Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Vienna

Olive Garden review for 1.31.12

The experience (starter)

we kinda went here randomly because I had a stressful experience at wal-mart on the north side. I was dehydrated and needed water asap. We were gonna pull into BK for a drink but the drive thru line was 12 cars. So we decided to stop at OG for a water and see how the place was... we were taken to this little cafe like area that had a bar and some small 2 seat tabled (this was done to have a nice waiting area so people would not crowd the door) and given a pager like thing to let us know when our table was ready and they got us a water... we decided then that we would be eating there as I was getting hungry.. we then, after 20 mins approx was guided to our table... the waitress took our drink orders and we sipped our coffe and our pop while looking through the menu. The wait time was reasonable till we got our food.

The food (order)

I ordered the shrimp alfredo. The first bowl was very oily and it seperated after 3 minutes. After 5 bites all I could taste was the oil. Noodles were ok and the shrimp was fine, but both were overpowered by too much alfredo, now I've been making alfredo sause for years and I have never had mine seperate like that and I make it from scratch.

Order two (sister's)

she ordered a spicy Italian sausage soup that had 3 ingredients, and potatoes were one of them and she barely got any potatoes on hers. it had onion chunks in it and it took my sister a long time to pick them out. She has an intolerance to onions she also ordered a spaghetti with meatballs and she asked if that had onion chunks and she said no, however it did. And she had to pick those out as well. Also the spaghetti had too much tomato chunks and not enough actual sauce. What was left was very water and did nothing for the pasta.

The result (combined)

we told the waitress this and she took our concerns and said she would get the manager, she got him and we explained to him and he was able to tell me that the alfredo stuff seperated because it was heated too fast and too quick, he offered to give us replacements for both our meals and my sister got a cheese fondue.

The resolution (combined)

I got a new alfredo meal that was better and didn't have the seperation issue and it tasted much better!

My sister got the fondue as a replacement. She was only charged for the cheaper fondue and mine was simply exchanged and no change to my charge. Both our drinks were comped.

The conclusion:

the experience was rocky at start, however was resolved. But still left a wonky taste in my mouth. As a result my experience was 2.8 stars and my sister...

Teriffic place to eat at with just 1 or 20 people. Olive Garden is my most favorite restaurant to eat at ever. I've been as far north as Columbus Ohio to as far south as Statesboro Georgia and I have to say that I never have had a bad experience at any of them. I have always ordered the same thing which is, The Salad, Breadsticks and Fettuccine Alfredo with water and no ice. Recently, I have threw in a few new things to try. The Strawberry Passionfruit Lemonada, Cheese Sticks and Black Tie Mousse Cake. The Lemonada is fantastic. Well everything is. I have never been one to order dessert while eating out or to even eat dessert at all. Once I tried the Mousse cake, I was in love. It is very expensive though at like $7 a slice. 1 slice will more than do ya though. So, when we get it, we split it right down the middle. Half of a slice is perfect for us. The staff at our local Olive Garden are teriffic. The management is superb along with the hostess and servers. They are top notch and extremely friendly and helpful. My boyfriend is a funny guy and always has them all laughing. Like having a serious face when asking for management and then shaking their hands and joking around with them. Our favorite server is Rose. I love her. We don't get to sit in her section much because they are always very busy. We lucked out today and went when they had just a few customers. I asked Rose if she minded if we got a picture with her. She said ok so I'm adding it. She is great at what she does. They are lucky to have her but I'm sure that they know that. On the photography of the food, I apologize, we were in a bit of a hurry. If you haven't yet tried Olive Garden and I don't know a single person who hasn't, I highly recommend that you do! ...

I love Olive Garden. There's something about massive amounts of pasta that makes my heart happy. However lately I have not been impressed with the quality of food and more importantly the service. The place is staffed mostly with young adults and their lack of caring is very evident when you walk through the door. They body language and how they speak to you shows an air of contempt not only for you but for the fact they are working. Once at your table which you now have to be shown the new table helping appetizer ordering pay machine. I just want pasta not a lesson on how to pay for my meal I haven't ate yet. Also most people like to go out have a nice dinner and conversation with someone their care about whether it's a date, a spouse, or a family member, no one wants to be in the middle of saying something important to have a disinterested manager come and ask how your food was. I mean seriously if he acted like he cared I would have told him about the kids who hate their job that seated me, the waiter who threw coasters at us and the long hair in my pasta when it came to the table. Yes that all happened by the way. Instead I want to eat my meal and talk with my wife just leave me alone. So over all if you want to feel frustrated with the youth of today, be charged 4 times the worth of the meal and have people interrupt your meal of cold hair pasta and hotdog buns then this is a 5 star restaurant...