Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Millcreek Township

Okay so.. We normally dont ever have any issues when coming to Olive Garden. however, number 1, we always go with a group of people, not just ourselves. And number 2, we havent been there in two years! We decided to treat ourselves and go 11/11/23. My husband and I went and it was just a ZOO! First off, I called ahead and asked about a wait time, and was told it was only about a half an hour. Okay. I get online, and put my name on the waitlist. The time on the waitlist, just moments after I had called, said 40-50 minutes. Okay. No problem. We get there about 12 minutes later after that, the place is ridiculously overwhelmed with people!! We check in with the hostess, and could barely even find a place to stand and wait! We waited.. and waited... we were pushed. Shoved. Bumped. Stepped on. Knocked into the wall several times. Some guy came in and practically stood right on top of me! We had to say something to the guy, he ignored us the first 20 attempts to get his attention. Until my husband finally had to tap the guy to get his attention and ask him to move, and he doesnt like touching people. We waited one hour from the time I put my name on the waitlist, and we were still waiting there. At that point, the entire lobby had been emptied and refilled since we had been there. People that came in way after us were being seated, but we were still sitting there. So we were starting to get really upset! Finally, we got to the point of either.. if they dont call us next.. we're leaving! At that moment.. I got up, went to the hostess stand, and explained to some older lady we had been waiting foreverrrrrr and how long ago we had been put on the waitlist, and if she could please check to see whats going on with our spot. "Ummm... We're busy.. Thats whats going on" she SNAPPED with a lovely look on her face. I said.. well yeah obviously I can see that. And again said how long we waited, and that we watched the entire lobby be replaced with people since we've been there. "Well.. again we're busy and thats just what it is. And even so, your name probably already got called then" she snapped some more. I said.. well my husband is right here, our name was clearly never called.. he can very much vouch for me here. Another girl standing there spoke up and asked for our name, dug in the computer a minute, then another girl said to follow her. So they finally seated us after an hour of miserably waiting and some arguing. Now.. we sit down. It takes a couple minutes for a waitress to come to the table, but we FINALLY order. We get our drinks.. then we wait. And wait. And wait. FINALLY we get our salad, which barely had any dressing on them.. the plate the waitress was going to give my husband was dirty.. so she said she would bring him a new one. So we wait. And wait. And wait. Now here comes our entrees. Still no plate for the salad... waitress did apologize but said she would get him one. So we waited. It took about 10 more minutes before we actually got the salad plate. sighs The food was great. We didnt have any issues with the food other than the fact that the salad needed more dressing. We knew asking for it would have resulted in another long wait. It just wasnt worth it after all we went through for this OG trip. From the super long wait, to the nasty attitude, to the mistakes.. we just wish we went somewhere else instead. All in all, we were there from about 5:40 until 8:15! Just to have some dinner.. sighs

Edit 01/18/25.. We have had a much better experience our last several visits since last review. We put our name on the wait list, was quoted 1-10 min wait for party of 2. We got there about 12 minutes after I put our name in, was taken right back to table. Thought it would be longer for a Saturday night. It was nice not to have to wait! Waitress was nice and attentive. Food was good and fresh and everything came out in a timely manner. Much...

I checked in on the wait list while we were at home. We had only a 20 minute wait time when we arrived.I asked if we could sit in the bar area and have an appetizer while we waited and the host suggested we could be seated at the bar with no wait time if we would like.We decided to do that. Our Server/Bartender was awesome. She was attentive and accommodating. We ordered artichoke Dip for an app,I had soup and my husband chose salad( we did share a little of each)and we both ordered entrees I had Spaghetti with meatsauce with a side if Italian sausage. The meat sauce was perfect. Good flavor,and light not heavy and rich. My husband had the tour of Italy I tried a bite of each item he had and Everything was Great..All of our food arrived as it should,in proper order, and arrived in a very timely manner. The food was surprisingly really good and the bread sticks we're a little crisp as they should be and seasoned nicely .I am not a fan of co-orperate flavored foods and can pick out very easily most things that have been processed ,or ran through a machine ,As I myself have worked as a server as well as managed various restaurants for 30 years.When finished I ordered a non alcoholic strawberry daiquiri to go. The daiquiri was delicious ( not all bartenders can make those very well and are usually quite flavorless.) Our Server was also very pleasant,very relaxed and not uptight and was very patient as I sometimes tend to be not a bad customer but always have alot of questions and require everything including extra napkins,salt & pepper,you name it I need it. I definitely don't run a server to death, and I try my best to make sure they know everything I need at one time however I do sometimes forget to ask for something I needed ,so I always need that extra above and beyond server😁😂 I didn't catch her name( shame on me) But Our whole dining experience was really nice and the best we have had in forever. I can't wait to go back and hope we get the same server or someone just as good.Actialky I would really like the same server though. Well see. Think this time I'm going to Have maybe shrimp scampi or fettuccini Alfredo. Not quite sure. Hope you all have just as good...

The food was 👏👏🤌🤌 We ordered appetizers (Calamari 💅 bc duh, the fried lasagna and then their new shrimp and red pepper dish) and all were SO GOOD. We were with somebody who has never been brave eater but she really put herself out there today and learned she likes fried squid 🤣 She loved them all. Then our meals were delicious as well. The only reason I say service and atmosphere weren't a 5 star was because we came at a weird time in between shift change, and from being a server myself I understand having a slow day and wanting to get your side work done, but we sat for 15 mins before anyone took our drinks and were fold we couldn't order from the happy hour menu bc it ended at 3. We had been sitting there for almost an entire half hour before we could ask about ordering off that particular menu and when we had it had literally just turned 3Pm on everyone's watch. Even tho that was frustrating, She was really super nice. It just felt like she forgot about us because she disappeared on us a couple of times. Everyone else that was working also looked miserable 😖 and I felt so bad for them all. We ended up just paying on the kiosk bc she didn't end up coming back for quite a bit and we had to hurry bc this lunch had taken so long. She still got tipped pretty well regardless because she was really nice, cute and personable, plus we all are servers/and or waited tables before as well so we understand that sometimes you get sat with a four top 15 minutes before you get to leave and you still have 20 different things to do for side work before you can count your money, and sometimes that just really sucks. So we get it. Overall, everything was fantastic, just took a lot longer than we had...