Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Middletown

I'm shocked that this restaurant has four stars. I have previously worked in the service industry for many years. It was almost comical. Although the food was great. Cody, the gentleman from the kitchen staff was wonderful. He ran out our food, refilled our waters and took our appetizer/salad plates in a timely fashion. He should consider serving The 3 host staff were absolutely lazy or clueless as to what was going on. At one point a server came up to inform them she had a table available for a while. Not a single one of them acknowledged her. They did not bus tables, pass out menus or silverware. The bar tables directly behind them were flithy from previous guests. I witnessed a host hand menus to guests sitting at a dirty table and did not bus it. Come on guys, TEAMWORK! We decided to sit at a table in the bar area in hopes of helping out the wait time. We sat there for 20min before anyone acknowledged us. Our server Linda was very sweet, but is horrible with her time management for a 6 table section. She kept disappearing in the back or doing bartending duties. She seemed very overwhelmed, which is understandable considering the bartender. He is easily the laziest bartender I've encountered. Just likes the title of bartender, without doing any of the work. The bar was littered with plates, glasses and serving trays. At one point the bartender stated to the head chef (who was cleaning off the bar), "What are you doing? That's our camouflage." Implying he didn't want to serve anymore, even though it was only 8pm. He never acknowledged a couple that came up (so they walked out). His serving stations were disgusting. Filled with dirty glasses and mixers. Making drinks directly next to dirty ones. He never touched a dirty glass/plate the entire time my husband and I were there. Two young ladies sat down at the bar, were not carded for their wine and he left the dirty dishes in front of them. Overall, this is the worst experience I've ever had being a guest in a restaurant. 98% of the staff needs to be educated on job duties, cleanliness, and teamwork. I would NEVER recommend anyone to eat at the Middletown...

The Best Place for Great Italian Food! This was a past review I normally don't do up dates, but this needs to be done. I love the food! I never had a problem with the food. But the service has fallen by the way side. I have been to Olive Garden to dine in a few times since my past review. I have been very disappointed in the service. The last time I dined there I hardly seen my waitress. I was lucky I got a cup of cola! She brought the cola, salad, and a bowl of soup and then gave me my bill. I ordered the soup and salad meal. I thought I would be allowed to have another bowl of soup. The bowls are small and it was not even half full. The salad was its usual good but I was not the only one taking from it.Two bread sticks don't give everyone at the table one! I had to ask a passing manager for another drink because After waiting for a waitress that didn't want to get a tip to come back had me frustrated! I will order to go only from now on if I do at all. Sure the food is great but that's only if you get it! The manager knew I was upset but other then that Nothing happened. I'm so disappointed in Olive Garden. Also I won't tip any Olive Garden employee Ever Again! I order alot using curb side. I went Out Of My Way to Give a Big Tip to the lady who brought out my food just to watch her not even to look at what I gave her and toss it aside like it was nothing! I don't get it! Why??? I was not rude! I was very pleasant. I always am. But that just burnt me on tipping. I was thinking those women probably don't get tipped much because the guest is coming in to pick up for themselves. I got out of my car walked into the building and asked for her then waited for her to come out of the kitchen. I was thinking yha she is working. Doing what needs to be done. But when finally faced to get that was like a slap in the face! Yha I guess I"m soured on this place even though I love the soup. Its not worth the disrespect...

I have not had problems at this location before. However, I feel as if this needs to be shared. On Labor Day (9/5/2022), my girlfriend and I stopped in and decided to have some dinner. We walked in and only had to wait a short time before we sat down. We were sat and given our drinks by the hostess and greeted by one of the other servers (name unknown). She took our soup and salad order and shortly after our main server (Laney) came over and took our main order. She was already abrupt with us and wanted to know what we wanted right away. We both happened to know what we wanted, but I felt rushed. We also wanted to order some beverages with alcohol (I am 21 and my girlfriend is 22). She then proceeded to ask in a condescending tone "You got ID?". We both showed her and after looking at my girlfriends ID, she threw it back onto the table at my girlfriend. I then proceeded to show her mine and she said "What do you want?" in again, a condescending manner. We put our food orders in and she said to us "you are throwing too much information at me all at once. Take in mind, she was not writing anything down. We then got our drinks and mine was pouring over the side. While they were still good drinks and our food was good and hot, all in all I think our experience felt rushed and our server wanted nothing to do with us. She was not nice or charismatic and it felt like we burdened her with our business. What bothered me the most is that she was being nice to every other table she served, but was rude to us. I hope she realizes that a simple smile and a good attitude can take you far when it comes to...