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Olive Garden Italian Restaurant
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good for:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
16 reviews for Olive Garden Italian Restaurant
I usually don't get too excited when I hear or go to an Olive Garden. Nothing there impresses me much.
Though this time felt different. The only reason why my family decided to have dinner here was because of my dad's gift card. The Olive Garden on Nordhoff was the closest to us and the parking was pretty packed.
Inside of the restaurant was worse it seemed. But we only waited half an hour so it wasn't as bad.
The only reason why I gave this place an extra star was because of the service. After reading other reviews, I guess I lucked out on having an excellent waiter. He was very accommodating, polite, made sure everything was ok...He's also not bad looking either (ha!). When we had leftovers, he brought out boxes with the names of the dishes written on them so we could differentiate the boxes, and he scooped the leftovers into the boxes himself. Didn't expect that from Olive Garden!
As for the food, the vegetable soup was ok, it tasted like everyone else's. I ordered the new dish, chicken and shrimp cabonara. I liked it a lot surprisingly, but I could do without the chicken. The shrimp was cooked perfectly. The bread sticks weren't that bad either, but it was just really greasy.
So I had a pleasant night surprisingly. I just hope I have the same experience again when (or if) I come back.
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Dayum...so many dist'appointments, how can I begin to list them:
Service: SLOOOOWWW.
Food: LUKEWARM and SALTY.
Drinks: Martini barely had 2 ounces of liquid innit.
Breadsticks: Chewy when bit into (suspected a recycling).
Our server was so inattentive that we had to have a "breaker server" help him out.
The "breaker server" explained that our server was on break, but right after, a large party of 6 was seated near us, and wouldn't ya know...our server went and started waiting on them.
My fiancee had to ask three...count them...three times to get a chilled glass to go with his Newcastle, and my Strawberry Limoncello Martini was so small, the words "standard pour" were a true insult (I had been there several times before and had had the same drink almost splashing out of the glass..it was so full...so you could imagine my disappointment when the glass was barely a 1/3 full.
Times are tough, I get it, and although I insisted that the 'Cee not tip more than 10%, he still gave 15%.
This is why I love that man...he's kind and generous, even when people f*ck it up...
Where do you go when your mother-in-law drives two hours just to visit and lunch? Well, gee Olive Garden. I have and have enjoyed their soup and salad at other branches in the chain and I figure what they hey it isn't bad food really. Okay, so I'd probably be rather critical of their entrees. But that's not what I had during the trip in question to the Chatsworth store. So back to that...
The wait with the blue-hairs there in Chatsworth was attrocious! How could it possibly be so packed with so many wretched complaining old jerks? I've not seen a gathering like that in my life. Ohhhh the line is too long but instead of going elsewherre they have to sit around and complain to their lunchmates. You go here every wednesday with your old girlfriends why do you complain every time? Ugh! But cutomers aren't a shop's fault right. So no strikes against the chain for that... just a warning that the Chatsworth branch is akin to hell with regards to fellow diners.
The wait staff I feel like took advantage of my mother-in-laws good nature by completely ignoring us as much as possible. They would much rather serve their older folk who would otherwise whine like toddlers. Getting to just order soup and salad was like pulling teeth. Waiting to get our food so long was lame too.
The food at this branch was actually not even good. How could chain food differ? The dough wands were served par-cooked. Aren't they supposed to put them in the oven to get a golden brown and serve them like that and pretend they bake? The soup was close to flavorless and very very thick. I wonder if they left out the seasoning part of the recipe so as to accomodate the huge number of elder set here.
The stuff was edible but not at all good. The service was wretched. The wait helacious. How then do they deserve 2 stars? I stick by the convenience factor with the mother-in-law. You both know what is on the menu walking in. I think she liked it. But she's a huge fan of Taco bell. So whatever makes the inlaw happy. Whatever is as easy and mindless as this. I'm up for it, I guess. Though, I think even I am not lazy enough to let this branch slip through again. Hack!
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Yes, I know I know *sigh*, I am writing a review of a chain restaraunt. I have come to understand that I am becoming a food snob but OMG Olive Garden is still near and dear to my heart...
I dined here more often when I was a wee lad. Who knew that a bowl of pasta and all you can eat salad would be so good when you are broke? I don't come here much anymore for the sheer fact that everyone and their bald headed gramma comes here. To get a table here is awful and utterly painful. I mean the food is aight but seeing the crowds gather for the Tour of Italy makes one think, "damn how can I get on the list?"
The perfect touch to this location in particular is the ongoing passing of the Amtrak and the MetroLink trains. Gotta love it when your table shakes. I just brings back memories!
Ok, enough.
Food - not horrible
Service - eh
Price - good
Wait - sock you in your stomach bad
That's all.
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I have noticed a huuuuge decline in service. Each time I go, it seems worse than the time before. I've pretty much given up on this location. The staff seems chocked full of college kids who don't care about providing even the bare minimum of friendly/efficient service. They say no more than two words and disappear. Maybe I'm a "needy" customer, but I like to build some sort of rapport with my servers and they don't even allow the opportunity. It's not that they're too busy-- they just point blank don't care. It's like being served by robots. Only, imperfect robots who don't remember to bring things to the table or like to go on breaks in the middle of your meal and stick you with another server who is even less attentive.
It's such a shame because the manager, Coeur, is so nice. What he needs to do is fire everyone and start over. I hate the school of thought that a tip is some sort of entitlement these days. What makes a dining experience awesome is having a server who seems to give half a crap that you're enjoying your meal. These people just want their paychecks and tips and it shows in the poor performances consistently delivered.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
-
4/12/2009
What can I say? I'm a sucker for the salad and breadsticks.
Sometimes the service is a hit or a miss,… Read more »
I love the Olive Garden! There is always a wait though. Go at non-peak time for dinner or lunch and you will enjoy yourself. The service has always been great, and they have a full bar. Good choice for any dining.
Why do I still go to chain restaurants? Why?
If I wanted overcooked pasta, I'd call my ex-girlfriend...
Bread sticks,... probably the worst of all chain restaurants.
In all fairness, this place sucks as much as all other Olive Gardens.
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what to say about Olive garden..
Was lucky to get a waiter like the one i had tonight.
He was quick on his game. That describes it all!
The food that we ordered was pretty good.
For the appetizer we had the calamari, fried zucchini, and toasted meat ravioli! The calamari was .. well it's calamari, the zucchini was alright.. but the toasted meat ravioli was really good! i've never had it before, but it hit the spot!
For my dinner i had the 5 cheese rigatoni and shrimp.
it wasn't what i had expected.. the rigatoni was good, however the tomato sauce that it came in wasn't too tasty.. and i didnt like the shrimp!
However the service was just that good, that i didn;t really mind how the food tasted..
I generally end up comming here alone, which is fine. Always had decent to good service, always had good food, and cost isn't too bad. I like their all you can eat pasta and salad when they have it. Personally, I like their breadsticks, others don't, but I do. Sue me..
If its just me going out, I'll come here for Italian, otherwise we head down the street to MG. I like both.. One bonus is this place has a full bar iirc.
Free all you can eat breadstix and Salad... you gotta be kidding me, I am in!!
Honestly I go to this place for the above, and order my Tour of Italy for tomorrow's lunch/dinner.
Went last night - Short wait, food was hot, drinks came everytime they started getting low.
Love it.
one word - NASTY!!!!!
wine list - NASTY!!!!
soup - NASTY!!!!!
bread -NASTY!!!!
salad dressing - NASTY!!!!!
appetizers - NASTY!!!!
decor - NASTY!!!!
seating - NASTY!!!!!
you ask: why did you go here? especially, if you are uber-picky?
i reply: i tried this place during my "i'm trying to be economical and not elitist phase."
my conclusion: while being economical is chic during these tough times, bad taste is never in style!
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We eat here once a Week. me and my GF love they're Salad, I love the Chicken Parmasian. they always have excellent waiters. the wait to get a seat on a week day night is about 45 minutes all the time I can't imagine on weekends but when we went on a weekend in the morning it was dea they're and u get even better service.
As a former employee, I can tell you that this place is a;ways packed. For the price, the food is great and the services is hit or miss (come with me and you will always get great service!) I give it a B-
Can anyone say Soup, Salads and breadtsicks?? Yum! This place is famous for thr cheap lunch special which is UNLIMITED Soup, Salad and breadtsicks all for $6.99, but the special ends like at 5pm. Its a fun place to go with friends for lunch but beware of the wait, this place is always packed for lunch so try and go after lunch hour. I have had a couple items from the entree menu and wasn't too impressed,so I dont have anything to recommend. So im rating this place for having great minestrone soup, salad, and yummy breadtsicks!
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Good food for cheap. Nice well lit, very friendly social environment and great service. Tons of parking and easy to get to....but ONE THING.......there are HUGE LONG LINES on certain nights...so be prepared to wait 40 minutes or longer on busy days!
To be fair, I haven't been to an Olive Garden since I was 15, but I do remember being crazy about their breadsticks and salad. However, there is a funny story that came out of Olive Garden that persists to this day, and I want to share it with you. When I was last there, when I was 15, I was perusing the dessert menu. Among other selections, there were slices of cheescake on offer. The menu said "We took the best cheesecake we could find and topped it with pureed raspberries". Now this can be read two ways. The first way is that they searched the globe and peeked into many tiny Italian bakeries from Naples all the way to the Little Italy section of New York, and of the many wonderful choices, this is the very finest they have found. The other way it can be read is "Well, this cheesecake was under the couch for three days, but it is markedly better than that cheesecake in the dumpster, so it is the best we could find." From then on, "the best cheesecake you could find" has been a catchphrase of mine. Thanks, OG!
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