Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Salisbury

This was my first time EVER at an Olive Garden.. shocking to my husband! Apparently I haven't been missing much.

We arrived.. we're told a 15 minute wait for a party of 2. Hey.. we are kidless for a weekend.. we can wait! A hostess took 2 tables instantly (no reservations!).. a table of 3 and a table of 2.. and was ready to take a third table before another hostess came up and said something. We were then called.

The area we were sat in seemed to be around "regulars" (listen.. take care of your regulars they are what keep the place open!). We waited a pretty long time for our waitress to come over and take our drink order. Instantly realized she spent 15 minutes behind us talking to a table "catching up".. so our 20 minute wait irritated me when I realized that.

The menu says "ask your server about local beer selection".. which my husband asked.. and she said "oh we can ask the manager.. the taps arent always working" 😱 (should have been our first sign!). The manager avoided our table after she said that! Husband rolled the dice and got a draft beer.. no complaints.

Our salad came and had minimal dressing on it. Whatever.. I asked for a side of dressing. My husband finished his salad before I got my dressing.. because..again.. our waitress stopped to socialize while holding my dressing.

Our food came out.. and the whole time our waitress was behind us socializing. She did check on us once.. where we ordered a second round of drinks. We had more interaction with the waitress opposite of our section than ours.

The salad, which I've heard RAVES about, was honestly disgusting. Minimal dressing, minimal tomatos, the ends of a purple onion, mushy peppers. I wouldn't even touch the breadsticks 🤣.. but apparently left a lot to be desired. At least 3 questionable items were in the salad.. one we believe was a poorly cut bread crumb, the other was potentially a mushroom(?), third..who knows.

My food was fine. Its hard to mess up spaghetti and meat sauce. My husbands tortellini was over done and the chicken was rubbery.

Over all. I learned a hell of a lot about a particular waitresses life, discovered the hype on the salad is NOT worth it, and that I have not missed out on Olive Garden in my last 30...

Hostess seated us immediately. Server took our order. Joy M. Breadstick and beverages served. Salad served. A bit of a wait but understandable. It was 6pm. Party of 5. Server served food with each plate and drink hitting table a bit loudly. Everyone got 2nd/3rds on drink. My back was toward where server would come in. Seated at table by the windows section. I was never asked if I wanted a second bowl of soup. I pushed “call server” button. Never answered. Turned it off 4 minutes. Everyone is just about finished. I told them if she comes back I would like another soup. Went to restroom. Table was partially cleared and was told soup was coming. Got soup in about 3-4 minutes without grated cheese offered and again table was getting cleared off. Server returned to see if all good. I requested cheese. She got it on there somehow by borrowing another servers grater? I don’t know. Cheese was in the soup on the side of bowl. Not presented correctly but then it wasn’t a nice way. I would accept it if I was home and my grandkids served it. I ate it while everyone waited for me. I took a sip of what I had my first glass of raspberry ice tea. Put it down to finish my soup and my drink was gone. So with all that said, I had 4 bowls of salad, great for digestive system 2 soups (which I usually have 3-4 of and 2 salads) no drink to wash it down. She came back and I looked at her and requested another ice tea. That took 6 minutes. Went to get up before receiving it because I had enough patience to leave and she put it on the table and threw a straw next to it. We all said our goodbyes and thank you. I told my kids to take grandkids to car because I was not too happy with Joy M service but they waited patiently with me until I finished my meal. I never had a problem with Salisbury location so I felt this had to be shared. Thank you...

Yesterday I called ahead to join on the wait list. I called a half an hour earlier which was at 12:30 and told this lady named Emily that we would be there at 1. Got there at 12:55 and I told the hostess that was at the entrance and told her I called to join on the wait lit and told her my name. She told me that they would text or call me to tell me a table was ready and that it was going to be a 15-20 minute wait time. It was raining yesterday and my family and I went back to our car to wait for them to call us. 15 minutes had passed by to 20 minutes to 30 minutes. Waited to 45 minutes and went out in the rain to go inside of the restaurant to ask if a table was ready for us and that we had been waiting for 45 minutes. The two lady’s at front told me that apparently they did not have the right number and they apologized. Gave them my number and asked them again about my wait and was told 5-10 minutes. Went back out again to wait in my car and mind you it had been 2 o’clock already. 2:10 came by and it was 2:30. NO CALL AND NO TEXT!!! My kids and my husband were waiting literally an hour and a half to eat. I didn’t bother going back out in the rain to go back inside and did not call. I don’t know what happened and I don’t know why they didn’t call. We left and went to eat somewhere else where we didn’t have to wait. It was ridiculous that I had to wait all that time and nobody called. In the end nobody from Olive Garden called or texted me! That was poor service and never will go back...