Olive Garden Italian Restaurant

I can never come to this Olive Garden again.  We were there on Christmas Eve with a large party of 18.  We thought it would be such an easy alternative to someone hosting, especially with kids.  Wrong.  Two servers assigned yet we waited 20 minutes for someone to even take our drink order (and I saw one of them standing around waiting for his buddy).   Two and a half hours after we got there, our entrees arrived.  Well some of them.  My brother's was wrong but the waiter suggested he eat it anyway because well, he ordered it from the kitchen correctly.  The other two missing ones came about a half an hour later.  Our compensation was a couple of free kids meals which is really funny because that's not what was missing and they cost about $5 -- less than a drink.   It wasn't the waiters so much, they got some things right for sure, I think it must start from the management (or lack of?).  The kitchen was way off, the general attitude was way off.   Its just not working as it should.

To go!

Unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks is a great thing for $7.  But when the servers don't check up on you frequently, it's a bad thing.  

First, the "unlimited" food is served in a rather limited fashion.  My friend and I finished our first bowl of soup quickly and had to wait for our server to ask for a second bowl.  The soup, chicken & gnocchi, barely had either of those ingredients in it.  It was mostly broth and shredded veggies.  The salad was fine, typical Olive Garden salad.  The breadsticks were hard (how is that possible before noon?), and we had to ask for more breadsticks.  You're running a lunch special, but the bread isn't fresh?  That's a red flag to me.

Our server was really slow on refilling our drinks.  I again had to ASK for a refill when my glass was noticeably empty.  He was friendly, but either didn't notice or ignored our need for more items.

I stopped going here years ago for pasta.  But now I don't think I'll go back for their soup, salad & breadstick special either.  It took more than an hour to be served and I started to feel like a cow because I had to keep asking for things.