Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Lakewood

Okay, I’m not gonna lie… this is probably the best Olive Garden location I’ve been to in a LONG time.

I live near two other locations—Belmar and Denver West—so this one is technically a bit further away, but I was coming up from Highlands Ranch so it was technically on my route home. So, I thought of stopping through since they’re doing Buy One, Take One (at the time of writing this). I called ahead to ensure accessibility needs were met, since I’m blind and have a had a lot of issues this week with other restaurants not being as helpful, but they seemed very willing to assist when I spoke to them over the phone.

When I arrived, the host did a great job verbalizing which way I needed to walk, and sat me at a table very close to the exit so that I could get out easily after my meal. The server, Raven, immediately came by and as I was sitting down and was very attentive when they addressed me, telling me when they were setting things down and where they were. When they brought my entree, they were very cautious of warning me the plate was hot, then came up with the idea to wrap it in a towel to protest the edges for me, which was pretty brilliant compared to taking it back to the kitchen to be re-plated. When I was ready to pay, they just ran my card themselves instead of making use the weird Siosk things (that I absolutely HATE, because they’re not accessible AT ALL), and I made sure to leave them a cash tip as a thank you.

I was genuinely blown away (and, to be honest, relieved) that this lunch service went WAY better than I ever expected. The only things I would gripe about is that the door is off to the side of the parking lot, with no stored access for pick-up and drop-off directly in front of it (but this was alleviated by having pretty loud speakers right in front of the door, so I could just find it by sound), and that my entree seemed a little light in portion size, but for it being lunch and for the service I was getting, I wasn’t that worried.

Honestly, whenever I’m craving Olive Garden now, I’m probably just gonna start coming here and sacrifice the extra distance… because I swear it is SO worth it compared to what I’ve had to deal with in the past.

Bravo, team…...

Went for lunch. I was not expecting much from the food. So much for their claim of unlimited salad and breadsticks... Honestly, it was like we were asking for a lung! We had a group of four. Three adults one child. We ordered a salad each...they brought one bowl of salad??? It was filled with the inedible nasty yellow pieces of lettuce and those god awful peppers along with 3 pieces of tomato and a bunch of croutons. Hardly appetizing. We had to chase up the server for a refill of the so called salad, a refill of the breadsticks and a refill of our drinks. It was not until I caught the attention of a manager that our drink refills were done. The breadstick refill never materialized. Once the main meals were served I knew immediately I had made a mistake agreeing to eat there. They looked nothing like their description portrayed them to be. My pasta tasted odd. It had a smell like sour milk. I did not consume more than one bite. The other meals served to us had the pasta clearly overcooked and its meat sauce smelled like dog food. The kids pizza looked and tasted like it was a frozen one from the supermarket. Disappointing is an understatement! I cannot understand how people can rate this food so highly. It is awful. They obviously have no sense of how food should taste and will eat anything put in front of them just for the sake of eating! I was not expecting fine dining or a gourmet meal from this establishment, but I was expecting to be able to consume something palatable. It gets worse though, upon leaving two of us had to get to the bathroom asap! We were both sick and could not believe how quickly we were affected. Maybe a call to the health department is warranted in this case to check on food safety guidelines at...

EDIT: Corporate responded with a gift card. My wife appreciated the gesture. My opinion hasn't changed, but as I admitted, I didn't like Olive Garden to begin with so mine is biased; My wife's opinion is actually relevant in this scenario and it is generally positive despite the incident I described. I'm not changing the star rating, however, because it's a serious issue and retraining is absolutely mandated to prevent potentially devastating consequences to one's family.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: My wife and her mother went here for lunch with our son, who is allergic to dairy and eggs. This was mentioned immediately and my wife inquired about which items do and do not contain either. She was told the noodles had butter. What they didn't mention, because a surprising amount of people are too ignorant to realize cheese is made from dairy, is that the broccoli is apparently cooked in parmesan cheese. Guess what, he broke out in hives and eczema went on overdrive. My wife called me because our son was crying and itching and they had to cancel the remainder of their day plans to give my son medication and treat his conditions. Apparently, the joke of a manager at the time, according to my wife, seemed dismissive to the issue and took no responsibility for the staff's ludicrous incompetence. This took place around 1pm, 4/4/2018. Whoever worked that shift, obviously, needs to be retrained, including the manager. I personally hate this awful restaurant and refuse to go, but for some inexplicable reason, my wife likes it.

I'll be complaining to corporate about this as if my son had been served eggs, he may have needed an Epipen to breathe. God forbid someone's child with a more extreme reaction to dairy were...