Olive Garden Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Virginia

My family and I visited this restaurant for dinner recently. I have a gluten allergy, so I checked to make sure there were GF options online before visiting. I also asked the hostesses if there was a GF menu upon arriving, and they provided me with the special menu to start. One might ask... why would I go to OG, of all places, if I have a gluten allergy? Because... sometimes family wants to go somewhere different, and sometimes I just don't want to have to search for something specific - it's a lot of work. And I can handle some level of cross contamination. If there's a GF menu, I'll try it. So we went. After about a half an hour after getting home, I became really sick - my stomach started to turn and I was in the bathroom for hours. Gluten exposure or cross-contamination in small amounts isn't going to kill me. It might give me a few hives on my cheeks, but usually I can withstand a little exposure. But if I eat an entire meal, I'm going to be sick. It's not something I want to experience if I can avoid it, and it's certainly not something I want to pay for. I checked the receipt and it only says CYO pasta/rigatoni (not sure if it would indicate GF). My husband (who eats gluten) also tried the leftover pasta we brought home (which is still miraculously in tact) and thinks it could either be a mix of GF and regular pasta because it varied in consistency or it's just all regular pasta.) If OG is reading this, please check your GF pasta and the process by which your servers and cooks are handling it or don't offer it. I'd hate for this to happen to someone else.

Other notes: We waited forever for service, no bread or water while waiting. Server finally comes out, no apology - we just go ahead and order everything. I'm careful to point to my GF menu and order GF rigatoni. We also put in an order for mixed drinks (gin/tonic and Manhattan). And then we wait forever, and still no bread or water or mixed drinks, which serve to tie over customers while they wait for the entree - or maybe slower service. We're beginning to think the free bread has gone by the wayside with covid cutbacks. Meanwhile, we see other servers bustling about back and forth, attending to their customers. None of them ever check on us, which I find odd - most restaurants, especially if short-staffed, will have a number of folks check on us or delivering food. Eventually our server comes out, bringing just about everything at once, including bread - but no mixed drinks. Server never really checks in after food delivery, which is standard. I notice that my rigatoni is miraculously in-tact and not falling apart, as is pretty normal for GF pasta, and think - wow, OG really has found some impressive GF pasta. About halfway through the meal, the server - the one time she visits our table once we get our meal - let's us know the bar is just now making our drinks. No apology, no explanation, nothing - just at our table as briefly as possible. We have experienced A LOT of clunky service since covid - and we've learned to go out to eat just not in a hurry, enjoying each other's company, and basically expecting delays. But we've met so many really kind, attentive, friendly servers that make the experience enjoyable. We did not get that at all. This server seemed really inexperienced, or just not great with people. Close to the end of our meal, we finally got our drinks. Whatever she brought me was basically water and fruit. After we finished our meal, we waited and waited and waited. Finally pushed the "call server" button on the screen/game device on the table (that was obnoxiously blinking red the entire time), because I wanted the drink taken off the check. She took the drink off, and we paid the check and left. On a positive note, the restaurant and...

Hello, Today I had a very bad experience probably the worst experience I’ve ever had in my entre life as a customer with a restaurant.

I called the store today at 3:25pm Checking to see if the buy one get one is still going on the girl that was talking to me said yes it is. I told her I used to work at Olive Garden in falls church and I understand that the free meal cooks uncooked and you have to cook it on ur own. My friends purchased 2 days ago from the falls church location and asked them to cook it and they did it with a happy smile so it’s possible. So I drove 22 mins assuming that the store will cook it for me I wanted to order 3 of the buy one get one which means 6 for a family of 6 that have been fasting all day for “Ramadan” the guy was outside taking the orders I asked him if he could do what was agreed on with the girl and have it cooked for me she said no we can’t I told him please the only reason I’m here is to feed my family of 6 we don’t have any food to eat we were all ready for Olive Garden and the reason I came to order in person is so the food won’t be cold when I get home. Because that makes it an hour of it being cooked and it will get cold. He said I understand the manager is Muslim as well and practice Ramadan as well but we can’t do it. I asked why because I was promised from the person over the phone to get it cooked. He asked me who were u talking to I told him I didn’t ask for the name because why should I. He told me look man we can’t do. you wanna order or not because this is all I have for you with an Attitude I told please sir why. He said he couldn’t without an explanation whatsoever so I told him again please I drove 30 mins he said that’s not really my problem Do you want it or no. I said can I speak to a manager he said I’m a manager I told him but the falls church one just did it literally 2 days ago with 4 meals he said look I don’t have all day do you want it or no and I said man this is not the right way to talk to a customer so he turns his back and goes to a different person and takes their order and starts to talk about me I heard him as these Muslims think they can get whatever they want. I went to call the store from my phone to speak to a manager and I explained to her in details he said you can buy all 6 today and get the next 6 some other time I said that doesn’t work for me because I was told to receive all 6 today she said that’s all we can offer I told her I’m writing a review me and my entire family because we have nothing to eat now what is ur name so I can put it on the review she went and hang up once I asked...

My experience at the Olive Garden restaurant in Fair Lakes, Virginia was absolutely appalling and nothing short of a culinary nightmare. I feel compelled to share my horrifying experience so that others may avoid the dreadful mistake of dining at this establishment. To start, the silverware provided to us was tarnished and coated in a grotesque residue of dried food and what I can only assume was soapy, dry water. It was as if they hadn't bothered to properly clean their utensils for weeks. This lack of basic hygiene should have been a clear indication of the horrors to come. Next, we ordered what was supposed to be chicken soup, but it tasted as though it had been leftover from the previous day, or perhaps even from another unsuspecting customer's table. The flavor was stale and rancid, making it utterly inedible. But the pinnacle of our misery was reached when we received our main courses, a lasagna and salmon. Both dishes were not only visually unappealing but also emitted a putrid odor that turned our stomachs. The food appeared old and had clearly gone bad, a shocking lapse in quality control and a threat to our health. My wife and I both fell violently ill that night and suffered the consequences well into the following day. To add insult to injury, our waiter with the solitary gold earring and his incessant, rapid-fire repetition of the word "folks" was astonishingly inept. We asked for simple napkins, a request that should be effortlessly fulfilled in any dining establishment. However, they never arrived, leaving us to fend for ourselves in the midst of this culinary disaster. Perhaps the most distressing aspect of this entire ordeal was our fear of alerting anyone in the kitchen or management about our grievances, as we could only imagine that they might somehow make the situation even worse. The fear that our concerns would fall on deaf ears or, worse, result in retaliation from the kitchen staff speaks volumes about the restaurant's overall lack of professionalism and commitment to customer satisfaction. In conclusion, I must emphasize that I will never, under any circumstances, set foot in the Olive Garden in Fair Lakes, Virginia ever again. This experience was nothing short of a horrifying ordeal that left my wife and me physically and emotionally scarred. It is my sincere hope that others heed this warning and spare themselves the misery of dining at this wretched...