Olive Garden Italian Rstrnt

User Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

New to town and had a GREAT experience. The food & the service was excellent. We will be back SOON :o)

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User Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

STAY AWAY! STAY AWAY! SAVE YOUR MONEY! SAVE YOUR MONEY! Unless, of course, you enjoy spending tons of cash for mediocre food with hardly any flavor at all. Let me just say that I am shocked that this place still has customers, though I will obviously no longer be a part of this group. Today was the second time I've been to The Olive Garden in the past several weeks, because I decided to give it another chance from the last dissappointing and shocking experience I had. One important question: When did the portions become reduced to barely feed a small child? Even a mere elementary school child would require about 2 of their so-called entrees to be somewhat full, even with the extra bread and salad! I can only deduce that people are so used to this restaurant, which doesn't have much competition in many areas of South Texas, that they are willing to overlook such utterly despicable practices by this restaurant chain. The portions were infinitely tiny for every plate (I can no longer call them entrees or even appetizers) we ordered, including the chicken parmigiana, chicken alfredo, and seafood plate. The seafood plate contained 80% sauce and peppers and less than ten of the smallest shrimp I have ever seen in my life. The chicken plates were just the same, with the strips of chicken being virtually invisible to the naked eye, although even the pasta itself was minimal. IMPORTANT: Not only was everyone at my table complaining, but we could hear other customers around us asking, "Why is there so much sauce and where is the food?" to which, of course, the waitress had no answer.
I must tell you that I have been to The Olive Garden in several parts of Texas (McAllen, Houston, San Antonio) and in Minnesota and North Carolina but all of this was before the year 2000. During all of these experiences, I (as well as all of my friends) were more than happy with the service and food. The food had flavor and the portions were reasonable for the price. Therefore, sometime between that time period and my last two recent experiences in this restaurant there has obviously been a dramatic change, particularly in the incredibly tiny portions that are served. Even a blind man could see that this restaurant chain no longer cares to please its customers. They are only interested in adding up the savings (for them) in each serving and I would imagine that these microscopic portion servings makes them many, many thousand of dollars. It's a shame they have had to sink to this level of using these insulting tactics. By the way, have you ever seen a show with Chef Ramsey on television where he talks about how restaurants can make more money? One of his key pieces of advice is to use much smaller portions, which, as he said, will help save (or make) thousands of dollars. I now only have my memories when my friends and I would go to the Olive Garden and leave with a full stomach. Sadly, this will be no more. Also, even though people were complaining amongst themselves and/or servers, unfortunately no one (including myself) complained to a manager. I suppose I resigned myself to the fact that I knew that once I left, they would lose my business forever and, besides, the manager, would probably not do anything more than say that these are the "standard servings". So, if you are on strict diet and have money burning a hole in your pocket, stop into this restaurant. If not, STAY AWAY!
Two final comments: The servers were okay but none of this is their fault. Those of you that are relatively new to this restaurant chain do not know what I am talking about, but take my word for it, things were not always like this. There is no excuse for their ridiculous behavior. They should be ashamed of themselves!!

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User Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

the food at olive garden is great but for the price you pay you would expect to get more food on your plate. for example the tour of italy you would think the chicken parmisian would be a normal size chicken breast instead it looks like it shrank, and the fettucini alfredo looks as if they were gonna run out of it. Another problem there is the hostes they are not at all friendly. the waitstaff can use some help also, i have been to olive garden plenty of times and out of all of the times there has been one or two waiters that actually know what they where doing, all the other time the waitstaff brings the soup and salad along with our meals at the same time. my point is i love olive garden but they could use some better help and a bigger lobby and serve more food not everybody is watching there weight.

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