Olive Garden Italian Restaurant

So the positives. Food was quick, hot and delicious. BF and I got split the make your own tour of Italy– chicken parm was juicy and the breading was crispy, the ravioli and spaghetti with meat sauce were tasty as well. All in all it was the perfect amount to share when neither person is too hungry.
Now for the not so great. The customer service at this establishment was seriously lacking. The hostess barely acknowledged us as she lead us to our table. She set the menus down and then walked away without so much as a ‘your waiter will be right with you ’ or checking to make sure our table was alright with us. And it wasn’t until our waiter brought us our salad that we noticed she hadn’t given us silverware either (which was dirty when it arrived). Our waiter too left something to be desired in the way of customer service. He barely spoke to us also– only showing up to take our order and to bring us our food and check. A pretty meh experience.

If you want a significantly better Olive Garden experience goto the one on I-​10 and 1604.
This restaurant has all around less than average service. The area is pretty ghetto, along with the majority of the patrons.

visited on V-​Day, so the hour long wait was expected. however, when we were seated & our server arrived, w/​his monotone voice/​look, we kinda knew we were in for bad service. and cant blame it on a long day cuz we arrived at the shift change, so they just started their shift. i woulda settled for the young man who brought the plates to our table. at least he greeted us w/​a grin/​smile. had to ask for more bread (more then once) I’ve had service where they see your out of bread & ask if you want more.
the food wasnt all that great either. the Talapia w/​shrimp for $ 17.99 is not worth it. (very small serving size) monotone-​matt didnt help the matter either. i hope we remember this bad service next time we get a hankerin for OG

Although chains like Olive Garden are not my choice of preference for Italian food, this location is definitely not one that I will be visiting again. I should have read the Unilocal reviews, with many of them saying that the service is slow. Keep in mind, this was during the week at 4:30.
First, the whole back center section is not available to be seated at because there are not enough servers to cover that area. The ambiance is a tad bit nicer in the back section, but this was not available for us.
Second, the service was just downright slow. We had to ask for straws, salad, and an extra plate. You shouldn’t have to wait over 5 minutes for these things when restaurant is not busy.
Aside from the service, the pastas (including lasagna, tortellini al forno, fettuccine Alfredo, etc.) were lukewarm. The food itself was okay, but nothing that wowed me. I just filled up on salad and breadsticks (which are good) and took the food to go so I can enjoy it with the luxury of my own microwave.

I don’t usually go to this location because the service is really hit and miss… Most usually a miss. Last time we went, we had a good server but the service was so slow. She was very apologetic, but it’s hard to get that time spent back. Food is standard Olive Garden food. Decent and craving those breadsticks and salad once in a while. But I’d probably stick to a different location.

As I said in my tip, as much as I want to enjoy the good food and service that an Olive Garden can offer, the smell secreting from the carpet is enough to make you gag. It seriously smells like wet laundry that was left in the wash for too long and didn’t make it to the dryer fast enough. Totally unappealing to any person trying to have a delicious meal.

As soon as we were seated their was a very strong odor of cat piss… Hints we left of course

I haven’t been to this Olive Garden location for quite some time but my mom and I decided to grab lunch here yesterday. The hostess and waiter were both very friendly and helpful. I appreciate the waiter taking the time to answer my mom’s questions about the menu and bringing us an extra salad and breadsticks to take home with our leftovers. My mom ordered the original tour of Italy and I tried the create your own with chicken parmigiana, tortellini al forno and spaghetti with meat sauce. Everything was delicious! We used to come to this location all of the time before the one at Alamo Ranch was built. I’m happy to report that the service and food quality are still great!

One star is for the food ONLY. Service is awful. The soup was spilled on the saucer not in the bowl… like HALF! It was clear most of it was missing from the bowl. Second, they allowed a rotted piece of potato into the chicken and gnocchi soup that remained. Asked for another bowl and the waiter we flagged down never relayed the message. When our waitress finally surfaced she wasn’t aware of anything. Next they brought out our food but never refilled our drinks and brought more soup halfway thru the meal although we asked for a refill prior to the main course. Not good service… better waiters and waitresses needed!

Wow, I was very impressed on how professional the hostess was, then the waitress and server were all smiles and great! And the food along with a glass of roscotto my greatness! I will be back

We walked in and were sat promptly. That being said… The stink was so bad we had to leave. When we told the waitress about the wet cat smell, she said we were not the first people to say that. As soon as we walked in, the smell hits you in the face.

Service was horrible, very slow, took 30 mins to get the checks corrected. Don’t plan on coming here again

Sometimes you just have a craving for an Olive Garden breadstick (or 3!) we stopped in for lunch, enjoyed our salad and breadsticks, and both ordered cheese ravioli, one with meat sauce and one with marinara. Then we both made identical faces when we started eating. I don’t know if it was the cheese, the fact that we’re both used to eating heavier much later in the day, or that we’re healthy eaters and don’t usually indulge in pasta; whatever the issue was, neither of us enjoyed the ravioli, which used to be my favorite dish years ago, at all. It seemed like the quality of the food has declined. At least they’re keeping the breadsticks coming, and deliciously so! The waitress looked confused when we boxed up our ravioli barely touched and asked for another bowl of salad, but she obliged!
My rating system:
5 stars= Driving across town just for this!
4 stars= I would recommend visiting.
3 stars= Average, acceptable, positive.
2 stars= You might be able to drag me in.
1 star= I will definitely not be returning.

Super packed
1 hour wait
It was well worth it
Ordered a Calabria wings, very tender super delicious
Tea was just right
Tortellini w/​meat sauce was amazing
And the waitress Laurie was on point.

This was easily the worst meal I have eaten. My husband and I got the four course meal each, and we were severely disappointed (aside from the breadsticks and salad). The garlic hummus was god awful. Way too much cumin and spice. The risotto balls were disgusting, most likely frozen and warmed up. The Asiatic tortellini was bearable. And the tiramisu was okay, but not at all what I was expecting in terms of size. Regardless, stay away.

The staff was very friendly, however the food is awful. The hummus tastes like cumin and tomatoes; the alfredo was over-​salted and too buttery; the risotto balls were horrendous; and the «amaretto tiramisu» was smaller than a pudding cup and tasted like a Dairy Queen dilly bar.
Eat somewhere else.

Omg I hate to sound dramatic but this must be the worst service I have experienced in San Antonio. It does not take 15 minutes to get 2 drinks served on a dead Monday night. I had to tell the lady to go grab them. My friend asked for a substitution and was guaranteed it was possible, when the food came out… It wasn’t as we agreed. The food came out late and it wasn’t fresh, as in it wasn’t right off the expo line. I don’t like the idea of my food sitting around and not in my belly. To top it off we were given miniature to go boxes with no explanation. I will not be returning to this God forsaken restaurant. I’m sure this isn’t an olive garden standard.

HOSTESSES: Did NOT bring silverware. WAITRESSES: DiD NOT offer me a wine sample. Was a big mistake because I would have bought a wine bottle. I suggested to the waitress to put in the orders for the kids while the adults look over the menu. She says she did not like doing that and she rather not. What happened to keeping the customer happy? I guess the waitress cared only what she wanted. FOOD: Was cold and pasta was not cooked very well. Drink order came out wrong. WILL NOT COME HERE AGAIN. I RATHER GO TO THE ONE ON ZARZAMORA street. They have better quality service and food.

Horrible. I called in for a pickup order, and perhaps that is the problem, because maybe they assume there will be no tip and therefore they don’t give 2 sh*ts about takeout orders… but I ordered the smoked chicken mozzarella, pasta fagioli soup, and extra alfredo dipping sauce for the breadsticks. Got there right when I was told to pick it up.
1. The pasta had hardly any sauce on it. I think it was probably taken straight out of the pot of boiling water and put into the takeout bowl and chicken thrown on top of it. It tasted like something that I could have bought in a ready-​to-​microwave packet at HEB. Chicken wasn’t very good either. I think they forgot to put any kind of flavor into this «dinner»
2. Forgot the pasta fagioli ENTIRELY. Trusted the staff at the restaurant (rookie mistake), got home and realized they hadn’t even bothered to include the soup.
3. Way too much $$ for such microwave quality food.
Go somewhere else.

This Olive Garden is always hit or miss. I normally go there when I’m tired of everything else. Today I tried the Italiano burger, available mon-​fri till four. It was hot, bread was crispy so I was happy this time. However the table next to us had to return their dish because there was a hair in it. So like any other place you just have to take your chances.