Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Queen Creek

UPDATE: Shortly after my review I was contacted by both customer relations and the manager of this location. They apologized for my poor experience and provided me with a gift card as incentive to return.

I did return to the Olive Garden and received service better than before and didn’t have any issues with the food we ordered. The experience was all around so much better.

I’m happy with the way they resolved my concerns and will have no problem going back.

The service was acceptable, nothing to write home about. But this had to have been my first real bad experience at an Olive Garden.

It’s been a few months since I’ve been to one, so it caught me by surprise when I noticed the steak Gorgonzola was no longer available. Since that was always my go to dish I wasn’t sure about what to get. I asked the server about the braised beef dish, and he said that is one of the most popular dishes. The smell alone attracts a lot of customers. So feeling good about it, I ordered it. When I received it I instantly remembered that I had tried it before, and I did not like it. I was reluctant to tell that to the server, but I figured if I’m paying for the food I might as well get what I want, so I asked him if we could change it for something else. He said “no problem, I take this dish back a lot“. So why would he suggest something that nobody likes? I thought that odd.

I opted for the 6 ounce steak dish (it’s not a steakhouse, so I wasn’t expecting anything amazing). He asked how I want it cooked, I asked for medium. The dish I got consisted of a very well done sirloin steak. I didn’t want to be a nuisance so I wasn’t going to complain to the server, but I did let him know that it wasn’t medium, just so you could give some feedback to the person in the kitchen or whatever. His response was just “oh. It’s a new guy.” That may have been very well true, but It didn’t sound like he was going to be passing that note on,

As far as my Weiss dish, she got the stuffed chicken Marsala. Which comes with two pieces of chicken. One was very tough, as if it wasn’t cooked very well. I brought that up to the server and all he said was “yes sometimes one of them isn’t cooked as well“. He didn’t offer to take it back, didn’t offer to exchange it, nothing. And my wife being as timid as she is, didn’t want to start any trouble. So just said "it's okay" and waved it off.

Not a...

I visited this location yesterday and was pleasantly surprised at the quality of some of the food, though some was lacking.

The frito misto appetizer had a flavorful batter on the shrimp and was nicely fried, just needed a touch of salt. The spicy ranch served with it played perfectly, but the marinara could use a revamp.

The salad was disappointing. Clearly just a bagged mix from the grocery store, with store bought croutons and dressing. Meh. At least they let you drown it in cheese.

The seafood alfredo was average overall, though the quality of scallops was pretty surprising. Tender, slightly sweet, hint of ocean in a good way. I found myself wondering if they could be fresh instead of frozen, which probably isn't the case, but you could have fooled me.

The chicken Margherita was excellent. Fresh pesto really brought the dish to life, with chicken that had a nice charred flavor while still being juicy. I would have used cherry tomatoes instead of grape, to lend some sweetness, and the broccoli was cooked well but needed alot of seasoning. Overall flavor was complex and enjoyable.

The bow-tie mousse cake was phenomenal, but most likely not made in house so I can't give too much credit. Nice atmosphere, the service could have been more attentive,...

We asked very politely to have the french fries taken off our bill, due to them being old,cold, oily and so salty we couldn’t eat them. We were very kind, and the waitress was very kind and apologized. We said “absolutely no problem, no big deal” we just wanted them removed from our bill. We waited and then the manager came over to ask if we could swap out the fries for grapes, we said “ oh that’s ok, but thank you!” She then rolled her eyes and said “well…..it’s part of the meal” She then started storming off as she said “I’ll just take it off” she was extremely rude and dismissive, we had been nothing but kind and totally understanding so the attitude was unexpected. I would have understood if we had been upset or rude about the fries being bad, but we even felt bad saying anything as we know it’s not the waitresses fault. But to be treated so rude after being nothing but kind, we will never be going back. The manager for Monday night should go through more training on customer service, not professional.

I wanted to update that guest relations addressed this issue the following day and ensured the manager would be made aware of the concerns. I have since updated the rating by 2 stars since they addressed the problem immediately and found a...