Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in San Marcos

Came in to Olive Garden with 4 friends at 10pm hoping to be in and out before closing at 11. We sat for about 5 minutes before hearing our server taking the order of the table next to us. After finishing they told us they would be with us in 3 minutes and walked back into the kitchen. It took another 5-6 minutes for them to finally come over and greet us. After putting in our order immediately at greet, we received our drinks 10 minutes later and were told that our soup would take another 15 minutes to make. They came back later and asked if we wanted salad while we waited for soup to which we agreed. The salad came out again about 5-10 minutes later and our drinks were empty. After dropping off the salad our food came out at 10:50, nearly an hour later and still we had no soup. My friend had ordered drinks from the bar and instead of honoring their request for their next drink our server told us he had ordered at 11 and thus they could not put in another (they did not offer beforehand or even tell them at 11 when they ordered and instead waited until 15 minutes after close when it was brought up that the drink never came that they did not ring it in). I spoke to the manager Joe and he was very friendly and respectful, I have no complaints about him. However, with our food taking so long and our awful service I wish we had been granted a better comp than %25 off for a bill for 5 ppl (who all had issues with the service and food). I have worked in this specific store and I am well aware of how long certain things take and was unimpressed with how things were handled. Communication truly is key, I would not have been so disappointed with service if my server had paid ANY attention to us (refilling drinks, offering more bread, etc) however we rarely saw them and even asked a busser (a friendly guy named Damien) and another server for help, and even went to the bartender (Omo) for help (which thankfully was given).

I am a manager at another restaurant in town, and our policy says that a guest ALWAYS leaves happy no matter their experience. It is NEVER too late to turn the night around. The best 5 star reviews are the ones where poor service/issues were solved effectively and efficiently and have your guests coming back on the promise that the next time WILL be better. No rules just right!

Also, I am very surprised that this establishment does not take its reviews seriously. There was no response, apologies, or...

I was looking forward to a nice meal at Olive Garden today, but unfortunately, my experience was far from enjoyable. From the moment we arrived, the service was subpar, and it only got worse as the visit went on.

Our server was absolutely terrible—she was not attentive, barely engaged with us, and acted as if she had no interest in serving us at all. It was clear from her demeanor that she either didn’t want to be there or simply didn’t care about providing even the most basic level of service. What made this even more frustrating was that when we first arrived, we were literally the only customers in the restaurant. She had no other tables to attend to, yet she still failed to check in on us or make us feel welcome.

As the restaurant gradually became busier, she still did not seem to have any other tables to serve. Despite this, we were inexplicably the last ones to receive our food. Considering the circumstances, it definitely felt like we were being treated differently—and not in a good way. It made me question whether discrimination played a role in the poor service we received. This concern was only amplified by the fact that, on the same day, an employee at this very location was fired for discriminating against another customer. That alone speaks volumes about the kind of work environment this restaurant may be fostering.

If you don’t like your job or dealing with people, then find something else to do. It’s really that simple. Customers come in expecting a pleasant dining experience, not to be treated as if we’re an inconvenience. It’s unacceptable for a restaurant that prides itself on hospitality and quality service to employ staff who clearly don’t care about either.

Overall, this was one of the worst dining experiences I’ve had in a long time. I won’t be returning to this Olive Garden anytime soon, and I sincerely hope management takes action to address the lack of professionalism and fairness in how they treat...

Welp, I made the mistake of choosing Olive Garden this evening for dinner when I clearly should have selected another family-friendly restaurant. I will give them two stars because their hostess was very kind and quick to get us seated- kiddos to you, girl. As for the remainder of the night, it immediately went down. You can see that both servers working in the bar area were overstated, and struggled to keep up. My first issue- We had to ask several times for refill. I didn’t think it would be too much since we were seated in the bar area. Second issue- The first half of our order came out at 6:45 pm. That was two tours of Italy and one kid's meal (chicken strips with spe. Literally no special request) The server mentioned that our 2nd kid's meal was still in the works. Cool, I can understand that nothing is going to be out simultaneously.. well, wrong. After 15 minutes of waiting I’m trying to wrap my mind around where our last two meals are for our kids. We inquire about an update, and again we’re told it’s being worked on. We’re now at 25 min and still missing a kid's pepperoni pizza and an alfredo. At 7:20, we finally received the last two meals. This is after I demand they bring out the food. At this point, the remainder of the table had already completed their meals and portioned them out to share with the two children who hadn’t received their food. The manager dropped the food off, and all we got was, “do y’all need anything else?”

Ummm, how about a valid explanation on why it took 30 minutes to get two meals out to our table… beyond disappointment! If you're going to spend $100 on dinner as we did, then I suggest you spend...