Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Plano

I had to update my review of this establishment after a general decline in service quality over the course of time since my prior review.

First off, a MAJOR SANITATION CONCERN: The manager on duty this afternoon (November 5th, 2025) was walking around the front of house with white gloves on, possibly cloth as they had a pattern. Not only is this a huge red flag in general as wearing gloves in front of house is highly unsanitary, if they were cloth then that's flat out disgusting.

Second, and this has been an issue for some time now, when you enter the restaurant there is a distinctive odor which smells like cat urine. Perhaps this odor is a warning to the kind of lackadaisical service one can expect from the staff...

Despite our server, Kavin, having to return an item due to it being incorrect the manager on duty did not come to the table. Kavin, we came to learn, was on his 2nd day working as a server at Olive Garden and had ZERO assistance from other servers or the manager on duty. The manager did not speak to a single guest the entire time we were there.

This location, in the past, has been very efficient. Today it was half empty but we still had to wait about 10 minutes for a table. At noon.

When we were seated it was next to the kitchen entrance. This quickly became a problem because everyone who passed into kitchen would loudly yell "Corner!" as they went around the corner into the kitchen. That we were seated in an area with that kind of obnoxious practice when other tables were available is a bad enough oversight. This is made worse by the realization that a single mirror on the wall would eliminate the need for staff to loudly yell as they walked past guests. I suspect this might also be an OSHA violation.

Our server, Kavin, was a genuinely nice person and I do regret my visit to the establishment while he waited on my party necessitated this re-review. My expectations of a server are practically nothing: don't leave me with an empty drink for too long and make sure my order is correct.

The error in my order was not a huge issue, but it took a long time to correct on top of him generally failing to anticipate any of my party's needs, as well as taking an excessive amount of time to process our requests.

At no time was he asked anything more complicated than to take our orders and to refill our drinks. The closest thing to complexity was when, after having run out of tea and him taking 10 minutes to bring a refill, asking for a carafe of tea since it was taking so long (in a half empty restaurant) to bring refills.

Kavin was told by another server that a carafe of tea was not possible. Why he didn't ask the manager instead of another server is unknown. Why he didn't bring me two glasses of tea is likewise unknown. Why he was incapable of of seeing that our beverages were empty and just brining us refills without asking is also unknown. Why he got my order wrong when I explicitly recommended he write it down...unknown.

Speaking of unknowns, I do not understand why the manager did not come to the table when my order had to be remade. We were in the restaurant for an hour and half, at no point did the manager interact with any of the guests. I should also point out that a significant portion of the time we were present involved waiting for our server to come back to the table so we could place our order. After that it took him about 10 minutes to bring our drinks, then probably another 15 to bring soup, salads and breadsticks.

In general the quality of service at this location has dipped far below what I consider acceptable for an establishment at this price point. There are better Olive Garden locations in the area, such as the one near Firewheel, where you can get the same quality food while the staff and management are actually capable of providing service in line with minimal expectations.

One final note, as we were leaving the hostess was sitting down on one of the benches intended for guests talking to a personal visitor of some sort. Highly...

My grandma, my mom, and I went for lunch. We ordered Endless soup and salad for me, a chicken shrimp carbonara for my mom and grandma to share, and Alfredo dip for the table to share. When we placed the order, I asked "could we please get two extra bowls to share the soup, they refused and told me that the soup would not be endless if we shared. I understood that, so I asked for two extra spoons so that my mom and grandma could try my soup. If they liked it, I would then add a soup for them. They each tried a bite, did not like it, so I finished it. When I asked for refill, the waitress looked at me, tilted her head, and said with an attitude "So you DID share the soup." I said "no no. They just tasted it." She left. I did not like being accused when I followed the rules after being told the rule, didn't do anything wrong, and just trying to enjoy lunch. I reported this to the manager, initially she was very nice, but later she was not so nice. She told me "I took care of the extra soup we charged you." I was like "what? You were not supposed to charge me an extra soup anyway!" She also told me "if you have extra spoons on the table, we just assume that you were sharing soup." I mean...Are you serious? If getting extra spoons means you are going to assume things and charge me an extra soup, you should at least tell me ahead of time instead of surprising me with the charge. Next time, when a customer asks for extra utensils, I dare you to tell them "we are going to assume that you are going to share this so we are going to charge you extra. Not to mention that having extra spoons can mean a million things, such as trying a bite of someone's food, using the spoon for the Alfredo dip, using the spoon as a stopper when turning the fork to get pasta. But the manager told me "we assume you are sharing the bowl of soup, that's just how it is." I used to be loyal customer of OG, but I am not going back. Also the bread has not been the same. It tastes so much worse now. They cheapened the bread for sure. Red sauce also tastes no better than store bought jars. I ended up tipping 15% just in case you...

The server was decent, however after calling to make reservations for our son's birthday with specific instructions, they dropped the ball. After completing our meal, both my husband and I spoke to different staff asking when they would sing happy birthday and bring out the cake. I was informed by the manager(Steven), they no longer had a cake and would comp a dessert and sing if we wanted them too. By this point there was no surprise for our son, making it completely pointless for us to eat there. Olive Garden, had been an over 30 year family birthday tradition, regardless of the collectivity deteriorating dishes. The salad was drenched in dressing, yet the alfredo sauce on my son and husband's dish was so minimal, they had to request sauce in order to actually eat their food. That night after coming home, I ended up with what appeared to manifest as food poisoning(vomiting/diarrhea/cramping/chills), and I was in bed for almost 2 days. I ate the angel hair pasta with mushroom sauce and salad, and was the only one out of our party that fell ill. I will NEVER RETURN TO THIS RESTAURANT. For AUTHENTIC SERVICE AND FOOD GO-TO EDDY's OFF 15TH ST AND CUSTER IN PLANO, TX(next door to McDonald's)

---------UPDATE-3\17\2021-------------- To Whom It May Concern,

After leaving my initial Google Review(above), an "owner" reached out/responded indicating "we take this seriously, please send an email too", (seen in their response to the above review below)which I have and have heard NOTHING.

Now then, not only have you completely ruined the more than 30 year "family tradition", you have proven that indeed you not only had NO SINCERE INTEREST in my experience, but you are in fact liar's both at a restaurant staffing level and a corporate level. It's terribly unfortunate you don't take into consideration each and every dining experience, whether good or bad, and accept...