Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Paramus

I went to Olive Garden on 08/09/24 and I was satisfied with my server Micaela she was incredible. My complaint is as a host myself one of the hostess needs to be retrained. I didnt catch her name I think it was Haro something but she is somewhat tall, skinny and has tanned skin. I noticed that she was double and triple sitting multiple severs and she was not allowing the server to go properly greet their tables. I also noticed that she gave my server a seven top while she already had three tables. I don’t know how things at Olive garden works, where I work bigger than six we skip their rotations at least twice so they have enough time to properly greet and serve their tables. She wasnt giving the servers time to prebus their tables because she constantly sitting tables. As a host myself, who has to sit walk in/reservations and take to go orders and sometimes pack to go orders and has to answer phone calls it is not hard to host. As a host, if we see that the servers are getting overwhelmed we can set a wait time to try helping the servers. I can tell that the servers were  getting overwhelmed and they we’re constantly just jumping from table to table and not properly greeting tables nor making sure that they understood their tables need because they didn’t have the time to do so. Also I noticed that there were no food runners, and the server were running their own food which is mind blowing, because where I work we have food runners and the server never have to run their own food. We do this so that they can give excellent service to the tables. Overall Im just disappointed that a big restaurant like Olive garden that they doent have food runners and they don’t properly train their hosts. Despite this, my server Micaela...

I just want to explain my horrible experience on 1/20/24 my mother who wanted to celebrate her birthday in olive garden. we arrived, party of 3. My mother, my niece and myself. we checked in and the hostess tells us 15 to 20 minutes while waiting we saw multiple staff members entering the kitchen, with personal phones in their hands, and one member had shoes in his hands walking around, conversating entering the kitchen multiple times with coworkers as food leaving the kitchen.

after 30 minutes waiting and seeing people being attended with larger and smaller parties that arrived after us, we were questioning if they had forgotten about us.

indeed they did.

they sat us down next to the bathroom in an empty area of the restaurant were it appeared to be closed due to manager having a meeting or but when we were walking back, there were tables that were empty in the main dinning room.

this was the moment my instincts started kicking, and I told my mother that we should leave because it wasn't right that we were forgotten. Not even the tablet that is on top of tables was working. Also who sits people down in the last table next to a bathroom when we passed multiple tables that were empty in the main dining room. unacceptable.

when the manager and the hostess saw us picking up our jackets they rushed trying to cover up a "bullet hole" with a bandage. "let me make it up to you" "let me make this right"

and at this point we just wanted out of this establishment when we were leaving the entrance the same hostess that told us 15 to 20 minutes say to my back " it isn't that serious guys" referring to us letting them know how horrible of a service was...

To start off we sign up for the waiting list online, and when we get to the restaurant we are told that they do not use the online waiting list. After a 50 Minute wait I walk up to the hostess and ask her how much longer for a table of 2 she tells me that my name is not on the list (Paper). I tell her that first they tell me they don't honor online and now that I was not on the list?! She tells me they do honor online and finds my name and sits me, in the middle of the restaurant without asking me for seating preference. After a 10 minute wait a gentleman walks up to us and says "do you know what you are going to order" no introduction, no welcoming attitude. I knew his name is Eric because I read his name tag. My wife asked him if we can sit in a booth, his response was I don't know and walked away. After another 3 minutes waiting he tells us we can move to a booth. At this point we are greeted by another server who introduced herself and made sure we felt welcomed her name is Elizabeth. We ordered an appetizer that tasted like if it was frozen and just reheated. The plate was hotter than the appetizer( as if it had been microwaved). The Entrees where bland and with no taste. My chicken was dry and felt like it had been reheated a couple of times before being served. We left the majority of the food and left the restaurant. The only reason for 1 star would be because of Liz's service and hospitality other than that they would not deserve even half of a star. This restaurant is very disorganized, the whole time we were at the restaurant, there was a table that was...