Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in South Bradenton

We walked in and every employee’s jaw dropped because it was only 20 minutes before closing time. The general manager seen us and rapidly jogged up to the front hostess stand and did a take over for the hostesses. I right away told her that it was my girl’s birthday and I explained to her that I hoped to get there sooner than 20 minutes before closing time and that it was my girls birthday as my girl was told to search for her ID to show her. She walked us to a section right next to a huge dinner party that had many children, being children of coarse, along with other people that may be considered a bad choice of audience for romantic talk and gestures. I politely suggested “why don’t we go to the section over there where there’s not so many people.” The manager replied “well because those tables over there are clean.” I replied “you mean to tell me that this table that you’re trying to sit us at right now isn’t clean?” With a smile on my face in an effort make my girl laugh and also to lighten the mood and keep everything cordial since it was my girl’s birthday as we walked over and chose a booth in a more private and suitable area. We ordered drinks and she snarled, then asked us both for our IDs even though I’m 40 years old and look it, and my girl doesn’t look any bit younger than 40 either. The manager knew that my girl didn’t have her ID from when I mentioned that it was my girl’s birthday in hopes that she would get a birthday song, or whatever they do these days, and free dessert and she rudely demanded an ID at that time as well. She was just being a mean person and upset because we came 20 mins before closing plus she already had her kitchen staff soaking and scrubbing the kitchen floor which should not have been getting done until closing especially considering the party of at least 20 that included smaller children and crying babies that she tried to sit us directly next to for this birthday dinner that we wanted to be a little bit special and secluded from other patrons. Now I understand that things have to get done and that it is Friday night but, it’s a restaurant and people want to go out to eat on Friday night. I have to work late on weekdays because I do sales and marketing so I have to work around my customers schedules as well. There was no reason other than the fact that the manager and a couple other staff members were upset that we walked in so late that we were treated badly and put through the ringer There is something to be said about that and it’s bad work...

The overall service used to be amazing at this Olive Garden. We have come here several times over the years and this is the worst front staff I’ve ever experienced. I checked in and was told it would be a 15 minute wait and told them that I had people coming but instead of seating us after 25 minutes passed I came up to ask the pregnant hostess if they were waiting for my party or something because we’ve been waiting and she was like oh yeah yeah we are without so much as looking at me or apologizing for the wait. There were several of them up there that were just laughing and joking around unprofessionally and the pregnant hostess was eating up there talking with the other ladies at the podium while they ignored us. She disappeared completely for several minutes and after 30 minutes I asked a girl who showed up if we were going to be seated because my party was waiting. She said she would check because she just got there. She went to find the pregnant hostess and told her we were waiting 30 minutes and my daughter overheard her denying it. I’m just not used to that at any restaurant. If you tell me 15 minutes and it’s not busy in restaurant at all, then we have better be seated whether we are waiting for people to arrive or not. It put me in such a terrible mood that I wanted to leave but thankfully our waiter came right away and was amazing. He was very attentive and kind and I felt he deserved a good tip. What made me write this review was when we left there were a gaggle of women at the front with the pregnant hostess and we all noticed that they just stared at us and didn’t say the usual thank you have a good night. No one bothered to politely open the door like they have always done for us in the past. You just knew that they we’re talking bad about you. If this is what this Olive Garden restaurant is turning into then I have to stop coming. I don’t know what’s up with those women but this is their place of work not a place to gossip about their paying customers who are there to be treated with some measure of respect and kindness when they are out with their family for dinner. I hope a manager sees this review and addresses this issue of plain rudeness. We are also not white and so obviously white people were being treated better and seated immediately. By the way, our pregnant hostess was black but for some reason thinks it’s ok to be rude to us. If this ever happens to us again, a complaint will definitely be filed to their corporate management or the BBB. I’ve already contacted guest relations because I will not tolerate this behavior in front...

We're out in the area today so we thought we would try Olive Garden. What a great experience talk about customer service from being sat down we immediately were introduced to Nick who truly loves his job.

Nick gave us some great options said no pressure I just want to make sure I'm taking care of you, we've never had service this good anywhere.

It didnt stop there Nike also kept swinging by again excusing himself saying I don't want to be in your face but I want to make sure you guys are okay.. Service like this is unheard of.

It didn't stop there after ordering they make sure that your food is brought out piping hot as soon as it's made. This is done by food runners.

It's all about teamwork the runners jump in to help out and when they served us they said is there anything else we need I said all I could use a Top-Up of water and they brought that back right away. Usually you get I'll let your server know.

I had the lasagna it was hot and so cheesy with a delicious marinara meat sauce it looks so good I jumped in and took the picture after I had a couple of bites.

We also met Alex who came over and had a great conversation with us both Nick and Alex loved to have conversation and I like talking to people and learning about them and and their Journey.

Obviously this company takes care of these guys cuz they truly do love their job and it's represented by their awesome customer service.

You can choose either unlimited soup or unlimited salad Nick mentioned why don't you get salad and your wife the soup and you can share.

The salad was amazing they brought out a huge Bowl it had so many ingredients in it not like the little side salads you get at other restaurants with part of a tomato and a half a carrot if you're lucky.

The minestrone soup was so good as well and you can keep asking for more as much as you want. That also includes breadsticks which Nick mentioned hey with the breadsticks just order a side sauce either alfredo or marinara and it makes a great starter the sauce is about $4.

Both Nick and Alex are a huge benefit to this company and I want to give them a great big thank you for making our day. I also heard Nick speaking Spanish and I said to him you're bilingual too he goes yeah I picked it up.

The prices are quite reasonable considering the salads and the soups are so good and they are unlimited.

I would definitely check this place out and you can certainly go there being...