User Rating: 4 out of 5 stars (25 ratings)
Olive Garden
- (828) 345-1015
- Menu
2261 Us-70 Se, Hickory, NC
28602
Get directions
Cross Streets: Near the intersection of Us-70 SE and 21st St Ln SE
35.703282
-81.296273
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| About: | Genuinely Italian - A delicious meal complemented by a great glass of wine. The simple pleasures that define true Italian hospitality. They're an essential part of Italian living. And now, we invite you to enjoy these simple pleasures at your local Olive Garden. Buon Appetito. |
| Categories: | Salad Restaurants, Italian Restaurants, Seafood Restaurants, Carry Out & Take Out, Restaurants, Sandwiches |
| Specialities: | Children |
| Cuisine: | Seafood, Sandwiches, Italian, Salads |
| Ambiance: | Casual, Family Friendly |
| Feature: | Take Out |
| Reservations Policy: | Accepted |
| Price: | $7.95 |
| Other Contact Info: | Fax: (828) 345-6578 |
Recent Reviews
1-3 of 21 Write a review
User Rating: 1 out of 5 starsWent to Olive Garden this past sunday. It was terrible....After waiting over 30 mins when told the wait was 10 mins we were finally seated. Then we waited 10 mins before anyone ever came to the table. We gave out drink order and waited another 10 mins for bread and Salad. With in a few hours my husband and I were both feeling sick and have spent 2 days so far in bed. FYI: If you have kids I would think twice about eating here they keep there high chairs in the mens bathroom how GROSS IS THAT!!
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User Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
We have never had a bad experience at this O.G.; in fact, my father passed away 1/19/09, and all the family gathered there on 1/22/09 for a family dinner. The manager of this O.G. sent three different appetizers "on him" and the waitstaff could not have been more attentive and each expressed their condolences on our loss. The food was good and hot! Plenty of salad and bread and beverages without having to request anything. We always enjoy going there; just try to time it on their "peak hours". (PS-I tried Carraba's....I much prefer O.G.'s bread! Don't think their food is any better than O.G.'s either!)
User Rating: 1 out of 5 starsI have had a few bad experiences here. The worst one was a few months ago my husband & I went in around 4pm. It wasn't very busy at all. We sat there for 10 minutes. Then, another couple came in and sat near us. We were getting ready to alert someone that we had been there a while, but then saw a waitress coming. She went to the other table! She took their order and then another waitress came out and we had to flag her down. She never apologized to us at all - she actually looked annoyed. She took our food order, eventually brought us salad which we had asked for soup. Thirty min. later we still hadn't received our food. At one point the waitress came out and looked at us and then turn back around to the kitchen (we think she forgot to put our order in). We finally just got up and asked for a manager. I don't know his name, but he was a really nice guy. He apologized and said the waitress would be taken care of. He gave us a gift card to come back and try again. The next time we tried was about a month later. We showed the waiter the card and he was extremely nice to us the entire time. I guess it depends on which wait staff you receive.
They have raised the prices we have noticed since Carrabas came to town. The food isn't near as good, so for the price go to Carrabas instead. They have better food and better service!!
Reviews 1-3 of 21 View 10 at a time
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Comments (4)
It's entirely possible that your table was not assigned to the server you became unhappy with. She was probably annoyed because, even if the restaurant looked empty, she was overwhelmed with things to deal with in another room of the restaurant and the server who was actually assigned to your table wasn't doing her job, so this well-meaning server probably ended up taking your order even though it wasn't her table after waiting for the other server to take care of it. It's also possible that the hosts seated you at a table that had no server assigned to it at all, and the server may have been annoyed for being "double sat" by having an additional table dumped on her by the hosts when she was already busy. Even two tables can become problematic at the Olive Garden. Let me break it down for you. At each table a server is expected to greet you within 30 seconds, lay out coasters, and offer you a sample of the house wine and the option of the current mixed drink special. Following this the server is expected to take your regular drink order and offer you an appetizer and a recommendation of an entree. If they get your order for an appetizer they can follow with breadsticks if you ask for them up front. If you order an entree with soup or salad, you can expect salad or soup and breadstick after that. When the server enters this stuff into the computer (if they can find an open terminal in the restaurant and get through the user interface without any major snags) so the kitchen knows what you want. Then they can get your drinks. Bear in mind that while all this has been going on, they probably got two more tables swiftly seated by the hosts, and the server is already neglecting them in favor of your table. This is not their fault. Next they have a choice between going to one of those other tables and repeating this process or running back to the kitchen to try to get your order out. Here are some things that can go wrong: the computer didn't print a slip with the server's name on it for your salad, so they're waiting to receive on and not being allowed to make one on their own. Maybe the big salad bin is empty and being reloaded and other servers are in line ahead of them waiting for a salad. Maybe the salad was made incorrectly and you wanted it dry with ranch dressing on the side, or with no onions and extra olives, and they have to make a new one themselves while other people wait. Maybe they ran out of your soup of choice and have to make more. Maybe there are other servers lined up with multiple hot bowls laid out trying to get soup. Maybe there are no soup spoons left. Meanwhile those other tables are impatiently waiting for their drinks. Maybe there are no more breadsticks on the line and servers are stacked up waiting for another batch to come out of the oven. Maybe the culinary manager is screaming at them, "HOT FOOD GO!! TABLE 114!! I NEED RUNNERS!!" and making your server run hot food to another server's table while you sit being neglected. Eventually they stagger out with a massive tray on one shoulder with a huge salad and several chilled salad plates, a fake plastic basket of breadsticks and some warm appetizer plates. They finally get to your table with all this stuff they had to fight to get for you, and OOPS! the salad tongs are missing and the cheese grater is nearly empty! Gotta run back to the kitchen and hope you don't get scalded by something or have to dodge broken glass or other hazards. No more lemons for your tea? The server may have to put on a hairnet and gloves and go into the back and find you some lemons and start cutting them up for you. Meanwhile someone else is being neglected because the clueless hosts just seated another table for them. You want that made "to go"? I'll see if there are any boxed left. No? Better check the dry storage. Better yet, I think I'll go stand in the freezer for a few minutes until I calm down enough to bring you some more breadsticks and salad before I explode. Does this help you understand just a little? And this person is going through all this for you for $2.13/hour plus what little tip you're going to leave them, so the whole time they're enduring this for you, their children are starving and going without medical care. Do you get it now?
I'm guessing you are a server there or have been one in the past. Well I know that people forget things and if there is a back door the servers are not there. Yes, you get paid very little but people tip very well there are a few that don't. It sounds like you have a bad attitude towards being there so if you work there you might want to quit cause it sounds like you are not a very good sever. The management there gives people free dinners and things like that so they don't get a bad rating. They wanna stay ranked #1 in the district diamond club means everyhting to them and if they get bad reviews. Also if you don't want your food to show up right after your salad ask them to hold it. The server get in a hurry when they go on a wait. They know the more tables they can turn over the more money they can make for the night. Some will hurry everything not giving you enough time to eat. Oh and large parties they don't like them much they take up to much time and they don't get as many tables. YOU complaining to the lady that posted that comment was just wrong. Just cause you are having a bad day don't take it out on her and yes all the things you said is part of the job but it's the job you are choosing to do so the little cash and tips is your own fault. GET A DIFFERENT JOB if you don't like that one and just wanna complain.........
Holy smokes people! Both sides of these stories are true - being a server is a difficult job, and trying to please all the people all of the time is always impossible. On the other hand, there ARE people out there who should not be in the restaurant business (servers/hostesses/AND managers,) but good people are hard to find; you gotta have a knack for it. If a restaurant is being run properly and servers are on their game, most servers will double back other tables, (i.e. fill water glasses/remove dirty plates) not only at their tables but at surrounding tables. There have been many times where I've gotten up and retrieved salt/pepper/silverware/water for our table without bothering the server... I know I'm paying to be served, but most of the time people ARE doing the best they can (reference back to "some people shouldn't be in the restaurant biz.") Be patient or go home and cook.
I had one of the worst meals I ever ate at a Carrabas. You just never know how things are going to be. Every place has its good and bad moments.