Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Largo

UPDATE 10/24/2023 - I have eaten there a few times since my initial outrage. But I hadn't noticed their BOT response. You will see my previous post is VERY detailed and contains exactly where we dined. The bot asks please let us know WHICH restaurant. Hello - Olive Garden at Largo Mall in Largo, Florida. Clear as a bell.

PREVIOUS POST 7/2021 Party of 3 came in at approx. 8PM. Wed 7/21/21 Largo Mall Olive Garden. Main manager is Maria Black who has been there forever and is great. Unfortunately Maria was not there tonight. With Covid19 we have only been too Olive Garden a couple of times over the past year with now being included.When we arrived they promptly told us about 15 minute wait. 5 minutes later we were being seated! Sounds good no? Two of us had mild headaches that we assumed was from starvation! Seated across from us was one couple behind them in our sheltered little area which was near a large group party were two women and a toddler. The toddler had an electronic device which they were playing with and it was cranked up LOUD. I snagged the manager Alex to talk about this. Discretion is not her middle name. When I tried to talk softly and discuss the matter appropriately that all we were asking is if they could speak to the family about turning it down. Notice not off or removing. Not a bad child. Not bad parents. It's late who knows what they were doing or coming from or encountered in the day. Same like us - unexpected illness and family member in the hospital. However Ms. Alex informed us that there was nothing she could do and then said WE could move. Around this same time the female of the couple seated across from us turned around and firmly spoke to the family and asked them if they could TURN it down. The family somewhat complied. Perhaps Alex should hire this woman she was not being paid nor was she trained in the field of intercession. But one never knows. So then we were moved away and have a server who was pulling double duty. My food came in shifts, I had no silverware. My sons Salmon was so greasy and the oil was oozed into his entire order of fries. It was so hard to get ahold of our server. When asked about a smoothie refill which we knew was not free her answer was the cost if it was whatever was on the menu. Remember the menus we saw briefly and she took away? Then my daughter needed a lemonade refill and she brought it back in a plastic travel cup and apologized that she couldn't find any regular glasses? Really is every person drinking out of a plastic cup now? Then came the time to pay and the machine wouldnt work. The server said well thats because you moved and started at another table. (Perhaps if the server had brought over my silverware, the machine and then periodically attended our needs and served our food together it have been a better evening), So she now brings over the payment machine from our original table and guess what it declines my payment 2-3 times. So we remove ourselves from the table and go up to the bar and make payment there. I tell the person working the counter what a miserable evening it had been. I came here to destress not implode. She was apologetic and said let me get our Manager Alex to help you. I said absolutely not. I mean I had unlimited soup and salad. It took forever to pair them up and by the time my soup arrived the others were done eating. I had even asked for Pepper and someone did a drive by and said Here's the Pepper! I dont think Ms. Alex realized the chain of events she was setting into motion. Im told shes a new manager. Well Alex heres a pointer. When you have a dissatisfied customer and you can tell they arent just cranky or making something out of nothing. Be gentle and remember they didnt start it. Its their evening and meal along with family time too. You could have found a spot and personally seated us. You could have comped something too make the situation rosier. I can tell you this it will be a long time before I step foot in that particular Olive Garden let...

This is by far the worst OG we have ever been to. Our waitress was very, uum, "antsy" and acted like she was on something. We gave her our order and every time we had a question she was like uum I'm not sure, I've only worked here for 2 years so I don't know. That didn't even make sense, 2 yrs you should know the menu like the back of your hand. Lol. But after ordering, and her bringing out the wrong drinks twice, we waited another 20 minutes and had to ask if salad and breadsticks were still available/unlimited? She said yes, they come out with your food. We are frequent travelers and have never once not received our salad and breadsticks with our drinks. We told her to go ahead and bring them out please, we would like them now. We sat there for 10 minutes before asking a second time for breadsticks and salad, then she finally brought some out.. We asked for a refill on the salad and breadsticks and she waited to bring us more AFTER we got our main courses.. Fast forward to getting our actual food, 55 minutes later- she forgot my daughters food. Then finally brought it and it was grilled chicken, not breaded. My husband's tour of Italy was so small portioned that not even half the plate was covered. My daughters chicken parm was hard, like it had been sitting out for hours, with a very small portion of spaghetti. I ordered the new steak medallion alfredo dish and added mushrooms and balsamic glaze. My steak was rare, I ordered medium well, it was missing the mushrooms and no glaze. I asked her for a side of glaze, she brought me vinegar 🤦🏼‍♀️. After asking for a refill, she brought back tea instead of coke, which was the final straw and we asked for a manager. The manager was very polite, we appreciated him, but we were not happy with what he told us. He said that OG no longer carries balsamic glaze, and that the portions sizes have went from 8 oz of pasta down to 4 oz, out of his control. I said- So the prices increased, I'm paying $30 for this steak alfredo, your waitress never told me you no longer carry balsamic glaze or I would not have ordered this, it doesn't even cover half the plate, and the portions sizes have decreased? He said yes, nationwide.. I find that hard to believe, we eat at OG all the time and never had that issue.. He did take off my meal and our 4 drinks off the bill but also took back the entire plate, didn't offer to fix it, so I sat there with nothing to eat while my 3 family members tried hurrying and scarfing down their food. (Which didn't take long considering the portion sizes were smaller than a cup of ramen noodles) Needless to say, we will NEVER go back here, period! $65 wasted, and that was for 2 meals and a child's dinner only, no drinks.) I would highly recommend watching your waitresses as well, Mr Manager- we did not appreciate her being all drugged out and acting like there was something seriously wrong with her. Bad day or not, she was DEF on drugs and it was a very bad example for...

A month ago Informed waiter of my seafood allergy. Ordered and ate breadsticks and soup. I made it to the parking lot before having a reaction. (F-pie) When we told the manager he said the staff was supposed to tell him, yet he didn’t know. While waiting to have that conversation with said manager, I had to go to the bathroom and barely made it to the stall before puking and it bounced off toilet and hit the walls- to which I informed them of, as well as the bags of vomit in the parking lot. I should have stood there in the lobby and let them file the report when I had the original reaction - I would have puked all over several times, maybe then I would have been telling the truth because THAT WAS MY GOAL! To go out on a date with my partner, pay full price for everything, not ask for a discount, be nice and inform them of my reaction and apparently be LYING about it a month later.

Fast forward a month. Boyfriend talked me into giving them another shot for lunch, and I agreed but with a stipulation to speak with a manager and told him was probably just going for bread or salad.

The following is the result of a one minute conversation ending with us walking out:

Went in and asked for manager immediately, who I told the issue/ fear. In return the manager asked what I ordered, then basically told me it was impossible to have a reaction since the soup, salad and bread is away from the line ( he didn’t know what my partner ordered ( from the main cook line) and could they have stuck a finger in seafood before touching mine?) and he wasn’t going to oversee our table. By the way he spoke, it appeared it was below his pay grade to ensure my safety and he spoke down to me as if I was lying. What would my reason be to lie? I wanted to ensure my safety while eating your food while you claim to accommodate a seafood allergy. I simply wanted what you promised.

If it was so easy and impossible to have a reaction, why not take care of it?

0 out of 10 - would...