Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Minnetonka

We (two of us) arrived to the restaurant and asked to be seated at a table. We were taken back by the host and brought to a booth. When we mentioned what we had requested, the host brought us back to the waiting area. Minutes later he asked us to follow him to be seated but when we arrived the table was full so he returned us to the waiting area. After waiting a bit the host once again had us follow him to be seated. When we arrived to the table it had dirty dishes and water glasses on it. The host was about to return us to the waiting area but at this point we just stated we would be seated and just have someone clean the table. The host took a plate stacked with dirty dishes but the glasses and other people's food spills remained on the table. And remained...and remained. When our server, Lars who was great arrived he asked us if we wanted anything other than the waters he saw. We explained the table had not been cleaned and those water glasses were not ours. He realized then the table had not been cleaned. He sent someone to clean it but it still took awhile for someone to come. This was probably 15 minutes into our having been seated. When our server returned, he took our drink and appetizer order. Our drinks came about 15 minutes later, our appetizer about 20 minutes later and we were served but not given two plates to eat on. We called out to a passing manager several times to get her attention but she didn't respond. She may not have heard us...but the people at two other tables who looked up we we called out did. Our server Lars brought our salad and right away realized we didn't have any plates and remedied this. In fact, Lars was very apologetic and did what he could to make the rest of our evening go smoothly and we were very appreciative. After all was said and done we must share that we will likely NOT seek out that Olive Garden...

I have been to numerous Olive Gardens over the years. We've sat at the bar, been sat by a waiter, and used the first come first serve seating area. Unfortunately, this Olive Garden completely missed the mark for me. The night my fiance and I went to Olive Garden, it was extremely packed so we decided to wait by the first come first serve area. Mind you, I am pregnant and wasn't going to LITERALLY PUSH people to get to the next available table... however, my fiance and I noticed 2 tables that were paying their bill to leave. One couple spoke to my fiance and I, asked if we were waiting and respectfully said okay... as soon as we turned a cheek, the woman pushed passed us and sat at the dirty table while the party was still getting up! We let it go because they had a small child but did make them aware we were in line to snag that table. Then, two middle aged women pushed passed us... now I was angry. I told one of the girls that we were waiting on the table to get cleared to sit. She SAT AT THE TABLE WITH THE FAMILY THAT WAS GETTING READY TO LEAVE. I am not rude nor disrespectful. I am not going to disrupt a family dinner because I want to sit down when others were waiting in front. I mentioned this to the person at the pickup (who knew we had been waiting for an hour+ and knew many RUDE people pushed ahead). The person said, "well, it is first come first serve". So you expect people to fight over tables?! Ridiculous! I asked to speak to a manager. And he was quickly able to get us seated in the normal dining area. However, I HIGHLY recommend that Olive Garden create a line or organized manor of handling the first come first serve area. It was HORRENDOUS at this location and we usually use first come first serve at other locations. Not going back...

Normally we have a very great time at this location. Even when it's busy service is usually good. We had an awkward and uncomfortable experience this time around. We both still left 20% tips. Words can speak just as loud as actions and I don't believe in shorting a tip unless they were trying to be mean. I had to send back the steak that I had ordered medium because it was extremely well done and impossible to chew. Also every single time we've been to this olive garden and had unlimited breadsticks and soup with our entre they would give us a bag for the breadsticks and they would bring out our last bowls of soup in to go bowls. I wanted to order the 6 dollar take home meal but they didn't have the alfredo with gluten free noodles. I asked if we could order the regular main meal for to go and our server indicated we had to be fully done with the meal and order from the host stand. We also were told they cannot put soup in a to go and we explained its happened every single time and we were told they shouldn't be doing that. That's unfortunate if that's the case because it puts the server and customer in a super awkward position. We also were told they don't give out bags for the leftovers..... When we literally saw a woman walk by with her to go boxes in a bag. And this is sort of silly I know but we also didn't get the usual mints they leave at the end. I think if our server laid off the weed before his shift he might have been able to be a bit more effective managing the busy...