Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in San Antonio

This is (or has been?) my go-to Olive Garden when visiting with friends, but unfortunately is very inconsistent in food (flavor) - and service. This last visit was extremely disappointing, and what upset me most was the very unprofessional attitude of the manager. We were greeted immediately, seated by a nice front staff/greeter, and our timid waitress arrived relatively quickly: ordering and receiving beverages went without problems. Ordering the main menu items too went ok, but then we had to wait over 20 minutes! and a walk to find the waitress to get the salads; the greeter even checked up on us to see if we were ok! and no they were not busy at all at 3pm. - For the main course I ordered “Calabrian Steak & Shrimp Bucatini” - but without the shrimp, which was offered to me as an option and listed at a price of $23.79; nowhere were different prices for the steak/shrimp vs shrimp vs steak versions mentioned, neither on the menu nor mentioned by the waitress; I also asked for the steak to be medium. - I received the food, which was cold, the steak portion was not any more pieces than what was shown on the picture for steak and shrimp, and the meat was tough and definitely past “medium”. - All that I was going to let go, as I understand times are tough right now, but when receiving the bill I was changed $25.79. - I asked to speak to the manager - and explained I was certainly not expecting an UP-charge for a lesser steak alone dish, and nobody had advised of any different pricing: …. well, what should I say - the manager immediately went into cost-analysis and simply advised that steak is more expensive, and started explaining how much more it costs them …. but fully ignoring any of my concerns, ie that I was never advised of different prices, the portion didn’t look like it had any extra steak, or anything else. - He never even apologized (for the misunderstanding), never offered to help out (I truly was expecting at minimum to get my $2 back), or even acknowledged that I was an unhappy customer, as a matter of fact he just left mid-sentence in his explanation, with a “ok then” attitude. - This is absolutely not the service and professionalism I expected from a manager! Or Olive Garden for that matter. - I will be hard-pressed to come back to this location, and BTW the Calabrian Steak Bucatini is not worth the price or flavor! Rough meet and cold noodles! - And all together I spend $60...

Saturday night, April 23. I had never been to this Olive Garden location and I was really looking forward to dinner with my friend, whom I don't get to see that often. We are two professional women. I would have chosen another restaurant, but she chose this one, so I went along with it. The evening started out well but our server rushed us with a manner that was nothing short of irritating, flippant and condescending. I think he thought he was being "cute," but in the end, he totally spoiled our dining experience. He made it clear he wanted us to eat and run, constantly interrupting our conversation, asking if we needed anything else & were we ready for the bill. So, I decided to order dessert. He told me I would have to use the newly installed machine on our table to do so. I asked "Why?" Since he took our order the regular way, now all of a sudden why do I have to use the machine on the table to order dessert? He puts his arm on my shoulder, starts patting my back like I am a 2 year-old & says very condescendingly that he'll teach me how to use "the little machine." A real smart ass!! I spend good money in restaurants and I am known for leaving as much as a 50% tip, but that didn't happen last night! Oh, I gave him a tip, but NOTHING to what we would have gotten under different circumstances. He's lucky he even got a tip! When my friend paid the bill on "the machine," she says, "there's a survey. Do I write the truth & say how our server ruined our dining experience, or do I just lie and say the evening was great?" I told her to write what she wanted because there was no way I wanted to come back. San Antonio has FAR TOO MANY excellent restaurants to put up with this...

This is the location we usually eat at since it's the closest to our home. It is a busy location, as the area is thriving. Over the past few years, I always end up regret going after each visit. Even my kids who aren't picky eaters have started to vote no to eating here. The problem however isn't the service. The waitstaff are typically very lovely and attentive; although on a Saturday night don't expect them to check in on you very often and your food won't be served hot. The food itself just tastes as you would expect from a chain restaurant; as in it tastes like it's all mass produced or frozen. I get they have to cut corners to accommodate the influx of customers coming in because they need to get orders out as fast as possible, but it's definitely affected the quality of food that's being served. The food and sauces have become so bland, like no other seasonings besides salt are ever added. The strange thing is, it wasn't always like this. I remember a time when the alfredo sauce tasted like it consisted of more than just heavy cream and cheese. All of the items we enjoyed on the menu eventually ended up getting removed or replaced by something lower in quality. Like steak gorgonzola getting replaced by braised beef, ouch. There's no comparison to the two. It becomes sad when my favorite part of the meal is the distinct salad dressing that also sits on a shelf in a grocery store. Overall, I would say the price tag doesn't fit what's being served. It's really like the fast food of...