Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Memphis

We arrived about 2hrs before close. I am aware that employees are ready to leave near the ending of their shifts, so I'll be easy. But on the other hand, the service we received was beyond the "bad" that I expected. We were sat by courteous hosts, and then proceeded to wait so long to be greeted by a server that we had our entire order ready and still waited another 5 minutes. This wouldn't have been as bad, but she had literally no tables at all. Maybe she didn't see us because she wasn't expecting tables, but SOMEONE should have told her. Beyond that, the overall service was just very poor. 4/5 stars just because she wasn't rude and I still ate. Trying to be nice because she's not the reason for the review.

The restaurant chain as a whole has earned the rest of this rather low-starred review. I used to love going here simply because the food was good, and Olive Garden always has a wonderful treat, some amazing Gnocchi soup. Well, I'm assuming due to covid, they've "flattened" their soup. What used to be chicken, gnocchi, some spinach, and some glorious sauce, has now turned into a bit of glorious sauce, a WEE bit of chicken and gnocchi, and as many full-sized spinach leaves as they can fit in a bowl. I took about 20 bites of this soup, and 16 of them had a full sized spinach leaf. Between me and my girlfriend combined, we had about 5 pieces of chicken, and we counted 4 gnocchi. She had the same spinach problem I had.

I got it, business is down and the chain wants to save money. I fully understand. But this was a bit ridiculous. And I'll be fully honest, unless someone tells me it's changed, I won't be going back, and I'll be recommending anyone who enjoys the soup mainly to not go also. It's almost not worth the price without the soup, and the soup was a struggle.

I desperately hope to see them fix this, sincerely. I love that soup and am extremely disappointed. Everyone I know loves it, and I hope they don't have the same experience I had with it.

If you've made it this far, I apologize for the rant and super long review, but it was needed. I really hope someone higher up sees this and decides to change a very small thing back to the glory it...

Upon arriving at the restaurant, we waited for a table to be cleaned and were seated immediately. The manager was very attentive, the restaurant was busy, and our server was busy. Which was no issue, thanks to the manager getting our drink orders and starting appetizers for us. However, that's when we started having a few issues at the table. The appetizers got the table before the drinks. When the drinks finally arrived from the bar, my glass was filthy, so I didn't take one sip. My other half's drink was so watered down he didn't want to drink it. We had no silverware or appetizer plates when the appetizers arrived. This was all taken care of once our server came over, introduced himself and took over service for our table. He took the drinks back, grabbed us utensils and plates. He was very polite, helpful and efficient. He promptly started our entrées, and the whole experience took a complete turn from there. The level of professionalism and pride taken by the employees in this restaurant cannot and will not be forgotten. During the last few moments of the meal, my son mentioned it was his birthday the upcoming week. As we were finishing up our meal, a group of the employees came over with a birthday dessert, sang happy birthday, and a few of them gave him a couple $1 bills. They went above and beyond. They absolutely made his night, and it'll be something he and I will never forget it. I usually don't take the time to leave reviews, but the trip back to Chicago is a long one, and I felt compelled to say thank you to the staff at this particular Olive Garden. There were some areas that can use a little more attention, but over all you are all doing an amazing job.

Sincerely, a mother of 3, in the hospitality business over 20 years, on a long road trip.... who was hungry, tired, and needed a good meal with her family. Special thanks to Derrion, thank you for your...

I regret having stopped here for dinner with my family. The fact that there was private security parked in the parking lot should have been a red flag for me.

Going inside, the hosts were not at all warm or welcoming. The place was rowdy and loud, though that is more the fault of the clientele than the restaurant. It was just really annoying the sheet volume of screaming and crying children there. Our booth was marked up, with scraped on drawings on the plexiglass between booths.

Our waitress was initially nice but I ordered an appetizer and she never brought it. She didn't even bring out the staple bread sticks until I asked for them, and that was after we received entrees. When I brought up that we never got bread sticks, she was like "Oh, you never got those?"... I mean come on, you're serving us and you didn't bring them and I JUST said we didn't get any. What kind of response is that?

Then at the end of the meal I use the tablet at the table to see if the appetizer was ever recorded, and sure enough it was on the check. Then the waitress came up at that exact moment and I ask if she can remove that item from the bill since we NEVER GOT IT. "Oh, you never got that?" Really??? Really!?

Then she proceeded to try to start a conversation, which to me was an attempt to butter us up even though she'd barely spoken to us most of the evening. Never even once an apology. I was so peeved that I refused to stay any longer even though my family...