Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Panama City

My husband and myself ate dinner here last night. I will tell you this was not a pleasant experience for us. We don't get out often so when we do we try to enjoy our time. We were sat quickly, very excited as I have a noise issue loud noises hurt my ears. Also Misophonia which is awful. We were sat in a booth that was all by itself. So we took this as a sign that all was going to be well. We sat for a few min, say possibly 5 to 6 min, then a young girl came running by letting us know she'd be with us in a moment. We were ok with this !

When our server finally did came to the table. She seemed stressed out and very busy. We immediately gave her our drink Order as well as our salad and appetizer Order. It took her a good few minutes to come back with our drinks, again no issue there, she was busy.

We waited for our app, and salad. It took quiet a long time to come, simply speaking as it was. Alfredo, breadstix, and mozzarella Stix. Salad and Zuppa. I'd say close to 20 min or more, for salad, breadstix, cheese Stix.

My husband and I were on a date, so we were playing a game in the machine, so time moved slow but quickly as we kept ourselves occupied, and we did have the bread and salad. It had been quiet a while at this point. I'd say close to 30/40 min or so give or take. Again, we stayed calm up until. The server brought mashed potatoes to the table..... Sitting them on the table, telling us she wanted to drop these off so they didn't spoil under the lamp, there's a huge party.

I immediately started to ask why and was so confused at the same time, she was gone before I could even think really. Another server heard my words but walked away. The potatoes were hard, and old.

We were fine not having them if that means we didn't have all of our food?

I spoke to my husband thinking maybe the food may be coming soon. Still, why send out old mashed potatoes with no meal? Only the side item.

Another server seemed to not like our conversation and started slamming dishes behind our heads 🙄 extreamly rude. We had the right to understand why we only got a side item while she told us our food was going to be a bit still due to the party?

Our food eventually came. 20 min later My husband's food ordered, Salmon. He said seemed old or over cooked. When the food was brought no potatoes were given. We had to ask for new ones to be brought with his meal?

I ordered chicken tort Alfredo. NO CHICKEN. The tort was funky tasting and the noodles were almost rubbery as it seemed to had been sitting. It could have been that no chicken, maybe???

It was hard to get our server to our table the few times she was there she was pleasant. Just very Busy.

No manager came to talk to us about our experience, though we didnt ask. We were kind of just sat and left. We paid and left.

I'd hope to have a much better experience considering we don't...

My husband LOVES one of the dishes at Olive Garden! So much so that we have been ordering it for take out almost on a weekly basis for over a year now. We just recently moved in town so up until then we used the beach location. Let me just say that the Pier Park location SMOKES the location in town! By a number of ways, food is always right, hot and on time, service is great and I have NEVER experienced with them what I experienced with this location last night!! I was on my way home from the beach and called to place an order. 1st call, on hold 11 minutes and then disconnected. 2nd call, on hold 3 minutes and disconnected. 3rd call, on hold 13 minutes! By this time, I am standing in the lobby of the restaurant! When I pulled into the parking lot there was one vehicle in the "to go" parking. I asked the girls up front if I could place an order and told them that I had been holding to speak to someone for 26 minutes. They could've cared less and asked the girl behind the bar to take my order. I asked for a manager. Sky (the manager) comes out to speak to me and I tell him of my frustration, his response? "Well they have been busy taking several to go orders tonight, let me get someone to take your order." A girl walks by, he grabs her and tells her to take my order, tells me to have a nice evening and walks away. There are nine tables being occupied by guest, it is 8:45 at night, my order is small. She tells me the order will be ready in 30 minutes, so I wait in my car. Over the next 30 minutes I witness 4 cars come to pick up their orders. No one is pleasant, no one apologizes for me having to wait over an hour for some noodles and breadsticks, no one cares. I have been in the restaurant and hospitality industry for 30 years. I understand being busy, being tired, and that hearing complaints gets old. But it's part of your job, it's also part of your job to make your guest feel welcome. I didn't get any of that. I will also not be giving this location another dollar of my hard earned money. Oh... and my food was luke warm...

It took getting a gift card for my birthday to remember why I swore off ever going back again. Half of parking is for take out orders and handicap none of which was being used. Men's room stinks from lack of service to urinals. They make you use a self checkout device on the table to pay. None of which will work if you are using a gift card and your debit card for split payment. After claiming to have used my gift card for the $50 that it had on it, and the remaining balance of $16 and change that should have been charged on my debit card, I being suspicious of why I never wanted to go back and not able to remember just why, I checked my checking account at the table on my phone and I instantly saw they didn't deduct for the gift card. When asked for help to get it straight and handing her the gift card, they had the nerve to say "you still have $50 on your gift card". I had to ask her to fix it , rather than them offering to. Take home container lids won't fit the containers to take home left overs in. I had to ask three times for take home containers that worked. It took an extra 30 minutes to straighten out their scam and use my gift card to leave. Young waitress couldn't be less attentive to ask what you need when you are staring at her to get her attention. When you order the endless soup and salad, one would expect the server to figure on checking back with you especially when you are staring out her as soon as she turns the corner heading your way. (Probably just new) Gave her huge tip anyway. What better way to celebrate your birthday than to start it off with a HELL HOLE NIGHTMARE DINNER, SPEND MORE TIME TRYING TO LEAVE THAN IT TOOK TO EAT, HAVING MY WIFE LEAVE THE BUILDING AND SET OUTSIDE BECAUSE SHE WAS SO UPDET THAT THE REST OF WHAT SHE HAD PLANNED FOR MY BIRTHDAY IS NOT 30 MINTUES BEHIND SCHEDULE AND ALREADY RUINED JUST FROM MY SISTER SENDING ME A GIFT CARD SH EPICKED UP AT Sams Club. I WILL NEVER GO TO THIS HOLE IN THE...