed. The drinks, especially the blueberry limonata, are good. The soups have only disappointed me once in 5 years, I'll get to that later. The salads are served in a big bowl and are easily shareable. The first visit it was going good, the breadsticks came out piping hot and the soup was delicious. skip to the entree. The waitress hadn't refilled one of our drinks for about 10 to 15 minutes after it was empty, the zucchini pasta salad thingy apparently tasted dirty, the waitress had known about complaints with it being dirty, yet only told us after it was mentioned to her. The eggplant parmigiana was very eh. The eggplant was mushy and overcooked, the Mariana overpowered any bite with it. The pasta was a little bland. They have a machine at the table that you can use, and it's actually neat. It accepts samsung pay. After that visit we told them about it and we received a 70 dollar gift card which makes it hard for me to complain. If I didnt have these experiences it would have been 4-5 stars. The second visit we planned to go all out and ended up paying 100 dollars, so how did I lower a star? Well we walked in and admittedly I didnt like being seated in the lobby but it was a big booth and was probably the best seat in the entire establishment for us. The breadsticks came out a little warm and a tad bit hard. We ordered the create your own sampler with lasanga frittas, fried mozzarella, and loaded pasta chips. The mozzarella was fantastic and had a basil hint to it. The fritta was fine but I dont care for a lot of ricotta cheese or any cream in a single area. The chips were good. This time the soup I got which has always been zuppa toscana had barely any kale and mostly potato. Which was disappointing considering the kale went really good with the sausage and potato. You can ask for extra kale but still sad. The bathroom was very clean and was decently big. The entree came and this is where most of the disappointment plays in. I ordered a pasta bolognese dish but it had a raw tomato taste to it. If it comes that way then I'm fine, it's just it seems as though they have only a few good dishes and a lot of pasta. The other dishes were just fine and we ordered dessert. My lemon cake was good, the cream was a little overpowering but the cake part was delicious. The zeppolis or however they're called are fantastic, along with the tiramisu which was reportedly delicious. The caramel frappuccino was also reportedly delicious. The cappuccinos are great as well, This time the blueberry limonata this time around was less pink and darker but I should expect a slight inconsistency with any restaurant. Evidently spending more money does not grant a better experience. Instead of feeling more Italian it seems as though I feel more sad. I will be coming back within the year and most likely playing it safe with a simple and popular dish. I still recommend you come here, though. Because while this review seems harsh considering the gift card and opinion-based rants, this restaurant has served us very well for years and years which makes these two visits an uncommon occurence, at...