Olive Garden Italian Restaurant

Tom Terrific here with another honest restaurant review.
this is the Olive Garden at 6700 HWY 19 and since I was traveling north I had to make a UTurn to get there. don’t you hate those high cement medians? lol
I got there around 3 pm, was immediately seated and Kate K was a server.
I ordered The Tour Of Italy which included the Tuscan sirloin, the chicken marsala ravioli and the fettuccine alfredo ($ 18), the never ending salad and the breadsticks.
I have a hard time getting away from the salad (as I just love it) and of the breadsticks of which I only got TWO (though if I asked for more i’m sure Kate would have got me another).
the sirloin arrived very warm and medium as I ordered it and the two pastas were good but could have been better had they been warmer. now here’s where I took off two stars to make a 3 star total which means OK (i’m getting tougher) lol.
1. the two pastas could have been a few degrees warmer but as the sirloin was hot I imagine the cooks put up the pasta on the plate and then had to wait a bit for the steak to be finished. not being hot took some flavor away from the two pastas.
2. the salad was brought to me with a VERY small amount of dressing in it so I had to ask Kate for more.
3. the pepper grinder was out of pepper and I had to get her attention and ask Kate for another one.
4. the trivia game already at the table at THIS Olive Garden CHARGED $ 2 to play while the OG on Ulmerton in Largo that I did a review on two weeks ago was FREE! it’s fun to play while you’re alone and waiting for your meal as I do. I do NOT eat in courses when i’m alone so I usually ask that ALL food come out at one time so the trivia game helps pass the time. since there was a charge I did not play.
Kate came to my table and made sure everything was ok. her service was good. i can’t say who the 4 snafus were to be blamed on so i’ll let you be the judge.
when I left the parking lot I had to make another UTurn to get home ~sigh~
so there you go.

Sangria is really good… salad delicious all the time… portions have really gotten smaller… but not a big eater anyway… but the value compared to portion is pretty off…
Charles is always an amazing server…
We will be back…
P. s. the chicken marsala ravioli sucks sucks sucks

Oh where to start. I have been here on 3 different occassions. Each one a different group came with. I have had the best service each time. Ive done dine in and pick up. The staff is excellent and my food has been an A each time. The night I did a pick up for my family was the best. I had no complaints, and from my group thats saying a lot. Thanks for all your hard work and excellent customer service.

I am giving three stars, only because of the smell of dirty floors/​mop water and the dirty smell of carpet. Carpet is restaurants is so gross and has a never ending odor. Our waitress was very polite and attempted to get food and drinks as fast as possible. Enjoyed the music, great food and good waitress, but really wish the floors would be cleaned with bleach and the carpet should be replaced with non carpet material.

The food was very good however my wife and I were joined by my mother in law and 2 grandkids and seated directly behind us was a large table of loud people swearing and whistling at all of the ladies that walked by, we could not be moved to another table and were forced to endure this activity our enture meal. Asked for a manager but none came befire we left. Not a great experience.

The drinks we got were super satisfying. Didn’t have to wait for our soup and salad, and we ordered pasta. The sauce on the pasta was delicious! But the pasta was too overcooked. This whole process did not take too long but getting our checks probably took longer… My mom and I were eating at the bar and you can see all the employees huddled up together gossiping. While it was just my mother and I at the bar with empty plates not one of them came up to us and asked us how we were doing or if we wanted anything… The bartender was serving us but he had gone missing a while ago after he dropped off the plates. I understand working when it’s slow but please treat every guess as equal busy or not. Giving this place 3 stars is really out of pity…

Their food seems so much better friendly staff and love create your own pasta! I am impressed by most of the prices compared to carabbas and how good the food seems now compared to before. My only suggestion would be to decrease the prices a tad that way it’s a win win overall but I’m happy.

Stopped in tonight because we had a gift card to use. Havent been to an Olive Garden in years. Its still the same as I remember. Main course was pretty good. Had the calamari app as well. Could tell they microwaved the marina dipping sauce. Salad was ok. Lacked dressing for sure. Our server was very personable. She checked back often but could tell she was somewhat new. Thats ok though. Hostesses seemed very into there conversation so was not told «have a good night» after we left. It is what it is. Its a chain restaurant. Cant really expect anymore or any less.

Back for lunch on Sunday, August 2^nd. Service was more prompt than our last experience here. Food was of similar good quality. Pricing remains reasonable. Overall a good experience.

This location only has 2 salad dressings, balsamic and the house made Italian. If you’re looking for ranch for your salad head to largo or Clearwater!

DON’T ORDER TAKE OUT, if you do, check your food before you go, literally open up the containers and check or you’ll end up being disappointed like me. Me and my mother ordered from the the 2 for 25 menu for take out, I got the Portobello Alfredo and was very disappointed when looked at my meal. I only got 2 pieces of mushroom. Probably won’t be back.

Last night I had the new dish sausage stuffed giant rigatoni. I have to say that this dish was the best dishes on their menu. I am a snob when it comes to Italian food. I’m an Irish girl from NY. I know what Italian food should taste like and I was taught how to cook Italian meals as a child from a woman born and raised in Italy. The meat sauce was as good as I’ve ever tasted. It was thick, rich with just the right amount of spice and meat. The sausage stuffed in the rigatoni was delicious. There was so much that I could only eat half. I got to take the left overs home and eat it for dinner tonight. The Cesar salad was not good, way to much pepper. I barely ate it. The waitress told the manager. He stopped by our table to tell me he was removing the salad from my check. I thought that was very nice of him.
I’ve been to three or four different Olive Gardens. This one in Pinellas park is my favorite. Eat in or carry out the wait staff are always attentive and pleasant.
Way to go Olive Garden! :-)

Another typical franchise of course with an average rating. The amount I pay, i would rather go downtown and eat. i guess this was closer at the moment. I think my friend got her price worth. I was craving seasfood. So i paid extra of course. Service was nice. I came here last week after the gym. My friend was craving pasta. I should have done the special like she did. unlimited soup and salad and a little dessert. Then she took her pasta meal to go lol. Well, the portion size was great. It’s average italian food. I did Love their tiramasu dessert!!! one of the best. Server was sweet. A little wait but it was busy that night.

Great food, good prices, good service. The Rosemary Chicken is extremely good. We live in Texas and the soups at this location were made better than at home!

5 stars for «chain» food Italian? Yep. Look, I know it’s not that «special» homemade by a 5^th generation Italian schooled in… OK, enough.
I’m not going to try and defend it, it’s Olive Garden but this damn place rocks IMO.
Just went back for more, and this time was the best of the best. We arrived at around 7:30 on a Tuesday, and got right in before an early evening «rush» began.
We had a «mature» waitress, I believe her name is Terri, IIRC.(Hope I spelled her name right) Right off the bat we were offered a sample of one of their wines, which is a nice gesture, and is normally done on most visits, and this time we accepted the offer. We were each given almost a half glass of wine. I did’nt touch mine, I was too busy chugging peach iced tea, but my wife had some of hers, and my son had all of his too.
Terri (?) kept my peach iced tea filled, brought bodacious amounts of warm bread and salad (both of which were fresh) and generally kept us happy for our entire stay.
My food was perfectly cooked, the lasagna was nice and tasty, as usual. We usually get the 2 item «combo» appetizer;calamari and stuffed mushrooms, and they were done just right, again, as usual. My wife had a mixed seafood and pasta dish which she enjoyed, and my son also had the lasagna, with a chicken and flatbread appetizer, which he said was «good».
All told, our bill was about 74 bucks. That included 3 entrees, two appetizers, and 3 drinks. We went through several «rounds» of salad and warm bread, and I know I drank at least a pitcher of peach iced tea, and my wife had several as well.
Terri sent us packing with «teas to go» and we staggered happily out, laden with our leftovers.
This last visit was the best ever, Terri was the «bestest» waitress we ever had there, and the food was bountiful and good. What more can I say?
I love this freaking place.

The last time was slow. They had better timing this time around. Both the service and food was good, but just good. Since there was an improvement, I’ll be back. The lemon cake??? OMG!

The food and drinks were good for the most part (breadsticks were kind of hard and cold). My sangria was delish! I ordered the garlic rosemary chicken for my entrée and it was garlicky goodness. Chicken was cooked well and was not dry. My husband had the stuffed chicken marsala, which he liked very much also.
Service and food were a little slow, but our server was very friendly and it was not her fault (hopefully) that the food took so long to come out. So overall, not a bad experience and we were not in a rush that night.

You can get a lot of food for a reasonable price (just don’t expect the finest cuisine).
I went with a group of 6 on a Friday night. We got a table easily at about 5:30 p.m., but by 6 p.m. there was a wait.
The two for $ 25 deal is fantastic! Both people get a choice of soup or salad (which our server says was unlimited, but I don’t know if we just had an extra nice server), an entrée, and a choice of either a dessert to share or two small dishes. I got the chicken gnocchi soup, chicken alfredo (which as $ 3 extra), and the asparagus dish and chicken meatballs (our two small dishes). The chicken gnocchi soup was delicious! I would definitely recommend the asparagus dish. It comes with a cheese sauce to dip the asparagus in and the asparagus has a sweet drizzle. The chicken meatballs were ok, but I wouldn’t get it again. The chicken alfredo is a basic chicken alfredo. However, for this price I’m not complaining. I actually ended up taking the chicken alfredo home, because i was so full from the beginning dishes and the soup!
I like the atmosphere of this Olive Garden. It is big and is good at accommodating large groups (there were many groups that had more than 5 people). I do think it is a good date place.
There is more parking in the back, but I don’t know how much since I was lucky and found a spot in the front.

Took a girlfriend to dinner so we could chat.
It’s an Olive Garden, so chain italian. The place was super clean, the service was very good, if solictious, but over all, it was a good experience.
The only small complaint I had was the calamari was… fishy. It was not the best I’d ever tasted. Otherwise. I’d go back for their Soup/​Salad/​Breadsticks.

The building & staff…
It looks like an Olive Garden. Nothing surprising. Like all Olive Gardens I’ve been to, it’s clean.
The drinks…
I discovered that OG lets you sample 3 wines before you pick a glass, so of course I sampled 3. Surprisingly, my waiter knew a lot about wine and gave some awesome suggestions.
The food…
Yesterday, I only had the unlimited salad and breadsticks, but I’ve eaten entrees here before. Nothing special really. Pretty much your standard OG dishes that don’t wow in any way.
Overall, I was pleased with Olive Garden especially because of my waiter. I highly doubt I would ever choose this restaurant for anything other than getting my wine on or a cheap carbo load.