Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Town of Grand Chute

There were so many things wrong with my families experience tonight. As soon as we walked in the door there were two hostess and they didn’t greet us, they were having a conversation and didn’t ask us how many until they were finished. We told the host there would be three of us and would prefer a booth, she told us we don’t have any (even though we saw at least 3 open booths) and the other host had a side conversation which they were saying there was booths but the girl was in the rotation needed to get customers in her section because she only had 3. As a previous waitress understanding how restaurants work, I let it go.

We were seated to our table and didn’t see our waitress until 15 minutes, which I found strange considering she only had three tables, who also looked flustered. She finally arrived and took our drink orders, another 10 minutes before she brought them back. Time was awful and as we observed the other tables we noticed that every other table not belonging to this waitress were getting the needed service from the other waitresses.

Finally about 45 minutes of being there, we got our food. My boyfriends was good, my daughters was good, but mine was awful. I got the seafood Alfredo. The dish legitimately had NO flavor. I sat there not eating waiting for our waitress to come back so I could tell her, we eventually had to ask another and asked to speak with a manager, 6 minutes later our waitress came back and I told her it was awful as she could tell cause I only took one bite. I ordered another dish to go and the manager came over shortly after the waitress handled the issue asking what had happened even though we had just got done explaining the issue.

Needless to say our experience was beyond poor, clearly staff isn’t communicating with eachother, not much teamwork considering for some reason our waitress was struggling and the others weren’t willing to lend a hand, the manager didn’t have a grip on things and was unprofessional.

We still tipped $10 to the waitress but we will not be coming back and if I were to tip based off service I wouldn’t have left anything, but...

If you want to dine with a larger group (ie; 13), for a special event (ie; a family birthday celebration), this restaurant is NOT the place to go, due to their ‘Call Waiting’ seating system! I called twice in advance to clarify how it works. On the day of our luncheon event, we called in (from the parking lot at the allowed 15 minute window) to get a table for 13. Those who arrived first were not allowed to be seated (to put party favors on the table), until ‘everyone’ was present!! The ‘hostess’ said she could not seat ‘anyone’ until ‘everyone’ had arrived because seating is on a first come, first served system (even though several in our party had already arrived). After a 20 minute wait (while many other new arrivals were being seated), we were told they would set up a table. After 25 minutes we were ‘allowed’ to be seated in what turned out to be at a large table in a separate private seating area. The room appeared to be purposed for a larger group and turned out to be perfect for our family gathering. Why didn’t they offer this option in the very beginning???? What was NOT perfect was the restaurant’s method of providing for a larger group, and the lack of clarity or flexibility for our event and situation. We did not ask for a reservation, some of our group arrived within the 15 minute window, and we only requested the opportunity to set up a few table decorations and favors before everyone else arrived (which I was told we had to do really quickly). So, aside from “Noah”, our waiter, who was excellent (!!) and most of the meals ordered (except for the Calamari which was soggy and tough), we do NOT recommend Olive Garden for anything other than a really quick stop meal, apparently. The front desk staff were also very unprofessional and rather than standing around chit-chatting, they could have spruced up things like the crumpled up rug in the front entry and smudged finger prints all over their glass doors. The Olive Garden is so NOT what...

Service from our waitress was less than expected from Olive Garden. One of my favorite places in town, but not impressed this time. No water offered or plates for breadsticks. Wine ordered was a very modest amount for what I paid. I was shocked. I had to find our waitress to tell her we were ready to order. When cheese was shredded on my meal, I ended up wearing some of it! This was not the fault of my waitress, but the lady who obviously brought the food from the kitchen? I thought the waitress did this? So, who gets the tip, should I choose to leave one? Especially since I had to go find her to order my meal, and the kitchen staff brought my meal? And then there are the folks that clean off tables. Hmmm, seems wrong that the waitress gets all the tip. Maybe next time, I'll make a point to tip individually, instead of at the end of my meal. Or better yet, no tip at all. The meal I ordered was one of my favorites, but again, not this time. Don't know quite how to put it, but I probably won't be ordering it again. Perhaps I am a little more fussy, or perhaps I've been used to our Olive Garden in Appleton, being one of the best, but I just had to post my disappointment in one of my favorite places. I really hope it's just me, because I will likely go back. But will definitely be posting further...