Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Portage

I've had my fair share of Italian food, from authentic to the ma and pa Americana chains. Here are my honest highlights of Olive Garden, in Portage, Michigan.

Making a reservation is recommended ahead of time, with waits on the weekend averaging a hour or two.

The Experience: Reserving online is easy and straightforward, requiring a Name, phone number and e-mail address. The wait compared to the estimate was off by about 15 to 20 minutes, it took longer than expected but this was okay because it gave us time to look at the menu online while we waited for our table.

Getting to the host counter was a bit chaotic, with no identifiable stand for reservations, so we waited with the crowd when our table was finally ready.

It is a very popular location in portage, so expect a packed dinning room with lots of laughter and families enjoying the food, and each others company.

Once you get seated, expect world-class customer service and delicious food.

The Experience: We had only been seated a minute, and had just a moment to peruse the appetizer screen (its a little table-side device) when our waiter arrived, smiling and attentive. He offered us his Name, Michael Moore, and proceeded to ask us if there was anything we would like to drink.

After quickly, and friendly taking our order of appetizers and drinks, he swiftly made off.

In less than five minutes, Michael returned with our drinks AND the app's (to our astonishment). He asked if we had decided on our entree's.

We seen what his recommendations were and he offered a great solution to our dilemma: Linking to try multiple things, but not always wanting the full portions. He recommended the Tour of Italy dinner, which features slightly smaller portions of their most classic dishes.

The Fried Mozzarella was hot, and so stringy and gooey! It had a crisp outside and a burst of fresh cheese flavor. They pair very well with the Marinara that comes with. These are some of the better mozzarella I've had.

The time it took for us to eat the hot app's, and most of our first drinks seemed to be perfectly timed, as Michael returned with our soups and salads that came with the entree's. Along with refills of our drinks moments after.

The Minestrone soup is hearty and very tasty! I fought myself against eating every drop, as I knew room for the main course was needed.

When our friendly waiter (Michael) returned, this time accompanied by another waitress: I knew we were in for a treat. She brought to us two piping hot plates and the fair polite warning as to such effect. Before us sat the American embodiment of Italy: Chicken Parmigiana, Fettuccini Alfredo and a high-piled-not-so-leaning-tower of Lasagna. Each of these was plenty to fill a hungry soul after the soup, let alone the mozzarella from before.

The Breakdown: A) Chicken Parmigiana: The chicken was crisp and fried to perfection, offering a thorough season and was juicy in every bite. The Marinara was an excellent topper.

B) Fettuccini Alfredo: The noodles were done Al dente, like I like. The sauce was a yummy blend of butter, cheese and garlic. it was very satisfying.

C) Lasagna Classico: The lasagna was good, it was not my favorite of the dish, but it was good. It features what tastes like Italian sausage (not my favorite, this is my own opinion on Italian sausage) and a good amount of cheese. I would have liked a bit more sauce to balance the flavor.

The whole time we were catered like family, if not in the most professional and top-notch way, and it made us longing to return. Michael thanked me for telling him how exquisite the later-half of my experience had been, and I asked him for his last name to make sure he got the credit he deserves. That man is a world class customer experience professional, and he pays great attention to detail. He made sure my partner was given some cherry in her coke since it was not on the menu, and stuff like that goes a VERY far in customer service.

This establishment has the potential to be a real star among the best of the best that south west Michigan...

Worst experience we have ever had at a restaurant. We went here tonight as a family of 4 (two toddlers, mind you) for Veterans Day because my husband is a veteran. Upon arriving, we were seated quickly in a nice quiet corner booth. Soon after, the folks in the booth behind us left to join another party in another area of the restaurant, making our area even quieter. We sat in our booth in the restaurant for an entire 30 minutes before receiving any drinks or salad/soup. We also, during that 30 minutes, had talked to at least 2-4 servers about how we hadn't gotten served yet. Every server apologized and said they would figure out what was going on. Nope. We finally got help and our drinks after those 30 minutes were up. During this time, our two toddlers were making a ruckus but no server came over to lighten our evening, but the other table in the room with a lone toddler and a bunch of adults, received so much attention and so much noise, as if a table of adults couldn't control their one toddler. Anyhow, so then we kept waiting another 10 minutes and our food finally came. Our kids were supposed to have 2 sides but we were just given one. We were beyond stressed at this point from all the time we had it wait for food and service, plus the numerous others in the room who were behind served before us and yet they arrived after us. After finishing our food, my husband decided to order dessert. Five or ten minutes later, it arrived in a box, but it was the wrong dessert! I had also mentioned again to the server that our kids hadn't received their second side, but the server still didn't bring it to us. My husband was livid about the dessert and had to go tell someone if was wrong. Soon after, they brought us the correct one. Also during this time, our server had come over while I was writing a review on the table computer thing, and he took our takeout boxes that we hadn't quite filled yet! We were honestly so upset when we left, we don't have plans to come back. The food was decent but the service was awful. My husband even asked a server if it was busier than normal for Veterans Day, and she said it wasn't. But...

That. Was. AWESOME!!!

My sister and I are passionate about our annual trip to OG. This was our best visit yet! As we walked in, they were playing beautiful music outside in the misty rain. “Is this real life?” asked my wide-eyed sister. We were seated at our table immediately. I got started with a hot cocoa (off menu). My sister went with the green apple sangria, recommended by our kind server. Both were DE-Licious.

As always, we ordered the unlimited dipping sauce trio-- we recommend this to all. I’d like to fill up my bathtub with that four-cheese marinara. Our server assuaged any anxiety by letting us know that he would be happy to bring out TWENTY bowls of sauce, if we saw fit. He just gets it. The soup, salad, and breadsticks were all up to OG’s top-notch standards. When the server got out the cheese shredder, made eye contact with me, and said “tell me when,” I didn’t feel so alone anymore. This happened again and again, and is the sort of thing that keeps me coming back for more.

When my ravioli came out, I felt a glow of warm light settle over our table. Was it a bowl of ravioli or a work of fine art? I mean, DAYUM. With each cheesy forkful, I reached a level of bliss previously unknown to me. My sister got a big bowl of spaghetti with mushroom sauce and added sauteed mushrooms-- “The flavor was heavenly.” As we ate, we felt a sense of camaraderie with the other diners. “We’re all family here at Olive Garden Italian restaurant,” we repeated several times throughout the night.

Our server topped off our night with a handful of about twenty Andes mints. I mean, come on. Talk about being understood. Thank you OG for being the highlight of another year for us.

We left the building with warmth in our hearts, a sense of wholeness, and four to-go meals that continue to bless us with abundance. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU. This place absolutely rocks. Without a shadow of doubt, you’ll see the two of us back around this...