We were so disappointed with our experience at Olive Garden. We were given an approximate wait time, but it was actually 15-20 mins later than quoted which I realize happens because you're relying on other people to finish and leave, so no real complaints there.
When we got seated, our drink orders were taken and both servers seemed nice, though inexperienced. However, the drinks took about 20 mins to arrive and we could not for the life of us find our servers (we had two) to order our food. Another 20 mins later, we were able to find our servers and order our soup/salad and mains. 30 mins after that, we had our soup and salad. Soup was okay, except that they were lukewarm, not hot, as if they had been sat out for a while. No one came to check on us, and the kids were getting hangry. Our soup bowls were stacked, salad plates stacked, just waiting for our mains. When we finally flagged someone down to ask about the status of our meal, we asked if the kids meals could come out as soon as possible. They said yes and/or they would try. By this point, we had been waiting for our food for about an hour and a half. We kept asking if any of our mains for adults or kids were almost ready, as the kids in our group were getting so tired. The kids actually wanted to leave and just not eat as they wanted to go to bed. The server finally admitted that they were very backed up in the kitchen. At this point, we are at hour 2 of our dining experience and the kids still didn't have any food. The GM came to help clear our soup and salad plates away which we had already put together to help the service go quicker.
We then actually looked around and saw that the restaurant had completely cleared out and that people we had met waiting to be seated had eaten and left already while we still hadn't had our mains. In the end, half the adult meals were out before the kids meals were even out. Not only that, some of the kids meals came out about 15 mins after everyone else had been served. Most of our adult meals were okay (some tasted good but ALL were cold), but my mom's steak was completely overcooked (she had asked for medium rare) and it was well done and rock hard. She was just going to put up with it but she gave up after a few bites after we told her to just ask them to redo it since the restaurant was empty by that point. The servers knew it was overcooked as soon as we got their attention (they immediately asked if the steak was overcooked without us even saying much). They said they would give her a new steak, and oddly enough, it came out in less than 5 mins. We later learned it was because they just seared the outsides quickly so the meat aside from the edges were completely raw. It was not worth it to bring it up again, as the kids were going insane and we had been there for 2.5 hours already.
Overall, it was such a negative dining experience especially when we were celebrating two birthdays. We didn't even stay for dessert.
No discounts were given for the overcooked, and then completely rare steak or the fact that our dining experience at Olive Garden took almost 3 hours (had we been warned ahead of time that food was going to take longer than usual, we would have just gone somewhere else - no problem) :( No apology from the manager who we saw once help clear plates and never again. We are incredibly disappointed in this experience as this was a family favourite of our kids who would always choose to eat there! I don't think the kids will ever choose to go back after this :(
