Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Longview

I came on Monday, Dec 14. We were a table of four celebrating my friends getting married at the JP that day. It was about 11:30 when we sat down. We read the menu and chat for what felt like forever. Finally, our server, Seawillow greeted us and asked what we wanted to drink and offered appetizers. We gave the drink order and let her know we were all ready to order. Everyone had a lunch menu in front of them and we ordered lasagna classico, 2 orders of shrimp Alfredo, and chicken parm. As a former employee, I would assume the guest wants lunch portions at lunch time, but at the very least I would ask them to confirm. Seawillow did not ask. She left our table to get our drinks and bread. That took at least 15 minutes and she only brought drinks on her return. We had to ask for the bread. The salad and soup came about 10 minutes later, an accwptable amount of time-which I thought was a good sign that she would pay more attention to us since I know the salad and soups can take a moment to prepare. During our 30 minutes just waiting for our food to arrive, I noted that Seawillow had one table when we were sat (whose drinks were empty for a long while) and was also sat after we had ordered. Again it took her a long time to greet the new table or refill the other tables drinks. When our food finally arrived, I noticed the portions were dinner size. I started to complain right then, but quickly realized we did not specify we wanted lunch -even though it is LUNCH TIME- so I let it go. My friends mom started to eat her shrimp Alfredo and very quickly noticed that some of her pasta was hard and crunchy while some of it was soggy. She let the server know but opted not to send her plate back because we had already been there for over an hour. Then she asked for a togo box. Seawillow immediately went to fetch the togo box without asking if anyone else would want one. Again, her return time was not quick. It must have taken her another 10 or 15 minutes to get one box. When she returned, my friend asked for a box also. Seawillow took off but didn't return for a long while. I also needed my own box at this point and was tired of waiting. As a former employee, I know there are boxes kept below the computers and we happened to be sitting by one. So I got up and got the boxes we all needed. After we got everything packed, Seawillow FINALLY returned with one box and complimentary dolcinis for the bride and groom. This was the nicest she had been, but it reminded me that we never told her, only the hostess, Mary. So thank you Mary for making that happen for my friends! Seawillow never brought the check so I started helping my friends mom with the ziosk and noted again that we were ordered dinner entrees instead of lunch. A bill that would have been $40 to $50 was now almost $90!! We paid and left at about 1:20!! Almost TWO HOURS for LUNCH!!

Overall, definitely not one of my better experiences and I was highly disappointed with the complete apathy of our server. She is either new and needs more training, or she just needs to be retrained. And if it was a bad day, then girl, you just gotta learn to shake it off, scream in the walk in and move on. Guests will always tip based on your friendliness and service. And if you can't help parts of service (like food being cooked), then your friendliness is what will earn you...

Family and I were in longview for a middle school basketball tournament and hungry after a 12 hour day. Daughter suggested olive garden, one of her favorites. Arrived at 7:30pm on Saturday, so they were busy, no big surprise and to be expected. Hostess wasn't very helpful in offering a time frame and I almost felt she was talking to me in a way that might discourage us from waiting in hopes we would leave. I told her very firmly we would wait, no matter how long. We were hungry and weren't leaving. I asked her about how long of a wait...she just kind of went...uhhhh...and ignored me. We stood for a bit until we found a place to sit. While sitting in the waiting area 3-4 servers kept "waddling" thru there looking all haggard and slouchy making "comments", mostly to do with seating and complaints directed towards the hostesses. The hostesses worked all stressed looking at their seating charts like it was a college algebra problem. One server waddled thru and had a stinky smell as she passed by us. The kids smelled it too. Ironically she ended up being our server. She was incredibly nice but lacked hygiene and smelled like sweat and other odors. 🤢 that was a bit of a turnoff towards our appetites. We ate our meals. The food was good and the value was good. No complaints there. As we left, there was an African American gentleman that seemed to be in charge and he was talking to most of the waitstaff and the hostesses in the front with some sort of gripes and angry demeanor. I think he was telling them not to be asking to leave early or something of the sort. This fella stormed off crossed right in front of me and was really flexing on everyone his authority. It was a negative vibe. Not very...

I was so disappointed tonight!!!!!!!!! My boyfriend of three years does not see the point in Valentine's Day, Birthdays, and most of the other celebrated holidays. Today he decided to take me out for Valentine's Day! Oh YAY! I normally go by myself or with my Mom. I was so happy he was willing to go being Olive Garden is one of my favorite restaurants. That is until tonight! Reason one I ordered a glass of wine I had to ask for four times Reason two My spinach artichoke dip was dry and burnt (What the heck! I love this stuff and now I could only choke down a few bites.) Reason three His cheese fondue was a bowl of rubbery cheese. Not as in a warm stringy cheese but as in a semi solid mas that didn't really spread on the bread. Reason four the chicken in our mixed grill was also dry and rubbery (are we seeing a trend yet?) Reason five Did I forget to mention that the table that sat down 10 minutes after us got their drinks, appetizers, and food before us? They got there drinks before our waitress even came to ask for ours, they got there appetizers by the time we got our drinks, and so on.... She did however apologise for suggesting we order the fondue and at least removed that from out ticket. He wouldn't let me call the manager because he doesn't like to make a fuss about anything in public but I was...