Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in La Mesa

I had planned on having a nice leisurely lunch. So first I’m seated in a booth and slightly across from me. There’s a table for 30 people. They were having some type of holiday lunch. after I’ve received my soup and salad and breadstick. Here comes a woman with a dog in a stroller. Don’t get me wrong. I like dogs that are hypoallergenic. I have no problems with dogs on the regular. What I do have a problem with is a dog four seats away from me and a stroller in a dining area and I am allergic. I ask the server if dogs and strollers were allowed in the dining area. She advised me that it was a service dog and that she would have the manager come to my table. And it is clear to anyone with eyeballs this dog is not and I repeat NOT a service dog. It is a PET a very loved pet, but nonetheless a pet. The manager Thomas comes to my table as I’m sitting there itching my eyes and he tells me that the woman has a service dog so there’s nothing he can do about it. I question a service dog in a baby stroller? I’m not sure what type of services it can provide and I know that you can’t ask those questions. However, it’s not always about the information. It’s about the delivery. Thomas arrived with a very matter fact attitude. He basically told me there’s nothing he can do about it and it is what it is. The only thing that he is capable of doing is moving ME to the other side of the restaurant. As I’m picking up my items going to another table interrupted from my lunch that I am paying for he begins to tell me that he cannot ask what the service that is provided which I am aware of. Just the whole situation and Thomas‘s interaction with me just made me feel like I was the one that was the problem. Not the fact that there was an actual whole dog in a stroller and a dining room where people are trying to eat. A public dining room where people can be allergic to dog hair as I am. But somehow, I did something wrong by coming into the restaurant first before the dog and now I get to move. Let me be cleared did nothing to make it right. The Only thing that happened was my table was moved to the other side of the restaurant. There was no other type of no apology no nothing !! It was like all I can do is move you deal with or don’t. So if you like to have dinner lunch in a dining room with the dogs, then come to Olive Garden in La Mesa they let in...

Just visited the place

First - the service was awesome!!! The waitress we had was very friendly and was checking if we needed something absolutely enough, but it was not bothering at all. She also brought us cute chocolates at the end 🫠

I need to notice that we were that bad clients coming at the last half of an hour (we thought we will have to take food with us), but did not meet any negativity.

And we got A LOT of food! Ordered only lasagna, soup and salad (for two of us), but the lasagna was huge, and the bowl of salad too. The soup can be refilled (that's really cool, you can just take soup, but to have a looot of it :)). They also offer shredded cheese to every dish (we had for all of them🙂). All the food came at once and really quick. At the end we took left salad and breadsticks home in a given container and plastic bag.

We also took teas, and here I would like them to be in a teapot, because we had only small cups with teabags, and they were over very soon. Also as a european, I'm not into teabags at all, but these were good.

About food itself - nothing unusually great to be honest. I would like less salt in the soup (it was pretty close to a high quality canned soup, but I really liked it still. I came there for a creamy soup!), less vinegar in the salad (it felt really overmarinaded). And I don't know how should bread sticks taste, but these were sooooft (like a cloud! i liked them). The lasagna was just ok, pretty tasty, but not like "woow", but still tasty.

I did not wait anything much better - it is a chain place, where people are used to strong tastes, so the restaurant could be less successful if used less condiments. And price is not big - like in many other places, where many people have lunches and usual dinners (I mean not for selebrations or something, just usual meals outsideof home).

However, the difference of this place from something like Panda Express (that has nearly same prices and we adore Panda Express actually) is that it has an atmosphere of a restaurant! I mean a restaurant, where you go to spend some time, not just to eat. Has handsome serving of food, beautiful moving waiters and waitresses, carrying huge trays with unbelievable ease, cozy interior, soft light. So in overall, I really liked...

I have been to this location many times, and the service is usually great. However, our trip last week for my wife's birthday was anything but. Fist, my wife's dish (shrimp and pasta) was served with horribly overcooked shrimp and pasta. The noodles came out like mush, and the shrimp was cold and rubbery with an off taste. The staff was accommodating bringing her out an alternate dish. However, this replacement took over 20 minutes to bring out, so everyone else at the table was finished when she finally got her food. Our server all but ignored our table for the duration of the meal, and everyone at the table ended up with empty drinks shortly after the food was served. The real kicker was the fact our server could be seen taking selfies near the kitchen with other staff. our 3 year old ordered soup, because he loves soup, and gets it whenever possible at a restaurant. Despite asking 2 staff members for a 2nd bowl of soup one never arrived. One server even told us he would ask our server, and was seen arranging tables in the next room with our server. As a result my mother in law gave our son some of her left over salad. (3 pieces of lettuce and a tomato). The staff were paying enough attention to charge us $3.50 for a kids salad as a result. on the plus side...They did remember it was my wife's birthday and brought her a dessert approximately 33 seconds after her food arrived and everyone else was finished. I do realize this is Olive Garden, and not a 5 star dining establishment, but with 2 small kids our family dining options are limited. What we experienced can only be explained as apathetic service. It was clear that most of the staff was preoccupied and not focusing on the customers. I have to admit the $3.50 salad charge was the kicker that got me to post this review simply on principal. I must say that there was a drastic decline in the service at this location between our...