Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in North Carolina

We have been talking about going to the new Olive Garden for month.On 8-15-2023 about 420 PM we decided because we were close to go in. I must thank you for the worst experience I have ever had. It allowed us to go to Margaritas which was amazing. First we walked in and after waiting a few minutes, the not so friendly hostess did not give us a greeting of hey how are you? She simply said how many I said 2 and with a bit of an attitude she grabbed a couple menus and it took us to a table right by the front door, which actually was dirty. So she left her standing there for a few minutes while she want to get something to clean it up while we were out there we noticed most of the restaurant was empty and we really did want to booth so we asked her if we could sit over in a booth maybe 50 feet away, she said no that section is closed and I said oh wait a minute you’re telling me the same server that would be waiting on us at this table can’t go over a few tables over to get that booth. She said no and then she said she was going to wait. What did she say? She she said you can talk to a manager and turned around and walked away. I have to say that was the absolute worst experience I’ve ever had in a restaurant, and I’ve had many if I had to guess I would say that hostess was not a friendly person anyway. And my guess is she has been yelled at by servers before for seating people out of their section. I managed many many restaurants for almost 30 years and the one thing I know is it look like one? She was a bad higher but 2 she was never trained. No one ever should be greeted how many I want to restaurant is empty the people coming in should not get wet probably is the worst table in the house. When we went over to the other restaurant, it was a completely different experience. They did not say how many they asked how we were and then asked how many. They were much busier, and did have open booths and without asking sat us their. The waitress came up and with a smile. Well, I’m sure you knew how the rest goes because we are so thankful that your place was so bad that we left. I seriously doubt if I ever will go to another Olive Garden again we are going to give away the gift card that my girlfriend was given for appreciation of her teacher excellence. And by the way, anybody and I work in a business that I meet tons of people and still creek is an area that I serve, you can bet I will let the everybody know about...

I called ahead for seating since olive garden does not take reservations 4 hours earlier. Very nice on the phone. When we arrived, about 15 min late, because 1 family had a flat tire, we sat in the waiting area about another 40 minutes. About 10 other families were seated. No problem. We had a baby shower the day before with family members from all over. We wanted to sit together. 13 of us. When we arrived, the hostess desk was occupied by about 5 people. Members of my family started to hear mumbling about the amount of people we had in our party, and they were not going to wait our table. Finally after 40 min they had our table ready. We went to sit and not enough space for us to sit together, so the manager moved us to the back 2 separate tables. Not what we had in mind, but we could deal with it, as the next few minutes passed, more people were seated and already getting their order taken. A few of our family members overheard, and had seen the waitresses saying, I'm not taking them, with hand gestures. Half of my family decided to leave, the other half decided to stay. The family members that left stated that if this is how they feel, they dont deserve my buisness. The manager and kitchen manager were extremely good and came outside to talk with the family members that had left. They did give a gift certificate for a future visit at another olive garden and paid for the remaining families meal. They remaining family did have excellent service after that. Everyone has bad days, I get it, but when the hostess crew all decide they will not wait...

I went to a late lunch with my daughters. The table we were seated at had trash and food on the floor. I asked the waitress to have someone clean the floor before the food came to the table because I did not want anyone sweeping around my food. The food came out and the trash was still on the floor. I asked her not to put the food on the table until someone can come sweep. She apologized that it wasn't already done. She went to get someone but then proceeded to still put the food on the table. Besides that part she was nice although she did get my order wrong. Fast forward to paying for the meal. We were told to pay at the table. Upon paying, I was still giving a 20% tip (I know crazy right), the tip came up on the machine to automatically show 20%. It was higher thaN what 20% should be. I had to move the tip couter to between 15%-16% in order to get the correct 20% tip amount. This is Stealing! You are Stealing from your customers and have lost my business. I have the full receipt as well to show this was the full check and it was not split between anyone. So the tip on the machine was based on the full amount. Your machine needs to be fixed to show the correct amount so when consumers are paying they are paying exactly what they intended to pay. I always calculate my tip and I don't depend on my suggested tip amount on the receipt or machine. If I didn't I would have...