Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Virginia

I am writing to formally express my deep dissatisfaction with the service my family and I received at your Manassas Olive Garden on Mother’s Day, May 11, 2025. This was, by far, the most disappointing dining experience I have encountered—not only at Olive Garden, but at any restaurant.

Our party of eleven arrived promptly at 6:00 PM. Upon checking in, we were informed that there would be an approximate wait time of one hour due to the size of our group, which we understood and were willing to accommodate. However, that estimate proved to be grossly inaccurate. By 7:20 PM—nearly an hour and a half later—we followed up with the host for an update and were told there were still no available tables. During this time, we observed multiple smaller parties of four to six guests being seated promptly. We had no issue being split between two tables—even in separate sections of the restaurant—but this was never offered or considered by the staff.

We were not seated until 8:35 PM, a full 2.5 hours after our arrival. At this point, two small children (ages 2 and 7) were visibly upset and hungry, and two pregnant family members were extremely uncomfortable and nearing exhaustion. Once seated, we placed drink and children's food orders first, hoping to expedite service for those in the most need. Unfortunately, this too was delayed—our drinks alone took over 30 minutes to arrive, and two drink orders were completely missed.

After the initial soup and salad were delivered, our server, Kristine (if I recall correctly), disappeared for approximately 30–45 minutes. She did not return to check on our table, offer drink refills, or clear used appetizer plates. I eventually had to approach another server to assist us with refilling drinks. By this time, it was nearly 10:36 PM—over four hours into what should have been a pleasant dinner celebration.

When our entrées were finally served at 10:45 PM, one of our pregnant family members had become physically ill due to the prolonged wait, despite having brought snacks and water. Everyone at the table had lost their appetite. We immediately requested take-out boxes, only to wait an additional 20 minutes. To make matters worse, our server was unable to split the checks correctly, further delaying our departure by another 10 minutes.

While we understand that Mother’s Day is a high-volume holiday, it is also one that restaurants have ample time to prepare for. The lack of organization, communication, and basic hospitality was unacceptable and inexcusable.

Although the food itself was satisfactory when reheated the following day, the service we received was completely unacceptable. I strongly question how this location maintains a four-star rating. Based on this experience, I would rate it zero stars if that were possible.

This experience was not only a disappointment but a failure in guest care and operational readiness. I am requesting this matter be reviewed by management and appropriate measures be taken to prevent future guests from enduring a...

The server was great forgot her name but she made things smooth and took care of us and never had to ask for anything drinks stayed filled before i can ask for anything for my daughter she was right there with another fork or smaller straw. Very good attention to detail she also had 3 other tables that all got equal service. Just for her i will come back cause I really dont like franchised restaurants i perfer mom and pops but my mother and daughters wanted to go there so i intertained it. The food was hot and good but i know what i was getting. Nothing special but thats because i been to olive garden 100 times. Inviorment was clean not really busy but started getting busy. Hostest was very nice greated us right away comfirmed the table was cleaned with the bus boy, but she was a lady. Well trained staff and very friendly. Will defentily will keep this specific location of olive garden on my to go out list when thinking of places to eat. But wish you guys on a corporate level will make new items on the menu. But great job staff. Also manager greated and touched all tables to make sure everyone was getting good service so i believe the manager has a big part on the customer service and the uniformity of equal consistency for customer and food quality . Great service catches my attention even when there may be hickups the service can make or break a business. So great job team. Server was mid 20s wish i had her name so she could get the credit i was there september 5th around 330pm black hair wanna say she had lower part died a little, i believe she was hispanic and we sat on the left of the main entrence then the middle both on the right if that helps her get recognized.

Also i really dont give 5 stars because theres always room for improvment . So when walking out the front door worker was sitting on a ledge of the front entrance smoking a cigarette fast well my mom and kids got a whole face full of smoke i said oh man you scared us he said oh sorry with an attitude and looked back at his phone . Younger kid but maybe smoke in a designated area and maybe put a glove on cause i dont want nicotine touching my kids plates. But he may not know the rules or comnen curtousy. Now say if it was me walking up to the restruant and this happend we would have probably never went in to experience the great service. So instead of scholding him maybe show the reason why its important cause it can effect customers, less customers less gross...

I generally LOVE Olive Garden. Their food is amazing. And usually good customer service. However, I didn’t have such a great experience this time. I called TWO weeks ahead of time to try to reserve tables for a retirement party. On a Saturday. When I called I was told that they only take reservations 24 hours ahead. Okay. That’s fine. So I call Thursday evening around 9pm to see if they will just go ahead and do it. Was then told they don’t take reservations on the weekend. So I called back and talked to a manager and he told me he would try to work with me and all he wanted me to do was to arrive 30-60 minutes early and let them know I was there for them to prep tables. Got there 45 minutes ahead, asked for the manager, he showed me the area we would be sitting, had a couple people there but he said once they left it was ours. Told him I was going outside to do a couple things then I would be back in. Come back in 30minutes later and walk back to the area, and see a whole party of about 25-30 people in our seats! The manager Tim I had been talking to this whole time never showed his face again. It took about ten minutes before I even got to talk to a manager and he blamed it on miscommunication between the managers. But my thing is, they had my name and knew the situation so how did they give that many tables away THAT fast. Then probably 15-20 minutes or so later after we were all standing in the lobby, they finally got an area together for us. And still wasn’t what I requested but we made it work. Our waiter was great. No issues there whatsoever. Then after we got our food someone at our table had hair in their plate. They did fix the situation by comping her meal and letting her order another. But. It was a disaster. I was so embarrassed. Especially when the people coming in for the party, were told there wasn’t any going on. Thankfully I was standing there up front due to the issue and was able to direct everyone over where we were. I won’t go there again for that type...