Olive Garden Italian Restaurant

I dined in this location and picked up food to go. Both times I had a pleasant experience. Service was great. Staff was attentive and the food tasted great.
I mean it’s Olive Garden, who doesn’t like there breadsticks and salad.
When we dinned in, I ordered the stuffed chicken marsala with mash potatoes which I thought tasted pretty good. While my friend ordered the spaghetti with meat sauce. For dessert we shared the chocolate mousse cake which tasted really good.
When I picked up food to go, I ordered the lasagna which came with breadsticks and salad.
Overall, I like this location and will be going back!

Consistently «meh». We drop in here once or twice a month for the soup, salad, and breadsticks as it presents a nice light dinner for a reasonable price. Service in the main restaurant is so slow/​bad that we always just sit in the bar area.
The soups are decent chain fare and are reasonably healthy. The Salad is your typical Olive Garden salad… pretty tasty for chain fare. Call it a guilty pleasure.
The crowd isn’t bad during weeknights but we have learned to avoid this place on Friday and Saturday night’s as it’s generally completely overrun with very loud, rude people.

Not so never ending pasta bowl… Wow what a horrible experience today. I love Olive Garden especially during the never ending pasta bowl (which I come every week). The waitress was the worst I’ve had here. She talks very rude when talking, brought the table one plate of food and then came back and asked how will the checks be split. On top of that when asked if I could get a refill on pasta she said «no you have to keep that I will just bring you more sauce and shrimp to put on it.» She also started going around the table asking everyone did we want her to box up our food. Now mind you we were just got on the second bowl but now it’s time to box it up? here is what put the icing on the cake she dump the creamer we had for coffee on top of the bread as she was cleaning up, although we are still eating. And didn’t even ask were we done with the bread. Wow! And this was my husband first time experiencing the never ending pasta bowl. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Food was okay but hate to say service sucked!

Olive Garden never seems to amaze me.
Do not order alcoholic beverages… They cheat you every time.

After having a terrible experience at another local Olive Garden, my family has not eaten at Olive Garden in several years. Yesterday was our first meal there since then and our first time at this location.
It was phenomenal.
Our waiter Fox, was amazing. He made sure to explain the new kiosk to us (it is similar to Chili’s) and tell us about all of their specials. Our food was brought in a reasonable amount of time, and our overall experience was great. I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner last night and I will be back to this location. The manager, Tequila, checked on us towards the end of our stay and I made sure to mention how impressed and happy I was with my experience. The staff went above and beyond to make sure we had a great meal.

My last review was 8 years ago. I have pretty much sworn off chain restaurants, but I had a gift certificate that was burning a hole in my pocket. So we went. When I look back at my last review, it looks like they actually did better this time. All the way up to 2 stars.
The waiter was very friendly, but he was also promoting their features very hard. To some degree it came over as being a bit too enthusiastic. He pushed their three sample wine promotion. I tried it. The wines were kind of dull and I certainly did not get as much as he indicated would be served.
Main issues:
We sat in a booth. There was a planter on the back of each seat. The plant on the back of my seat had leaves that kept whacking me in the back of the head. It’s a nice decorative touch, but it probably needs to be pruned to keep from sticking into the back of people’s heads.
I ordered a chicken dish where the menu said «served with lightly seasoned vegetables and artichokes», It pretty much came with only zucchini. There was almost nothing else and certainly no artichoke. I hate zucchini. Had I known the side vegetable was zucchini, I would have ordered something else.
PD had the cavatappi with Five Cheese Marinara. It had no discernible cheese. When we brought that to the waiter’s attention he was like «That’s the way it is».
Waiter asked about dessert before PD finished her main course. A strict no-​no to me.
They need to serve four breadsticks for two people. Serving three is stupid.
They serve a small amount of salad. Waiter had to bring a second bowl and could have brought a third. Don’t be so stingy.
The Lemon Cream Cake was good. Nice dessert, not too heavy at all.
Price would have been OK had the quality been there.

I have a thing for the soup, salad and breadsticks here. It’s fast, easy and good — all good things, right? I love the Zuppa Toscana. I branch out a bit from time to time and I’m usually disappointed that I did. Their entrees tend to leave me wanting. They are quite bland and boring compared to other Italian spots.

I absolutely love this place. I realize it’s not authentic Italian food, but I don’t mind because the food is spectacular. My family also loves coming here and I have come here quite often in my life. I can’t remember what I tried and how I felt about each thing I did in the past so I’m trying things all over again.
I had the best service here that I have ever had anywhere else. I actually asked for the manager just so I could rave about our great waiter. I lost my receipt or else I’d mention who it was and brag on him.
They have recently changed up quite a bit– getting a new menu and cutting a few things. They cut my mom’s favorite thing, the Grill Skewers. I was a little bummed because I finally wanted to try it. But they have added a few new things that I enjoyed.
I tend to like mixing different things together here. Their Chicken and Gnocchi is my favorite soup though it has an odd taste to it that clashes for me. For some reason, dipping my breadsticks in helps offset that weird taste. I also like stealing hubby’s pasta (he always get Chicken Alfredo) and mixing it into the sauce from the Citrus Chicken Sorrento (and other pasta-​less things).
Love:
— Breadsticks
— Calamari
— Chicken Scampi (ask for mostly red peppers)
— Citrus Chicken Sorrento
— Moscato Castello de Preggio
— Moscato Primo Amore
— Salad
— Stuffed Mushrooms
Ok:
— Bruschetta
— Chicken Alfredo with Angel Hair Pasta
— Chicken and Gnocchi Soup (best with cheese)
— Garlic Rosemary Chicken
— Proscuitto Tortellini Alfredo
Dislike:
— Baked Parmesan Shrimp
— Chicken and Shrimp Carbonara
— Mediterranean Flatbread
— Minestrone
— Pasta e Fagioli
— Zuppa Toscana

Yes, I know this is a chain restaurant. I usually try to stay away from chain restaurants. That being said the food is pretty good. Plus my kids like going to this place. The bread sticks and salad is always good. I usually get the soup and salad. For a quick dinner or lunch this is not a bad place to go.

This is perhaps my second visit to any Olive Garden.
Friendly staff and service. Brightly lit dining room.
Olive Garden is what I’d call faux Italian food from a fast casual national franchise. Looking at the menu, I’d say offered items are limited by items that require simple culinary skills and inexpensive ingredients.
Highlights:
* Best items were appetizers. I liked the Bruschetta and Pasta e Fagioli
* Parmesan cheese is freshly ground on request
* Olive Garden emphasizes wine. Overall good value. For instance, Chianti Classico Riserva Rocca delle Macie is $ 35. Cheap barware detracts from the wine experience. I guess breakage is more a concern than the customer experience – bad decision.
* A gin martini, not on the menu, was improperly made with a lemon slice rather than lemon twist… and barely chilled.
* Disappointed could not order Linguine with Clams. An essential menu item in any Italian restaurant.
Tip: I’d choose a chair with table next time rather than booth that I found uncomfortable.
Quirk of Tennessee: I am older and yet was asked for ID to order a drink. The server apologized for enforcing a dumb law. Can’t make much dumber laws.

Let’s face it. There are simply too many local choices too eat besides these out-​of-​touch, national, franchised, fast-​causal dining restaurants. OG is good for soup and salad. I never order anything off the menu other than what they run for a lunch special. The food is simply par, but the service was fine.

This location is one of the best Olive Gardens I’ve been to in a while. The food was pretty standard Olive Garden, so there isn’t much to say there… you know what you’re getting when you walk in the door.
But our waitress was top-​notch. They were slow while we were there, so maybe that’s why Gia had more time to spend with our table. She was perky, knowledgeable, and funny. We ordered the «Crispy Risotto Bites» which were tasty. Gia described them as «Italian Hush Puppies.» Yep… that about sums them up.
The place was clean which is always a bonus in my book. After this visit, I’d probably choose going here again over one of the other places on this part of Winchester.

Good location and good service. Not the best location but decent for Italian if you’re in the mood.

Waitress was a total hag. She completely flipped when I asked for a booth. If I’m buying, I prefer to sit comfortably. I’m pretty sure she told the servers to ignore us as well. It took them forever to get our drink order and this restaurant was not busy at all. A good part of me knows it was because of the color of our skin (white).
Other than that our server was very sweet and friendly. One incident can completely ruin the entire experience.

Nice day for sitting on the patio. I don’t think Tia liked picking up our table. 4 stars for my soup & salad & 2 for service.

Very nice Italian food. The waiters were attentive and they bring you unlimites salad and breadsticks with any order. I found the restaurant very clean and comfortable.

I keep hearing that this place is hit or miss and I think it delivered on average. The service was lacking. This may have been the case because there was a shift change during our visit. The food was tasty and aight in general. Nothing stood out and nothing was bad.

This restaurant, as with all the restaurants I’ve experienced on this strip of Winchester, is very hit and miss.
Last time I was there, the fondue wasn’t fully cooked and I had to send it back to be reheated, the salad barely had any dressing, which really stunk since their salad already hardly has any, we didn’t get any breadsticks, and we didn’t bother to ask for them after I had to send the salad back because there was a piece of hair in it. I also got sweet tea that was primarily sugar water. I like my tea sweet, but this was just ridiculous. But after my first three complaints, I was afraid that if I said anything, I’d endup with spit in my food.
The time before this one, the fondue was awesome (this fondue is the only reason I frequent OG.) The service was impeccable except for the fact that our server seemed new and nervous, and everything went fine.
So would I tell you to go here? No. But is every experience shit? Not necessarily.
Either way, order the Mozzarella Fonduta. Seriously. This is REALLY good fondue.

Reading these reviews I got to believe the management changed it something — We just ate there and it was good, yea it’s a chain Italian restaurant, so it was good not great.
When we ran out of salad we asked for more and got it! When we ran out of bread sticks we asked for more and got it! (That is for the complaint of small servings of salad and bread)
Appetizer could have arrived a bit more ahead of the main course, but we made it work.
If you want five star service and food go to five star restaurant and pay five star prices! I am amazed when people complaint about a $ 9.95 (lunch portion) price tag, it’s $ 10, it ain’t Del Frisco’s (which is great by the way!).
Don’t believe the negative reviews, give it a try and remember it’s a change restaurant! We rarely eat at home, eating out mostly, it’s fine for the price tag!

I know, I know…“its Olive Garden Greg”…yeah, I know.
Havent been to an Olive Garden in years, at least since we went to the one in Silverdale Washington and the manager and I needed to have a couple of words… they werent bad words, just things like «accountability» and «customer service», I cant remember, but there was probably a few «cooking school», and «microwave» phrases thrown in there as well.
Gladly, that is not what this little chat will be about. Im well aware that OG is a chain, and Im well versed in what to expect from their food. You can get some version of the same plates anywhere in the country, so why this OG?
Ill tell you, ownership, training, and experience.
This particular store has all that. Our experience was great because the staff made it great. From the moment we walked in the door, we were warmly greeted.
Enough so that it didnt really bother me too much that they had sanitation cards reading 88 and 97 from the same day. Apparently, the 97 was a re-​inspect. But the place was PACKED, and it passed my cleanliness standards, and Ive been in food service for 20 years.
I had the same dish that Jonathan had, the chicken carbonara ravioli, and I completely disagree with him. The chicken was well cooked, it had a great color to the sear. The pasta was not tough, sticky, or otherwise what youd expect from a place that pulls its pasta from a bag. The sauce? Nuts… really, it was that good. The plate was presented well, and didnt look thrown together at all. Nice knife skills made me wonder if I had somehow gotten the name wrong on the way in.
Krista had the Shrimp Carbonara, and she was just as pleased. Her sauce may have been a bit thin due the shrimp rendering alittle after being plated, but overall the plate looked professionally put together.
Our son Jake had the Steak and Gorgonzola Alfredo, the filet was perfectly med rare. It was clear that the guy on the grill knew what he was doing, because the steak medallons had been cooked evenly on both sides, something again not expected in this genre of store. His sauce was nicely built, didnt break under the weight of the gorgonzola… nicely done.
The topper was the staff. The guy that trains that staff and holds them accountable should be commended. Polite, well put together, and they asked questions like «how is your experience». Our waiter had a spot on his shirt, but he was great, and worth the 20% I popped him. Again, something of a surprise. His name is Lyn, and I recommend that you drop in and see him personally.
The manager’s name is Alfred, and its obvious hes on his game. The staff was occuppied, but not in the way. We didnt feel rushed or herded at all. Like I said, the place was packed and we didnt feel neglected in the least.
I guess you can tell (especially if you are one of my intrepid readers), I throughly enjoyed that 54 dollar (with tip) dinner. And I know my family did as well. Its what it is… Olive Garden, but that store is the best OG ive ever been in and Ive been in OGs all over the world.
Maybe its just that store… God knows Ive had terrible OG food. If it is, and OG national reads this heres a message for them:
Go to your store on Winchester in Memphis. Find the guy that is responsible for the atmosphere and training at that store, and make him/​her your national trainer.
Good job OG, well be back.