Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Roswell

Where do I begin? ... I am so disappointed with this whole experience. To make a long story short. I ordered $800 worth of food, and I had it divided into two different pick up times. The first pick up was amazing, and on time. The 2nd pick up, and hour later, was a disaster. There were about 16 bags and boxes of food to grab from the pickup area, and no one thought to ask me if I needed help, or if they could assist. I was also in a rush, and asked for the check as soon as I landed, and I left there with no one serving me a check. I got the food to my destination, and there was no spoons, no forks, no plates, no napkins, no breadsticks. I had my bosses eating out of solo cups. I called and DANIEL VALENTINE was the GM on site, and apologized and put me on hold to see what the issue was, and noticed my missing items were in the back of the kitchen. He apologized and then told me he would offer me a discount. So, I told him when I left, I didn't get a receipt, and I can send my assistant to grab it, with the discount. He assured me that he would handle it when they got there. I sent my assistant out an hour later to get the receipt and she comes back and the receipt was for the full price. I called the restaurant back and the guy who answered the phone told me Mr. Valentine wasn't there and was on vacation. I told him, " I just spoke with him an hour ago".. he then placed me on hold and then produced Mr. Valentine. Mr Valentine told me the reason he didn't place a discount on the food was because my assistant came in and left before he could realize it, and then I asked , " well you could have called... I placed an order online, and I had to place my number in that online form".. he then made a snide remark, saying , " If I had your number, I would have called".. we went back and forth about, how if he needed to contact me, he would have because my number was on the order form. Then I went on to tell him how I wasn't helped when I came in, and how my urgency wasn't valued, and after all of that I return to my place of work with no spoons, no forks, no plates, no napkins, no breadsticks. I also informed him of all the conflicting stories that I received from his employees about store policy. Mr. Valentine couldn't explain away the reason all of the necessary items were left out of the order for pick up, and issued me a full refund... which me and my business greatly appreciates. The only reason I didn't give this restaurant 0-1 stars, is because Mr. Valentine really was apologetic and was very bothered by the way the entire experience was handled on their behalf, and wanted me to understand that he prides himself in integrity, and would go above and beyond to make sure that the customer satisfaction is met. He really was a kind person, and was stuck in a hard place of poor customer service from his team, and I hate that he had to have that problem...

We arrived at 6:45 pm on a Saturday night. I put a party of 8 on the list and was estimated a 45 minute wait. The rest of my party arrived 20 minutes later, and we waited... By the time 45 minutes went by they called in a party of 15, a party of 18, and four full waiting rooms of parties of 3-5 people each. My kids were starving, and they sat another large party while our buzzer remained dorment.

We were assured after an hour of waiting that we would be seated soon...

When they tell you: "It takes so long to sit large parties..." As they announce: Ok! Party of 18 come with me! Then return to saying: I am so sorry for your wait... We need to find a table for your large party... As they also anounce: Party of 15! Party of 5! Hey, all you people that just walked in, you all come with me!

You can imagine what I was thinking...

We took the kids outside to play in the cold, because they could take smelling food they could not eat no more.

70 minutes after we arrived we sat down, we had no menus, they were out of kid's menus, and we couldn't even get some bread, because they were waiting on it to cook.

My daughter began screaming, my son began crying, and we had nothing to give them to calm them down. Sugar packets worked as toys for all of 5 minutes. It was 10 minutes before we even got our menus, 15 minutes before drink orders, and the entire night continued at a snail's pace.

In case I am being too subtle: hungry kids are a challenge. Ravenous kids kept up too late because you cannot get your act together enough to toss two tables together to seat a party of 8 is a nightmare... You couldn't even provide menus in a timely fashion, crayons and paper, nor anything really to help... You did not help at all really... The staff provided challenges not solutions, delays not service .

The waitress really tried, but it seemed the restaurant in general was underprepared to serve after dinner rush. Once we were able to order, the bread came out, and I got a good, stiff drink, I hated the experience less, but the stress was a real deal breaker. The dining experience was abismal.

When I thought it couldn't get any worse, we got my food. It was over salted. Every bite tasted like nothing but salt... It texture was like they used a succulent, slow cooked oven roast, el dante tortalini, and then added far too much salt, drowning all their hard work. Tragic really.

From the wait, the service, the pace of dinner, and finally the food, I was unable to enjoy my night out with my family due to the constant stress and disappointment of our dining experience. I have no interest in going back.

We were treated as though we were not important to you, so we will...

We went there with family - who have been there so many times they can't count, and therefore were stunned to experience this particular visit.

The service was nearly nonexistent, and there were several issues with food for our party of 7. We were seated at a table designed for - perhaps - 5, in a very lightly occupied restaurant. It was in a far corner, which MAY have had a bearing on our atrocious service.

The individual meal which was actually very bad was comped; I suspect that had we taken it to a manager, the entire evening might have been comped, but it was so bad that all we really wanted to do was get out of there. That I was stuck with what turned out to be a very substantial bill was frustrating, given that I normally am a generous tipper; I wrestled mightily with the reality of our service against what appeared, possibly, to be a new, and unsupported (nobody else with her), inexperienced waitress dealing with a large and complicated order. In the end, even my diminished-from-normal percentage was generous, but it could have been that there were other issues at work besides her poor performance at our table.

But that could have easily been overcome if we'd gotten some attention. There was so little room available that plates and glasses wound up being placed on any adjoining surface we could find; it was amusing to have a complaint that we might be soiling some wine glasses hung above where some of the dirty dishes were placed (which, as time went on, were removed, along with the successive contributions - but by bus persons, not a wait person who might - for example - have refilled our beverages, or attended to our challenges). If we'd had even mediocre attention to our table, those would have been taken rather than our having to relocate them in order to support the food yet to be eaten.

SHOULD we ever return, if we don't get an adequate space, we'll ask to be moved. Our experience here is unique among our experience at Olive Garden locations in general, and in particular for the folks who'd chosen this one, their normal favorite place to eat.

Therefore, take the above with a dollop of grated romano - your experience may be different. But...