Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in New York

Update (September 2024) Unfortunately, we just had two negative experiences with this branch. They seem to be severely understaffed. First we came on a random Tuesday night at 7 pm and the restaurant was pretty empty. Still, there were many people waiting outside. We asked for a table for 3 and they said the wait time was about 40 minutes. I questioned the many tables available and they said they decided to close half the restaurant. Because we couldn't wait that long with a hungry toddler, we asked if they took reservations. They said "Monday through Thursday only". Then we asked for a reservation for the next day (Wednesday) at 6 pm for 3. They said "oh, no, reservations only for big groups, Monday through Thursday". And I said I really wanted to have dinner there, what should I do. The host then said, "oh, just log into the app and pre-order a table". Just out of curiosity, I checked the app right there. And the app said there was no wait! 🫠 But the host said if we had the app reservation, then we would get priority seating. So we did that the following Saturday. We went online, checked the queue, and it said "no to little wait, check in when you get there". We checked-in and got a text "you have a brief, few minute wait, we'll text you when your table is ready". We talked to the hostess and she said "it will be 5 minutes". I said "we are checked in" and she said "even so, 5 min". Then we waited 10 minutes and asked again. She said people who were there first had priority. I said "you should really update the app to let us know what the real wait is" and she said "I don't work with the app and it has nothing to do with me", with support from her supervisor. We were seated briefly after that, but frustrated and upset. The food is still good (I still recommend the chicken alfredo) and the cocktail was also good (7$ for a spiked strawberry lemonade). Our waitress, Chelsie, was great if a bit overworked dealing with taking orders, delivering the food, and preparing drinks. Overall, I'm disappointed and not planning on coming back in person. Original post: We had a great experience here. We visited on a Thursday night and it wasn't too busy. We didn't have to wait more than 3 minutes for a table. The server was kind and accommodating to our requests. We ordered the meatball appetizer and ate it with the famous (free) breadsticks that were delicious - warm and salty. Then we ordered the sirloin (about 20$) and the chicken fettuccine (about 20$). The entrées were amazing. (Note that we swapped the grilled chicken for the breaded chicken and loved it) The only thing that was not so tasty were the soups (complimentary when you order an entry). We had the minestrone and the chicken gnocchi and both were kind of bland. The sodas had free refill which is always appreciated. After all of this, we didn't have space for dessert but we were definitely tempted by the chocolate lasagna, the strawberry cake, and a decadent chocolate pie. A bonus was the take-home pasta (3 possible flavors)...

Yesterday, a friend and I decided to check out the Olive Garden in Caeser's Bay after a long night of hanging out at Target. Full disclosure, we are both Italian. However, we went in with open minds, and open hearts. We were ready to accept our new Olive Garden nonnas. Because, after all, when you're here, you're family.

We were greeted with a warm welcome at the door. Family. La Famiglia. We sat down at our booth, and were immediately suctioned to a layer of goo on the seatbacks. The table was also dirty, and very sticky. The wall we were next to was caked with food. We decided not to complain because we didn't want to be difficult customers. However, we began to realize a trend with this place when we noticed the bathroom floor was shellacked with a layer of dried urine. Evidently, nothing was really getting cleaned.

Our nonna for the evening was extremely nice and helpful with our orders. He brought out our salad, which was served family style in a big bowl. The salad had a nice Italian zest to it, but seemed to be pretty old. The lettuce was wilted and brown. As my friend described it, "this food kinda soggy." Perhaps we should have gone with the soup. The breadsticks are no joke. They are excellent. I love some good bread. We ordered some blue juice as well, which was essentially Gatorade with a lemon garnish.

For the main course, I ordered the Eggplant Parmigiana. It wasn't great. I am trying not to be a harsh critic. I understand that I am descended from millions of generations of authentic Italian nonnas toiling away in the kitchen, crafting divine eggplant parms in the hills of Sicily. That said, it was probably about as good as the eggplant parm I was cooking when I first learned how to cook the dish. A beginner's parm, no two ways about it. It was extremely salty though, and that definitely made it less enjoyable. My friend ordered the chicken marsala, and immediately started gagging upon smelling it. It had the aroma of a cheap, frozen chinese food TV dinner, mixed with a whopping portion of decade old grease. My friend described the chicken as a mashed up chicken patty-- similar to a high school cafeteria situation. After a few bites, he couldn't do it. He tapped out. I told him that he might be able to tell our nonna about his predicament, but he didn't want to cause a problem.

Although the food wasn't that good, and the restaurant was dirty, I had a lot of fun at this place. We found all of this stuff entertaining, and I haven't laughed that much in a while. In my younger days, I would have NEVER entered an Olive Garden. But as I've gotten older, I have become more accepting. We only get one family in this life, and we need to embrace them, flaws and all. That family is located in Caeser's Bay. It's about time you pay...

So you know when you have good company you don’t notice the time passing, that’s what was happening unit I noticed we had three bread bowls and two bowls of salad and on my second refill, and my food didn’t show up. My waitress Samantha, omg very attentive and just great, she explained there was a problem with the kitchen that’s why the food was taking long. I realized in that moment that the waiter is just the messenger, and you can’t blame them. They literally have to depend on the people making the food, to make money, if the screw that up, there goes the tip. Yet the only face your remember is his/hers/they. Any way although waiting for an hour and 34 minutes for my food, it was great, not just good great. Clearly the line cook whom ever they maybe, has the golden touch and a standard of culinary excellence that he/she/they are trying to maintain and that I respect wait and all. Remember I did say the food was great, not the regular hey I’m just going to give them a picture of what they order, no, someone back there is still tasting, someone back there is still testing for the perfect aldenté pasta. Now as I write this, I realized that my expectations were unrealistic and my demands too full off entitlement. I was great tasting food, fresh food, in under a half an hour. I would never put those kind of demands from my mother, or hell I can’t create a great tasting meal for my family in under a half of an hour without cutting corners. I forgot that I went to a restaurant that has never touted they were a fast food restaurant, they have however promised good food, and last night they provided great food. I did complain because at that time, please forgive me and my expectations. However, Alejandro the manager on duty was amazing, he listened to my entitled complaint, he apologized and he empathized. He was never condescending all along knowing he was bleeding from the side and loosing money all night because of the kitchen staff. These are the managers I respect, these are the managers that don’t get the respect they deserve because of the human side the bring to the business. He wasn’t a push over and worked fairly with me when deciding how to compensate me for my lost time. Whom do ever does the hiring for this location, I tip my hat 🎩 to you. The wait staff, the management and the kitchen staff are great they all had pleasant attitudes even though it may have been the worse night for them. However, like I said, we customers are walking in with high unrealistic expectations and unearned entitlement have no right not to see the world poorly when it is striving against all odds to be great. Today I have a different perspective as to the one I had yesterday, an hour and a half is bit of a wait but it was...