Olive Garden

The Olive Garden in Richmond IN is a fairly new addition. We went there a few weeks ago for mother's day. We went between the busy lunch period and dinner. The wait was only about 10 minutes which wasn't bad considering. I have eaten at Olive Garden restaurants throughout the midwest.
I had the Five Cheese Ziti al Forno which was the first time for me with this dish. The other person had Eggplant Parmigiana which she usually gets when we visit an Italian restaurant.
Of course they bring out the big salad with breadsticks which are the same in all Olive Gardens. I would rate those as 3.5 on this particular day.
The five cheese ziti was very good and filling. The price was $11.50 so it was worth it. The eggplant parmigiana was rated as very good too. The selection of beers was the usual with no local brews to select from.
Just because a place is part of a chain does not necessarily mean it is bland or not worth your while. I would go back to this Olive Garden which does seem to be a bit better than the other ones I have eaten at in the past few years.

   Visited May 2012

Oh, the OG. I know it's wrong on so many levels, but I can't seem to stay away from the fake Italian goodness. I did manage to hold off for three months before going to this location to let the thrill and excitement die down.

I can sum up the whole experience as "fine."

My husband and I went on a Friday afternoon (around 1:00) for lunch. It was not packed, but not empty either. Our server was kind of weird; she got our food and drink orders, brought us our drinks, and then another server came out and introduced herself to us, saying that our original server was leaving and she would be taking over. However, Original Server Girl continued to wait on two other tables, so I'm not sure if she just got overwhelmed by our table being added to the mix or if she hated us or what. I also know how Olive Garden's shift changes go since I worked there at one time, and servers generally don't take over for others until the dinner shift starts at 4:00 or so. But whatevs. New Server Girl was nicer than Original Server Girl anyway.  

My standard order, the portobello mushroom ravioli, tasted pretty good. My husband ordered some steak/tortellini combination, and it had an excellent flavor but was lukewarm. The bill seemed kind of high for what we got (two lunch entrees, an iced tea and a water was $24).

Anyway, my cravings for the OG are such that I usually only need to indulge them once every few months, in which case I will probably get carry-out.

I am not the biggest fan of chain Italian restaurants because after being exposed to REAL Italian, there is no comparison.  However, I am a sucker for Olive Garden's chicken gnocchi soup.  When I can get it with unlimited salad and breadsticks for lunch at a low, more than reasonable price, I'm sold.

Olive Garden in Richmond recently opened sometime shortly before Valentine's day.  My family didn't give it too long before we decided we were ready to indulge in their lunch meal deal.

For being a new establishment in a small(er) size town on a weekday right at noon lunch rush, our wait was minimal.  I think, at best, we waited 10 minutes before we were seated.

Olive Garden was CRAWLING with employees.  Literally, there were far too many people for the jobs that needed to be done.  There wasn't enough room in the building for all of the employees, added on top of the customers; the place was overflowing with a mass of humans.  Had everyone been DOING something, I don't think it would have been an issue.  But at least half of the staff was standing around socializing or looking like they should be doing something, but had no idea what it was.

Our waitress was completely nice, but her waitressing skills left a lot to be desired.  She had an odd dye job complimented by a headband with a ridiculously huge flower that was entirely too distracting.  She seemed confused by what our options were with our order.  WRF ordered a water.  She inquired if he would like lemon, to which he stated no thanks, and was then served a water with lemon.  Later in to our meal, she asked if he would like a refill on his soup, to which he stated no thanks, and was soon thereafter presented with a new bowl of soup.  It WAS busy, it WAS lunch, but it IS her job as a waitress to get our orders and requests right.

Other than that, our experience was just a normal restaurant experience.  Our food was what we expected, we enjoyed our lunch together, paid our bill, and were on our way.