Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Valdosta

Just let me start by saying, I travel all the time and everywhere in the country! This Olive Garden is by far the worse I have ever experienced! We got to the restaurant early for dinner, there had to have been 7 to 8 staff members, ranging from server to management just standing around doing nothing! I went up and asked for a table for my family of 4, nobody acknowledged me! We waited at least 15 minutes before being brought all the way to the back of the restaurant, which was empty, except for maybe 3 other tables! Nobody else was waiting for a table and the place was empty! I have no idea why we had to wait so long to be seated! The restaurant was dirty and dingy, the atmosphere was extremely uncomfortable! Any other time I have been in an Olive garden, it was well lit, clean, and the staff inviting! NOT this one! It was beyond horrible!! After waiting more once seated, the waitress finally came! She wasn't really friendly, but still seemed ok! I still felt like we were bothering the entire staff! It was nothing I have ever experienced in any restaurant before! We ordered the salad, bread sticks, and appetizer, then the main course, everything came out at the same time and the table was over crowded with no room to actually eat! The salad hardly had any dressing, the bread sticks were hard and cold, like they had been sitting for hours! The appetizer was soggy and not even warm! Never ending salad and breadsticks are not a thing apparently at this Olive garden! We asked for a second basket of bread sticks, and we're told that there were no bread sticks anywhere to be found in the restaurant! The table was never cleared of any dishes the entire time! Everything showed up together and apparently everything got cleared together, with no refills of any kind! The restaurant remained empty the entire time except for a few tables! What was weird, upon making it to the front waiting area, it was packed! There was a worker standing there with a clip board, but not greeting customers! I heard a woman say, can I get on your list for a table, and still not being acknowledged! NEVER again will I go anywhere near that Olive Garden again! After this experience, I may never go to any other Olive Garden ever!! It's a shame because Olive Garden has always been one of my favorite places and we paid a lot of money for horrible food and a beyond horrible atmosphere!! If no stars was an option in the review, that's what I would have given!!...

The overall look of this place is deceiving. It looks like a really nice Olive Garden from the outside. Even once you step inside you think you are going to have a great experience. Once you check in and are told to wait 20 minutes even after noticing that there are plenty of open seats you will see your experience start it’s downward spiral. The employees seem to park out front instead of the back because I saw at least five walking to and from their vehicles like they were on break or showing up/leaving for the day. After we waited for 20 minutes and finally went back in to be seated 3 was employees bumped into my girlfriend as we started our trek to the back of the restaurant where we were to dine. After approx 5 mins the waitress came and took our drink order. She was very polite so we thought things were on the up and up. 10 minutes later our drinks were brought out minus her margarita. It was at this time that we ordered our meals and appetizer (dipping sauce for the breadsticks). 5 minutes later the soups arrived... still no bread sticks or dipping sauce. It wasn’t until about a minute before the main course was brought out that the sauce was brought out. And still we had no bread sticks. We asked about the breads sticks and our server apologized and said they would be right out. By the time we received the breadsticks the cheese sauce was cold. When the meals came out they were mediocre to say the least. My chicken was dry and the alfredo barely covered my noodles. The same could be said for my daughters noodles. And for my girlfriends meal it came out luke warm. Not once during this time did anyone offer me a refill. To include one of the managers who stopped by twice so far to “check” on us and our time in their place of business. Finally my girlfriend. Asked to have our dipping sauce removed from the bill because it was cold by the time we got our breadsticks. We were just curious if they offered military discount. The waitress replied saying even if they don’t she would ensure we got some sort of discount for our subpar service. When the check came their was no discount. Which would have been fine if she didn’t ensure we would get something. My best and only response was to not tip which is very unlike us when we go out. Long story short this is the 4th time going their since they opened and nothing has ever changed. Worst $50 I’ve spent in...

Let me start off with saying.The 2 ladies at the front counter were very pleasant.And as a visual aspect , the place looked very nice.. But that's where it ends. As the waitress proceeded to take us to a booth up front.We notice a very nauseating aroma if you could imagine vomit on the floor smeared with excessive body sweat and a musty mold smell mixed in that is what it smelled like in there. No, I'm not even exaggerating.I'm not saying it smell like dog poop or anything like that.It smell just the way I explained it.. CEO. John Wilkerson needs to come.Check this place out personally. He needs to fund this store to have a deep cleaning and possible carpet.Or something removal and replacement. The waitress tried to see this out front.But the smell was just too bad, so we asked.Could we be seated further away and explained to her?Why she spoke to the other lady up front?And they started heading to the back down to the right... We got no more than maybe 5 or 6 steps.And the smell was getting stronger.I turned to my wife and said honey I can't eatshe said I understand I smell it too... I feel the poor ladies up front , had become nose blind to the aroma kind of light when people have animals and no longer smell the smell of the animals in the house , but their friends can smell it... These 2. Employees look way too professional to have to work in something like this. I have visited many restaurants in my life and many Olive gardens.And this is a first I promise you. I will always recommend Olive Garden as an outstanding place for Italian food.But this one at exit 18 of El dosta.I will never enter again or recommend to anybody again till this problem is fixed. My next step after this is to try to reach the Olive Garden.Boarder directors down in orlando or whatever they have down there and to reach the health department because this has got to be dealt with, there is no way this can be healthy for the staff particularly or the customers. If anybody happens to run in mister john wilberson and invite him to come to that Olive Garden facility incognito.And turn to the right when he comes in and head down that area and see if he can still stand there and eat. Once I post this, I need to call the state health department. Not the local because I'm sure this is nothing new. And somehow is slipping through the cracks or being...