Returned for dinner, and the food and service was improved. Good wait staff is essential. The flatbread appetizer is outstanding. Bread and salad remain good.
I had the lobster and shrimp cannelloni, which was very tasty, but pretty small.
The taste of Italy sampler dish was still good, but the size of it shrunk a lot. I would bet the price is still the same though. While not my favorite restaurant, we had a solid meal here.
I don't get it. How can anyone rate this place like it's supposed to have a Michelin star and Mario Batalli is in the kitchen? It is what it is, a chain Italian restaurant. And know what? It's does a great job at doing just that. Ate there tonight and the salad was fresh, the bread just fine and my Tuscan Sampler was very good. My wife got the eggplant, and it tasted good. Daughter loved her parm chicken, the chicken dumpling soup was good and not starchy like most budget restaurants. The dessert of triple chocolate cake was exceptional. Not 5 stars as they forgot my wine and tea refill, and was confusion on what was ordered. Plus the coke was awful. But nitpicking aside, a pleasant quality meal.
Review Source:It's a chain restaurant...I know.
It's not authentic Italian eats...I know.
This is where 300lb+ people like to eat....I know.
And I don't care. Â The OG is the home of peach bellini iced tea (with slices of real, yet canned, peaches floating about!), zuppa toscana (creamy sausage, kale, and potato soup-you must make this at home...http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/10/Âsausage-potato-and-kale-soup/), the never ending pasta bowl, and complimentary Andes chocolate mints. Â
I like to slum it sometimes and this is one of my guilty pleasures. Â Large portions. Â Large bellies. Â Do NOT look up the calories of what you just consumed. Â You'll hate yourself. Â That is, until you have a craving for their stuffed chicken marsala again.
This particular location is a mere 5 minute drive from my house so it's my home OG. Â Service is typically quick, not necessarily friendly at times. Â On my last visit, I showed up with my sister and her two kids, both under the age of 4. Â Arjun is an awesome server. Brought me brand new glass of peach iced tea with peaches for refills (usually they just refill you glasses without additional peaches). Â I'm easily pleased. Â He came by often and was very friendly towards the kids.
I went here with a  couple friends for a little birthday get together. Service was good, very friendly, could have been a bit faster though. Food was very yummy. Got the never ending pasta bowl with salad and bread sticks and I didn't even get to try a second pasta because I got to full! Oops!
Review Source:There is (or used to be) a restaurant in the Wheaton-area burbs that used the slogan "The mostly authentic Italian eatery." That's sort of how I feel about the Olive Garden, although the mostly part is up for debate.
I'm a carb whore, it goes back to my days of swimming competitively and our big pasta team dinners. When I heard we were planning a pre-race dinner out in the burbs, I was quick to suggest Olive Garden; I had been shamefully drooling over the Never Ending Pasta Bowl commercials for weeks. I don't know if all OG's are this popular, but the place was jumping at 6 on a Saturday; fortunately they were able to seat us pretty quickly. Service was friendly and attentive; we were even offered separate checks without asking, nice considering we were a group of close to 20.
I went with the Never Ending Pasta Bowl; I started with the orechiette and five cheese marinara and followed it up with the angel hair and marinara. Neither was the best I've ever had, but both were respectable. Not that I could have finished a larger serving, but it's worth noting that our second helpings of pasta were decidedly smaller than the first. We jokingly wondered if the bowls kept decreasing in size, the more one ate; would one eventually get a pasta shooter?
All meals come with a choice of soup or salad and their breadsticks; at $8.95 the Never Ending deal really is a steal. I can't remember the last time I dined at an Olive Garden, but must admit I was a bit surprised at how robust the menu was. It's not healthy eating, but I don't think many go here thinking that's the case.
There's a reason I try to avoid restaurants with picture menus - dessert; those photo spreads are dirty pool. I was lusting after the Warm Apple Crostata, but after salad, breadsticks and two bowls of pasta I had no room in my belly. However, I did squeeze in a taste of the Zeppoli; soft Italian doughnuts dusted with powdered sugar, served with chocolate sauce for dipping - messy, but good.
The only thing I really didn't like was the room we were seated in, but due to our size, there weren't many options. The room itself was fine, but the acoustics were terrible; since the room was a bit closed off it got ridiculously loud and the screaming child at the table next was the icing on the cake.
Bottom line: 3.5 stars. If you've got to dine at a chain, this place ain't bad.
I have loved Olive Garden since I was like 5 years old. The salad and bread sticks are to die for, and the food is pretty good. I've never liked that they give you a boat load of food that makes you fat and gives you a stomach ache, but it's still tasty. However, at the 2 I frequent most often, I've had good service no more than 40% of the time. And I said good, not great. Just adequate. To top it off, today when I ordered for a lunch-to-go, my Chicken in my gnocchi soup was a really awful shade of pink! It was like rubber! I couldn't eat it I was so nervous. It looked raw, but it couldn't have been totally raw. Right? Don't they get frozen stuff or at least precook it? My boss got the same and she stopped eating it she said it was awful and her stomach hurt too. This just seems like another time they have let their quality slide. I've had some really undercooked pasta on occasion, and sometimes had to wait a full hour for my food. Maybe Olive Garden and I just have a curse when we're together. But I have to say, I'm so disappointed.
Review Source:Don't get me wrong with the 2 stars thing...
I love the food at olive garden. But the service has consistantly been bad the past few times I have been there. It really takes me alot to give low ratings but this was the most appropriate.
First of all I ordered the all you can eat soup, salad and breadsticks along with calamari that I shared with my mom. The waitress seemed polite all up to the point when we ordered. I'm almost certain it was because she knew she'd have to go back and forth refilling our bowls! I was thinking in my mind "what a lazy [expletive]" Don't get my wrong...i consider myself to be more than a fair tipper and planned to do so, but I could have done without the attitude.
This has happened more than once with the same location (different waitresses)
I love the Olive Garden and I have not had a bad experience at this one yet besides sometimes a lengthy wait and that at least means they are doing something people feel like they need to come there for. Fettucine Alfredo is my fav here. Breadsticks and soup are good as well. Desserts have never been the top thing here and I like dessert. They serve typical run of the mill frozen and thawed desserts that are price up, but otherwise, the food is great!
Review Source:After 7 weeks of not going anywhere after having our little Aidan born into our lives, we FINALLY were able to go out and where does MK want to go? Â Yep, the Garden. Â Now, as an Italian, this just is like garlic to my vampire. Â We visited (1/25/08) on a very snowy night (not heavy, but somehow coming down when we got there) and they were slammed. Â The wait was going to be 30 minutes, however, I spotted a table in the bar area (remember, it's non-smoking now!!) and we decided to eat there.
Frankly, the service was uninspiring as it seems she drew the short straw to serve the bar area, but drinks and dinner came quickly and it was good. Â MK and I both had their new Lasagna Rollatini w/Chicken. Â It was okay, but for $12.99 was a bit lacking in quantity which frankly is surprising. Â I guess when you have all-you-can soup/salad/breadsticks, people fill up on all that other stuff.
We decided to order deserts (we never do here). Â MK's Lemon creme thingy was pretty good. Â The Chocolate Gelato was not gelato but ice-cream. Â There is no place I've found that is making true Italian gelato, so why do we keep buying into this?
But with the first night out with Aidan in his car seat, they were accomodating with a nifty little carrier to put his car seat in and we were in and out of there in about 1 hour (much faster than if we had waited for a main dining room table).
Ah...the Olive Garden of my childhood and the restaurant my mother insists we absolutely have to go to every time I visit, no buts about it.
My mom? She loves the Garden, she loves the Garden so much that I can never convince her to go elsewhere. The Garden is end-all be-all restaurant to her. It's classy ass dining to her. Â When she comes to New York City you better believe we eat at the one in Time Square. Yeesh.
Surprising thing? It takes longer to be seated at this Olive Garden than the one in Times Square. Who knew! This place is mad busy all the freakin' time. It's as if there weren't any other restaurants around--oh wait.
Go early, friends, and don't let the pack steal your breadsticks.
Sometimes it seems like I'm the only person who likes the Olive Garden, but with as many locations as they have, that can't be true.
I know people are against chain restaurants, and I agree that they can suck sometimes. However, I like Olive Garden. I've tried alfredo at several other restaurants, and this is the ONLY alfredo sauce I've ever had that I like - from restaurants or store-bought. I love the pasta fagioli and of course the breadsticks.
The wait staff can be really good or not so good. We've been there and had a waiter who checked on us at least every 5 minutes, and then we've been there and been practically ignored. It can be hit-or-miss.
One thing I love about Olive Garden is that I've never been to another restaurant that includes free refills on juice. I prefer juice to about any pop, and I don't drink coffee or tea, so the fact that I can have bottomless pineapple juice here makes me happy.
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