Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in McAllen

I recently visited Olive Garden at this location and would like to share my experience along with some suggestions for improvement coming from someone who is also involved in the food industry. The treatment we receive at the front door can set the tone for the entire evening, and unfortunately, our experience was quite disappointing.

Upon arrival, we were greeted poorly by the hostess and a young man named Nathan, who appeared to be a teenager and seemed to lack proper training. The hostess asked Nathan to seat us, and in front of us, he refused, stating he didn't want to and suggested picking someone else. This was quite shocking and unprofessional. Nathan also dropped the cutlery he was holding and was bumping into walls, giving the impression that he might have been inebriated during his shift. This made us feel very uncomfortable, especially since I was taking my mom, who hadn’t been to Olive Garden in over 20 years, and it was embarrassing for this to be our initial experience.

On a positive note, our waiter, Alex, was delightful and provided excellent service. The food and drinks were also very good. However, the initial greeting and the lack of professionalism at the front door overshadowed these positives but we made the best of our time as I rarely get to visit with my mom.

To improve, I recommend implementing more comprehensive training programs for all front-door staff to ensure they understand the importance of hospitality and professionalism. The front-door team is the face of the restaurant and plays a crucial role in shaping the guests' overall experience.

Thank you for considering my feedback. I hope these suggestions will help enhance the quality of service at...

Ok we’re can I start the food was ok !! until I saw there charge for a extra salad I understand time are hard but come on u bring one salad when I bought soup and salad and my wife bought a chicken Alfredo and share it when my daughter and she also said a salad with the chicken Alfredo that come with a salad but when we ask for a refill on the salad the waitress didn’t say anything just brought it and then she charge it to the ticket so I ask her the question why was the charge she said because u guys share the salad with each other ok but I told her u only brought one salad and I payed for two plate and they both come with salad and she said no because I brought a bigger salad and she gave me a example said if 5 people come in and they all order 5 plates I will still bring one salad 😂 to the table does that sound Correct ? And then she said olive garden is not about loose money because u guys share the salad I thought to my self olive wont loose but u will definitely loose as a waitress ? Just don’t bring anything until u tell the customer they are about to charge more it not about the money it just people are tired of being charge extra when that ur job to let us now ur about to order extra and I have to put it on ur bill plus come on it salad it not like I order a...

My kids love Olive garden we are new to the area and we usually go to Olive garden about three times a month ever since we moved to the McAllen area we have gone to the Olive garden about five times one time we went the friars were not working they did not offer any substitutes for the fries mind you I ordered five kids meals and none of them had sides we weren't told until after the food arrived that there was no fries available and we have been to this establishment about three more times and they're always out of pizza that's why my kids love to go for the personalized size pizza and they're always out another time I went they sat me on a round table that picked up the site in order to make it bigger and it wasn't working correctly I kept on falling and my food kept on moving I'm falling off the table I had to eat while trying to hold up my plate. One of the managers with colored hair tried to correct the problem but like I said it's been several occasions that this Olive garden does not meet the standards as the other Olive gardens in the Rio...