Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Milwaukie

Unwashed Coffee Caraff contained surprise inside.

Recent trip, hadn't been here in over a decade, but had some out of town friends I was meeting up with near the mall and they selected this Restaurant. Originally was told it would be an hour wait upon our arrival (Thursday evening 6:30pm), My wife and I and our two friends sat in the lobby and chatted for about 5 minutes and a table became available low and behold. As we walked though the restaurant I noticed it didn't even look half filled. The table they sat us at was fine as we all settled into a four person table, but our server asked if we'd rather have a larger table, we all thought that was a keen idea.  As they took as past two tables full of guest/diners deeper into the section we sat in, I noticed it was all but empty save for those other two tables (odd). Why tell us originally it woul be an hour wait?

--Things started off nice, we got our classy plastic menus and promptly ordered drinks: 1) spiked strawberry lemonade 2) one glass red wine 3) Fruity Sangria cocktail thing 4) and four coffees. My two guests opposite me and my wife poured their coffee first and were sipping away as I poured mine. I had the bottom of the caraff the waitress had brought since it was nearly depleted...As I poured my cup something plopped out of the caraff and into my coffee cup. My wife noticed it as did my friend's wife and exclaimed for me to check my coffee. When I did I managed to find a sliced lemon wedge in my coffee!!

I can only deduce that our coffee caraff must have been used for water with a prior dinee and had contained lemons in with the water and was never washed.

Our server was dumbfounded and promptly brought us new coffee in a different caraff. Good thing because the coffee cup I was given for use looked like it had brown stains on it anyways or also wasn't washed very well on its last go around through the kitchen, so I was happy that she took away all our old cups and caraff for a total new setup.

All in all the food tasted fairly close to what I expected, forgettable, bland affair with absence of almost any and all Italian flare of spice and deliciousness. Seemed like our dinners were most likey premade frozen food that's warmed up for dinners in the back save for my friends steak which evidently was too difficult for the line cooks as it far over cooked.

Our waitress was kind did a great job serving us and was just as horrified as we were when I showed her the lemon in my coffee, and reacted appropriately, and I appreciated that, however it would have been nice for a free round of mozzarella sticks or something to take the pucker of that lemon in my coffee off my mind.

Our bill was $130 for the four of us and it was by far the the most sub par meal I've had all year. Forgettable food, and a gross coffee/dirty caraff incident that shouldn't have happened in this day and age of COVID. Come on, wash everything people, these are our lives we're talking about. An almost empty restaurant tells all.

Thanks Olive Garden for reminding me why I don't need to spend money at your place, the food court at the mall across the street has better Italian food (yeah I'm talking Sabaros which is sad for sure), and at least with paper cups and plates I know it's never been used...

The one star is for our server, not the food. The food was great! Our experience started off fine. The server only asked us once if there was anything we needed. We asked for breadsticks and salad twice. Our water was never refilled. Right after we received our dinner, the server brought out the mints and asked if we wanted dessert. We literally just received our dinner a few minutes prior and we’re still eating salad. Please give us time to decide. We over heard a different server telling the table next to us they were taking over for the server as she worked a double shift and was going home. She was referring to our server. We said no to dessert. A few minutes later, the server returned to let us know she split our checks as requested and could pay from the device on the table unless we have cash. It was obvious she was rushing us to leave. A few minutes after that she returned with our receipts printed out. One of the people I was with asked if she needed to go home. She said no, she’s not rushing us and to take our time. We then asked for to go container’s. When she returned she said it’s their new policy to give mints right after the dinner arrives so she didn’t want us to think she was rushing us. We just said ok. I work in the food industry and know what it’s like to be short staffed and have to work doubles several days in a row. We were a group of 4 and we’re not there to spend all night chatting away. We have respect for all people in this industry, but please at least give us time to eat. The server then started standing near our area, looking out the window and pacing. When she walked by the table next to us, the customers said they thought she had left. She rolled her eyes and said she’s been trying. We left shortly after that. I left a 20% tip which I felt was fair for the lack of service we received. Again, I work in the food industry and understand her wanting to go home, but please at least give us time to eat. I took my dinner home, to finish eating there. As we were leaving/driving by the front of the restaurant, she was on the sidewalk staring at us the ENTIRE TIME we were driving, even looking at the car as we had already passed by. I sincerely hope she was able to get some rest and enjoy a day off. I also hope management can step up and help out so these situations don’t continue to happen. It will definitely be a very long time...

On Wednesday this week, we called ahead as we had 30 people coming for a special birthday dinner. We were told there was a room we could have and just call on Friday around lunch time to confirm the count. We called Friday and talked to the General Manager Rene. He said they couldn't accommodate us, we'd just have to show up and it's first come first serve. They couldn't do call ahead seating or anything. He was completely unwilling to do anything whatsoever for us. He was friendly and polite, but absolutely unwilling to work with us, figure something out, anything. We showed up 70 minutes before our planned time, and we actually had less people (1 large family cancelled because we couldn't guarantee what time we'd eat and they have small children). When we arrived, 70 minutes early, we were told we'd have a 100 minute wait, which would put us 30 minutes later than we had planned. Since we didn't have a choice we waited. We watched table after table after table be seated, eat, and then finish their meals while we were waiting. All of us were there about 20 minutes prior to our planned meal time. Over 20 people showed up early to ensure we could be seated and you weren't waiting for us. Mind you, Rene, who I'm assuming was off work, slipped out, and didn't bother to say anything to us. We had to deal with the manager Jacob, who did the best he could with the situation. Somehow there was a family seated right in the middle where they were going to seat us, yet, they couldn't sit somewhere else. Funny how there happened to just be 1 family, which made us all have to wait. It almost seems like he had a family seated there just to ensure we had to wait. Well, we ended up being seated about 20 minutes past the preplanned time, meaning we sat for about 95 minutes. This manager was unwilling to do absolutely anything for us, and just didn't seem to give a care in the world. Now let's talk about the positive. Our two servers, Nick and Jonathan were absolutely amazing! They were so attentive, so friendly, so helpful, and so on top of things. I really appreciated how on top of things they were, understanding we had a frustrating situation waiting. I can't compliment...