Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Jonesboro

Went here for lunch during my visit to Jonesboro from Memphis. Order the pizza bowl and soup. I ate the pizza bowl and decided to eat my soup later that day at home. When I was finally ready to eat my soup I took a bite then noticed a very long piece of hair in it. I quickly called the restaurant where I spoke with someone who said she was a manger at this location. She was pleasant and apologized and asked me for my name and said she would replace the soup. I told her I'm a national account manager and only come to my store there maybe once or twice a month, she said that was fine and that all I would need to do is let them know and that they would have my name for the replacement soup. A month or two went by (a little longer than expected due to me going on short term disability) I go there looking to get my replacement soup that I paid for which was contaminated. The lady up front went to get the general manger whose name is Kathy. I tell Kathy about my situation with the contaminated soup and that I spoke with someone that said they would replace it the next time I came to town. Ms. Kathy then tells me that that's not how they handle situations and that she can't and will not replace my soup. I then tell her I have zero reasons to lie about this nor do I have to. She says well sir anyone could just come her and say that and get free soup. I'm thinking in my head really! You really aren't going to replace my soup that I paid for with my hard earned cash even if it was a couple bucks right is right and wrong is wrong and that's just not right nor how you operate and run a business. Because it was casual Friday I was dressed down and I told her that I believe she was judging me which was why I believed she wouldn't replace (what I'm sure may cost her business $1.00 or less soup) my soup. So I looked at her in her eyes and said you really aren't going to replace my soup and she said sorry. I then said I need to speak with whoever is over you, she then says she will contact him but never gave me his number only name. Then she says she spoke with him and that he would be giving me a call (which he never did) I then take out my phone and start recording and she saw where my phone was in my hand and saw that I had begun recording this incident. And only then did she offer to replace my soup but unfortunately by then I had already felt degraded and like I was lying about some SOUP! For me to take time out my very very hectic and busy day to come lie about hair in my soup is just utterly ridiculous. So I told her I no longer want the soup and now it's beyond the soup it's a matter of principles or how I was treated. I turned around and left and wanted to make sure she seen that I was driving my Tesla that day which shouldn't even matter but she made me feel like I was lying about a $2 or $3 dollar soup! All I was asking for is to replace the soup that I purchased and nothing more. Heck its cost me more to sit here and write a review and speak to managment and drive to that location then it was to just replace my soup! Luckily and unluckily for me Google photos keeps all my pictures I've ever taken and I was able to find said soup where the hair was in it (shows the date as well). Treat people better if you're in management, don't judge people by what they wear or race or gender etc. I know it's hard as humans but always try to do what's right! I will probably never eat there again due to this situation because I work hard for my money and I will not eat where they make you feel the way she made me feel.

Update:

Olive Garden management is incredibly responsive and nice. They've apologized for her behavior and what happened at this location. Thanks...

It had been quite a while since I had been to Olive Garden because of the terrible experience I had there during lunch about 9 years ago. This time was a little better, but only because our waitress was attentive and actually served our table this time.

The biggest complaint that I have about this visit was the smell. I'm all about Italian food and anything with garlic, but this was no garlic smell. I still don't know where the smell was coming from. It could have been the carpet, the bench seats, or the couple in the booth next to us. (I doubt it was them though.) It was seriously off-putting. It was like a strong body odor smell. After a while it got to me so much that my stomach was turning a little. We were in the second room to the right of the hostess podium. It was on the left back side of that room, against the wall in the middle booth. I'm pretty sure that the other two booths could smell what I was too.

The second thing that needed work was the dinnerware. It seemed like almost everything we had was dirty in some way or another. In fact, the waitress even stopped putting the dishes out for us so she could go get some "clean" plates. The silverware had something or another on just about every piece. You could feel the grit on the glasses from the dishwasher detergent. Maybe they're packing them too full? Or maybe the dishwasher needs to be repaired.

My daughter saw something in her glass of water and pointed it out to me. I don't know what it was, but it definitely looked like some black chunk of mold in her glass of water. She was having the pizza and this foreign sludge did not come from her pizza. It was either on the glass already or was frozen in the ice and was released as it melted.

For two adults and one child our total with a tip was over $90. We didn't have any alcoholic beverages, but we did get two of the $6 take home meals for our lunches the next day.

It will be a very long time (if ever) before I visit this Olive Garden again. I would rather go to Fazoli's than this place. At least there I know that I'll have clean utensils...

Came in at 9:30 tonight. Realize that’s close to closing time but we have came in before at the same time and have never been treated like we were tonight. From the beginning we felt unwelcome. Our waiter told us that the kitchen was closed and that we couldn’t order entrées so we got soup and salad, we were told that there was no cheese, apparently in the entire restaurant, that they could add to our salad or soup. I asked for a refill on my soup and was told that he was pretty sure they where out, but would see what he could do,so much for endless soup and salad. What he brought back was a bowl of what was clearly a small amount of soup with water added into it, almost no taste and was a night and day difference form the first bowl I got, so it definitely felt intentional. To top everything off after being basically rushed to finish and leave, we are ready to pay with cash so we can leave and put this horrible experience behind us, but our waiter is nowhere to be found. After waiting about 5 minutes i had to just leave the money with the change I would’ve got back, I most definitely did not intend to leave a tip, which is saying a lot, my mother was a waiter all her life and I was always taught if you can’t afford the tip then you can’t afford to eat out. I always tip more than 20%. But on this occasion, the only tip I had for that young man was that he should go into a different field of work, because customer service is obviously...