Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Town of Poughkeepsie

We had lunch at this Olive Garden on a weekday in March 2023, right at noon. Right off the bat, there is no parking in front of the entrance, read the parking part. The problem was that they were all empty. So the fair amount of customers inside, all had to park on the side of the building and walk around to the entrance side of the building. I found it very annoying to look at a row of unused parking spots that are apparently are for the more favored customers than us. Once inside, they were limiting sections where customers were allowed to eat. My guess is herding us all in one section allowed for less employees . As such, we were seated on which I figure was the south side of the of the building. The glare off of the cars parked in the parking lot was unbelievable. It pretty much ruined my whole lunch and my eyes hurt from the glare to the point of giving me a head ache. The weekday lunch menu which cuts the cost of the meals down to almost reasonable prices. The food was decent for me. Not anything to rave about, but not bad either. The wife tried something different that she found too spicy. As such, she didn't finish her lunch. Although she was glad that she was able to try this dish that she had been wanting to try, but at the lunch menu size and cost. Her soup though, she enjoyed as always. I do take issue with Olive Garden (and other chain restaurants) charging $3-4 for a fountain soda. Yes they offer free refills, but most folks do not get refills. And that price seems ridiculous for a fountain soda, to begin with. The part that really annoys me is that they list the price of coffees, teas and such in the same menu section, right next to the offering, But hide the prices of fountain soft drinks from customers. So if a family of four all orders soft drinks with their meals, you get smacked in the face with a charge well over $10 for fountain soda. Which cost pennies per glass in over head. So I am not a fan of the hidden blatant over charges to take advantage of unsuspecting customers. Now although I do find the food decent and admit that I am a little critical of Olive Gardens policies. I will mention the one truly good thing that saved our lunch. It is the only reason that I gave this Olive Garden and our meal three stars instead of the two they were going to get. We had a server name Kyle. He seems fairly young. But this server turned a pretty poor lunch into something worth while. Kyle gets five stars and was by far the only really positive thing about this Olive Garden, that we experienced. Well, other employees were also nice, but we really didn't interact with them. As such, I will just say they seemed professional and pleasant. But our server (Kyle) was professional, respectful and just very good at his job. He took the time to listen to the nice older ladies in the next booth. He listen intently even though it was obvious he could be doing something else. But he instead politely listens and made them feel special . Like a lot of people that I have seen. They had trouble with the small computer they insist on placing in your way on the tables nowadays. But Kyle took the time to help them. He did a great job with service. He was polite and professional. And we watched him do this with all his customers near us, including us. We never felt like he was neglecting us or that he wasn't keeping up. Olive Garden should be proud of this server and should go out of their way to retain this employee. Since he seemed like he should be running Olive Garden since he understands people, even at his young age. Because it's very obvious that the people running Olive Garden in general (the corporation) sure do not understand people. It seems more like they're trying to figure out how to nicely take advantage of people. Maybe they should follow Kyle around and take notes on how to make people want to be there. Profits come with a quality product at...

We ordered 2 chicken alfredo over fet... and a chicken parm over fet.... We got our salad and bread sticks and ordered alfredo sauce on the side for dipping the bread. The waitress kept forgetting to bring the alfredo sauce. By the time she came to the table with the alfredo sauce we needed refills on the bread, salad and drinks. She wasn't happy about that. It made us feel very uncomfortable. Our dinner took extremely long to come out to the table, so we asked for a 3rd serving of everything. We were running on over an hour before we got our dinner and when we did, the chicken was dry, the grilled part was extremely burnt tasting as well. There was barely any seasoning or sauce on any plate. The waitress was extremely rude and provided awful service and we felt uncomfortable to even complain at that point. We asked her if she could wrap up our plates and she brought out the containers and i put our food in the containers and we got out of there and never returned. I tell my friends not to waste their money. It is a shame because we would go to the one in Myrtle Beach, SC every week to every other week. It is night and day from Poughkeepsies. The food down south was always great. The service was always friendly. No one ever gave an attitude and your salad, bread, and drinks were never empty and they even made sure they gave you some to go as well. It was my birthday and we told her and they didnt even do the small cake with the singing happy birthday that they do down south. It was just a really bad choice to go there. Our food took forever to come out, so we didn't even have enough time to get to the city for the comedy show we were suppose to see for my birthday. That was in March a few years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday. I came to check and see the ratings to see if it deserved another chance, but I am nervous that it will be another awful experience. I miss the Olive Garden down south.... UPDATE: I DECIDED TO GIVE IT ANOTHER CHANCE. MY FOOD WAS GOOD THIS TIME, MY DAUGHTER DIDN'T CARE FOR HER APP. BUT SOME HOW ONE MEAL, ONE APP, ONE PIECE OF CAKE, AND ONE CHOCOLATE MILK, CAME TO OVER 40 DOLLARS AND WITH TIP OVER 50. WE STILL DON'T KNOW WHY IT WAS SO MUCH FOR LUNCH, BUT I WAS AT LEAST HAPPY THAT MINE TASTED WAY BETTER THEN THE LAST TIME. LOOKING UP OLIVE GARDEN....KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK....GET THOSE PRICES DOWN THOUGH BECAUSE NO ONE WILL PAY THAT MUCH...

Came in tonight for my nephews birthday. We had a party of 12 and had to be sat at two separate table following COVID-19 rules which is totally understandable. Unfortunately our server Nicole D totally ignored the three of us sitting at the smaller table. She came out numerous times and asked our family members sitting at the larger table if they need refills on drink, salad and breadsticks without even glancing our way to see if we needed anything. My sons soda glass sat empty for a good 20 plus minutes. I ordered a glass of wine when I put my food order in which never arrived until after our food came and I had to ask about it along with my sons refill and more salad and bread. Nicole then proceeded to walk away mumbling under her breath that she is only one person. When she came back to the table with my daughters fixed food,my sons refill and my wine she made it a point to then state she was only “one person” rudely. At this point I asked to speak with a manager. I sat waiting to speak with the manager while our party ate their dinner. A manager never came. At this point I was so unhappy with the whole experience I asked for a box to take my meal home with me. I just want to point out that I’ve worked in the restaurant business for over 20 yrs and as being a server I understand the frustration of having a large party. Nicole was totally unprofessional! Ask for help if you need it! The situation could have been avoided. Needless to say I still left her a 20% tip because I am in the industry. After I paid my bill I had to speak with the hostess on my way to be seen by the manager. Apparently Nicole never told her I was asking to speak with her. Shame on our sever for handling things the...