Olive Garden Italian Restaurant

Not the place it used to be. Low quality food: Now without the tablecloths. The staff at this location is fairly good, but the food just seems to continue a downward spiral. There isn’t much the locals can do about a company that’s charging in the wrong direction.

I’ve always had a good experience here! The managers make sure that your having a good time and enjoying the food. The staff is normally very knowledgable on their menu and very nice.
For appetizers, I recommend the crispy risotto bites, stuffed mushrooms, classic calamari, and or italian cheese stuffed meatballs. With any main course you order you’ll be able to choose between a salad or soup. I have not found a main course I didn’t like yet but I do have some favorites to recommend, such as the stuffed chicken marsala, ravioli di portabello, the tour of Italy, or the braised beef and tortellini.
Lots of options for the kidos too!

We had a great server. Got our food in decent time and he kept our drinks refilled. It was a very good experience. Not the best with big groups but with me and my husband it was great. :-)

it was pretty good a little slow but it was busy will eat at this one again and one question what is a FOOD SNOB? am i one?

Food was cold & when my husband ask the server that he need hot .She was making funny faces & complaining to other customers. I will never go back.

My husband and I enjoyed this fine establishment last night.
Melanie was my server and she was spot on– she cleared unneeded plates, she brought me sample of wine– (Moscato– it was sublime!) I adored her and feel that she is a fine server!
The food itself– wow! The chefs sure love a lot of salt! I had the prosciutto tortellini and was not fond of it. The sauce wasn’t bad but there was way too much prosciutto in this dish. I couldn’t taste anything else but tons and tons of bacon, which I love bacon too but — wow this was off the chain! I should mention that my food was hot and nice, not cold, not dry, not over cooked… Just prosciutto overload!
Husband had the garlic Asiago, cavatappi and he was disappointed in the overwhelming garlic but the pasta was nice.
When we walked out the door to leave last night, we were told we were the first ones to walk under the new awning! Yay us!

Not the best experience. The food was just average from the soup and salad through the dessert. While the greeters and wait staff were friendly there seems to be an incorrect ratio of staff to customers. And way too many managers doing nothing.
When we arrived parking was packed yet the restaurant was only ²⁄₃ full of customers and no one was in the bar. There is clearly a lack of parking issue.
We were seated immediately and the greeter laid down the menus and said our waitress, Casey, would be right with us. That turned in to over ten minutes while a couple managers stood five feet from us and talked and laughed the entire time. When Casey arrived she was apologetic and very friendly, she took our drink and dinner order and off she went. After another fifteen minutes she returned with our soup and salad and drinks. It seemed her other tables were spread around. Dinner arrived shortly after and we were all still eating the soup or salad. About ten minutes after dinner arrived we started seeing Casey more often. She couldn’t be nicer or smile more. I blame Either local or corporate management for a poor waiter/​waitress to customer ratio.
Of the three meals we had, two were good and one just marginal. The asiago tortellini and sliced beef tasted like it went from freezer to microwave and had a nice very rich creamy mushroom sauce. The tortellini was very tough, dry, and super hot. Very confusing. The best thing anyone ate was the chicken gnocchi soup although it was void of chicken.
The food was average. The drinks were great. The waitress great. But the parking confusing and beyond capacity and inaccurate staffing made for a disappointing experience.

I would say that I’m a fan of this Olive Garden location. All of the items I had were very delicious. The «tortellini al forno» and the «kiwi-​melon limonata.»
Our waitress seemed really busy while we were there so I’m not really sure what I could say about the service. She appeared very distracted most of the time but more and more people kept being seated in her section while a lot of empty tables remained in the other parts of the restaurant.
The food I had was so good that I didn’t really mind our waitress, though.

This restaurant is mind boggling. The food is bad, the service is terrible, yet somehow it’s always packed with people. I don’t get it!
THE FOOD: Food is the staple of any restaurant. It’s the reason we go out to eat. If the food doesn’t live up to expectations, then the restaurant is doomed to a poor review. Such is the case with Olive Garden. The advertisements on television and the glorious menu photos make the food seem deliciously exquisite. You order something that looks and sounds fantastic, then when it arrives on your plate it turns out to be a steaming pile of microwaved slop. Disappointing is an understatement. It’s not as if I’ve accidentally ordered the one or two things on the menu that just happen to be sub-​par. I’ve eaten at this location a dozen times. The food is always pre-​frozen at a factory, shipped in, and microwaved when you order it. The one redeeming quality Olive Garden has is: the salad. It’s always light and fresh and the dressing is great. In fact, the only way I recommend dining at the Olive Garden is the lunch soup and salad combo. Skip the frozen/​reheated entrees altogether. Also, I should mention that I have enjoyed the desserts (although they are likely pre-​frozen like the entrees) and coffee/​espresso drinks that are available at this location.
THE SERVICE: Service is poor. As I mentioned, I’ve been to this location several times. Usually I go with a large family group of 4 – 8 people. One might think that having a larger group would draw extra attention from staff members. It does not. The routine is always the same. The waiters/​waitresses show up after you have been seated for 10 minutes and take your order. 10 Minutes later they come back with salad and breadsticks (which you will consume in 2 minutes because you’re starving by this point.) 30 minutes later they arrive with your food. Then you wont see them again until they come to collect your payment. I’ve had occasions on which a waiter/​waitress dropped off a small bowl of salad for a group of 8, and the salad only served 5 people. Then of course the remaining people went without salad until we finally walked to the kitchen ourselves and asked for another bowl of salad because our server was MIA. Why do the servers refuse to refill your salad/​drinks/​breadsticks? It become such a regular routine to be ignored by servers that I suspect it’s company policy or something. Perhaps they tell staff not to refill salad because it’s free and it will cost the business money?
THE PRICE: The Olive Garden’s pricing is reasonable. On average, you will likely spend $ 20 or less per person, per dinner. Lunch is much less expensive (and less crowded!)
THE AMBIANCE: One positive thing I can say about this restaurant is it’s beautiful. I love the contrast between the bar area and the main seating areas on either side of it. The tables, interior, and décor are all gorgeous. It’s truly a lovely restaurant.
OVERALL: I recommend olive garden for lunch. The soup, salad, and breadsticks combo is a good deal. However, I can’t recommend the Olive Garden for dinner. The poor service and frozen food are detrimental to what would otherwise be an enjoyable dining experience.

We went to the Lafayette Olive Garden for dinner last night.
Before going I read the reviews here, and for the ones that didn’t like it, it was usually because of the waiter. Our waitress was Laura and she was very good.
This was my first trip to an Olive Garden. I prefer hole in the wall ethnic restaurants in general. It was my daughter’s birthday and this is where she wanted to go.
It was typical of a mid level chain restaurant. It was clean, bright, nicely decorated and comfortable. The menu had a good selection of dishes. Not so few that I felt constrained, or so many that I got lost.
The food was tasty, filling and well presented.
The bill was reasonable. Not dirt cheep, like my favorite Mexican Place on Friday night, but I did not feel like I was paying for more than I got either.
Overall it seems like a great place to take relatives for a dinner, a business lunch or just a night out where you want good food in a nice atmosphere.
Of course if you don’t like your relatives go to QuackDonalds, and if you are trying to make a big impression for lunch, then there are other places for this.

We were seated fairly quickly and the food came out quickly after we ordered. However our server was acting really strange. We hadn’t been eating for 10 minutes when he asked if we wanted boxes to go. He was really awkward and cleared plates from the table when I was still eating from them. While still in the middle of the meal, he took my plate with food and placed the food in a box. It was just awkward and felt very rushed. The food was mediocre at best. The breadsticks were too salty, the chicken parmesan too dry, and the spaghetti too soggy. It was my first time visiting an Olive Garden, so I hope the next time I go there, my experience is better.

The Alfredo sauce and bread sticks is what gets Olive Garden a 5 star. I literally can’t get enough of it which is good because the bread sticks come free. In terms of authentic Italian it may be a little commercial but none the less it is still yummy and every time I go the quality is consistent.

One of my favorite restaurants. Have never had a bad dish here. Staff is always friendly.

Olive Garden gets a bad rap from food snobs, but the food is good and the prices are low. I had penne de mare and it was delicious. This location is extremely popular in the evenings and you will have to wait. We went on Valentine’s Day and they were so busy they ran out of beepers and handed us a number written on a piece of paper. Turns out they wrote the same number on someone else’s paper, who were quicker at getting to the desk than we were. When we brought this to the attention of the host, we were seated immediately. Still, it was a 45 minute wait for a table. Once seated, our server was prompt and we enjoyed our dinner.

This place is ALWAYS packed and busy. It is ridiculously difficult to find parking, weekday or weekends! I’ve always had to wait 10−15mins for a table. The best part about the restaurant is their unlimited salad/​soup and bread sticks. I’ve tried many dishes from this restaurant and they are all pretty good. The only downside is some dishes are good sized portions (Fettuccine alfredo, Steak Gorgonzola-​Alfredo) and some are not (Stuffed chicken marsala, Grilled Pork Veneto).

It’s Olive Garden. Not sure it could ever be 5 stars… But our waitress Erin was. One of the few sit down restaurants open on the long Indiana highway that can serve vegetarians on New Years Day. Normally always looking to go someplace very local on our road trips but on Jan 1… Not always possible. Dressing as usual was addictive (and very non vegan and includes HFCS) but what the heck we eat healthy 364 days of the year.
Thank you Erin for making our Olive Garden experience as good as it could possibly be.

The waiter that we had (Gary) was horrible. Had a horrible attitude. Threw our coasters and straws at us. Even gave us sidelong glances. What was up with him? At the end, he gave shortchanged my friend’s change. Told the manager and he came back saying that it «dropped out of his pocket». Geez.
Food was ok but pls avoid this guy at all costs!

Tried Olive Garden for the first time yesterday. Impressed! I wonder why we have never been there before. The service is friendly and patient and always smiley. I ordered Spaghetti with Meatballs which is good but my wife ordered the amazing Chianti Braised Short Ribs! I wish I could switch! The portion of meal is pretty generous. We managed to finish only half of ours just to save room for the desert. Their Tiramisu is also delicious! Creamy but not too sweet. Definitely will visit again soon.

The food is decent, and the service is decent. However, I can list off about 20 other places in the area where you can get better food for a better price. Is it just me or has Olive Garden rapidly increased their prices over the last couple of years? It seems like their dishes are astronomically expensive for what you get. Maybe if the service was stellar I wouldn’t be too concerned – but when I have to ask for more bread and more iced tea, it leaves a lot to be desired.
This location always seems busy, but if you come with a small group and avoid the after-​church rush, you should be seated fairly quickly.

The Olive G, I had forgot how some chain restaurants were actually good. There was a 15 mins wait at 5:30pm friday night but no one sitting at the bar so we sat up at the bar and got great service, Apps coming out fast soups come out on time and it’s endless soup and salad, the apps were good, I didn’t really care for the soup but I didn’t really look or listen to what it was, so it was my own fault made for a good breedstick dipping sauce. I had a talapia dish with some noodles and wow was the a great dish! yum yum I almost want to go back tonight.