Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Town of De Witt

A family member of mine works here and has for many years and we decided to patron this restaurant because of that and have a pleasant meal. However, my family and I attended ( we didn't receive a family discount as we had hoped) and we actually received very poor customer service. And I must say that one we did consult with the manager they really didn't have much input or seem to really be concerned with the following. [First off, we did ask for water, the water tasted so bad that we could not even drink it!! I don't know what exactly is wrong with the water but it was terrible! The first waitress that waited on us was not on time with our breadsticks or drinks. And when she did bring us the basket of breadsticks there were three of us, but there were ONLY three breadsticks in the basket (what!) and I asked her "there's only three breadsticks can't we have more", and before she gave a response she turned around to leave and I said, "wait can't we have those breadsticks you have" and she replied, "no you won't like them they're burnt". Why in God's name would you ever deliver burnt breadsticks to a table to begin with!! Everything that is to be delivered to a table first and foremost (as the waitress you must verify the order is correct, the items ordered, the appearance and or with ingredients per customers' request), YOU NEVER deliver anything to a customer's table if it is not according to their order, No exceptions!! This is based upon my professional experience with over 40+ yrs. in the industry of Hospitality. And I too, use to work for Olive Garden years ago.

The drinks were very late in arriving to the table. The Manager did come out and ask when I asked for him if there was a problem, I did mention to him first off the water was horrid could they please give us bottled water, I was told that the water was just the tap water and nothing else was offered as an option. Dave, the Manager never offered us any other type of water not even bottled water which I would not have wanted to pay for anyways. My family ordered soda, (I don't drink soda and had nothing) a premium drink was also ordered. Dave did mention to us that he had changed our server. The replacement server that we received afterwards, did a very good job, our main courses did arrive in a timely fashion, server did offer us the cheese, and he did come back to check on us to see if everything was satisfactory. The entrees were very flavorful, We ordered Tour of Italy and also 🍝 Spaghetti with meatballs! The Tour of Italy which includes Chicken Parmesan (which this meal my sister and I split) and I found the chicken parmesan to be pleasantly tasteful, my 1st time trying it.

But as far as returning to this Olive Garden, I'm leery of any future visits. Should you decide to visit this establishment be sure that your order comes exactly as you requested and you might want to avoid drinking the water,...

Upon arrival at noon, we were checked in by a young girl who’s very friendly told us it was gonna be a 10 minutes wait. All was good until we got seated, the older lady who was seating us was very rude to her coworkers, complaining and yelling there was no silverware (I work in a restaurant, so I know the frustration but I will never show that in front of customers especially while SEATING THEM). Our waitress was very friendly. While waiting for our appetizers staff were watching an older gentleman, easily in his 80s looking at the bottles of wine. As he started to walk away, staff thought he was stealing. I was watching him the entire time and know for sure he did not steal anything. At that point literally all of the staff were following this man, it was very chaotic. Shortly after, our waitress bought us our chicken gnocci soup which had no chicken and five pieces of gnocci and was watered down extremely. Salad with no plates. Our waitress went to take care of another table and all of the other staff who initially were standing around, were now too entertained looking out the front door at this old man so we showed our selves the door before getting our meals. We went up to the front, we spoke to the manager on our way out who told us, there was issues with theft there before. If you’re looking for a drama filled, chaotic lunch and enjoy watching senior citizens being harassed this is the place for you! I have never been so distraught while being in a restaurant. It was clear that most of the staff and manager needs proper training in customer service in anysort . This was absolutely insane. I have never walked out of a restaurant before but now I can say i have. Anyways, thank you to the young girl at the front and our waitress for being kind! You guys are the only people who holds this place...

I was in today at 12:45 p.m. (10/11/19). We were seated right away. We placed our orders relatively quickly as the restaurant was not that bust from what we could see. This is where things went downhill. A man from the kitchen came out and asked if any of us had a refill of spaghetti. I had ordered a lunch portion but could not imagine ot was for me as our drinks had not even appeared yet. Apparently it was mine, and the runner seemed none too pleased that I was confused. It took another 10 minutes for the salad and my dining companions soups to come out. About 30 minutes later, our server graced us with her sweet personality again after our section was all but cleared of tables (3 tables camez ate,, and left as we waited) we finally got our breadsticks, and were able to enjoy a very tasty lunch. Eventually our server who was nowhere to be found for much of our stay, came back and we were able to finally ask for drink refills, more salad as the first bowl was very small for 3 guys), and one more taste of the delicious breadsticks (one refill for 3 people). After more time, we got our breadsticks, still no drink refills, and I had to ask for the check as we had now been there 2 hours. I only left $1 as this was among the worst experiences from a server that I have ever received. She was pleasant and attempted at apologizing but to no avail. Each time she came to the table (yes folks, 3 whole times in 2 hours) she had to apologize for forgetting something, and did not correct her mistakes. So while the food was exactly what one expects from Olive Garden, the sercice for lunch on a Friday was absolutely sexond worst customer experience I have ever received. I wanted to write this reviewnot to complain, but to ensure Olive Garden works better on server training. This was the worst...