Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Newington

Update August 2nd, 2019 The company got back to me and were apologetic. I still don't think customers should have to write a bad review to get a response. Nonetheless, I am increasing the stars back up based on their response and the overall time I have had visiting there over the past 4 years.

Update July 28, 2019: my reviews have fluctuated quite a bit over the years, as we first started coming here spring of 2015. On our most recent encounter, two of us got sick. they had a meal special where we could eat lunch and take home another meal, and I believe it was possibly the take-home meal because within a few hours of eating, both of us were feeling sick, cramping up, and spent the next day in the bathroom.

I called to let them know about this, after all we spent over $50 on meals, and only two of us were sick, who happened to have the same dishes The manager told me there's nothing they could do for us and that we would need to go to the hospital, or see our doctor, which it's on a weekend right now so they're not in, and would need to go get lab tests done. If we were hospitalized, all of this would make sense, but we simply got sick after eating one of their meals, and let them know, so I'm not sure why they would find it reasonable if we were starting to get better after around 24 hours. By the time we paid the deductible, the lab test, our coinsurance, we would have spent far more than the meal. In the first place, we were just trying to let them know that there was a problem with either the refrigerated meals or the meals we ate there, because both of us got sick that night, and we did not eat out anywhere else. What a terrible policy to have. This is definitely the last time we will eat there.

Previous Review:

I must say, service there is spotty. We stayed locally and visited regularly for lunch and dinner. We are vegetarian, so we were limited to where we could go. We were new to the region, and it was a familiar brand with salad and pasta, so it was an obvious choice for us.

We must have been there at least 30 times. Sometimes, service was great, other times, not so much. The same goes with the food. Sometimes it was fresh, and tasted fantastic, while other times it was watery, and disappointing. Because we visited so frequently, it was difficult to tell which times were the best; but ultimately, I would say lunch was where we got the least appealing food.

Some of the servers there are excellent, but ultimately, I'm not sure if it is a policy, or what, but they tend to seat people with young children in the back, near the kitchen door. Even if there is empty seating elsewhere, and the back was completely empty, that is where we were regularly seated. Whenever we were seated back there, the only other people would be others with young kids. I noticed a pattern after visiting there 3-4 times. It does seem quite discriminatory, and honestly, it is one of the reasons we no longer eat there when we are in that area. There are some better local places in...

Terrible service from Kimberly L. at the Olive Garden in Newington, NH.! Since she never actually greeted us, I only know her name from the receipt. She treated us like we were a burden to her. She was incredibly rude and inattentive. At the end of the meal she even insulted me by making me feel cheap and like a thief! She actually NUDGED ME WITH HER ELBOW ON MY SHOULDER - so much for social distancing in a raging pandemic! We go out to eat to have a good time with family friends - I have never left a restaurant actually infuriated with the server! My husband and I aren't the type to make a fuss and we had already endured her terrible service for too long so we didn't inform the manager which I wish we would have to let him or her know how terrible she was! She never greeted us, she rushed us along except when she wasn't in a rush, and every time we needed something I had to ask her quickly as she walked by! She RARELY stopped at our table. But then there were times where we didn't see her for 10 - 15 minutes and we were seated near the kitchen entrance! When I finished my glass of wine, she never offered me another glass or ANYTHING else to drink - not even water! I started to drink my daughter's water because it was so tough to get her attention and to actually wait on us! My husband joined us later and I tried to give her his order while he was in the restroom and she wouldn't take his order until he was at the table! But the end of the meal was the worst part. I pointed out an error in the bill (because I like my bill to be accurate) and she actually scoffed at me, added my husband's meal that she forgot (which I didn't notice and didn't mind that she did even though it's incredibly tacky!) and then laughed at me and nudged me with her elbow on my shoulder!!! She meant it as a 'punishment' for me bringing up her original error on my bill! I'm not a thief and don't steal food so it was't a problem that she added the meal but her attitude was one of "I'll show you - you make me fix a bill and now you screwed yourself out of $10!". If we didn't want to pay for another meal he wouldn't have ordered it! Which is why she elbowed me - to let me know she was punishing me and "take that!". Horrible! I've received better service at diners before and I certainly expect better service from a place like Olive Garden! Corporate O.G. is definitely going to hear from me regarding Kimberly L.! So sad and disappointing! WARNING: If you don't want to be ignored and treated rudely - don't sit in Kimberly...

The music is always really terrible and loud.

The silverware is pretty much always covered in water spots and even pieces of old food, enough to turn the stomach. I bring my own.

Smoothies always have chunks of ice in them when I get them.

The decor and lights are absolutely caked in dust.

Waitstaff is often very slow bringing salad and bread refills.

Some of the waitstaff is extremely rude, but others are extremely friendly. Shane being one; he’s great! There’s also a waitress whose name I sadly don’t know, and she is also amazing. I will figure out her name next time we get her, so I can add it here. There’s also another waiter who we haven’t seen in a while that we love. I unfortunately also don’t know his name, but I will figure it out if we ever have him again. All are super welcoming and a pleasure to have!

The bathrooms smell pretty bad, but, at least in the men’s, there’s not usually much, if any, visible grime or trash. The women’s is often much dirtier, and the women I go out to eat with avoid using the bathrooms here as much as possible.

The food is usually prompt and as ordered, though sometimes too prompt since you don’t always have enough time to enjoy the bread and salad first. That’s why I usually take my entrée home with me. You can eat the salad (or soup, if you get that) and just bring the rest home to eat the next day (except Alfredo, not good left over).

Not too expensive for most dishes.

Can get extremely busy at times, but not too often. Usually only a few minutes’ wait for a party of 6 and no wait for 2–4.

They will put three and even four people at tiny square tables with barely any space, so we always ask not to be seated there. It just shouldn’t have more than two people at it. They set them up away from the wall though so that they can squeeze four people in.

They’re pretty disorganized in how they seat people. They seat small parties (1–2 people) at large tables meant for six people and squish large parties at smaller tables surprisingly often.

The managers are mostly all very nice and will generally try to help right any problems that come up. They’ll often come up to tables just to check in with all the customers and make sure everything it is going well.

TL; DR: Some good things (food, most of the prices, most of the staff, etc.), some bad (dirty silverware, smelly bathrooms, loud and bad...