Olive Garden Italian Restaurant

Ordered online take out, I ask for our food to be ready at 7:15, I got that about five minutes early, and our food was ready on time. The employees were great, and made sure everything was correct. The food was excellent, not one complaint from anyone in our group ( 7 people).
5 7 years ago (28-05-2018)

So, I am kind of torn on how to rate. The food, service, cleanliness and all of that was spot on. Great dining facility as far as that goes, however, my family's situation and how it was handled really rubbed me the wrong way. My brother recently got back from Afghanistan and my parents, grandma, kids, and other brother were going to meet him and his wife for dinner. This is where he picked. It was Friday at about 5. We were coming from Greeneville, which is about an hour away. Once we were on the highway, headed there, I called to reserve space for us because my youngest is a baby and my other brother is autistic. The woman who answered the phone said they don't take reservations for more than 7 on weekends (including the baby and other young child, we were 9). Now, I have worked in restaurants and I get that about 50% of the time, large reservations just don't show up and you don't want to lose that space during prime time (weekends), however, I explained that we were already driving there - already on the way, and further explained that we had a baby and an autistic guest with us, and he did not handle waits well; we didn't want him to have a meltdown. No one would enjoy time there then; not us, not them, and not other guests in the restaurant. She suggested we send someone ahead to save the space for us, as it was empty. I reiterated that all of us were already on the way, but we were about 45 minutes from there; we couldn't go any faster. (I am wondering why someone can stand there in person and save seats for 45 minutes, but why my call of being on the way there can't?). So she just said she believed we would be okay since they were empty. Well... 45 later, we arrived to it being absolutely packed. And sure enough.... wait time of 20 - 25 minutes. It was quite the catch 22 at this point because without being able to call ahead somewhere else, there was sure to be a wait anywhere now. So. I waited inside with the buzzer. My family stayed in the heated car with the kids, and evidently my baby was hollering that whole time, and my brother, who had just gotten back from war was walking around in the snowing weather with my other brother, trying to prevent him from having a meltdown. They did try to get tables together quickly after that, and the food and wine were all lovely. My daughter has since asked about going back. But I am just really put off by how that was initially handled. I think a facility needs to take into account certain circumstances and be customer friendly. We had a $300 bill that night. And I can honestly say if I knew of a different restaurant that we could have gone to with no wait in that moment, that's precisely where I would have brought my business. So, in short.... good food, good kitchen staff, good wait staff.... but the customer service side of things front end, can definitely use some improvement. That experience is what keeps it from being a 5 star experience. If you have no issues waiting, I recommend this place. However, if you are dealing with anything not so common; special needs, young children, etc... you may want to consider somewhere else.
3 7 years ago (18-04-2018)

This Olive garden was the absolute worst Olive garden my fiance and I have ever been to! Our server Bailey was extremely rude and slow. While there she never gave us a refill, tried to rush us out by asking if we were done after only ten minutes of getting our food. When my fiance asked if we could get a dessert Bailey rudely says "sure". We were almost done eating at this point and had just paid when Bailey came to our table and took the remainder of the food without even asking if we were finished! Before I realized what was going on it was to late to get it back since she had already stacked the plates together. It is very unlikely that we will ever be returning to this individual olive garden.
1 7 years ago (09-05-2018)

We ate here tonight. It was great. Our server, Seth, was amazing. Very nice and treated our daughter like a "princess". We will ask for him when we go back.
5 7 years ago (20-03-2018)

Great Italian food!! Can't beat the endless soup, salad and bread sticks!! Kids meals are a great value and the wait staff is always friendly.
5 7 years ago (20-05-2018)