Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Lower Paxton Township

Well this was a new dining experience to say the least. My family of 5 joined the online waitlist on Wed evening around 5:30, when we arrived Jeff was very approachable, pleasant and got us checked in. Informed us we were 4th on the list and we got seated not to long after that. So far so good right. A woman had taken us to our table which was ment for 4 people MAX. Well we had two younger children so at first i didnt mind capping the end of the table. I did notice a nice 6 top round table only a few tables down that would have been a much better fit for us but I didn't say anything assuming they had a larger group on the waitlist for it and didn't want to be "THAT" person and mess up another group waiting by taking their table. So we sat down, our server got our drink order and put in an appetizer and eventually our meals for us. Food was pretty good but here is why I am giving a poor rating. I had to ask her multiple times to please have the dirty dishes removed from our table throughout the night. I already had them piled up nicely to make it easier for her. There was no pre-bussing. Just plates and empty cups from refills filing up the already overly cramped table. Not only did our server not pre bus our table without being asked, when she brought us our refills she couldn't remember who's cup belonged to who and left us to figure it out on our own. She brought out trays of food mixed with other tables food as well. Again an overly cramped table with dirty dishes and our current meals, she brings out to go boxes and sets them on our table while we are all still in the middle of eating. I appreciate her trying to be helpful ahead of time so we wouldnt have to ask later but not one entree was finished or even close. So I just packed up my entire dinner (that I had really only gotten 4 bites out of in between dealing with my kiddos) and didn't bother trying to enjoy it. We weren't really offered dessert, just a "you can pay your bill on the iPad when your ready" and when I mentioned dessert we got an "Oh... you want dessert?!" In a somewhat confused tone. Well that made us feel like she just wanted to flip the table so I gave her a cash tip and we left. I regretted not asking about that 6 top table, it never got seated in the nearly 2 hours we were there. Would have made the whole night alot better if we just had more space to move our dishes and boxes. I took my daughter to use the restroom before we left and the bathroom was in a horric state. The one soap pump wasnt working, toilet paper and unwrapped straws all over the floor in every stall. Why straws were in the bathroom ill never know. As someone who has been also working in the restaurant industry for 10+ years this was absolutely unbelievable to me. I very rarely get time out with my family, especially for dinner and next time we will choose somewhere we will have better service (and cleanliness). The 3 hosts that were working, were the only real pleasant part of the night. Ended up taking the family to Dairy Queen for a quick...

I can't quite put my finger on it but I always leave this place wishing I'd went somewhere else. They're always taking good stuff off the menu. If you like beef, don't even bother. They used to have a Chianti-braised short rib dinner that would make slap your mama, but it's long gone, along with the much beloved chocolate lasagna and the lemon cream cake.

The prices are reasonable for the quality of what they do have to offer and they know how to cook chicken and pasta properly. Service is friendly and attentive but kinda slow. I would chalk this up to the labor shortage but, honestly, it's always been that way here.

I got the never-ending pasta, Angelhair with 3-ch marinara and chicken fritta, and it was great, but I could only fit one serving in the old corporation if I were to leave room for dessert, which was the Brownie Lasagna, which is excellent but couldn't hold a candle to the original formula.

The waiter talked me into ordering 2nds of the pasta plate to take home. I think there is a Chicken Marsala dish they've had forever that is very dependable. This is the place to get grilled or baked chicken if that's your thing, and this probably can't be overstated. The chicken fritta is definitely no slouch, either. I rarely, if ever, get bad food here.

It's just the little annoyances that grate me because this place could easily be a 5-star, and really deserves 4 1/2. I'm giving it 4 so I won't be seen as a fanboy. I know of Italian restaurants that I like better.

The bread sticks with Alfredo sauce are legend and they have the best decaf coffee I've ever tasted. Ever. EVER. If you must drink decaf, GET SOME HERE. Especially if you have a non-chocolate dessert. Trust me on this. One time I raved so much about the coffee that the waiter actually smuggled me a few bags out of the kitchen (or the waiter's station, maybe) to take home.

We're very generous tippers and have been known to go as high as 50% when service is outstanding, so we sometimes get recognized and treated very well. (We recently went on an ocean cruise—after a 20-year hiatus - OUCH—and had a BLAST with the service crew members.)

Sorry, I ramble, but I want to put it all out there so folks have some information, however opinionated it may be. My wife's job is torturous with long hours sometimes so we dine out often, but I know it's a rarer occasion for some and they need good information to make choices about where to go and what...

So today was an experience. I called ahead to have seating. We had a few mintue wait for the seater to show up. There were like 5 people that swarmed the area. The girl who took us to our seat was bickering with all of those standing there. We get to our seat and our waitress was phenomenal. However she was ran so ragged running to help all of her tables while fifteen other people stumbled over each other to do nothing. Due to her being too over worked someone else had bring our appetizer which came after we had our first bowl of soup. Our waitress came back to ask about more soup but by then I just wanted to get my entree. A different young man came to bring our entrees. He handed me my daughter's plate and scalded my fingers. He said oh yea its hot. Then he tried to give my daughter my entree which was the shrimp rigatoni. Then he reached over us to put the shredded cheese on the entree that I had to ask him for. Then when I looked at my daughters plate her noodles were dried out and there was barely any alfredo sauce. Her broccoli was also dried out. When the waitress came to ask I told her I wasnt happy about it. She replaced the whole meal but I had to get it to go because I needed to leave. The manager came over and asked how things were and I explained my problem and he apologized but seemed very nervous. He did have my daughters entree removed which was awesome but my daughter had to leave with out having eaten dinner other than breadsticks and a couple bits of my appetizer. This was definitely not my best experience at this location. I had told myself I wouldn't be back because they did away with my favorite entree the steak gorgonzola. It will definitely be a long time...