July 13, 2013, Just ate at OLIVE GARDEN Laguna Hills CA. OMG what garbage!
I love baked ziti so that is what I ordered. Â It was the worse baked ziti that I have ever ate. Â Plus I had to pay the highest price I've ever paid for baked ziti. Â Oh there was all the bread and salad that came with it, but the bread sticks/garlic stuff has got to go along with the salty salad with the couple of olive and tomatoes and lots of onions. Â I can tell you now I will probably never eat at an OLIVE GARDEN again. Â I don't know what happened to their pricing, which I don't mind if the food is eatable, but this stuff was garbage like I said. Â We were a good size party and most of us will not eat at that joint again.
Thanks
Faro Rullo
I want to like Olive Garden, but this was a wretched meal. We got seated right away, which is nice. The restaurant was crowded and kinda noisy, but the two go hand-in-hand. Our server was good. She took care of us ok, and I wouldn't change jobs with her for anything. But the food...not great. I had breaded tilapia with angel hair pasta and red sauce. As a whole, the meal was very bland, even flavorless, but I imagine the kitchen caters to their predominant crowd of seniors from nearby Leisure World. The breading on the tilapia wasn't even completely cooked; it was still white, and gave the impression of eating tilapia on toast, which was not really what I wanted to pay money for. The fish was done perfectly, but the uncooked breading stole the flavor spotlight away from the fish. The meal came to $38, which was really a lot a lot A LOT more than I think it was worth. The best part was the salad, but really how can you go wrong with iceberg lettuce, olive oil, vinegar, and italian seasoning?
Review Source:Had the three course Italian dinner on Friday June 6th. Â Arrived at 5:40 and was seated immediately. Â April (our server) did an excellent job in explaining the specials. She was very fast, friendly, accurate, and the soup and main course were served hot. The food was better than I expected for the price charged. Â The value for dollar spent was excellent.
Review Source:Nghia gave us amazing service! This dude checked on us and made sure we had what we needed at all times! Â He was friendly, helpful, and on his A game at all times! Â Usually service here is awesome. Â He even took the time to put our leftovers in a box for us....I hate it when servers at other places make us put it in ourselves. Â Chicken gnocchi soup was great! Â Flat bread...amazing! Â And our shroom ravioli....to die for!
As usual, they kept the bread sticks coming!!! Â Can't wait to go back!!!
I was not very happy with my experience today at The Olive Garden.
My mom invited me to lunch and she really wanted to go to Olive Garden... she loves the salad and bread sticks and I think had a craving for lasagna. My mom goes to this location because it is right smack dab in the middle of Laguna Woods (Leaser World) and if anything the staff here would have plenty of experience dealing with an older crowd who may have walkers, in wheelchairs, walk a bit slower, ECT. My mom is in a wheelchair as she has Parkinson's disease and walking is no longer easy for her. Â With this being said, I'm pushing my mom's chair up the ramp and get to the entrance of Olive Garden. There are two "hostesses" at the little booth setup in the front, chatting, both looking my way several times, both watching me struggle to open the door, keep it open and get my mom inside. Not ONE person came over to hold the door open for us. These two girls literally stood there and watch me struggle to get my mom inside the restaurant. Â This was strike one.
Strike two: A waitress shows us to our seats... WAY IN THE BACK of the restaurant, passing by several empty tables with plenty of space for a wheelchair. She sat us at a table setup between two other tables with very limited space for my mom. It was a squeeze to get her chair in place. Â Please keep in mind that it's 11:15am, well before the lunch crowd and there are maybe 5 other tables being used, everything else was open. Why wouldn't she seat us in an area with a little more space? Maybe this was the only section open this early? I don't know...
Strike three: The bread sticks were hard, my chicken parmesan tasted like that of a frozen Stouffers meal and the salad was way overdressed. The food was just bad.
Because I had not seen my mom since Mother's Day, because my mom was treating me to lunch, there was no way that I was going to complain to her about any of this... but she did mention to me that it would have been nice if someone would have helped us with the door. Mom did like her food, so that's a plus.
I don't think I'll be back and next time, I'll suggest Peppino's when my mom has a craving for lasagna.
The thing I like about Olive Garden is that you always know what you are going to get. It's consistent...sauce is the same...and the menu does not change much. There is always a wait for this place...so we chose to eat in the bar. The bar is small...and lacks ambience. It's situated so that people are constantly walking by. The bar did not have a television...so we could not watch any sports. However, the waitress working was very nice and greeted us with a smile and did her best to make us feel welcome. My son loves the bread sticks dipped in the alfredo sauce...so we always start out with that! I like that they added the low calorie dinner choices and chose the apricot chicken for my dinner. It was moist and full of flavor. It came with broccoli...and it was under cooked, hard and seemed like it came from a frozen package. The sliced squash was ok. The salad was the same, and they are happy to put as much parmesan cheese on it as you want...and bring you as much as you want...all included in the dinner price. My son liked his entree of chicken parmesan, but did not love it and did not eat it all like he usually does. This is a great family place and affordable. Corkage is only $7 which makes it nice if you want to bring in your own bottle of fine wine :-)
Review Source:My family came in from arizona and wanted to eat here. While waiting to be seated...a big group got seated before our big group, even though we were here first?
I hate to say this, but the group was white that was seated before us. I don't usually like to say these things because it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but I had to say something. Even my family noticed and asked me what happened, that's just embarrassing.
I am not sure if they are friends of the hostesses or if this was based on race, but I am very displeased with this. I have already waited 30 minutes and don't plan on taking my family elsewhere to wait more. I'll be sure to take my business elsewhere next time.
I'll comment on the service shortly.
Our waitress was pretty chill, very social. There was a longer wait than usual for just the drinks. After that there was even a longer wait for our food. The food was ok. They didn't clear the table in between our appetizers, salad/soup, and main course.
We came for dinner on a Friday Night and were seated within 5 minutes of walking in. Our server was training two new servers and she was extremely polite, helpful, and concerned about making our experience great. The food was excellent and came out warm, fresh and in good portion. The only thing I didn't like was feeling rushed to leave so they could turn the table and bring in more guests. Especially at the end of a long week the last thing I want to do is rush a relaxing meal with my husband who I've barely seen all week.
Review Source:Olive Garden isn't about fine Italian dining; to me, it's about a bit of a tradition. I've been coming to Olive Garden as long as I can remember - and there's something about the big bowls of salad and divine, addicting breadsticks that bring back fond memories.
At this particuar Olive Garden, you'll feel young again (it's located on the border of Laguna Woods/Leisure World). If you dine on the later side, you'll likely get seated w/o a wait. Many of the patrons come in earlier.
What do I recommend? I used to be a lasagna girl, but ever since they brought out the portobello mushroom ravioli a few years ago, that is my go to dish. I haven't strayed once! There's something about the sauce that the ravioli is in that is just wonderful. (And it's great for lapping it up with a breadstick).
I'm salivating just thinking about it!
I have been here many times and honestly I don't understand all the complaints. I have never had a bad waitress, the food has always been good and I have never waited forever for service. Someone complained about all the old people...HELLO...this restaurant is right across the street from Leisure World. I don't know about anyone else but I know a lot of great older people..don't you have grandparents too? Even though Leisure World is across the street, I made a point of noticing the different ages of all the people when we were at dinner. There was an even mix of everyone. Young, old, families, friends, etc. Just like most other places. And again on this latest visit....service was good, food was good and everything went smoothly.
Review Source:Not impressed..
I took my Grandmother here for christmas and she enjoyed the food, but the service was rushed... Even my 10 year old asked "why do they keep rushing us?" I thought the girl was trying to turn her table, (we were a party of 8) but there was nobody in the lobby and the place was pretty empty..
The whole experience was just dismal... I ordered the lasagne, which 45 minutes after leaving I was redepositing to the porcelain god. I thought it tasted very costco-ish and perhaps they made it and keep it in the fridge for too long.
My son had the ravioli which were hard on the edges, indicating they were not fresh, they were frozen, and freezer burnt.
My wife and grandmother had the salad, which was good, but the fact that the waitress floated a house salad around the table prior to that made us think it was a poor selection.
And the bread sticks... The whole reason we came here was my daughter is hooked on the bread sticks but for a table of 8, they brought out 3..
Mediocre food at best topped with servers who are 'going through the motions'.
Host - Michael
Servers - Mimi, Monica
Wine - Roscatto
Appetizer - Salad
Meal - Seafood Brodetto
Dessert - Amaretto Tiramisu
My parents took me out for dinner here yesterday to celebrate my birthday. Â We arrived at about 6:00pm and there was a 20 min wait for a table. Â The restaurant was packed and there were at least 5 other parties waiting to be seated. Â There were several hosts and they were all friendly.
We were seated at a table (not a booth) and it was quite noisy. Â You could talk but probably not hear more than 1 other table around you. Â Mimi offered us a taste of a Roscatto that turned out to be quite sweet. Â I ordered a glass for my meal and it was quite tasty. Â I wish I would have wrote down the name of it.
As we browsed the menues, our server Mimi went on a 30 min break. Â We weren't notified that she was taking a break and that is why I dinged this review a star. Â Eventually another waitress named Monica came by and took our order. Â She was helpful with the menu. Â My dad has difficulty swallowing think liquids so when we asked her for a thickened soup, she made a suggestion that my dad enjoyed very much.
The Seafood Brodetto was quite tastey. Â Afterwards, the waitress showed me the desert menu and asked me which treat I wanted for my birthday. Â I went with the Amaretto Tiramisu. Â It was a mini desert and quite enjoyable. Â I managed to have a very healthy and delicious meal for my birthday. Â I recommend coming here again as our family likes to come here for meals fairly frequently.
I came in here last night, and it was pretty bad. There was a wait, but they sat us quicker than quoted. Overall, my problems were
- Took a long time for the server to come by to greet us
- I asked a question on brands of merlot, and she did not know without reference my menu.
- We got dipping sauce for our breadsticks, my boyfriend got a soup and house salad, and I go a chicken ceaser. My boyfriend got all of his food before I even got my wine or my salad, so I sat there for 10 minutes waiting on wine and food while he ate. At least I had breadsticks.
- My salad was disgusting. The lettuce was all wilted and there was no crispness what so ever, and chicken wasn't good. I very much enjoyed the croutons, but didn't eat the salad
- The server dropped the check about 5 minutes of us getting our food when our plates were still over half full. I really hate feeling rushed.
So much for a good date night! At least I left full from the breadsticks and croutons from my salad.
We had not been to Olive Garden in years, but we were craving their endless salad and bread sticks...so we went on a Saturday night. Â The wait was about 30 min for four people. Â The place was packed.
The experience was great. Â The food was fresh and tasty! Our server, Diana, was out of this world. Â She was on top of it from the beginning..no need to ask for more refills on anything...she great. Â We had a great meal..we had forgotten what good service was, and Diana reminded us!
We stopped in on a busy Friday night kind of as a last minute impulse. The handicapped parking was inadequate for a restaurant of that size, but we found an HCP spot at the next store. I managed the walk back on my crutches as well as the nicely ramped walkway up to the restaurant.
The wait was shorter than they said. The table was easy to get to on crutches. The staff made sure I was seated safely.
My wife had spaghetti with shrimp; I had seafood alfredo. She had salad; I had minestrone soup. The salad, soup and fresh bread were all delicious and fresh. The raspberry lemonade and chardonnay were great. The entrees were delicious. I finished up with a double espresso.
We enjoyed the meal, the atmosphere of the restaurant and the service. The accommodations for disabled person were appropriate and safe.
OK, yes......I went to Olive Garden! Â So there!
I've been taken by the commercials about the $25 special that includes endless salad and bread sticks, Â two appetizers and two entrees. Â I started craving Big Chain, non authentic, generic Italian food. Â Grabbed BF and went for the deal!
I must honesty say that I was quite pleasantly surprised. Â Our server (what's his name) was as good as any five star restaurant. Â BF and I shared the calamari and bruschetta appetizer and thoroughly enjoyed the salad. Â BF had the fettuccine Alfredo and commented that it was better than he has had elsewhere. Â I had the spaghetti with three cheese and meat sauce. Â I really wanted to enjoy it but found myself so full from bread sticks, salad and appetizers that I just needed a doggy bag. Â The restaurant itself really needs an upgrade. Â I remember going here over twenty years ago and the decor has not changed. Â Other than that the experience was well worth the $33 check. Â This is definitely a deal worth pursuing folks.
Well, it was to be expected really.
We came here with a group of 13 for a farewell-to-a-coworker-lunch and got a longass table under the skylight.
The waitress that took our order was fairly....gruff. "You want soup or salad, with that?" "You want some water?"
Like really? The majority of the clientele here are older folk, and just because a group of youngins' come by, there's no need for manners?
Anyways, to the food. I ordered a Lasagna, coworkers around me got Mushroom Ravioli, Beef Ravioli, Shrimp Scampi, Spaghetti w/Sausage etc etc.
Endless soup/salad/breadsticks are clearly the winner here. Which are the "freebies" technically. Tuscany soup is also the ONLY one to get. They douse the salad with dressing making it a sourfest, and their new Strawberry Moscato Salad was horrible, so don't even attempt to get it.
My Lasagna was pretty tiny for the price, but I'm sure they assume that customers will get their fill of the sides, and not have much room for their main meal, which was what happened to me. I took about 3-4 bites and got another soup so I can freeload as much as I could. The taste of the lasagna itself was pretty ordinary, as a Fresh&Easy frozen lasagna was slightly better and only $5.
I tried bites from co-workers plates, and apparently the Beef and Ravioli tasted pretty odd. The cheese inside the ravioli tasted old, and the beef was tough.
Breadsticks are excellent though!
And their chocolate mints! Again, only the freebies seem to be the best foods here.
In addition to mediocre entrees, our waitress forgot to bring soup seconds to my coworker, and also forgot to box my other coworker's soup. Guess they saw through the freeloaders!
If I REALLY wanted the Tuscany Soup and Breadsticks, I might drop by again but really, Olive Garden is what it is and only good once in a very very long while. Even if I just get the unlimited Soup/Salad/Breadsticks lunch (which is now $7.95) I'd rather just go to Souplantation, where there's more variety, slightly cheaper, and have fresher ingredients.
I am thinking of a bouncy house filled with adorable, fluffy puppies as I am writing this review because this OG definitely takes the cake for being the most depressing restaurant ever.
Seniors everywhere!!!
Servers were patient and prompt, probably because they are so used to be around senior citizens, who can get a little grumpy and difficult at times.
...Oh my look at the time! It's 9:30PM. I must unwrap this caramel square and head to bed.
Damn neighbor kids playing that techno music again! DAMN KIDS
Wow I wish I'd read the reviews before I planned a party there. I'm no stranger to Olive Garden and it's one of my mom's favorite restaurants. I figured this would be a good place to go for her 70th birthday. Our family is a bit spread out and this location was about midway for everyone. We all travelled about an hour, an hour and a half to get there. It was a large party so I called about 2-3 weeks in advance to make sure we'd be seated. I spoke to someone named Amy who was really nice and helpful. AT NO POINT DID SHE MENTION A TIME LIMIT. This morning when Amy called to check on exactly how many people were coming, again, no mention of a time limit.
The food and service were great. No complaints there.
Then someone who I assume is a manager came over and said "I know Amy made you well aware that there is a time limit and since no one is eating and you've been here almost 3 hours I'm going to have to ask you to leave." I told her that no, Amy had not mentioned a time limit and had I known I would have either picked a different restaurant or made sure people were more timely. She told me that yes in fact Amy had told me. Unless she was Amy herself I don't know how she would have known exactly what Amy told me but more to the point there was never any mention of a two hour time limit. What's more, while no one was eating, several people (including myself) were still drinking coffee and my nephew was waiting for a waiter to stop by so he could order dessert. The lady then told me while she would love to let me stay there was a time limit I was made aware of and I had to understand that it was a weekend and I couldn't stay any longer. You can imagine, I was embarrassed and pissed that we were asked to leave so abruptly while still enjoying coffee and having spent several hundred dollars on appetizers, food, dessert, and drinks. As I was leaving I did mention to the lady once again that it would be a good idea to actually inform people of a time limit so that something like this didn't happen but she interrupted me to give me the speech I'd now heard 3 times. She really put a damper on my mood with her lack of people skills and poor customer service.
I'll never set foot in that Olive Garden again cuz it's so damn out of my way but if I lived closer I'd stay away based on that one lady kicking me and my family out. It's Olive Garden lady, not the White House.
I think 2 stars is about right. Â It wasn't good but it wasn't the worst ever.
    It is so noisy in here.  They really need to put something to dampen the sound more decor or something.
   I got the chicken caprese panini.  It had no taste seriously no taste.  Bad cheese I guess but how basil can have no taste I do not know...
I've never been a HUGE Olive Garden fan as something I would chose as my first choice for "Italian" but I've never had bad food there either.
I haven't been here for almost a year and we went for dinner last night. We waiting almost 10 minutes until our server even came to our table. I ordered the new chicken carbonara but instead of the cream sauce I asked for tomato sauce to cut calories. I don't know what happened but it looks like the prices went up and the quality of food went down. WAY down. My ravioli tasted like it was from the freezer, like something I would buy at Costco. ( Actually I like my frozen Costco ravioli better than this), flavors were okay, the chicken again, tasted as though it was from the freezer. It just had that weird consistency; and I couldn't cut it with my butter knife which is no bueno.
Bread sticks were not what I remember them to be, they were pretty bland; again, quality has gone down.
My son ordered penne but didn't like it, they charged us anyways even though he didn't eat it. They also charged us for a second side of grapes for him since he didn't eat his pasta.
We ordered the chocolate mousse cake for dessert which was good. Also the lemon creme cake. That one didn't taste right, I pinpointed the strange taste to the creme, I couldn't figure out what it was but it didn't taste right at all.
Our server wasn't that great, she just did her job but wasn't friendly until she dropped the check (of course).
I probably won't be coming back.
We came here for lunch with some coworkers that were looking for some good pasta and wanted to try Olive Garden. I just wanted soup/salad for lunch so I went along. Â Sadly, there's not that much choices available when you want a good salad and there's just a few more limited choices for soup. Â The environment catered to a mature crowd. Â We waited in line for a few minutes. Â It seemed this place was packed at lunchtime.
My meal was just OK. Â It was just a soup, salad and breadsticks. Â The bread wasn't sweet and garlic-y like how I'm used to at an Italian place. Â Was pretty bland, in fact, if you ask me. Â My coworkers all ordered some pasta dish and they were happy with their meals but we all agreed we thought it was kinda so-so. Â
The service was great. Â The girl serving us was quite helpful. I'd rate it OK but honestly, I'd probably not be going back if I'm craving italian food.
I remember as a kid being SO freaking excited for Olive Garden trips! Â Even as a wee lad I knew those breadsticks were magically delicious.
So even though the food is pretty and the interior is pretty and the servers and their words are pretty and everything is just generally pretty, it doesn't fool anybody who isn't (a) over 80 years old, (b) too young to appreciate non-chain Italian goodness, or (c) the lucky recipient of a gift card where you're essentially obligated to come here.
After the mass exodus of earlier diners finally leaves, we are seated and our pretty server goes on to get us waters and take our appetizer orders (a sampler with calamari and stuffed mushrooms). Â She then returns to take our food orders (Mom and her friend split the shrimp and crab tortellini, Alvin D. and I split the specialty capellini di mare, the ladies get salad and bro and I get zuppa toscana, our standard) and yay! Â We're on our way.
The soup is disappointing -- as my brother points out, no fennel taste, and as I notice also, the "Italian sausage" just tastes like pointless ground meat. Â What happened to this staple of my childhood!??!!? Â Our first basket of breadsticks comes out lukewarm and slightly crunchy... hmm. Â Should have been a sign. Â Calamari is so-so -- the dipping sauces are meh, stuffed mushrooms are hot and delectable but definitely need seasoning. Â Not so bad with a sprinkle of salt.
The best part of the meal is our pasta. Â The plates look incredibly pretty, and our next bread basket is warm and oh so perfe... Â OH WAIT! Â That second basket didn't show up until we were already all finished. Â We were completely sad face bears because the dishes we ordered were FANTASTIC and had breadstick-complementary sauces. Â Oh well.
Rounded out the night with a singular white chocolate raspberry cheesecake, which was a nice finisher. Â We used our gift card, waited HELLA long for the check, and our server whispered these pretty words into our eager ears: Â "I'll wrap up a whole order of breadsticks for you to take home."
Here I am a few hours later at home, no breadsticks :( Â Your empty promises have shattered my heart, pretty Olive Garden server! Â Aaand that generally sums up our dinner tonight. Â Meh.
Let's face it. It's a chain. It's not authentic Italian and you won't find Italian chefs in the kitchen and I really don't think they went to Tuscany to study the fine art of Italian dining like the commercial claims so it is what it is.
We decided to come out here for lunch. There was a long line of Leisure World enthusiasts ahead of us and one of them was mildly disappointed that we got seated first. I'll admit this isn't my territory but this is the only Olive Garden in the local area so what's a gal to do?
Our experience wasn't bad. The waitress was attentive, the salad and breadsticks were good, and so was my usual order of portobello ravoli with the alfredo sauce vs the red sauce. My bellini peach iced tea was a little sweeter than I remembered it to be but eh maybe I just wasn't used to it.
Overall I guess I can't complain. I'm surprised that people complain about this place being a chain restaurant. Aren't most restaurants a chain? If you want authentic, visit Italy or seek it out. It's rare.
As far as Olive Gardens go, this one was really a downer.
The service started off OK. The waitress was really attentive but she seemed to rush us. Asking if we knew what we wanted right when we sat down. UH NO I JUST GOT HERE ..K THANKS.
I finally did order and the salad and breadsticks came out quick but the entrees took FOREVER. And our waitress didnt even bring them out someone else did.
I ordered the Chicken Scampi. Normally I get the Tilapia but I opted for a change. The chicken was surprisingly soft and tender and flavorful. I would get it again!
After that we didn't see anyone for about 40 minutes. The manager came to ask if we were ok and we asked for our bill. We finally saw our waitress and then she brought us back a $50 bill in change...wtf??
So we had to wait another 15 mins before I just got up and asked some random bus boy to get us change.
Now I've always liked Olive Garden but this one just sucked.
P.S. Don't get the Gorgonzola Steak Alfredo unless you want to eat 3 bites and throw it up later. The sauce is disgusting!!!
Service:
HORRIBLE!!!! OMGeeeezy I think our waiter had to have been high to give us the kind of service we got on a Sunday for Lunch.
1. 3 people in our party and when we asked for forks, he gave us one. Then he acted annoyed when we had to asked for two more seperately!!!!
2. We were his ONLY table and we maybe saw him twice (minus fork requests).
3. He refilled my strawberry lemonade with water.................
Food:
I usually get the Cheese Ravioli, but decided to try the Portobello Mushroom Ravioli. Â It was BAD, dont get it. The creamy sun-dried tomato sauce tasted like it came out of a can, and looked like pepto bismol throw up.
The ONE GOOD thing i can say for them, is that they added a few new soups. I tried the Gnoicci (sp) one and it was quite delicious, but that was the only thing!!
I swore to myself in 1997 that I'd never go to Olive Garden again. Â Olive Garden claiming to be Italian food is like PF Chang claiming to be Chinese food.
Thanks to the obstinance of my dad, I was forced to capitulate and go here. Â The wait was about 15 minutes for dinner. Â This place really attracts the families, especially the older crowd. Â This place must make bank. Â The menu has changed considerably since I last remember, it now resembles a Macaroni Grill. Â They still have unlimited salad and breadsticks, and the three of us in true Asian form filled up on these so we only ate 1/2 of our food and took the rest home for the next day.
We ordered the Pork Filettino, the Shrimp Carbonara, and I ordered the Mixed Grill, which was basically skewered steak and chicken with vegetables along with potatoes. Â The food was actually decent, the steak and chicken were reasonably tender and seasoned well. Â I admit it, I was impressed. Â But then again, I went in half expecting to come out with latent food poisoning.
I had leftovers the next day and they were almost as good as the night before, which actually says something. Â Not good, in case you were wondering. Â It was OK but I wouldn't mind going another 11 years between visits.
I'm not sure what it is about Olive Garden that I still like. Â It's a major chain whose quality of food has gone down in recent years. Â But... I still like it. Â Why? Â I wish I knew. Â
I still like the environment, even if it is in an area where its patrons are more likely retired. Â I still like their salad and breadsticks, even if the bread sticks aren't as flavourful as I remember. Â I still like their endless soup, salad and breadsticks lunch. Â I still like their pasta. Â Nice and salty, just how I like it. Â And I still like the drink menu. Â
I don't know. Â One can probably easily make an argument against this place but I'll still come back. Â Maybe cause it's easy. Â It's not fancy. Â It's just comfortable and easy.