Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Murfreesboro

It's been many years since I've eaten at an Olive Garden, but ended up there to celebrate a loved one's birthday. Being prime dinner time on a Friday night, the seating wait wasn't bad for a party of 7. And we had fun playing trivia on the touch screen while waiting for our server and food. Breadsticks! Always loved their breadsticks. The pre-meal batch were nice and soft, but the two batches that followed were hard and crunchy. This made them far less enjoyable than I remember. I love a good salad, but the lettuce was a huge turn off as it was mostly hard core chunks or wilted yellow and brown. Thankfully, my tried and true was still available: fettuccine alfredo. Sadly, it seems they changed the sauce's recipe as it had an odd aftertaste. My husband isn't one to complain. He will typically try his best to finish something regardless of how it tastes because he doesn't want to be rude or wasteful. He did not appear to be enjoying his chicken parmesan, so I asked how it was and promptly received a "disgusting". (I agreed!) Though he did enjoy his soup and we both agreed the spaghetti was "edible". My biggest complaint was the service! Don't get me wrong: our server was nice and answered everyone's questions. But once we got our food, he never checked on us to ask how everything was or if we needed something. When I flagged him down and ask for a refill for my husband's water and more breadsticks, it took him 10 minutes before he returned... with the bread. At that point, someone else asked for more water. Another 10 minutes passed before the pitcher of water appeared. And even though my husband's glass was empty for 20 minutes, his was the last to be filled! The biggest reason this bothered me so much was because the pitcher of ice water was sitting out in the open on the bar directly behind us. It would have taken 15 seconds to refill his glass. And I would think it would be pretty obvious that drinks should come before bread. Especially when everything is so salty! On top of that, while we were all finishing up our meals, I requested one last basket of breadsticks. They weren't brought out until everyone was already finished. We also had to remind the waiter about the birthday dessert he said the birthday girl could pick out on the house because he completely forgot about it. Overall, I do not feel like the prices are worth the quality (or lack there of) of food and service. I definitely have no desire to return, especially when the 'boro has so many choices of...

UPDATED REVIEW 05-18-2025: unfortunately, this location no longer cares to accommodate large parties. They do not accept reservations, and even though we called 4 weeks in advance to make them aware of the graduation party, they still refused to accommodate a reservation, but we were assured there would be no hitches. Fast-forward to the actual party day. Called when they opened to remind of the 15 person party at 2pm. They advised no reservations were accepted, but would put is in the wait list. We arrive at the restaurant 50 minutes early, wait for 5 minutes and then meet the Manager, SEAN RIVERA. Mr. Rivera proceeds to tell us it will be at least 25-minutes before an area is ready to seat our party. I expressed my displeasure about this wait & explained the lengths we went to ensure we would not have such an excessive wait. Mr. Rivera did not even bother to apologize, but instead said that would be the wait, unless we wanted to sit "near" each other, instead of all together. I explained, again, this is a graduation party and not sitting together is not being considered. A party of 7-8 walked in behind us, not on the waitlist, and were sat at a table within 5 min. When I expressed my dissatisfaction about this, Mr. Rivera said it was just based on how they can accommodate us. I do not find this acceptable in any shape or form and will reach out to their Corporate office as well. This is not the way to maintain relationships within a local community. I am VERY saddened to reduce my previously standing 5-star review down to 2! And those are simply given to the very nice server who took time to speak with us like we were actually "visiting family".

Always a more-than excellent dining experience, and the fact that you can add yourself to the waitlist via their app before you arrive makes it superb! The food was prepared perfectly to order, the new lasagna dip is fantastic, and the bartender was spot-on with his pours. Bravo! Olive Garden 5-Stars well-earned from this reviewer. 5 stars were reduced to 2...

This was supposed to be a Valentine dinner for my husband who is suffering from cancer. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't get near a restaurant on this holiday, but he really wanted the Stuffed Chicken Marsala, and I couldn't disappoint him. I made the mistake of assuming that our local Olive Garden in Murfreesboro, TN would put on extra staff for a busy holiday. I also assumed that ordering curbside I could avoid some of the usual crowds. Not only was there NO curbside parking, but there was also a holding pattern of cars waiting to park in curbside. I had to park in the next shopping center over and it took me 7 minutes to walk to Olive Garden. Of course, checking in was difficult since I wasn't in a "registered curbside spot". So, I simply entered standing outside...and I wasn't the only one...there were several of us waiting outside in the cold. I arrived precisely at 5:35 when my order was supposed to be ready. After 20 minutes I went inside to see if I could obtain my order myself. It was on the shelf ready and buried behind other orders. I was then asked to pay for the order...I explained that it was an online order and I paid online...why else would they start my order or give me an order confirmation #. Again, my mistake for assuming that your system works...I didn't bring my order confirmation with me or my wallet. I had to walk the 7 minutes back to my car and 7 minutes back to the restaurant with my wallet. If it weren't for the love of my husband and trying to fulfil his wish, I would've just left and let you keep your order. When I promised to leave a google review of my experience, the young girl at the front desk working curbside found that amusing...I guess we'll see who has the last laugh. For a 5:35 pickup time, I was finally leaving your front lobby at 6:05 pm. Needless to say, dinner was COLD and very disappointing. ...