Olive Garden Italian Restaurant

Oliver Garden out of OLIVES??? Mum, Debra, Sandy and I came here for Christmas Eve dinner. Guess they sold a lot of salads today. Regardless, food was excellent!

I love the consistent service at this chain of restaurants. For the price, taste, service level, and décor, I’d say this is a restaurant I can count on to come away satisfied.
Definitely try their flatbreads. I had the grilled chicken flatbread, iced tea, endless salad and bread sticks and was more than satisfied for lunch on our cross-​country drive home.

I’ve eaten at this Olive Garden twice and the service has been fantastic both times. I ate at an Olive Garden in Bowie, MD last week and the service there was also fantastic.
I’m giving this restaurant 4 stars for the service, the manager, the cleanliness, the well-​paced timing of each course to our table (I didn’t feel rushed or starved!). The servers are really good to the customers.
I have to take away one star because the food is only so-​so. Salad is excellent. portions are excellent. But some of the main course meals are not so great. I took my mom there last week and the sausage stuffed giant rigatoni was really horrible. Previously, I have ordered the Manicotti Cacciatore and that was pretty bad, too. Same with the meatballs, which are not Italian meatballs.
But the pasta is cooked to perfection. It is never over or under cooked. It is always well drained before sauce is added. The white sauces are excellent, particularly the Asiago Roasted Garlic Sauce (I think I got that right).
All in all, the total experience really made the evening out special. Very often good food is ruined by bad service. But Olive Garden in State College, PA is definitely going to be our go to place for a stress free meal.

We had OG earlier today! I’ll start with the bad: The women’s restroom was filthy. One soap dispenser was completely out of soap while the other one was quite low. The paper towels sit on top of the countertop and get wet. Why not use a dispenser? Paper towels were all over the floor. Had the restroom not been tended to in days?
Our waiter was nice but very quiet and not too interested in conversation or being joyful. He was just kind of… there. It was almost awkward. Both of us ordered the endless pasta and were pleased with the flavors, textures, and portions. I got the unlimited soup while he got the unlimited salad. We picked at each others bowls and agreed everything was presented well and tasted pleasant. Aside from the 40 minute wait to get seated, we were served promptly and our check arrived promptly after we put our forks down.
Overall, this was not too bad and I think we’ll be back when we’re in the mood for heavy, greasy Italian.

Although it’s a franchise, it’s always a winner and a great ITALIAN meal.
We’ve gone back so many times and for good reason. Lovely atmosphere, well appointed and clean. Friendly, committed servers. Varied menu with new offerings all the time. Phenomenal salad and soups.
The entrees are generous in portion and delicious — consistently.
A real staple for excellent ITALIAN cuisine here in State College.

Very sad to say this was the only bad experience I’ve ever had at an olive garden. The service was great and the waitress was excellent but after eating there the rest of the night my stomach was a mess and I ended up getting very sick. The other people I was with also did not feel well at all. Very sad this happened because Olive Garden is one of my favorite places to eat.

Worst server ever, took forever to get the food, and refills when we were ready to leave. She acted like we were a an inconvenience to her

Risotto bites, salad, egg plant parmasian, lemonade, and eclairs… All of it was yummy and the waitress was prompt and friendly. Good experience all around :)

The service was prompt. The server was very polite. The food arrived on time. The salad was fresh and delicious. The pasta was served hot (I always complaint that pasta is served called in other restaurants), the breadsticks were warm and soft. The portions were adequate, after the push in America for portion control, I feel this was the perfect size. The Alfredo pasta was so good that I blessed Alfredo every time of my meal. All together the meal was delicious.

I’ve enjoyed a meal at this Olive Garden twice in 4 days — I’m at a conference at Penn State. Thoroughly enjoyed the food, table service, and a very cordial house staff each time. This OG is a regular stop when I’m at PSU conferences. I’ve yet to be disappointed.

Worst bar service ever. It’s valentines so I get being slammed but the place had cleared out mostly. I ordered soup and salad… Had to ask twice for pepper, had to ask for a refill on soup didn’t bother asking for a salad refill. I travel over 200 days a year so obviously I eat out a lot… I think I’m a good judge of service and such. The bar servers just did not seem to want to be there. It was really off putting. Will not go again.

If I could rate 0 I would! This was the WORST service I have ever had! Our server Gigi was never to be found, a table with a different server was seated behind us right after my boyfriend and I finished our meals and they ordered, ate, got their bill and left before we even received ours!

This is for 2014 with the current Olive Garden president David George. Olive Garden is on its way to extinction if it doesn’t change its ways soon. Just like Chi Chi’s and Fresh Choice. And this specific location is going down with them. Olive Garden locations elsewhere are a little better, but still the whole chain is failing.
Olive Garden at this location when they first opened. In fact, Olive Garden at that time had a different president and a dedicated grand opening staff to get it started on the right foot. But things declines over time.
First the food quality started to suffer. Pasta was bland, mushy, and sometimes dry. It’s as if they don’t know how to cook any of the fundamentals for Italian cuisine.
Then the bread sticks started to taste like nothing more than buttered hot-​dog buns with some garlic powder. The most frustrating part is that sometimes they taste pretty good, and other times they taste like sawdust.
And then with a ridiculously over-​complicated menu that doesn’t even have authentic Italian food, how does this chain expect to make it? Like «Italiano» burgers *cough* *bullcr*p*, some Spanish-​american fried stuff, and this «Fritta» (ie: fried) style, it seems Olive Garden lost their way. It’s less healthy, less tasty, and further cheapens their brand.
Now they have quantity over quality special offers like Unlimited Pasta, and buy-​one-​take-​one sales. Why not improve your dishes before trying to sell more of them? Quality first, please. I hope you’re listening, Olive Garden!
And lately the logo change. I think it’s an appropriate representation of where Olive Garden is going: from quality, tasty dishes to bland, flat-​tasting food. Just like the new, flat, bland logo. They spent money on this instead of improving quality? Shame on them.
In the 90s I would have given this chain a 4.5 star rating. In the 2000s, may be a decade ago, I would have given them 3.5 stars. But since 2012 or 2013, they get a 2.
With all of that said, I’d still eat here, but only when they have sales or coupons I get from their e-​mails. Because for $ 15 a person I can have a better experience elsewhere.

15 minutes on a salad… geez. when it got to me it was drenched in dressing and top with dry flavorless chicken. The croutons had a fresh out of the box taste. This was a sub par meal at a price point of $ 10+ .
To add to the misery they offered those disgusting bread sticks with my meal.
The service at the bar where I dined was prompt and cheery, a bright spot in the experience.

I remember when Olive Garden used to serve Italian food. Their menu now is the same 20 prepackaged frozen ingredients just arranged differently to get many combinations. Not a good sign when a restaurant scales back like that. The water also tastes funky, so get a different beverage at least. Skip any meals with asparagus as they can’t seem to to cook these right. They are either crunchy or mush.

We had a very nice meal here tonight. We had excellent service, which always makes a meal better. The Zuppa Tuscano soup was perfect! The Calamari was crisp and light, not greasy at all. I got the Tour of Italy, and while it seemed the portions were smaller, the taste was still fantastic.
All in all, a very good birthday dinner for myself!

I used to go to enjoy the salad and Italian food, but last time the served me the food with hair. I called the waitress to complain, but she just change the food after 20 m waiting. I thought the manager will be the one who’s act in responsible manner, but again he just side «I hope you enjoyed the food» I was about to tell him yah I enjoyed the hair in your food.
If you are planning to enjoy the Italian food go to Olive Garden but not in stat college

I had been to Olive Garden maybe about 5 times in the course of 2 years. Each time I go, the quality of the food sharply declines. If you were to ask how my dinner that night was, I can tell you that I regret going to Olive Garden. I should have just used the money I paid to go to a supermarket to buy groceries and cook something myself.
So what was the problem? Start off with the appetizer, I ordered Bruschetta. For the love of God! TEACH THE SERVERS HOW TO PRONOUNCE BRUSCHETTA CORRECTLY. Otherwise take off all the Italian words on the menu so at least the servers won’t bullshit the customer on pronunciation. Aside from that point, the bruschetta was watery and salty. So basically I just ordered a bowl of cut up tomatoes with a lot of salt, hopefully some olive oil, and one leaf of basil. The bread that came with the bruschetta was ok, so I paid 6.79 + taxes for bread. Awesome.
Next were the bread sticks. One word: STALE! The server was awesome, so she brought us a fresher batch of bread sticks. I just don’t see the reason to have fresh bread sticks in the first place.
Soup & Salad: The soup was very salty and looks like something that comes out of my mouth after a good night of constant drinking. Then the salad, the only thing I like about the salad were the tomatoes and the olives. The lettuce leaf did not look so appealing, it looks like the lettuce I had in my fridge for couple weeks, no crisp to the leaves whatsoever.
Entrees: I ordered the Chicken Primavera, the sauce was sour. The pastas were cooked to death. The chicken was ok. Most of the time pastas should be cooked until al dente, but the pastas I ate were falling into pieces when I forked them.
Come here for overpriced overcooked pasta, it’s lovely!!!

I am always a fan of olive garden. I have been to olive gardens quite a lot in some other cities, and I never had a bad experience, except in this one.
Because I was a fan, I invited my new friends who had never been to olive garden before to try. It was also my first visit to this state college location. We had a really bad experience here and I was embarrassed because I took my friends there. The server was sooo unfriendly! Her voice was very condescending like a queen on top of us. One of my friends did not know how to say Italian words so she pointed the dish on the menu to order. The server was like «Can’t you read that for me?» It seemed like she was forced to serve us and she could be careless about our experience.
The food was fine, but my friends said they won’t ever come again. Do I dare to invite my other friends to here? No.

I am not really a fan of Olive Garden. In fact, I am not a fan of most chain restaurants, in general.
If I am paying this price for a meal, I want the local flavor. I prefer fresh and local mom and pop to chain frozen ingredients.
Wifey wanted to go here on our date night. She had a gift card and a coupon. So, that is what we did.
We got there around 5 on a Monday. We got in right away. No problem.
I know this location gets very busy. Especially during the school year. But Monday before 5 is probably the best time to go here.
We were treated quite well. We were asked if we wanted to sample wine which we refused. I was more in the mood for beer this evening.
The waitress was very friendly and did a very good job checking on us. We even had the manager come out and offer more breadsticks. He was checking each table to make sure all was good and checked on how we liked our meals.
The food was presented well as is typical with Olive Garden. They had seasonal Sam Adams on tap which is always a plus, in my book.
We started out with salad and sticks. They always make a tasty salad.
My wife wanted the fried ravioli appetizer. They were really good but maybe were something I would expect from bar food rather than here.
I ordered the Tour for my main course. I have had it before and have always enjoyed having all those tastes on one plate.
The lasagna was a little burnt on the bottom. The chicken was done to perfection and I quite enjoyed it. The fettuccine was passable.
My wife ordered the chicken parmesan. Always her favorite at every Italian restaurant. She seemed to like it but wasn’t overly impressed.
So, I really don’t have much to complain about. The service was great. The food was good. The atmosphere was quiet and intimate. We certainly didn’t feel rushed. I love the location.
So, not much to complain about. I went in with fairly low expectations. I have been disappointed by this location before. But this time around, they did a good job. I wouldn’t rule out another trip to Olive Garden State College in the future. If for nothing else, the great wait staff and the decent interior.