Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Vacaville

It is incredibly rare that I walk away from giving a tip. The only thing stopping this review from being one star is how the manager comped mine ans my brother's meal.

1. We had called ahead to make sure arriving at 9PM would not be an issue. The hostess said that they will seat people up until 10PM. With this answer, we felt confident in arriving around 9PM. We ended up getting there at about 8:50.

2. We had waited roughly 10 minutes for two people, not that bad for Olive Garden!

3. Our waiter was by far the worst part of this experience. He was inattentive, immature, and lacked any formality. It took use 20 minutes to even place an order with our drinks, another 10 to get our water, and another 20 for my brother to receive is raspberry lemonade (which my brother notes was lacking any lemon).

As we ordered our food. Were the sever was meant to ask us if we wanted soup and salad, he looked at ny brother and I and said "I suppose you want the salad, right?" My brother and I are larger individuals so this comment did not go unnoticed. My brother and I dismissed it, exhausted ans famished from not having eaten all day.

4. Our food was abysmal and subpar at best. Our soups arrived cold and lacked the proper seasonings. There was an increadibly thick layer of oil skirting across the top. The waiter had to give my brother a second soup because it took him about 10 minutes to finally return to put the cheese on top. When the waiter did this, he set a food tray on our table, leading us to believe that the entrees were ours. The waiter even went as far as asking us if these were our entrees after he had asked if we wanted cheese.

Fast forward, my brother is unable to finish his soup because the second bowl was cold as well. I grit my teeth and bore it as I finished my soup, having to add an obscene amount of pepper to even get it to taste.

Before our entrees arrived, we ended up having to ask the waiter for takeaway boxes. My brother needed to get home and we were just emotional and exhausted after the day we had had. The waiter gave us a look, rolled his eyes, and complied, after noting to use how they (the store) sent the kitchen staff home for the evening [see point 1].

It took forever to get the takeaway containers. The entrees themselves were flawed as well. The chicken in my brothers chicken alfredo had a crust on it, the crust that occurs when you leave chicken out for just a hair too long without the proper cooling or heating. The sauce was hardly warm and the noodles were hard. My own dish, the stuffed pasta, was not soft. The marinara was ice cold and similarly to the noodles eith the chicken alfredo were hard.

At this point my brother had enough and left, to which he requested a manager come and speak to me so I could deal with this.

5. Perhaps the only glowing part of this review is the hostess and manager that responded. The hostess listened with empathy and offered to see if a manager would come over and comp our meal. The manager and I spent a moment conversing on how my meal is premade and frozen. The manager also noted how our waiter was qaiting for the chicken alfredo for my brother, so it shouldn't have been cold or crusty, despite staring at the plate. After this, the manager did offer to comp and remake our meal, but after the say we have been having... We didn't have the time or the energy so we took our poorly done entrees home, knowing my brother and I could spruce them up when we weren't tired.

The purpose of this review is to highlight some od the issues had this evening at Olive Garden in Vacaville. Even though my brother and I were compensated, I felt it important to share this experience. The Olive Garden here has gone down hill, and I want to be mad, but I am also acutely aware of the staffing struggles. Yet, thar does not excuse rude comments and little to no effort given to a meal...

The service here is terrible. I have come here a few separate occasions and still the waitress gave terrible service. I was with a group from church, had two waitresses, and good service, right? No!! The waitress asked me for my drink order as I began to speak , she turn to her other table asking if she can get them anything else, I raised my voice a bit louder and said," excuse me I would like a drink." So, we ordered appetizers, and the waitresses did not clear anything from our table between the appetizers and salad, just plates stacked. I flagged someone to please remove the plates. The soup arrived watery...terrible and sent it back.

Food presentation is terrible, so sloppy and unappealing. At other Olive Garden's, I had not experienced such disregard for my business.

Our table did not get asked for soda replenishment or wine refills.

When it came to the bill, they buzzed around us suddenly. Upon bringing us the change, they misplaced money.

Terrible service!! Won't return ever again 3 times is enough.

The manager was apologetic. However, the damage was done. No amount of sorry change the terrible disconnected attitudes from these two waitresses would change my mind to eat here again. Felt like they had a personal issue no matter how pleasant we were or how understanding.

Update

Today's visit confirmed to stay away from this place for 4 years . Unless you don't mind dining with several flies swarming around your table before, during, and after your meal. Constantly swatting flies away is annoying in a restaurant.

My friend ordered the salmon, big disappointment. There was literally no flavor. I asked if they fried or baked their chicken param, and the man who showed up to our table did not identify himself as the cook, which, as we left, noticed him standing with menus in hand at the front ?? Well, he leaned on the table, knuckles down, and said, " You have questions about the food?" Umm... yes, I had no idea he was the " cook" until another man passed by and said, " I got the cook for you to answer your questions. " Super unprofessional. I had to ask the waitress to please remove the empty soup bowls. We did speak to the manager, Vicky, manager of the food department, she says. She did correct the bill, but still, it most likely will not resolve the nasty fly experience or rude employee.

Simple solution: Don't give them my business or dinner with friends there.

Gross place. The bathroom was super disgusting. Pee on the floor, get ready to hoover. Are we really in a restaurant?? Does anyone do their job anymore? Or are we too worried about hurting...

We went today for Easter dinner after church. My mom loves OG. It was not a terrible experience but service is in the details and it was lacking today. Also there was an issue with moms Tour of Italy. The Chicken parm was so tough she had to use my steak knife that came with my Chicken Marsala to cut it and the edges were so hard that she was only able to eat the center. Personally I think it had been fried twice. The server did offer to get a manager but we dont complain unless its really aggregious. So mom was very disappointed and wished that she had just gotten her usual Chicken Alfredo. I love their Chicken Marsala amd hope it stays on the menu forever because I actually dont really care much for pasta but I do wish they gave more mushrooms and sauce on the potatoes. The biggest issue was that when the salad was brought to the table there was no cheese grater. She asked if we wanted cheese, does anyone ever say no to fresh grated cheese on the salad? She said let me go get it and didn't come back. I saw her taking orders from other tables while we waited and when she stopped back by she had forgotten the cheese. It really was about 10 minutes before I was able to start eating the salad and before any of us were done with our salads the food came. I just think they can afford to purchase a few more cheese graters so waitresses aren't having to go find one. I mean salads should not be going to the table without it on the tray!! I feel like that is probably the way its supposed to be. If we had been able to begin eating the salad then we would have been closer to finishing before the actual entrees came. I new it was going to happen and it really upsets me when the food comes when you are still eating the appetizers or salads etc. Because when that happens you have to make a choice, finish the salad or eat your food while it's warm. I actually love the salad, ots one of the reasons I agree to even take mom there. So I only ate a few bites of my entree before it began to get cold and I am one of those picky people who doesn't eat cold food. So, it wasn't a terrible experience but it could have been so much better! Next time I will not order the food until after we have all started our salads. Oh well. At least she was really nice. Just an off day I guess & apparently they need MORE CHEESE...