Olive Garden Italian Restaurant

The Olive Garden in Victor, NY was awful and I will never go here again. Here is the long list of disappointing attributes:
*Poor service
*Dirty silverware and the new set was just as dirty
*Rotted fruit in drink
*Forgot to bring our appetizers
*Filthy table and floor
*45 minute wait
*Rude waitress
*Rude manager

Lunch here was good, and prompt, although the salad was a bit sad this time around. Service was great, and attentive. Seating was fast and the layout of the restaurant is comfortable as well.

So I have to say right from the beginning, I never considered Olive Garden to be real Italian Food. The main purpose of this article is to show you some hidden favorites, that the restaurant ACTUALLY MAKES FRESH daily. The Olive Garden is run by the Darden Corporation who makes a profit of selling frozen pre-​made food to customers. Most of their pasta is already packaged vacuum sealed, and the «chef» there just boils it in hot water. The sauces for their pasta already come pre-​made in a can, and thrown into a sauté pan with the pasta before serving. I firmly believe nothing pasta «entrée» related there is good enough to eat for the price. Originally I loved the interior layout of the Olive Garden, but now it seems to become old and stuffy, like your at your grandmas old Italian house. The service is always exceptional, Olive Garden takes great pride in training its front of house staff for weeks before putting them onto the floor. The staff at the Victor location always seem to be extremely knowledgeable in food and wine. The managers are also very inter-​personnel with all the tables to make sure each diner gets a great experience. Go to the Olive Garden when they have their 3 or 4 course experience, its about the only time thats worth going.
DRINKS: Olive Garden never does a great job with signature bar drinks, In fact I can’t name one by memory I thought was amazing. So if you go there, just order either your usual cocktail (dirty martini for me), or a glass of wine. Speaking of wine, avoid there bland house wines. A great server will give you a sample of their better wine choices, and in return increase their check value with a decent priced wine glass. You can’t go wrong with there Riesling Château Ste. Michelle, Pinot Grigio Kris, Chardonnay Château Ste. Michelle, Merlot Ecco Domani, Chianti Classico Riserva Rocca delle Macie, and Cabernet Robert Mondavi Private Selection.
APPETIZERS: there is ONE appetizer I can recommend that is a must have there, which is the Lasagna Fritta. Sure its frozen, but its FRIED which fixes the issue!!! Lightly fried Parmesan-​breaded lasagna, topped with Parmesan cheese and marinara sauce, with creamy Alfredo. Talk about a triple threat.
SOUP, SALAD, and BREAD-​STICKS: Well duh of course there bread-​sticks there taste garlic, buttery, and amazing. The trick is to get the special not really advertised 4– Cheese Marinara Sauce to dip them in. The Chicken and Gnocchi, and the Pasta Fagioli are packed with thickness, and protein. Making these 2 soup choices the best. Plus you get a HUGE bowl’s worth. Hand’s down the Olive Garden still is up there for the best salad category of ALL-​TIME. Now that is a FRESH salad packed with veggies, and there all-​time famous Italian dressing!!!
ENTREES: Now you think Olive Garden, you think pasta right? Actually, the best stuff on the menu are there MEAT choices. All their meats’ are pulled/​prepared fresh daily. Unfortunately, the Olive Garden got rid of MOST of there fresh tasty meat choices. Ones to remember, Chianti Braised Short Ribs– deliciously juicy boneless beef short ribs, seasoned to perfection. They drizzle the ribs with a chianti wine sauce that is actually something to rave home about. It was topped with fresh rosemary, onions, and garlic. The Mixed Grill– An ultimate protein fest with chicken, sausage, and steak on a skewer. It was pressed together with peppers, onions, and fresh tomatoes. Finally it was dashed with a little bit of garlic, and lemon juice. The ULTIMATE Stuffed Chicken Marsala– a juicy thick boneless chicken breast stuffed with Parmesan, Mozzarella, smoked Gouda cheeses, onions, garlic, and breadcrumbs. It was topped with black button mushrooms, and this sweet Marsala wine sauce. Most of these entrees are now in the Olive Garden graveyard because the company decided not to invest in a lot of prep time to prepare these fresh high quality entrees. However, you can still ask for them if available.
DESSERT: There is one dessert that is a hands-​down favorite which is the Zeppolis’. These are the most addicting soft, Italian fried doughnuts you will taste. Dusted with powder sugar, to give it that amazing finale. It comes with chocolate sauce BUT ask for the raspberry sauce too (I think the raspberry sauce tastes better than the chocolate).
Overall: Out-​dated restaurant interior, Exceptional Service, Excellent Wine Choices, No good signature bar drinks, FROZEN FOOD, Best items gone from menu, Hardly no more protein choices, Classically good Soup, Salad, and Bread-​sticks, and Zeppolis’…It has not given me a reason to come back.
Response to Olive Garden Comment: I used to be the Front of House Manager for the Olive Garden. No one knows the inner-​workings of the kitchen better than I did. You misrepresent customers with your feedback. Sauces come all out of a can (cause you don’t want the cooks to know your recipe), soups come out of a bag!!! Pasta???

Picked up order to go. Chicken Alfredo was basically buttered noodles no Alfredo sauce. 4 adults & only one bread stick per person? Poor dinner overall for $ 56.

Came for the never ending pasta bowl with my boyfriend for dinner. Enjoyed a bottle of wine suggested by our server, who was awesome. The new mushroom alfredo is pretty delish. if you like mushrooms I would definitely try it.

My companion and I both got the buy one, take one for $ 12.99. We were pleased with our eat in dishes as well as the salad and breadsticks. Our server was very pleasant despite us taking quite awhile to order, having to ask her to give us more time and come back in a few minutes. I was able to get two more meal out of the take home meal — all for just $ 12.99!

Love the inside and outside of this Olive Garden. It is fairly new looking and very clean. Our server wasn’t excited and entertaining but she was so-​so. I ordered garlic rosemary chicken and it was $ 11.99, not bad considering you get soup or salad with it– unlimited!
One reason why they lost a star? The server only brought us two breadsticks each time and that pisses me off because I could eat at least six in one sitting. Granted– I do know the Darden rules but still, it’s so dumb.
I was extremely surprised with how properly garnished my plate was considering it is just OG. Very professional looking garnish, better than last time I went and ordered the same thing.
Food is good and cheap! Can’t beat that.

I Love Olive Garden. I always have and I always will. Came here after getting a gift card from my God Mother as part of my birthday gift from her. I know it can get busy so we made reservations ahead of time which was nice because we were seated right away.
Olive Garden has introduced a new menu. Still has a ton of great options and all the old stuff everyone already knows they love. The menu is split into more areas and each area has many options. My only negative is that the menu is big and I don’t mean big as in a lot of dishes I mean big as in cumbersome. It doesn’t really fold up and it is very wide. It was annoying, Adam and I felt like it took up the entire table.
I got my Zuppa Toscana as usual. I love that you can have unlimited soup or salad before you meal and I always have 2 bowls before I even have my dinner. Adam gets the salad and the waitresses are always awesome in that they bring a big bowl and an extra salad plate for me to eat some of the salad as well — which I do. Also all you can eat bread sticks which are always super garlicky and super salty.
Adam got ravioli’s and he loved them. This time I decided to try something different and got their smoked mozzarella chicken. It was soooo yummy. Kind of a lot of peppers but who cares everything else was delicious and they weren’t hot peppers.
Every time I come to Olive Garden I see it as a challenge. I can eat — I can seriously eat a lot, way more than normal. I left feeling super full and happy after having 2 bowls of soup, 4 bread sticks, a massive bowl of salad and my meal. I rarely leave with leftovers and if I do, they is a really small amount that doesn’t make it past the evening.
I love Olive Garden. It will always be my favorite chain restaurant to go to and I will always leave super full and super happy.

I stopped in for lunch today (5÷31÷2014) and I have to say that my server, Ron, was an absolute delight. He addressed me as «young lady» throughout the entirety of my visit which I found to be refreshingly polite. He was attentive, but not annoyingly so, and I never had to ask for anything. I certainly hope he’s a trainer, because anyone who learns the ropes from him will be in good hands. Thanks for the great service Ron!

Have had a serious pregnancy craving for Olive Garden soup and salad lunch! I decided to stop in for a solo lunch while shopping. They sat me «table for one» in the bar area facing the wall… The wall of shame for dining alone??? I had about 4 or 5 servers pass by me without saying anything and I was curious how long until one stopped by. Maybe they thought I was waiting for a guest?
Anyways, once I did order, the food came out fast and was delicious! I had the minestrone soup and salad… Passed on the breadsticks. Those things are like crack. They are way too addicting and I am trying my best to stay away from excess carbs.
Can’t wait to return! I’m not a huge fan of their regular entrée meals but the soup and salad is reasonably priced for lunch.

You get what you pay for. It is the same where ever you go. The service was great!

My favorite stop for a soup and salad (I skip the bread stick carbs though) lunch.

Went to Olive Garden in Victor, NY yesterday, Sunday. Lots of staff. Had a short wait to be seated, no big deal. We couldn’t decide what to order, the waitress kept stopping by, but no pressure. My companion ordered a split of sparkling wine. And we ordered the calamari appetizer. The calamari were tender but the breading was pale and falling off. Still it was tasty. Came with marinara and a pepper parmesan dressing for dipping but I preferred them plain. We ordered, my companion ordered the seafood brodetta. It sounded better then it was. The fish was a little overcooked, the broth had too much garlic and not much more flavor, and the shrimp and scallops were tiny. My companion didn’t like it and sent it back. I didn’t want a big meal, I ordered salad and the minestrone soup. The salad was ok, the breadsticks had too much salt. And the soup was very light, but not in a good way. Tasted like they took a little stock and tossed some pasta and veggies in it. Not like a nice rich soup that’s been simmering for a long time.
I’m aware of a couple chain restaurants that serve prepackaged food. I asked the waitress if everything was cooked on premises or if they bring in food and just heat it up. She hemmed and hawed a bit and admitted the do bring in the sausage and meatballs pre-​made. Seems to me she admitted to more than that but it was difficult to understand. I thought of Gordon Ramsay and his Kitchen Nightmares program. And I thought, he wouldn’t have a positive reaction to that. Heck, I don’t have a positive reaction to that! When I go to a restaurant, I expect them to COOK the food. On premises. Not cook it elsewhere and package it and transport it to the restaurant. I have to wonder when was it cooked? What is used if anything to preserve it? How was it transported? Safely? Under refrigeration? No, thank you. I want my food prepared fresh, on premises. I work hard for my money. This is not a restaurant I want to spend it at. Probably won’t go again, although we have another gift card to use. Maybe we’ll re gift it to someone that enjoys Olive Garden food.
I’d say food was mediocre at best. Service was good, we tipped on the total before the brodetto was removed. Oh, and the coffee was only luke warm.