Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Virginia

Came to this establishment because my daughter picked this particular place to have a birthday dinner with family (due to distance). We were sure to call ahead a previous day and day of to let them know the party size and time we were interested in; the women on both occasions let us know it was fine, no other details. Upon arrival at 5:30pm, with some guests arriving prior to that time. We were told our "party area" was not ready, followed by a Man, of whom I assume is the manager, letting me know that although we called ahead over 24hours as well as the day of, another large party was seated in the party area and he offered us another section with enough seats but everyone was now forced to seat separately. Due to "our party area" not being ready when we arrived I had no place to put down a very heavy, expensive, 2 teir custom made cake, so a Host advised she'd put it in the freezer. I let her know it was my daughters cake and to please be sure it would not get messed up. Once seated, we asked for the cake to be brought to the table for the birthday girl. The manager brought it out and placed it on an empty table but placed it down conveniently so that the damaged part of the cake was not shown. Yes someone had damaged it (a whole chunk was missing and could see cake layer icing was gone) It's a bit concerning that as a manager, you'd hide a mistake versus honestly letting a guest know you mistakenly damaged the cake. Waited for the manager to come back so I could make him aware, however, he never did. Unfortunately, my daughter was upset but there was nothing that can be done. Given the unexpected seating arrangement, the manager assured us we'd be well taken care of, however, I never received a refill (were there for about 3 hours), my son's child dish came out after guests' food of whom arrived an hour late. The food seemed to be okay for most but we were overall most upset with the seating, we should have been made aware when we called multiple times prior to the date that they would not reserve the party area, instead they reassured us; and VERY disappointed that our custom cake was damaged and they were not forthcoming about it. If they would have just came to me and apologized, perhaps we would have been less offended. Even with a combination of separate seating, extremely late food for children, no refills and dishonesty about our cake, We were not offered any type of compensation. Hopefully this review will encourage them to have better protocols for large parties in the future and will also encourage them to be more truthful when a mistake is made with someone...

My husband and I have been wanting to try this Olive Garden. It's in a great spot surrounded by tons of shops, and the outside of the restaurant is more appealing than any other Olive Garden we've been to. It's a beautiful restaurant on the outside and the interior is warm and gives hints of a Tuscany that make it feel like you're there.

My husband wanted to have dinner with me, so we met up at this Olive Garden, straight from work and made it an hour before closing.

Now, it may be a very beautiful restaurant on the outside, but as soon as we stepped foot inside we were not greeted with smiles but instead given the ugliest looks I have ever seen. Again, my rule is to never show up close to 2 hours before closing but we walked in at 8:54 and they close at 10pm. I urged my husband to do takeout but he wanted to enjoy a dinner with me and so we attempted. Dirty, judging, side-eye looks from the moment we walked in, to the girl walking away after seating us. I believe the names of those hostesses were Jackie and Kayla, 100% sisters. My husband confirmed that all of the girls up front gave the nastiest looks that he's seen and it was definitely not just an RBF. My anxiety spiked up, I did not feel welcomed one bit, I lost my appetite, and so we paid for our meal and packed it up immediately after it came. You work in hospitality and your job as a host is to make people feel welcomed? You are getting paid to seat people and give out wait times. Maybe find another job if that angers you because I know I still smile no matter how late guests arrive and have them leave with a smile too.

It's 5 stars because our server Kylan was an amazing server and although busy, he was attentive and provided service with such kind manners that made the night better. Candace, the Culinary Manager, also did an exceptional job checking each table for quality and service. She understood our concern, wanted to make our night better, and wanted us to give the location another shot. She was very sweet and proves to be a wonderful manager. We thank them. Kylan and Candace were the highlights of our dining experience and I'm happy that it’s just the hostesses that are...

So, to start off we decided to go to Olive Garden after church. We had a group of 8, which consisted of 95% elderly people. My husband and I got there first and went in to put our name in and tell them that we had a party of 8. The hostess told us it would be about 15-20 mins. About 10 mins later, a man and woman and a couple small kids came in, gave their name and said " party of 8". The hostess told them that it would be about 20-25 mins. I told my husband that I was glad that we had gotten there earlier because they were also a party of 8 and it was getting very busy now. He said that it was a good thing and that hopefully we get seated soon. Our party showed up and went inside to sit while we waited since they were elderly. We told them that we had to wait 15-20 mins and it was almost time. During that time, the family that came in after us, their name was called with "party of 5" after it. They corrected them and said "No, it's a party of 8". So, they weren't seated. So, a bit later we saw them being seated. We stopped the hostess and told her that we were before them. We both were "party of 8". So, she told us that maybe they called ahead, etc. And we told her that they hadn't and what happened. Well, she talked to the manager, etc and after waiting she says how they were on the list before us. How is that? Because they had them as a "party of 5"? Not as a "party of 8". After waiting at a full hour, she tells us that they are trying to find us a place to sit. She keeps looking and talking to people and seeing where we can sit etc. She finally tells us to follow her. We get to the table and are waiting on our server. We sit and wait and wait and wait. No one takes our drink order. We finally ask if someone is going to help us. The other server finds our server. We get someone to take our drink order and then our server comes out and takes our order. She was so swamped that we hardly got to see her. I'm not blaming the poor quality service on her. I'm blaming the poor quality service on the fact that they seated the other family ahead of us. That was done from mismanagement. There was no apologies or...