Olive Garden Italian Restaurant
24688 Hesperian Blvd, Hayward, CA, 94545
Olive Garden Italian Restaurant Menu
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Appetizers
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Main Dishes
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Appetizers
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Main Dishes
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Fazoli's is an Italian-American fast casual restaurant chain headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky. It was founded in 1988and is now owned by Sentinel Capital Partners. As of 2015, there are 213 Fazoli's located nationwide. The restaurant chain specializes in Italian cuisine and dishes. Carl Howard is the company's president and CEO.
Fazoli's offers a menu of traditional Italian favorites — highlighted by our famous, mouthwatering, garlic bread sticks — combined with a service experience not typically found in the QSR industry and served in a newly re-imagined restaurant environment. And it's all available to our guests at a great price and value. With over 200 restaurants, explosive growth and a booming sales trajectory, Fazoli's has established itself as a leader in the Quick-Service Restaurant segment.
Today, Fazoli's menu consists of classic Italian dishes, baked pastas, their signature Submarinos sandwiches, and other foods, such as:
Twice Baked Lasagna
Chicken Parmigiano
Italian Deli Trio
seasonal salads
Turkey Mozzarella Fresco
Meatball da Vinci
The Primo Italiano
Cheese or Pepperoni Pizza
New York Style Cheesecake
Baked Spaghetti
Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo
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Address :
24688 Hesperian Blvd
Hayward, CA, 94545 - Phone (510) 782-6385
- Website https://537.xg4ken.com/media/redir.php?prof=363&camp=36580&affcode=kw6015&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.olivegarden.com
- Click To Get Directions
Opening Hours
- Mon :11:00 am - 10
Specialities
- Takes Reservations : Yes
Delivery : No
Take-out : Yes
Accepts Credit Cards : Yes
Good For : Lunch, Dinner
Parking : Private Lot
Bike Parking : Yes
Wheelchair Accessible : Yes
Good for Kids : Yes
Good for Groups : Yes
Attire : Casual
Ambience : Casual
Noise Level : Average
Good For Dancing : No
Alcohol : Full Bar
Happy Hour : Yes
Smoking : No
Outdoor Seating : No
Wi-Fi : No
Has TV : No
Waiter Service : Yes
Caters : Yes
Categories
Italian Cuisine
The immense popularity of Italian cuisine globally isn't unknown. You can find an Italian Pizzeria around every corner of almost every city in the United States. Not to forget that in every house, people enjoy mac and cheese as comfort food. But it would be wrong to believe that Italian food starts with pizza and ends with good pasta as this Mediterranean country has much more to offer other than these two dishes. In Italian Cuisine, there is a high use of fresh tomatoes, all kinds of herbs, great quality of cheese, all types of meat, seafood and fresh handmade pasta. Many find it hard to believe that Italians have been making noodles long back.
Italian and Greek cuisines are always mistaken to be same, but they are poles apart. The primary difference between the two cuisines is the use of cheese in most of the Italian dishes. Italians love to cultivate their own cheese and process them as per their food requirement. It is believed that some cheese is so expensive that cheese producers secure them in lockers.
If you are bored eating the same old pasta or pizza, you can try some of the authentic Italian dishes like Risotto, Polenta, Ribollita, Lasagna, Fiorentina Steak, Bottarga, Ossobuco, Carbonara, Focaccia, Arancini and Supplì. Another item which Italians love to relish every morning is a good cup of Italian Coffee. Once you taste a freshly brewed cup of Italian Coffee, you might not visit Starbucks ever again. Authentic Italian food is made with heart and soul, so go find a restaurant where you can relish Italian cuisine in your city.
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Elaine N.
Soup, salad, and bread for lunch is fine with me, but I didn't mind having that cheesy ravioli. Attentive staff and quick service. Not bad to eat here for lunch with my coworkers. Located near Southland Mall. Plenty of parking too!
(3)Rachel N.
I've always liked this place but never been a die hard fan. The service is back and forth depending on the day; the food stays steadily the same. I am completely in love with the Zuppa Toscana, but I stick to just being an acquaintance with the rest of the menu items. A lot of the entrees seem to be swimming in oil, or else totally dry, either way they taste alright. More recently my mom had her card information stolen here...uh oh...she luckily saved herself and got her money back, and even with that happening, she's still in love with the place and visits often. But we now only pay cash when visiting.
(3)Leslie Y.
Hubby and I headed for lunch the other day...again...by the time we finished our salads and soup...we were pretty full.... Hubby got the fish and angel hair pasta...it was a little lacking in taste I got the spaghetti and meatballs. ...it sure hit the spot
(3)Sofia A.
Love Olive Garden but this location in particular was pretty subpar. I always order the chicken carbonara with zuppa touscana. The food all tasted delicious, but I was dissatisfied with the serving size. I asked if I could get the pasta in a lunch portion (since it was lunch time) and they said they can't do that. Even though the Olive Garden in SLO does that for me. I said fine and ordered the full size. I received it and it looked like a lunch portion. I asked if it was the full portion and they assured me that it was. I've ordered this many times before and I can never ever eat half of it and always have to take the other half to-go. This time, I finished it. Just by looking at it it was smaller. I was charged for the full size. Also, our waiter kept forgetting what we wanted. She also took a long time to bring us our soups. She was nice but very slow. I'm disappointed with this location. I love Olive Garden and will probably just try other locations.
(3)Matt V.
We generally like Olive Garden, is one of our go-to restaurants, but I had a very different experience at this location. The experience at this particular restaurant resembled ordering to go. Mostly due to the new "Ziosk" device they adopted to order directly from the table, basically a tablet with the menu and a card reader for payments. When we go out we don't like to continuously check our phones and you put a glorified tablet right in front of us? Are you serious? Waiters were available, sure, but for something like refilling water, asking for slices of lemon, etc. they're not as readily available, you've to stop when they're bringing food to other customers. Another complaint about the tablet device is their quiz and games prompt. While waiting the device will show you ads to play games - oh, and they charge you $2 if you do so, added directly to your bill. For apps that cost $1? I mean, what a kid is close to the ziosk device? Really money grabbing... Anyway, after ordering on the tablet we got our food. I ordered Baked Tilapia with Shrimp and was absolutely bland. There were just few shrimps and the fish didn't taste like much. Would not order again. The broth was pretty tasty, was nice to soak the broccoli in it, but that was the only highlight. I get the plate was healthy but I was expecting some more substance. The Chicken Sorrento on the other hand was pretty good. Definitely a better portion. Overall after trying other Olive Garden locations I don't think I'll come back here and I really hope they don't adopt that ziosk device in other restaurants. Made the whole experience feel cheap and despite the fact the waiters were nice sacrificed quality oservice in favor of efficiency.
(2)K H.
Horrible service. Got 2 out 4 waters after soup and salad already came. Zuppa soup wait was more than 20 minutes. Apparently they ran out and the kitchen had trouble making another batch. Brought 3 breadsticks with 4 people. Did not refill drinks. Asked for a soup refill and never got it. Did not get coke until after dinner. Server argued that he brought a 3 rd water when we complained for another water. And he tried to do a glass count saying he already brought it. Very disappointed.
(1)Arlenne D.
I'm just starting my salad, but I'm very impressed with the level of customer service I'm getting from our waiter JP. Very polite and attentive, I can appreciate great people skills.
(5)Nicki F.
This is a safe bet for good ol' average Italian food. This particular location did not have a lot of customers when we came for lunch on a weekend. Parking was a breeze. Olive Garden is known for its unlimited bread and salad. Don't get too full, otherwise you won't have room for the actual meal. Eggplant Parmigiana - Eggplant had lightly crusted Parmesan cheese on top. Comes with two slices that leaves you wanting more. Perfect dish for vegetarians. Five Cheese Ziti at Forno - Husband ordered this and it was satisfactory. Does the job of filling you up but wasn't spectacular.
(3)Malikah H.
Our waiter Ethan was the ish! Probably because he gave me one million chocolate mints when we were leaving. Clearly that is definitely the way to this fat girls heart! The service was great, the food came out in lightening speed, and the food was you typical Olive Garden standards. And my drink was to die for! For sure a great OG as far as chains go
(5)Ashley A.
Wow. We like Olive Garden, we had been passing through the Hayward area on our way home, it was around 9pm. We saw Olive Garden, with our previous visits to locations in the South Bay, we thought it would be great! Service was good, but I didn't feel comfortable, the people sitting behind us hand their arms hanging over into our booth and I was not able to lean back and enjoy my meal. The people in the other booth talked very loud, almost yelling. It was really ghetto and we will not be returning to this location. Our visit was on a Wednesday night, so it wasn't because it was a weekend either. I'm frustrated, and I could have asked to be seated elsewhere, but I feel someone could have asked us if we wanted to move tables.
(1)Maria G.
We like Olive Garden but this location service and employees are not friendly and we have to ask the managers for someone to take our order.
(2)Paul Y.
Ate here recently with a friend of mine. It was a typically busy lunch afternoon and we ended up being seated in the bar area so we wouldn't have to wait. That would have been annoying to have to do had it not been for our server Billy. He was very attentive and constantly checked on us even though we were clearly out of his way. His cuteness and friendly demeanor definitely works as a distraction to the sometimes "just ok" food. Our food that day was pretty good and he kept us full with multiple refills of soup and bread. There seems to be a lot of reviews saying the service is terrible so he must be that olive gardens little secret. Look for him if the service is really the only thing keeping you from here. He can't do anything about the food but at least you'll enjoy yourself while you're there. Sorry ladies, I already asked, and he's taken. Lol
(5)C W.
This restaurant is awesome! Let me tell you the reasons why I love this place. (1) MANAGER - Hector is on top of things and very responsive to customers' needs. I called their main line and informed them that I believe I left my phone on our table. He and his staff immediately dropped everything they were doing and started searching for it. I called again to follow up after an hour and asked for the manager, and I did not even have to wait for more than 5 minutes to get a hold of him. This is unheard of. I had to call Toyota more than five times, before I finally got a hold of their manager! Very impressive customer service, especially from a restaurant manager. He's a such gentleman! (2) SERVICE - Our server, Carlos provided great customer service. He regularly checked on us and made sure we have everything we need. Some restaurant servers forget that you exist, but not at this Olive Garden. They are very attentive and service was quick! (3) FOOD - Servings are very very generous compared to other italian restaurants / chain. They even had a promo, wherein you buy 1 entree and get 1 for free to take home for $12.99. That is a great deal plus the servings are huge for each entree! Carlos recommended the chicken / shrimp carbonara, and it was to die for. You should definitely try it! (4) PRICE - Very very reasonable. Along with each sumptuous entree, you get unlimited salad + breadsticks. There is a wide variety of desserts you can choose from. Their tiramisu is one of the best, try it out! For the A+ service, great atmosphere, awesome manager & staff, generous servings, I think this place is one of the best in the area! Compare their pricing to other italian restaurants in the area, and you know that they are probably one of the most affordable too.
(5)Sylvia O.
I came here with my boyfriend after a long day of work. We got here around 8:50 pm, so it wasn't as crowded. We were seated within 5 minutes. Water was brought out promptly and bread sticks followed. I ordered the stuffed sausage rigatoni, which was delicious! It was full of perfectly flavored sausage, lots of cheese, and red sauce! I highly recommend this dish. Service was fast and the staff was very pleasant and welcoming. The only reason I have this place 4 stars (instead of 5) is because the waiter failed to give us the signature chocolate mints after we paid the bill :( I love the chocolate mints too! I left out of there pretty sad about that. Other than that, my experience was a good one.
(4)Kathy H.
Was here recently and got great service! Diamond, our waitress was awesome! She made sure everything was great and check on us quite often. I hope that when we go back, she will be our waitress. Thank you for making our dinner such a pleasant stay. Keep up the good work!
(4)Rebekah N.
First time here even though I live down the street, but it was actually a very pleasant experience. Our waitress was very nice. The food was actually really good for me. My boyfriend didn't like the lasagna at all. Bread sticks are eh. The soup and salad were very good however their Italian dressing has way too much salt and vinegar. I give this place 4 stars because I loved my dish so much. I got a four cheese Marinarea type of dish which I enjoyed so much. The salads and soups come with your meal and are everlasting so you can eat as much as you want. Decent prices for an Italian restaurant chain. Recommend if you are craving Italian but Restauranti di polmero on b street is way better !!
(4)Brandii W.
My Unit at Work decided to order Olive Garden to Celebrate the Birthdays in June. I can only speak on the food because we ordered To Go and I did not pick it up. I ordered the Lunch Special Chicken Scampi and a salad. The Chicken Scampi had NO Flavor/Seasoning whatsoever. It was beyond bland. My noodles were mush, as if they were not fresh and the bell peppers and onions in the scampi were also mush and lacked color, which leads me to believe this was frozen prior to reheating. Either that or leftover from the day before. The salad was OK. My tomatoes looked as if they'd been sitting in the Fridge for Days. This was a Friendly Reminder as to why I do not eat at this Olive Garden Location.
(2)Kyle C.
Sat at the bar and terribly slow service. Every other Olive Garden I've been to has had better service. They also don't have a tv at their bar. Unlimited soup and salad is the same as every other Olive Garden which is awesome
(2)Jamie Z.
Though I used to be a fan I cannot remain one. The food has gotten progressively worse over the last two years. It is salty and the pasta is mostly under done. I used to enjoy the Zuppa Toscana, however, it became too salty and spicy. The pasta was inedible. I gave two stars for the friendly and good service though it seems to go more toward a drive through with you ordering electronically now from your table. Forget good old fashioned Italian. A disappointment.
(2)Constance D.
I came here with my family for my Mother's birthday earlier this month, yes one a weekday, and sort of figured it wouldn't be that bad or packed. I was very wrong in my assumptions. My Dad had already grabbed a table and was sitting with my little brother when I arrived with my Sister and her boyfriend. We sat with him and were later approached by our waitress. She asked if we wanted to order some drinks and we agreed we would. I ordered a mineral water and my Sister ordered a cocktail from the specialty drinks menu. Her drink tool FOREVER!!! My Mother arrived and ordered her own drink, got her drink, we ordered dinner, got our dinner, AND THEN MY SISTER GOT HER FLIPPING COCKTAIL. I mean, how hard is it to make a mixed drink?! Not very long! I could have gone to the bar, poured my Mother's beer and made my Sister's cocktail and walked back to the table with them before getting to order dinner. Just way too slow for an established business. We ordered dinner pretty easy but had to wait about 30 minutes to get any sort of drink refills, weren't offered water at all, or gotten bread sticks and salad which is the main focus of their commercials. If my Mother hadn't asked to come here specifically I would have rather taken her to a nicer Italian place that has way better service. We were finally able to flag out server down to get drink refills and were told that my Sister's cocktail was on it's way. We were given break sticks and salad shortly after that. We were all hungry as it was nearly 7pm at this point. The food was good but it was hard to find any entree that was under 500 calories, especially since you are eating bread and salty salad before! I ended up sharing the Italian trio with my Sister and it was enough to share but we didn't finish all of it. When it came time to pay for dinner we saw our server in quicker intervals. My Mother enjoyed her time here and her dinner so this is why I gave 2 stars. I will not return unless my Mother wants to, that is it. I'd rather pay more for a better meal and service.
(2)Prusha S.
I went to a funeral service held here. There was 43 people in our party with four servers. These poor girls ran and hustled as much as they could. Food was okay. Everything was saturated in sodium and cocktail drinks did not taste fresh.
(3)David R.
On Saturday, 5/10/14, my girlfriend and I ate at Olive Garden for dinner. We decided to eat in the bar area since there was about a 20 minute wait. Atmosphere/Decor: I've been to this Olive Garden hundreds of times throughout my whole life. The restaurant is put together quite well. It's not a fine dining restaurant so you can only expect so much. It's a basic restaurant with an average basic layout design. Food: I started out with the chicken gnocchi soup. I like this soup a lot. It's actually very good. The chicken is tender and the taste of the soup overall has a lot of flavor. I always order the Tour of Italy. The Lasagna, Chicken Parmesan and Fettuccine Alfredo was pretty good. It's always pretty good. It definitely gets the job done when you are craving some non-traditional or non-authentic Italian Food. My girlfriend ordered the sausage and potato soup. She liked her soup a lot. She decided just to eat soup and bread as her entree. Service: The service was pretty slow at first but what do you expect when you are sitting in the bar area. Our waiter was assisting many tables and he was just doing the best he could. Overall we had a good waiter and good service. Overall: Come on now, It's Olive Garden. It's not the best Italian food but usually it can get the job done.
(3)Anthony C.
I've been to this Olive Garden for years and usually no complaints. Love the new menu items including grilled chicken flat bread and the stuffed chicken Marsala with garlic mashed potatoes. Always loved the Zappa Toscana but the chicken and gnocchi is my new favorite. Wanted to mention that our server Ethan was awesome! This is our second time having him and he is very attentive and on top of it. Didn't have to ask for anything. Thank you Ethan!
(5)Vicky P.
Waiter is slow with his service. The food is dry and nasty. Bread is burnt and dry. Took them forever to bring my ticket and didn't help pack it up with no chocolate. Bad service n food.
(1)Laurina S.
I like this place. The waiters are always friendly and efficient. The food is decent and very inexpensive. I mainly go to Olive Garden for the lunch specials and of course the soup and salad. There's a manager named Hector who is amazing. He walks around ensuring you're satisfied and he does it with a smile.
(5)Ashley T.
For dinner, I've decided to get the festa Italians four course starting at $12.99. Starting off, I got a small plate of chicken meatballs, chicken and gnocchi soup, Asiago tortelloni with meat sauce, and for dessert the amaretto tiramisu. The chicken meatballs was okay nothing special. The chicken gnocchi soup was delicious! One of my fav here with an extra touch of Parmesan cheese. The Asiago tortelloni with meat sauce was okay. Good portion size though. Lastly the Amaretto tiramisu was alright. I love sweets but this one did not taste fresh. It tasted like it was in the freezer and they took it out to thaw it. When I got mine it was lightweight still a little frozen.
(3)Rob K.
Quarter to noon on a Saturday. Practically empty parking lot. Visibly empty restaurant. Still a 15 minute wait. wTF? Edit: Ok... Looks like the rush died quickly and got seated soonish. Once we were seated, we got the best customer service I've ever seen at an Olive Garden. The whole crew was helping and food came quickly, warm, and we were very well cared for. Definitely coming back.
(5)Diana T.
Came here with my girlfriend and my brother and his girlfriend. The food was great, my stomach is very happy. Service was really weird. The atmosphere was very unfriendly. I don't know if it was because we looked really young but our server John M pretty much wanted nothing to do with us. Every time he brought us things he would just kinda drop them and run off to another table as fast as he could. When we tried to ask him about desserts he brought us a menu and then ran off again without even listening to our questions. All the other servers were being really nice and interacting with their tables, ours was nice but he was just kind of blank like he didn't want to be there. He was also chewing gum which was really unprofessional.
(3)Alisha B.
If it weren't for Hector the manager I honestly wouldn't put ANY stars. I don't know where to start but our server (Clarissa) was absolutely horrible! I could understand if the restaurant was super busy but it wasn't. We sat at our table for a good 15minutes before anyone even approached us (shame, shame), after that our food took 45 minutes to arrive ! Seriously ?!? It's pasta ! I work at a restaurant so I hate to complain but I had too because I wanted to get up and walk out of that place like 5 times. She NEVER apologized for the way things were. However the manager not only comped our meal but gave us a gift card and made sure the rest of our visit was satisfying. It wasn't about getting a free meal at all but the way he handled the situation made me feel bad for even complaining. I probably won't return but if I were too they have hector to thank for that.
(2)Shannon J.
Good service and pretty good food. The to go person is excellent and always friendly. I would give it 5 stars if they would bring back the mixed grill. It was my favorite dish.
(4)Susan B.
Was just OK. Server wasn't that great and the food was just OK. Found several things in my mashed potatoes that shouldn't have been there, some hard lump thing and grainy like sand kind of stuff. The manager was at the table when this happened and she saw me spit it out. She came back with a gift card to use on a future visit so that was nice.
(2)Angela K.
On your birthday month, you can get a free appetizer or dessert with 2 adult entrees purchases. This coupon is good for a month.
(3)Moranii B.
Food was good. Cheesecake was great . But the service was absolutely horrible!!!! The waitress wasn't nice . Gave us desert without cleaning our table. Ignored us when we asked for refills. I might come back here because of the cake other waitress were amazing she was just bad!!!!!
(2)Christine m.
A bit disappointed. Service was not great. I ordered and I was told my order will be ready for a certain time I came and it was not ready at all. The lady at the bar did not follow through after she ask me about my order she just pass by like I did not exist.. I think she had memory lapse.. Not a fan.. They need to improve service. Management needs to retrain their ppl...
(2)Masie H.
The waitress was really great. She was really helpful and funny. So when she was sprinkling the cheese and and asking me when to stop: Me: How much cheese can I have? Her: As much as you want! *waitress gets ready to grind the cheese for a while* *boyfriend stops her* Her: Oh I can give you more cheese on the side! *comes back with a plate of cheese* A+ service right there. The food was alright, was cooked fine but felt something was missing... had to knock a star down.
(4)Jackie M.
Nothing bad to say! Wait last night was only about 15 mins. Service was quick and our waiter was very attentive. Food came out hot and delicious. Check followed a few mins after we were done. I've noticed the menu has changed quite a bit! Overall a great experience.
(4)Omar R.
Good atmosphere, fast and friendly service. Always come in for their lunch special. An endless soup and salad for $8.00, not a bad deal. Our waitress was very courteous and paid attention to our needs and requests. I picked the minestrone soup which was ok, and the salad was fresh. Overall experience was great, most if not all servers were friendly and consistent. Great place for a quick lunch when your on the go.
(3)Auriyon J.
I love the olive garden! The salad and breadsticks are awsome! I recently went this passed Valentine's day with my boyfriend, the wait was an hour and a half but we expected this. When we got seated, we recieved our food super quick! Service was really fast and we weren't expecting that! The waiters are always nice too. Only thing I would say, is to heat the coffee up hotter, mines got cold literally in just 10 minutes. Other than that, this place is great!
(5)Dina T.
Service is terrible! we ordered appetizers and took over a hour! We had 3 different servers & service was still terrible. the manager hector came to our table and apologized for the inconvenience & mentioned that we would get our appetizers on the house BUT he never came back again to check if we ever got out appetizers!!! it's also horrible when the table next to you is seated and they get their food before you!! and...ALL THE EMPLOYEES NEED TO BE RETRAINED!!! I'll also be emailing corporate I would never come here again!
(1)Elease T.
Olive Garden the franchise, I like. The carbonara I had at this location was not good. The sauce taste close to what it should be but it dam sure wasn't what it is supposed to bed. But we were there for a birthday dinner and that's always a good place to go, because it can accommodate large groups
(3)Veronica A.
This place isn't at all what it used to be. My co-workers and I came for lunch. There was a funky smell when we walked in... I got the seafood fettucini and it tasted like it was a frozen meal. Not coming back any time soon...if ever.
(1)Dianne A.
Service here is always excellent! Today I had my favorite chicken gnocchi soup, some risotto bites and the Asiago Tortellini with meat sauce. The amount of sauce is just right with my pasta. Not too much meat with it too which I think is perfect win for tortellini. I always dig the gnocchi soup, sorry I just can't have 1 bowl, I have to have at least 2. All in all its always great coming here. Atmosphere is always nice, service is great even how busy they are.
(4)Marie M.
1 Star for the nice woman who sat us and 1 Star for the food. 0 Stars for the actual waiting staff. Although our server was extremely polite he seemed confused and unsure of what he was doing. He brought the wrong drink to my friend. He did come back with the right one but was still unsure if it was right. I got soup instead of salad, the bowl was on a plate, the soup had spilled on its way out, he didn't clean it before giving it to me, I had soup all over my hands from grabbing the plate. We got our bread sticks in the middle of the meal, usually you get them at the beginning with the salad. My friend also ordered a meal to go and only got the main dish, no salad and bread sticks to go. The server didn't even bring it in a bag, just handed it to her. Again he was extremely polite but I think he needs more training and should have someone with him until he knows what he is doing. I observed the service at the other tables and the other waiters didn't seem to be doing much better. It's sad I've never had such sad service before at an olive garden.
(2)Abraham L.
Good luck getting your order right: No drink, wrong soup, wrong appetizer. We also got their supposed "endless" pasta special. They don't tell you that your second serving is a tiny plate that is 90% pasta and 10% sauce. Not cool!
(1)Momo P.
I'm so sad to be writing a bad review about this olive garden because I use to love it here. I have so many memories here but this last experience was enough to discontinue my loyalty here. I made a reservation for my birthday dinner for 16 ahead of time for Wednesday at 7:45pm but wasn't seated until about 8:20pm, not that bad. We were originally told that we would have 2 servers, but only one showed up. He took our order and arrived back with the drinks 20 minutes later. So we waited and waited and waited. It was almost 10pm and all we've had was drinks and breadsticks. Finally at around 10 we got our soups and salads. By the time we got our entrée it was 10:30pm, over 2 hours after being seated. Maybe they ignored us because we were a younger crowd or they forgot our order or just completely put it to the side. Nobody even finished their food because it came out so late and everybody had no choice but to load up on bread and soup. By the way our server left for the night because the restaurant was closed. This was horrible to have my guest wait for so long and to finish so late, mind you we did have kids who had school the next day. The manager had to check us out at the end of the night. And no apologies were given and no birthday ice cream. Did i forget to mention that they never gave me my Margarita and forgot to put in the orders that were suppose to be taken home for the "buy one take one" special. We didn't leave until after 11pm. The fact that the manager didn't even say anything about the terrible service we received shows us how much our money was worth here. $300 for terrible service? I will not come and dine here ever again. I thought this was the perfect place to celebrate my birthday but it was a total headache and disappointment.
(1)Steph V.
When you eat here, you must have the right expectations or no expectations. I rarely see an Olive Garden with 3+ stars so it didn't seem risky to have dinner here. Unfortunately, my experience shifts towards the negative side. Service lacked. Our server unfortunately had terrible BO and refused to write down our order. He had to come back and ask multiple times what I ordered. There was literally a pad and pen in his apron...and yet he did not want to use it. Bummer. Don't order the calamari. I'm very particular with how calamari should be fried and taste. If I could rate it, I would give it a -2. Imagine greasy, recently thawed rubber bands that is over seasoned. They lack presentation. I ordered tea and the server had them stuffed in his apron and presented the options to me like a deck of cards. I've never seen this before, ever. Don't tea bags normally get stored in other places? Not dirty aprons I hope. I also didn't like that there were dark, mysterious burn and splash marks on the platter for our appetizer. I wasn't sure if it was from the stuffed mushrooms or what. Either way, the entire time I was picturing those dramatic close up shots from Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmare show. Dun dun dunnnnn! I must point out that the manager on duty seemed very on point and friendly. So did the hostesses. It was just unfortunate that we had to experience what we did.
(2)Valerie C.
This is the third time I gave this Olive Garden a try. It seems to always disappoint me EVERY single time. The wait only took about 20 mins which wasnt bad. When we were seated, my family and I told the guy that we were ready to order. We were told that our waiter would be out here shortly. We waited a good 15 minutes before our waiter showed up. After he took our order, I felt like he disappeared for 20 minutes before bringing out our soups and salad. We ordered the special Hot spicy wings because out waiter Brandon suggested it. I'm going going to give that dish a 2 star. The spices weren't even mixed well with the chicken. Super oily and definitely never ordering again. It was really disappointing. Our entrees appeared. My mom got the Taste of Italy and it was so bad. The Alfredo was so dry that we had to ask for extra sauce. Another guy brought it over but he looked so unhappy. Can't you smile? The lasagna looked terrible. It wasn't even in layers and it was scattered and looked gross on the plate. Did I tell you Brandon never even check up on us until he was notifying he was leaving for his shift? Whenever we needed refills for soups and salad we would try to look for him and he was nowhere to be found. Also, I was waving and saying excuse me but he was chit chatting with his coworkers. Please hire better staff Olive Garden. Everytime we visit, we are always ignored. I really don't want to play the racial card but I seriously do feel like my family and I are always being ignored by the waiters and waitresses. This was not worth $50 out of my hard earned money. I will never come back to this location for Olive Garden. :I P.S. I forgot to say I had to wait for almost 20 minutes just to get my bill and paying for it. RIDICULOUS!
(2)Raeanne S.
This is probably my first review on yelp, and as a server for a few years it's hard to not critic other servers. But the server is nice Raina but sometimes I felt like our drinks took so long, either the bartender just didn't feel like doing her job or what. I had asked for a glass of wine and was told "the bartender gets backed up" and poured me the glass. I probably would have believed her if I wasn't sitting next to the bar and saw her just talking
(4)Kyra S.
The service was impeccable from the moment I want to the door and spoke to the house to the two waitresses that helped out our table. They were full of life friendly and helpful everyone was in a good mood. Give me suggestions were helpful and have impeccable taste. The food was really good the atmosphere was fabulous it was a fabulous experience altogether I will come back again
(5)Ahmad A.
I went to Olive Garden for lunch today for some reason Olive Garden has the best customer service always been any restaurant to have ever been to I'm amazed how they treat their customers. Every single menu they have I have tried in the past I really miss their muscles menu they don't carry it anymore that was probably one of the reasons I always went there. but I would still go there
(5)Al L.
After telling my mom of my recent foray to Olive Garden for their 2 for $25 Italian dinner special, she was excited for me to take her there to check it out. As with most chain restaurants, the food is pretty much a "cookie-cutter" from one restaurant to another. This Olive Garden could be categorized as a family chain restaurant as just about every party there had babies or kids. As per my review of my visit to the Palo Alto site ( yelp.com/biz/olive-garde… ), the only variance from that meal was having: - Stuffed mushrooms: Parmesan, romano and mozzarella cheese, clams and herb breadcrumbs baked in mushroom caps. ( yelp.com/biz_photos/oliv… ). It was a good portion, but the stuffing was salty. - Minestrone soup: Fresh vegetables, beans and pasta in a light tomato broth ( yelp.com/biz_photos/oliv… ). It had a good amount of beans, vegetables, and pasta, but again, it was a little salty. As per my review of the Palo Alto restaurant, it's a nice deal with this 2 for $25 Special. Again, the food is on the saltier side. It's not me, because my mom made the similar remark as well. Service was super friendly. Our server, Daniella, provided prompt and efficient service. Courteous and with a smile. As per my other review, it's a good "chain restaurant" for Italian food and is a value with a promotion such as this 2 for $25. Otherwise, paying the regular price and you're overpaying for the quality of food you're getting.
(3)Chris B.
Amazing service, food came out very quick. I was barely done with my soup before our entrées arrived! Our server Lizeth was very courteous and made sure we had everything we needed.
(5)Hanna C.
I usually just eat here. Service is hit and miss but mostly miss. I have taken a huge sabbatical from Olive Garden, but there is a server there that will make me eat here more. If you come here, ya gotta ask for Carlos. I have never had the food hot ( I have forever known it dies on the pass), it's not bad hot. He keeps the drinks full, the breadsticks full and has mastered the present but not smothering service. The food is a 3.5 but Carlos is five star service all by himself.
(5)Simon F.
A Nice Evening "I'm sorry, sir, but your hookers have to wait outside." I went here last night with my family and parents. HomeTown Buffet lost our business (my wife and I were running late, and my parents weren't allowed to pay for us- we would have had to wait in a long line before joining them). I was told that the wait would be 30-35 minutes (if you have to wait, you'll basically be given a black pager). I groaned about this (my family and I went grocery shopping after dinner), but we really only had to wait about 20 minutes (a lot of people were coming and going). Outside: My son Joshua kept running up and down the ramp. Some guy liked his plush Snoopy. Other people commented on his curls or on how cute he is (the people he ran over simply said ouch). The big rocks near the entrance should be cleared of debris (some buttheads left a bunch of cigarette butts). Inside: There was a guy sitting near us who looked like a thug. The Sopranos came to mind. "Woke up this mornin' Got yourself a gun." Joshua said hi to another baby (it was out of pity- the baby was ugly enough to peel paint). Some of the female servers here are fine! Um, I mean... they're fine! :) At one point, there was a baby wailing behind us (even Joshua noticed). It was like it was fresh from the womb. I wish I knew our server's name. She was excellent. She was especially sweet after my dad complimented her hair (my dad has a way with words, but I don't- if I went to Italy, I would get slapped by a whole new crop of women). Our total was $69.81 (this was for 4 adults- Joshua was fed some of our food). My mom left a $10 tip. Our server initially appeared with wine glasses, but she quickly took them away when we indicated that we weren't going to have any wine. There are 7 soft drink selections (ex: Diet Coke; Coke Zero; Sprite; Fanta Zero Orange; Minute Maid Limeade). You'll be charged $2.99, but refills are free. A ton of drinks are served here, including some Smoothies ("strawberry or peach-mango") and Italian & Cream Sodas (ex: raspberry; orange; cherry; caramel). My Dr. Pepper was good. The glasses here are big, but I still quickly needed a refill. The breadsticks weren't as good as normal (they could have been heated more). I wanted to try the Italiano Burger ("Crispy Italian prosciutto, fresh mozzarella cheese, arugula and marinated tomatoes with a garlic aioli spread. With parmesan garlic fries."), but couldn't (if I heard our server right, they're only served on weekdays until 4). My wife and mom helped themselves to a big bowl of salad. My dad and I ordered soup. It came out nice and hot. Zuppa Toscana: "Spicy sausage, fresh kale and russet potatoes in a creamy broth." My soup was loaded with kale. It looked like the Jolly Green Giant had been all cut up. Anyway, like last time (I gave a score of 9/10), my mouth was bursting with flavor. My soup was also somewhat filling (my dad enjoyed his too). Quick Service: It was busy here, but we received our entrées about 10 minutes after we ordered. Lasagna Classico: "Layers of pasta, meat sauce and mozzarella, ricotta, parmesan and romano cheese." Price: $15.99. Score: 8/10. My wife liked her food. She received a big thick slice of lasagna. Chicken Alfredo: "Our signature homemade alfredo and fettucine pasta, topped with grilled chicken." Price: $16.49. My dad received a great serving. I had some pieces of chicken. They were good, but nothing special. "Create Your Own Pizza Choose up to four toppings. Pepperoni, Italian sausage, mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, black olives or roma tomatoes." Price: $14.29. Score: 8.5/10. My mom had hers with black olives and Italian sausage. Mine had pepperoni and Italian sausage. My order was lightly messed up, as my pizza also featured some roma tomatoes (my mom's didn't). The pizzas are nicely sized (you're given 8 slices). My pizza was fairly loaded with toppings. It was also tasty and cooked well (not at all burnt). Finally, it wasn't greasy at all. My mom gave Joshua an olive. She knew that he was going to wear it on his pinky "like a puppet." My mom, as usual, asked for a small container of olives. I believe our server remembered (the one we had last year didn't). Music was only playing in the restrooms (I was briefly in the women's restroom, but only to verify this). Some guy washed his hands for a good minute (I got the sense that he was trying to kill some time). We received a lot of food (I brought some leftovers home, and so did my mom). Joshua: "Happy, happy, happy." Yes, that about sums things up. youtube.com/watch?v=4OXE…
(4)Nikki K.
Excellent service, no wait during busy lunch hours. Food was excellent as always, we had the chicken di' mare with garlic mashed potatoes, amazing! Damn salad and breadsticks filled me up so I got left overs for later! Topped lunch off with the warm apple crostata, yum yum and yum! Good eats, contrary to other reviews of this place, I had a great time! Waiter named Josh was very courteous and attentive! Awesome experience, highly recommended!
(4)Rahsaan H.
Yes 4 stars is a lot for most food restaurants and especially chain type places like these but I must say the service was good and to be really honest our meals were good too. I've been to many higher end Italian restaurants and surprisingly this food was comparable to them. Not sure of that means other Italians places just aren't authentic but Olive Garden wasn't bad . I haven't been to OG in years so I was happy to return and enjoyed every bite.
(4)Amber S.
I'm not a fan of chain restaurants. With that being said we were given a gift card almost 5 yrs. ago. Hubs and I kept saying we'll use it eventually, today was "eventually". To be honest I wasn't looking forward to it. Had lunch around 12:30-1PM on a Saturday. Not busy at all and we were seated right away. Since I haven't been here for about 6 or 7 yrs. all I remember was the bread sticks and sauce. After perusing the menu I ordered the capellini promodoro with chicken ($12.50 plus $2.95 for chicken). Hubs ordered the same but with shrimp (extra $3.95). Soup or salad and bread sticks are included with the entree. Food arrived about 20-25 mins. The bowl of angel hair pasta with chunks of tomato and chicken was placed in front of me. Good size portion of pasta and a few slices of grilled chicken not with the extra $. The flavor was great. It wasn't boring nor bland. We had soup with sausage and potatoes, it was delicious but heavy, I couldn't finish it. Service was good. Our waitress Desiree did a great job taking care of us throughout our meal. Our waters were always filled and she checked to make sure we had everything needed. Prices are on the high side for the quality of the food served. Most entrees are $12.-$18. If you eat lots of the endless salad, soup and bread sticks than it is well worth it. I would rather have quality over quantity. Since my last visit long ago they no longer automatically serve the red sauce with the bread sticks and they now offer wine sampling in hopes of selling a glass or bottle. They are trying to be "higher end" but to me it's still the same old Olive Garden.
(3)Anali L.
the food is amazing unlimited soup and salad is great one of the great reasons why we come here often me and my husband use to love this place until yesturday. we invited family over for dinner soups bread, food was amazing the two waitresses that we had were just horrible. they both forgot our appetizers and our sample of wine. they said disrespectful comments. No tip it was horrible service. I will come back but I will not be serve by these two disrespectful ladys.
(4)Joby L.
We come here often. And this time it was different! All because of server Ethan!!! He was awesome! Very friendly and went above and beyond my expectations. I will be coming back asking to seat in his area!
(5)michael a.
I dislike Olive Garden. Bleh. I swear there is no ovens or grills in the kitchens, nothing with aroma comes out of there like in a real kitchen. I have a feeling everything is prepared in advance then either microwaved or boiled before serving. For Italian I would rather go to Buon Appetito downtown Hayward or drive to Strizzi's in Fremont. Breadsticks are only good if you eat them right when they're placed on the table. After that they taste like cardboard.
(2)Jessica C.
The 5 Stars mainly go to the server (ETHAN) he is AMAZING! Whenever my husband and I come here we always ask for Ethan, even if that means we have to wait a bit longer. I just got take out food from there tonight, saw Ethan and said hello. While waiting for the casher to ring us up, next thing I know he is bringing me my favorite drink that I always get! SUPER SWEET! That alone made me want to tip him. Jorge is also a great server! Oh and yeah the food is good too, OF COURSE! :)
(5)Jacinda C.
Service was mediocre. We got our soup before we had any utensils/napkins, which I guess wasn't too horrible because the soup came with spoons. We told the waitress and she said she would get them. The guy who dropped off the soup said he would be right back with our breadsticks, but we didn't even get our breadsticks until long after we were done with our soup. Our waitress took a really long time to get my drink too and when I finally saw her come out holding it, she was chatting with another table. And she forgot the utensils. -___- Food was okay. I would not recommend the salmon with seafood risotto dish (sorry, forgot the name). The salmon was great, but the risotto was pretty hard to get down. The ingredients just didn't go well together. My boyfriend thought his ravioli and spaghetti were just alright too. He said he's never been disappointed with his food at the Fremont Olive Garden. The only other time I've been here, the service and food was really great. Might come back again to give them another chance.
(2)Patricia V.
So my bf and I came here for dinner before our concert. I could already see that our waitress Nicole looked a little tired but whatever, I understand. Well, I should have known our service wasn't going to be that great when she offered us their complimentary wine and our glasses had lip stains and the last of someone else's last drop of wine. Luckily we passed before seeing it. The service was slower than usual but the food was good. We finished our food and didn't really see our waitress after that. I'm lying, I saw her bring over drinks to another table and my bf asked for the check and a box....then she disappeared. We literally sat their for 20 minutes not knowing where our waitress went. Another girl then comes over and tells us Nicole is on her break, Nicole didn't even have the courtesy to let us know. Usually, they tell us so and so will be taking over, but today she felt it was unnecessary. Finally, we get our check....give the card and guess what....more waiting. We paid and got out of their only to see our original waitress smoking behind the restaurant. Overall, food was good...service was horrible.
(2)Benny H.
This place has always been a mixed bag for me. The food is good, but it's insane how much fat you're going to absorb so be weary before entering this place of business. Service is fair. Nothing that will make you throw you hands in the air with excitement, but nothing that is going to make you want to punch the person next to you. The stuffed mushrooms are always great as is the calamari. Not a bad place, but I really don't enjoy how I feel after leaving. Justy so fatty!
(3)R. B.
I go to this chain quite often and in different cities. The food is good, and usually the service is good; except at this location. We were seated promptly for lunch. We waited for 12 minutes for our server to take our drink order. Meanwhile, she serves us the bread, but with no small dish to put it on. I ate mine off my napkin. Then we waited and waited somemore for her to finally take our order. I ordered: the soup/salad and my mom got the Mediterranean Flat Bread;( it was OK.) First comes the salad and my soup and we had to wait yet again for her to bring my moms flatbread. By the time my mom got her order, I was finished with my soup. I think it's poor planning on our servers' part. I'm hoping she can learn something from this.
(2)Leticia E.
This Olive Garden has terrible service. After being seated the waiter took about 20 min to even come to ask us for drinks it's as if she didn't even know we were her table. We waited another 15 min or so to even get our meals ordered. My boyfriend and I were thinking we were just being impatient since they were a BIT busy or we were just being brats about having to wait but by the time they brought out our appetizers we didn't have our soup or salad no bread sticks and our appetizer (Lasagna Frita ) looked thrown on the plate, we didn't even stay the service was so bad we didn't eat anything we decided to cancel our order. I wish I would have took photos of how bad the Lasagna Frita looked because we went to another Olive Garden to fill our crave for breadsticks and the difference of the presentation was extreme
(1)Maria S.
I've given this place so many chances and every time I go they give me more reasons not to! - spilled water on me and my phone -ugly bug with antennas in the zuppa Toscana -horrible, rude waitresses -managers that can't even manage their lives - unsanitary silverware Believe me the list can go on and on and on!!!! DO NOT COME HERE MAYBE OTHER LOCATIONS BUT THIS ONE SUCKS!
(1)Linda M.
Guilty pleasure. That about sums it up. I don't generally review big chains. My primary reason, or the reason I admit to, is that I'd rather promote outstanding small businesses. My secondary reason, is because I'm embarrassed. I like Olive Garden. There, I said it. I still feel embarrassed. One advantage to big chains is that our great state of California insists that they publish the nutritional info. So when I'm looking at the menu, I know that while I really want that butter and cheese laden fettuccine alfredo... it really doesn't fit into my dietary budget. So instead, I opt for lasagna and take half of it home. When I remember, I actually bring my own tupperware so I can shove it right in there and hide it away from my greedy maw. Service here is usually good and friendly. The alfredo, as mentioned earlier, is terribly decadent and delicious. I usually nab a bite from the kid's plate so I can taste it but not go nuts. I'm not a breadstick person, but I do dig the salad. Which is also covered in calories. But after my 2nd glass of merlot, my math gets fuzzy anyway. There is almost always a wait, by the way. So factor that in.
(4)Bryce P.
I've eaten at multiple olive gardens and this is by far the worst one. Is this one privately owned and not corporate owned? Because everything about it was sub par. The chicken I ordered I had all of two bites of, it was dry and rubbery it just seemed like very cheap lousy poultry. I got some orange cranberry drink that took much longer than it should of to come to the table and it had no cranberry in it. Our waitress just disappeared at the end of our meal so we had to wait to even pay the bill for the bad meal that was served. I'm normally always down for a trip to Olive Garden but I will never be returning to this one.
(1)Vannara B.
Olive garden is one of my go to place to dine. The food is always delicious. But it wasn't just the food that was good. Its the service that came along with it. FIVE STAR FOR THE SERVER! We arrived about 30 mins before closing and I felt really bad that maybe a server might have to stay late to serve us. (my boyfriend is a server, so I know the feeling) We got an amazing server name Ethan. (I believe) I assume he is middle eastern. Anyways, He was very nice and he was one of the best servers I've seen. He made us feel really welcome. Even my 1 year old enjoyed her experience there. normally she gets cranky sitting down for too long. He made sure that everything was going smoothly. I would assume that all servers should do this but they don't. He also went out of his way to give my daughter treats and letting us try the soups. I really appreciate his service and dedication to the customer. He really deserved the nice tip we left =P
(4)Jabez J.
Really love this place especially the all you can eat salad. Our waiter Jorge was so awesome, he was personable and provide great customer service. So if you are looking for some good dishes stop by Olive Garden and try the Zuppa Toscana soup.
(5)Shasa B F.
FOOD:I ordered mussels along with my entree, the capellini pomodoro. Mussels were dry, the pomodoro tomatoes where from the same batch used for the bruschetta. SERVICE: Server Regina was great. She deserves 5 stars.
(3)Dee R.
Sad about writing a bad review on here because I love this place. Wanted to place a to-go order on the phone at 9:30 the guy ANDY said I would have to come in person I asked him what time do you guys close he said 10pm so I said okay I'll make it there probably at 10 and he said yeah no prob if I see you I'll definitely take your order he was really sweet!!! Got there at 9:59 and the doors were locked the manager named JOSH said my time says 10pm like seriously dude you're going to turn down a customer?!! I'm never returning to this Olive Garden thanks to your manager JOSH!!!!!! I hope corporate sees this review.....
(1)Tamikko B.
This place is clean but the witress was slow and didnt offer bread right away. We sat too long and waited too long for our food.
(1)Darryl P.
Today May wife and I went to have lunch . The server Tina was very polite and great with my kid. She paid attention to every detail. She told us at the beginning that she was new and still in training, could not even tell. It was like she had worked there for years. I will return to eat again but if she is not there. I may think about it. She was very nice and helpful. Thanks.
(5)Sunny S.
This was our first time dining at Olive Garden, and I must say our waiter ETHAN just wowed us in every way. He took customer service beyond another level that we haven't seen before and made our experience wonderful. He is friendly, fast, efficient and is a very honest hard working person. When we were seated he made sure to let us know that he'll take care of us, and that's what he sure did! I wanted to save some money by sharing a drink with my daughter, but he let us know that the kids meal came with free drinks and sides. We forgot to order a drink for our 1 year old son, but he made sure our son got a drink anyways, and brought out both water and sprite! AMAZING! He also recommended the meat sauce instead of plain tomato sauce for our daughters spaghetti. When the food came out we had ask Ethan for a bottle of hot sauce for my husband grilled trout. It was less then 5 minutes and it wasn't really a big deal, but we had just reminded him since he was close by waiting on another table so he wouldn't have to go back and forth to get the hot sauce. When we did reminded him Ethan was so hard on himself and felt really bad about it and that wasn't our intentions at all, but that just go to shows how hard this man works. While we were dining he made sure to ask us if we were okay and needed anything else. By the end of the night he help us pack our food in the to go box one at a time and we had ask if the kids can take their plastic cups home, and he said yes and even went and got it refilled for the us! WOW! This man is amazing and thoughtful, we were so impressed and loved his persona so much we gave him the biggest fattest tip ever and even after that he still didn't want to accept it, because he felt like it was too much. We eventually force it upon him and gave him a big hug and made sure to let him know that we notice and appreciate a well deserving hard working person that is so thoughtful and caring . Olive garden CEO if you are reading this you guys are very lucky, you got one hard working person working for you guys please recognize him and show him appreciation, he deserves a big raise, bonus etc. and a nice long vacation. Its people like him that are the back bone of their business and that keeps it going. We'll be back next time to dine for our special anniversary coming up. So see ya next time Ethan! As for the food it was DELICIOUS! I ordered the Pappardelle Pescatore it is creamy red sauce pasta with shrimp, clams, and scallops. It was savory, flavorful, and the red cream sauce was nice and light. My husband ordered the grilled trout season with pesto and cheese yum! All the meals are big portions size and the salad and bread sticks are free! Awesome big plus for me!
(5)trish p.
Ordering Togo tonight. Phone ordering-very professional and patient. Coming in, hostess stand friendly and organized. Having a computerized check in and pagers AND headsets to communicate is awesome for a popular place. Very impressed.
(5)Lisa S.
I'm not too big of a fan of pasta anymore so it's been quite awhile since i've stepped into a olive garden. Boy, the service is still excellent & the food was even better! I absolutely loved the fact that they have he unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks as a lunch combo deal! The even have many new dishes to liven up the different plates to chose from instead of your typical pasta dishes! They had new chicken wings here and we tried them and they were great! I'm not a pasta fanatic as i used to be but I will definelty be coming back because of their great service and food!
(4)Jim F.
Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo is NOT supposed to have blackened chicken. They have changed the recipe recently and did not bother to inform the servers. Shrimp Fra Diavolo is supposed to be flavorful, NOT just hot. Their signature bread sticks lack flavor and are never baked with a golden brown crust. Insipid. We sat in the bar to avoid waiting 45 minutes for a table. They are very slow to clear the tables in the bar. We went to an empty table and it took them at least 10 minutes to clear it. Meanwhile, another party came in and stood by another vacated table. They stood there at least 20 minutes before it was cleared. We sent back the Chicken dish. It took another 10 to 15 minutes to find out that they could not prepare it any other way and get another dish ordered. Our server did offer my wife one of the small desserts to compensate. She was not interested in any of them. The one dessert she was interested in was a standard size dessert and they would not provide, it at a discount. We got the bill. No adjustment except for credit for the meal we returned. In the future, I'd rather go to Denny's than Olive Garden for Italian food. We go to GOOD Italian restaurants in Oakland (Il Pescatore at Jack London Square) and Mona Lisa in SF North Beach.
(1)Lana'e C.
My boyfriend & I went to the Olive Garden last night. Upon arrival we were nicely greeted & seated quickly. The host informed us that our waiter would be with us shortly. 5 mins go by...10 minutes goes by...15 minutes later no one came to ask us our drink orders, bring us bread nothing. At a table across from us people had arrive 5 minutes after us and had their drink orders taken & began to order. Finally we stop the waitress an asked would anyone be taking our order soon. We over heard them saying out waitress was in the bathroom...for 15 minutes?? When someone came we had just decided to leave. The customer service was horrible and I don't think that I will ever go back to this location.
(1)Elin F.
Americanized "Italian Restaurant" with really bad vegetarian alternatives. Will not go here again.
(2)Jessica S.
I went there today with my mother and brother for lunch, we live in Dublin so there is a little drive to this location. We waited FOREVER for our food. That is why I am giving the poor rating. We finished eating our salads, went to the restroom, and still waited and waited for our food to come out. I do understand that it can get crowded on Sundays, but I feel like the wait was just too long for what we were given.
(2)Kayla C.
One star for our waitress. The food...was awful! Had the zuppa toscana which is normally one of my faves at Olive Garden, but this particular bowl was just not right. Then I had the shrimp scampi and it was so incredibly bland and flavorless...I might as well have gotten a frozen meal from the grocery store and at least that would have tasted better. And what's worse...my son and I both had a stomach ache not long after we left :/ So needless to say I will absolutely NOT be returning!
(1)Chris W.
I come to this location very often, the service is usually exceptional. I prefer the waitress Way, always a delight to have, and very educated about the menu. The host I believe her name is Crystal, always tries to accommodate my desires and she does a bumper job (excellent).
(5)Online R.
I have lunched at the Olive Garden for twenty years. They have done some really dumb things like take the items off the menu that people really like: Apricot Chicken on steamed veggies. That was one item menu I drove twenty miles to have. THEY TOOK IT OFF THE MENU. I complained. Sam Rios, General Manager, OG 1382. Came to the rescue. She did everything she could to make up for it, but it still did not seem right. OLIVE GARDEN; BRING BACK THE Apricot Chicken. Let me put it another way. Not dining at the Olive Garden weekly will save how much money over a year?
(3)Gene B.
After watching consecutive episodes of the Sopranos reruns, I've been wanting pasta like mad. Who can resist pasta when watching Tony hitting up his fridge of pasta left overs and cold cuts? RIP James Gandolfini. I know nothing about authentic Italian cuisine, but I'm sure the O Garden is far from it. However, it will do for me since it happens to be on my route as I was heading to the 880 freeway. It was quite late to eat some serious carbs, but o well. Life is short. The service was really slow, but particularly it's just our waitress. Overall though I was pleased with the food and the bill was smaller than I expected. On top of things we had left overs. My wallet didn't feel empty and I'm not complaining.
(3)Cheryl C.
Horrible service every time I've been here. Servers and hosts are rude. This time around they told us a section was closed yet they sat a party of 5 that came in after us. The hosts couldn't give us an update on our table even though the large party left 15 minutes before we asked. As we were leaving the manager finally came out trying to make it right. Sorry, waiting with 5 kids for over 40 minutes and now you want to address us as we are walking away? No, thanks. Never going back to this Olive Garden and possibly never stepping foot in one again!
(1)Sergio G.
Well lets not get all negative abp the situation or review. it was a slow, we arrived and were greeted with a great smile. from the host. We were greeted well and our dinner came out pretty fast as well. The accountant had a Lasagna dinner and the I had the Fettuccine with chicken. The kids had pizza and it was actually prettify good. Over all this is a chain of restaurants an d bye the looks of they see, So ;lust to make a long story short we willlll ge gaadk
(4)Ima G.
First of all I'll start by saying that it is NEVER a good sign when you are in the restaurant bathroom with two of the employees and they are moaning between stalls about how much they hate their jobs and don't want to be there, and don't want to be there tomorrow. Come on! Do they really think this makes them look good? Absolutely not! It makes you wonder what they might think of doing to your food - at least it made me wonder. Yeesh. The food - MEH. What is with the TONS of pasta in my neverending pasta bowl, and then a tiny dollop of mediocre, gloopy sauce on top? Also, my friend and I ordered the same combination (we were in a large group of people), but hers with chicken ($3 extra), and then when the food arrived, they switched ours and we didn't notice until halfway through the meal. If you know that two people ordered the same thing but slightly different, why wouldn't you take an extra second to check that the right person gets the right thing? NOT that hard. Not to mention it's your job. One star for a free sample of wine (a nice gesture). One star for decent salad and breadsticks.
(2)Robb J.
This place is in a decent part of Hayward. My wife and I love coming to Olive Garden for the all you can eat Soup & Salad!!! Although we do feel bad about ordering just this item, we can't help but love their salad and fresh soups you can alternate when you're done with one. Service at this place has been decent and haven't had any issues thus far :D
(4)Jeff A.
I visited the olive garden a few times in the past 10-15 years, with varying results each time. Overall not a bad value, especially the unlimited soup/salad/breadsticks if you can make a meal out of it. Went there with my wife, newborn son and mom. Our waitress was very polite but probably new.. as the service lacked a bit. Easy to overlook, everyone's new at some point in their career. What really set me off was the endless pasta bowl, and how the second portion is significantly smaller than the first. I guess I can understand if the take out of the second serving has been common practice, but c'mon.. I was going to and did eat the second serving there. Props for allowing you to change the pasta/sauce/meat though. Overall I would've given the place at least a 3 star review if it wasn't for the smaller pasta second serving... it's literally half the size or less than the first. Now I realize why it's been so long since I've been... this place is nowhere special. It'll be at least long enough to forget again before I'm back.
(2)AdnerB M.
The shrimp appetizer on the little slices of bread plus tomatoes and black olives is to die for. However. I cannot go here without spending 90 easy with 2 glasses of wine, 2 entrees and this appetizer. Therefore I reserve it for special occasions. I was disappointed in the slllllooooowwwwnnessss of the service here which made me try out the one in Fremont. Kicks this ones butt.
(3)Vivian W.
Arrived here about 10PM on a Saturday night. It wasn't even that busy and it was my first time at a Olive Garden I wasn't expecting much. This review is based off the service and the food. Both are a joke. The host was pretty rude she told me the wait was 10 minutes and to have a seat first. I see her texting or what not and then she tells us to follow her within 2 minutes. Which makes no sense whatsoever. But whatever now onto the food the servers were pretty nice though however we waited 30 minutes for our food and it wasn't even good. But the servers did manage to bring us a lot of the bread sticks which i pretty much got full of off since i was hungry. 30 minutes for some pasta and soup i'd expect it to be exceptional except it was not. The spaghetti was cold and had no flavor whatsoever. I was pretty dissapointed coming to this establishment and i do not plan to return. Guess the only good part was Daniella, she apologized for what had happened but it wasn't even her fault. I even heard the table next to us complain about how they didn't even get some of their orders and apparently the kitchen had closed so they couldn't even get what they wanted just ridiculous.
(1)Deadliest K.
I must say I love the olive garden but this fucking place sucks ass pardon my French but it was bad I asked for a peach cooler ice tea it took 35 min and it came with no peaches a no ice wtf then I was given 4 bowls of burned Toscano soup the manager came out and apologized and still brought out more fucking charbroiled soup our waitress was not making a effort to check on us to see if we needed more water or my refill of my lack of ice and peach tea boo boo also when I told them my soup was burned and tasted like the bottom of the barrel she said no it looks fine no else complained let the ghetto come out of me " bitch please " all in all said stay away go to san Fran stones town shopping center the are the best well I gotta go rip my intestines out now to clear this crappy food out of my stomach .
(1)Priya B.
Their seafood fettucine is to die for ... their best wine? The ultimate 'MOSCATO' , sweet white wine served best when chilled!
(5)Charlene S.
I'm a fan of olive garden because I love their zuppa toscana and salad.. but the soup was watery here and the dish the waiter recommended was overcooked and had too much seasoning. It's kinda sad cause the only other OG i know is in Palo Alto. :(
(2)Derek N.
Soup, bread sticks and service were good...that was about it during my visit. Been awhile since i ate OG and i wasn't impressed this time around, i had the chicken parmigiana and it was missing flavor...think i'm done with OG
(2)Allan Y.
Like the unlimited soup, salad, and bread...everything is tasty..had the tour of Italy...really good...also you get free taste of red or white wine...that's a huge plus...
(4)Basil W.
The service was excellent. The waiter let us sample several wines. My wife and I are fans of sweeter wines like moscato and sparkling wines and Ports. We tried their lambrusco which is a sweeter red wine. It has a acidic undertone to it although it is pretty sweet for a red wine. We tried a moscato (Castello del Poggio). That was really good. As for food, I had the mixed grill and my wife had the chicken scampi. Normally, I would not order this type of food at Olive Garden but being that I was in the adventurous mood, I decided to try something new. I would recommend the Chicken and Shrimp Carbonara and if it weren't for trying something new, I would have gone there first. The chicken was cooked perfectly but under-seasoned. The vegetables were under-seasoned. One of the three piece of beef was overcooked (asked for medium rare). I got one well-done piece and two medium-well. The chicken scampi was on par with my wife's expectation. Overall, an OK experience. the lines are long and the food that comes out is a bit on the slower side. I would come here again.
(3)Kang D.
i really enojoy the food here i was just kind of mad that the waitress brought out this seperate menu that hAd the 2 for 25 deals that the original menu didnt display out after i already orderd my food and was almost done..
(3)squishy b.
Never ending pasta bowl anyone? Boyfriend and I were waiting for Friday so we can enjoy a night of eating copious amounts of pasta for a little over 8 bucks. We get there and whaaa there is a 45 minute wait. Ok, so it was packed and a Friday; understandable. We waited exactly 45 minutes, wandering to the Blockbuster nearby to kill time. Our buzzer buzzed at the 45 minute mark and we were taken to a table asap. Our waiter, Nelly, was pretty awesome. He checked on us several times and made sure we were enjoying our meal. Boyfriend added the extra 3 bucks for meat. It wasn't worth it in my opinion. As for the pasta. The whole wheat linguine was gritty and not really all that tasty. The parmesan portabello sauce was the best thing ever! It went well with orecchiette pasta. The three cheese marinara was second best. Nom! We ate three bowls of pasta, had soup minestrone soup (which was too salty), salad (which was alright), and yummy breadsticks. Our last bowl of pasta was hardly dented because we were so full. Nelly wrapped it up for us, along with our breadstick, and we were sent on our way. Nice evening and yummy pasta.
(3)Andrew D.
Go to pretty much any olive garden you will experience an extremely tacky, superficial so called "Italian experience". This particular restaurant follows that tradition. However, here, at this location, things are amplified by multiples of unfathomable amounts. The food is incredibly bland, and starchy. The parmesanas taste overly salty and the sauté's show there is no skill needed to prepare them. It seems most are just regurgitated recipe's handed down by corporate Coe's to the many lemming cooks that occupy these kitchens. The lack of attention given to meal presentation is disgusting. The only thing I can say is relatively tasty is the bread sticks, probably because they are slathered with butter.The only thing that saves this location is the wait staff, which was considerably nice. Prices are way too expensive compared to content of food. It will be many a life time before I head back to an olive garden. Although it would be a good place to go for a break up date, but only if you don't get stuck with the tab.
(1)Denise L.
The service is always fast and nice. Every time I go there, my waiter or waitress is always nice and would always come by to check on us. As for the food, I mean, what can you say, it's an olive garden...not some fancy italian restaurant. The only problem i have is, is that i got take out once, and i had some wrapper in my pasta. it was not fun. it kinda made me gag a little cause i had no clue what it was. other than that little issue, i like this olive garden. i've never had a problem with this location. i always get the chicken alfredo and their soupa toscana (my fav!) so good with bread sticks dipped into the soup. yum! but ya, my mom is a waitress, and is ALWAYS a stickler for "good" service and she always tip our waitress/ waiter well because they give such awesome service. maybe i'm one of the lucky few who gets awesome service. i derno.
(4)Rosanna R.
Good food and good customer service!
(4)Tsada K.
WHEN YOU'RE HERE, YOU'RE FAMILY. You know, it's true. When I go to Olive Garden, I really do feel like I'm part of the family. A big, stupid, dysfunctional family that plies you with alcohol, then ass-rapes you over a plate of mediocre pasta. But I digress. Their alfredo sauce is pretty delicious in a disgusting, ejaculatory kind of way, but ever since I found a website with what claims to be the recipe, I don't feel the need to pay fourteen bucks for something I'm embarrassed to admit to liking when I can make it for pennies in the privacy of my own home. Nonetheless, against my better judgment, I went there yesterday and ordered the eggplant parm. What I got was four deep fried yarmulkes, a squirt of ketchup, and a sparse sprinkling of processed cheese. Dry and inedible. I asked for more marinara sauce and was told I would have to speak to the manager for such a request. After several minutes, the manager came over to the table--with HELLA attitude: "Soooo, exactly how much MORE sauce will you be wanting? A ramekin or a bowl?" "Hmm...I don't know. Which would YOU prefer to have shoved in your ass? A spoon or a fork?" Of course I didn't really say that but he must have read my mind, because when the bill came I learned we unwittingly had been charged $3.50 for sauce that the yarmulkes I mean eggplant should have come with in the first place. Two stars for the slightly flustered but otherwise accomodating and very compassionate waiter who is, sadly, just another casualty of this dysfunctional family, as well as another quarter star for the disgustingly delectable fettuccine in ejaculate sauce that came (also for an additional charge) on the side of my yarmulkes I mean eggplant.
(2)Jen B.
Dinner was amazing, The wine was fantastic, and our waitress (Mina) was wonderful! :) love this place
(4)Daniel D.
Oh, Olive Garden. Brief Summary - If you've been to ONE, they're ALL the same. - Customer Service & specifications on the dish are what determine how each visit is rated - Expect to wait ALWAYS at this location I've been to this location, two other times. What sucks the most is that you're definitely going to be waiting at least 30 minutes. I had a big group last night and we waited at least an hour to get our table. What helps is that our server, Caleb (sp might be off) was really good. He handled all of our orders and was detailed. He gave insights on dishes (some of our bday party group were unsure of what to order). And he took care of our beverages in a good amount of time. Salad was decent and fresh. Breadsticks were hot and fresh. Everything went pretty well and before we knew it, it was already pass 10pm. I ordered my fave - Chicken and Shrimp Carbonarra (sp again bc I suck at it). It's been consistently good every time I've gone. Last night was no exception. All in all I was really pleased with this experience and I'm glad that other servers helped our server when bringing out our drinks, salad, breadsticks and dishes. One of them wasn't very sociable, but we got over it and it didn't effect the fun time we had celebrating a friend's birthday.
(4)Michelle C.
Been here done this a bazillion and one times. Most nights there is a wait. I always check the bar and snag an empty table if I can find one. That was the game plan last night and thank goodness 30 minute wait was not going to work for us. We had a very nice waiter. His name was Michael he made sure all of our needs were met. The food was exactly what you expect. There really truly is nothing spectacular about the olive garden. If you have been to one pasta chain you have been to them all. If you have been to the olive garden once you can wait ten years and go back and its the same ol thing.
(3)Karissa B.
This place is so busy...I'm not sure...why. I can say sometimes the food is good..other times it's bleh. I was really disappointed because we were waiting for 30 minutes and these people that came after us was seated first and they had more people in their party. The hostess seemed surprised when they came in as if they knew her. Kind of disappointing and downgrading for serving their customers.
(2)Marrione T.
The only thing I like about Olive Garden is their complementary garlic bread sticks. I finish these first and I get more and more and more. Kudos for constant refilling of bread sticks! I ordered my all-time favorite Fetuccini Alfredo, and well I've tasted better. But I still give 3-star for excellent customer service and for not getting our order wrong.
(3)Nyles T.
My family and I are a huge fans of Olive Garden. Normally the food is excellent and the service is mediocre. Tonight we came in and had the best of both worlds, good food and excellent service. Our servers name was Chris R.
(5)Henry S.
I remember going on a blind date here about 8 years ago. Needless to say not much good can come out of a first meeting at the Olive Garden. We exchanged pleasantries and had our lunch. That's it....I think she tried calling once or twice but I some how didn't get her messages. Yep, I'm an asshole like that. Anyway, food was decent. I actually like their bread sticks and salad. I usually get the "tour of Italy" and have never been disappointed. Service is usually pretty good but it can be hit or miss.
(3)Roen R.
Love their breadsticks, Love their good priced pasta, Love the waiting staff. Too bad when we asked to take our pasta to-go the waiter accidentally dropped my girlfriend's hot pasta all over her lap (which didn't have a napkin on top of it) and her shirt. Manager gave us a complementary $2.99 desert. That's it !?
(3)Nando R.
Worst experience ever, after ordering my food, my friend and I decided to order drinks and those took for ever to come a good 15 minutes. On top of that everyone got there food but mines and the waitress decided to tell me last minute that they ran out of the lasagna I ordered, It would of been nice if she told me ahead of time so i could order another item but at least she was apologetic. After ordering another item i was already upset and then she came with my lasagna that they supposedly ran out of and told me that there was a mixed up by the time i got the food my family were done with my food, they even forgot to add scallops on my friends pasta that she ordered. Manager decided not to charger us for my friends pasta so that was cool i guess. All I can say is that I wont ever come to this location it's gone down hill compared to 10 years ago when I was younger and the food was better. What can I say this isn't a real Italian restaurant so it was expected the only reason i even came was because my dad wanted to go so I decided to take him.
(2)Anne A.
i'm not rating this from my last visit but just in general over view and i know some people would say it's not "authentic" italian food but this place never disappoint me or impressed me to the limit that it's 4 stars. I generally have a good meal here and i always try their new deals. I love their bellini and zuppa toscana :)
(3)Rob J.
For the past three years, I'd have my birthday dinner here. My last birthday I came here with my family. One hour after leaving, my stomach was uneasy. Two hours later, pain. Three hours later, toilet disaster. I couldn't keep anything in my system for two weeks. I suffered on saltine crackers. bread, and apples for two weeks. I had the tour of Italy. My family also felt pretty nasty, but didn't end up with the toilet disaster I had - just abdominal pains. I write into Olive Garden to complain with no response. I am never coming here again. Adding to all of this, the wait is horrible.
(1)Franklin K.
Freaking amazing. I was here yesterday with my girlfriend and we were both kind of expecting to pay a bit more since it was an Italian restaurant. But for only $14 (not including tip/tax) you will get an appetizer (breadsticks with unlimited soup or salad), main dish, and dessert. I ordered the Italian sausage soup, Shrimp Penne, and chocolate mousse dolcini which was all very amazing. The breadsticks with the soup tasted delicious, with a perfect tinge of spiciness. The shrimp penne looked a bit small at first, but I had so much leftover, I needed to take it to go. The dolcini topped it perfectly. Our waitress continuously attended to us even when it was super packed - great customer service!
(5)Courtney R.
My experience at OG varies everytime! It's a chain it supposed to be semi consistent. I always order the Zuppa Toscana soup sometimes it comes out with potatoes and sausage and other times it's just broth and a little bit of kale. Service is consistent...consistently slow. I've been here over 40 times and there are only 2 waiters here who have consistent great service; the bartender and another female but both of their names slip my mind. The new female manager with the dreads/braids that was there last week on Wednesday seems to be very friendly and attentive (and does more than just stand around) seems to be changing the environment so hopefully I can review this place a month from now and give it more stars.
(2)Michael D.
I've never really had a problem here. Once we had to wait about 30 minutes and asked about our order, ended up getting it free. Consistant with the other Olive Garden locations. Best alfredo sauce on earth.
(4)James S.
Got here at the end of the lunch crowd and decided to have lunch in the bar area. The waiter came over, took our order. Both of us ordered the soup, salad, and breadsticks. Well, the salad came out, followed by the soup. We were told our breadsticks would be out in a few minutes. Well, 40 minutes later, our waiter, who I noticed was flirting with a woman at the bar and who had not come near our table in all that time came back to present us with the bill. I asked about our breadsticks. The long and short of it was having the manager come to our table and present us with a long mumbling apology in a very quiet voice. The lunch was on the house. After all that, we received 3 warm breadsticks! I wasn't impressed and won't be back.....
(1)Fe R.
ok sometimes the service sucks but whatever. the food is definitely not anything gourmet or authentic but it's pretty tasty when i'm feeling like a lazy bum. ok i do feel kind of bad when i go to big chains and stuff my face...but i don't do it very often, ok?!
(4)El H.
Went there for dinner with my family. The service was pretty slow, but we didn't mind. What really made my night a bummer was forgetting my iPhone 4 on the table next to the tab. Once I was in the car I realized I forgot my phone at the restaurant. We went inside hoping some honest person would turn it in. Unfortunately, the staff and manager did not know of any phone being turned in. My phone was STOLEN at this Olive Garden. Please be aware of your expensive gadgets because the likelihood of it being turned in is very slim.
(1)Dennis H.
I really like this Olive Garden location, the customer service is very nice. Even though it is pretty busy, the servers all are very caring and prompt. The food here is really good, i always get the Tour of Italy when i come here. They have a new deal for the unlimited pasta bowls and those are a pretty good deal. You can mix and match your pasta. Also the unlimited bread salad and soup is a killer deal. Overall: Location is awesome, customer service is awesome, and the food is delicious.
(4)John B.
Constant lines outside this restaurant reflect badly on Hayward. We were unimpressed when we went here several years ago. Surprisingly, there are ALWAYS lines out in front for this place, so we've avoided going back. However, recently our family needed a meal in mid-afternoon, so we thought we'd give Olive Garden another chance. The first impression in dealing with the hosts is not good. There were several teenage employees standing around, but they weren't very helpful or welcoming. We had to wait a surprisingly long time for them to prepare our table (20+ minutes). The hosts looked very bored and appeared to be mostly thinking about their next break or socializing with coworkers. Our server was pretty good; he was trying. My silverware wasn't clean, though (strike two). It took quite a while for our food to arrive, and some others who ordered later got their food before us. When our food did arrive, it did not impress. My pasta was saucy and salty. My wife's pizza was undercooked and didn't taste good -- she's said we can never go back. (not that I'm in a rush to) Hayward doesn't have a wealth of great restaurants, but there are several much better ones nearby, such as Mimi's Cafe, Cafe Vasiliki, or Grand Taipei.
(1)Jass M. B.
I rarely go here....but they seem to be ok. Mediocre is a better term. 2.5 Stars I went the other night - only after heading to 92 to go get Lobster Bisque and calling to make sure they were open - in which they were closing :( - so we had to get off...quickly and ended up on Hesperian... I got the special from the commercial - Mezza Luna's stuffed with 4 cheeses (or something) with Shrimp in a white wine and something sauce. I added a side of sauteed spinach to it..and it was actually NOT BAD! Ordered to go...and sat at the bar and had a drink. I saw the bartender making a frozen lemonady drink for another patron, and asked if i could try that (as there was at least a cup left in the blender - and a spoonful would have been fine) She told me NO ::insert serious-as-hell face here:: "we don't offer drink samples other than the wine" I looked like are you serious? Wow. Olive Garden. I would think you would want to make a sale, and if allowing someone to *taste* what's left would do it...why not? I didn't ask her to MAKE me a sample of the drink..it was ALREADY. IN. THERE. (and I'm sure they just rinse that out - if they don't partake of it themselves) But whatever. I'm cool on this place. I wouldn't recommend it. but if you are in the area ..it's there.
(2)Ryan W.
Worst dining experience i've eva had waiter had zero ppl skills da manager was rude. I think it need a whole new staff except.da.lil asian girl she was nice......oh yea we waited 4 like an hour 4 the food n wen we got it only 1 persons plate out of a party of 6 was done smh never again
(1)Patrick Z.
Ate here with my wife for dinner. I like the food and soup. The atmosphere was good and festive. I had the Manicotti with shrimp. It was great. Timothy was our waiter. He was the best waiter I've ever had. He was attentive and friendly. Although he was also waiting on a party of about 18 people, he did not neglect his other tables. He was able to get other waiters and staff to help when needed. When you go to this Olive Garden, ask for Timothy to be your waiter.
(3)Manny C.
The new baked pasta Romana with beef was ok
(3)Jennifer D.
Worst pasta ever....love the salad but everything else is a watse
(1)Niesha M.
Wack. The last time I was here, I was served undercooked pasta. They knocked the price off the bill, but the damage was already done. Never again.
(1)Chingy K.
-unlimited salad -nice dining experience -price is a bit expensive ..a meal costs $16-18 - food is okay.. -clean bathrooms and cozy place to dine in -friendly staff Me and my bf ate here last sunday morning arnd 11am, were amongst the 1st customers so eve
(3)Aelia D.
The restaurant wasn't too busy, so the servers weren't having to juggle customers. They did a solid job, though they did push the wine a little too hard, and they did bring the wrong drink once. We got a sampler platter appetizer; calamari, fried zucchini, and fried mozzerella. Everything was room temperature by the time it hit our table, and some of the breading had gotten soggy rather than crisp as a result. (And again, the restaurant wasn't too crowded, so there wasn't an excuse for that.) I wasn't too impressed with the spice blend they used on it, but that's a personal preference. Dinner was alright. Not worth what they were charging. I got the steak with the cheesy breading stuff on top (damned if I recall its name) which was alright. My grandpa got the ravioli plate, and commented that he didn't enjoy his too much. My grandma got the polenta-crusted steaks, which she said were very good. For dessert, we got the mini mousse cups and some zeppolis. I'd strongly suggest the zeppolis, because they were delicious. Our servers did a pretty good job, though it was nothing special. My family can be a bit demanding, and they did a reasonable job. They missed a few things, made a couple mistakes, but did well overall.
(3)Vika H.
I'm a fan of Olive garden. I love their unlimited bread-sticks, salad or soup. The Tuscano Soup is really good together with bread-sticks. Love their salad, can't go wrong with a refreshing salad right before your meal. My favorite appetizers are the Lasagna Frittas and the Sicilian Scampi. I either get the Chicken Alfredo or the Seafood Alfredo but by the time it comes out I'm already full and have lots of leftovers to eat couple hours later. And I like to eat my entrees together with the bread-sticks so make sure you ask for more bread-sticks.
(4)Swati L.
Ohhh, Fettucine Alfredo with Grilled Chicken, why do you haunt me so? Why doesn't grilled chicken taste so savory and tender ANYWHERE else? Why is your creamy alfredoness like some joke on me that says "yes, I'm the most lame and common fake-italian dish there is, yet I know you want me"? Maybe the cream, milk, cheeses and many egg yolks (i.e. saturated fat) are what do it. Don't tell me I'm wrong, I looked up your recipe and almost gagged. Anyway, I usually end up at Olive Garden because I'm craving you-know-what. Because, when I want comfort food I want it to be exactly the same way as I remembered it. Plus if I got to a real Italian restaurant I'd expect better food and wouldn't order something so high school. I also really love their salad, and my hubby loves their soup, so we actually look forward to the reliable ritual of starting a meal here. This location is just like all the others. I've had a really great server and some really average ones. I think because I only go 2 times a year at most I don't hate it like I grew to back in my high school and college days when it was so cliche. Now it's just a novelty. Don't expect the freshest anything... BUt if you like hearty classic italian meals, you can get decent versions for a good price. Their Chicken Parmesan is another favorite throwback, for example. Pounded thin chicken cutlet breaded and fried crisp covered with loads of cheese. Mmmm. So, to summarize, if you go in with your eyes open, Olive Garden is a reliable nation-wide Italian chain with all the traditional American-style favorites. Don't order anything too exotic and you'll be ok. PS-their wine list features some really reasonable options, too. That always helps. ;-)
(3)J.J. M.
Love the food there. Can't complain about that, but what I can complain about is the service. There are some servers that are stellar, and then you get one that shouldn't even be working there. The service at the Hayward location is shotty and inconsistent. There's always an issue in Hayward...is this place, the training center or something? We go to other locations and you can tell the difference. It's sad because there are good servers there but the bad ones just ruin it for the rest. Slamming down dishes, huffing and puffing about asking for extra items...and worst of all....standing there watching us sign the bill and looking at how much tip we were giving. We gave cash and she stood there watching us count!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? I should take it down to 1 star because of that, but the other server who brought our food out made up for a lot.
(3)Sam S.
I hadn't been to an Olive Garden in a couple of years, until I went a few weeks ago with Kellie T. We were both hungry and didn't want to cook, so we decided to go grab some never-ending pasta bowls. When we walked in the place was PACKED. We put our names on the wait list and were told that it would be a forty-five minute wait. "Balls to that!", I said and decided to wait for a table in the cocktail area. We only waited about ten minutes. Our server Justin was a nice guy, and got us our refills and everything we asked for out quickly. We got two bowls of salad, three baskets of bread sticks, and four bowels of past when all was said and done. I definitely plan on making my next trip here sooner than I did this one.
(3)CLINTON W.
WTF? There are plenty of good Italian restaurants around me where I don't feel the need to ever go to Olive Garden. It's just a big chain that serves frozen Italian food. But whatever, the ones I've been to haven't been that terrible. However, my coworker and I received a $100 gift card from one of our vendors. The Hayward Olive Garden was the closest one to us. We sat in the bar area while waiting for a table. There was a 40 min wait. Our waitress in the bar started out pretty nice, but then just got annoying. We ordered some drinks and apps. She asked us about 4 times if we were sure we wanted to get a table rather than just eat in the bar. Ask once and then not again. We finally got to our table and it was just a cluster-F. They couldn't seem to figure out who was going to wait on us. There were 2 waiters that kept coming by and not often. We ordered some drinks and the one waiter kept walking by saying it was on it's way. It took about 15 mins to finally get it. We got the salad and the waiter asked if we wanted cheese. We did not. Then we got a refill of the salad and without asking, he just put cheese on. He was kind of a dumb ass. I ordered the pork and my buddy ordered some shrimp pasta. It took forever for the food to come out and was told it was because I ordered pork. Apparently that takes longer to order than most of their entrees. It finally came out and was terrible. My pork was so dry and the potatoes with onions and bell peppers were basically what you would get at Denny's along side an omelet. We were almost done and ready to leave when our waiter came by and said he was going on break. Some new girl was introduced to us and we were told she'd be taking over. She did some stuff but the other waiter from earlier kept coming by. Now we had 3 people waiting on us and they were so confused. It was ridiculous. Won't ever go to this Olive Garden and will try to avoid all of them. There are way better Italian restaurants.
(1)Miss H K.
Came here for dinner with a big group and was actually impressed by service here. We had 2 waiters taking care of us and our food came out promptly. The waiter was also nice enough to give everyone their own separate check and it didn't give anyone a hard time about it. Food here was fine. Had the unlimited pasta bowl with the spaghetti and meatballs and sausage. I actually enjoyed my dish, the meat sauce was very hearty. As a rule for the unlimited bowl though, you must give up or finish your first place before getting enough (you're not allowed to take home any leftovers until your last dish)! Wouldn't mind coming here again but my first choice for Italian would be Tomatinas!
(4)Gerry R.
I'm going to have to give this Olive Garden three stars, the service was great, they were very polite and friendly.. but the food really did not live up to it's hype, OR it's price.. i ordered a chicken and shrimp carbonara, it cost me $20+ and it really wasn't even that great.. I've had better at restaurants that were not even known for their pasta so overall... nice place with good service.. but too expensive for the food you get
(3)Jin C.
This is my favorite Italian restaurant. So what if it's a chain, when you're there, you're family! I always get the seafood alfredo everytime and I love it everytime. The neverending bread sticks and salad...forgettabout it!
(5)John N.
I went there for their neverending pasta bowl. I'm never disappointed with their fried calamari. I love their variety of soups. The waiter even hooked us up with an extra cup to go. They're the only place that gives Andes mints after the meal.
(5)Kurt M.
Why do people like the Olive Garden? I don't like the bread, I'm not into the food--I always vote against it when people from work want to go there. Dear mom: please do not give me any more Olive Garden gift certificates. I am tired of giving them away.
(1)Peter F.
Came here last sunday while on my trip up north. Sat in the bar area to avoid long waits. Not a regular at Olive Garden anymore, because i feel the food quality has gone down. Had the worst service with the waiter i've ever encountered. I waited 30 minutes to get a refill, even after I asked him for one the second time. When he brought our check to the table my friend asked out loud how my lemonade was.That's when the waiter knew he never brought my drink. I have one rule and one rule only, please never let my drink get empty.
(1)L T.
Love Olive Garden....come here wen pasta craving hits... But tonight, this review is about the service upon walking in... The hostess what a rude b**ch...its saturday dinner so yeah its gonna be a wait and all and i could care less i was prepared for a wait no biggie. I approach her and ask for table for 2 and with her attitude tells me its gonna be ??? long... Well obviously i didnt hear so i said "how long?".... And she repeated to me like i was stupid... Sorry u hate ur job but dont take it out on hungry patrons!!!! So im giving one less of a star because I knw the food will be good!!!glad i aint gotta tip her cus i would have left a note!!!!
(4)Jennifer G.
G.N.O. aka Girls Night Out! Came here for dinner with a group of old and new friends for some girl time :) We got started with a bottle of Moscato (Castello del Poggio), I love this wine. K got the tour of Italy (Lasagna, Chicken Parmesan, and Fettuccine Alfredo) A got the Carbonara Ravioli with Chicken, N got the Carbonara Ravioli with Shrimp, and I got an Appetizer for my main course (I love the bread sticks and they fill you up quick with the Alfredo dipping sauce) and four different desserts later, we had a ton of leftover boxes. Very fun time and plans for many more G.N.O. to come! I do wish they took reservations for larger groups because I think I would be coming here a lot more instead of having to wait for 30 to 45 min. to be seated.
(4)Chad L.
Why would anyone ever go to the Olive Garden in Hayward?! Why!!!! I'm sorry, I lost my composure. I usually have to go here once a year with family, because some of them like it here and that is all I will say. Moving on... The Olive Garden in Hayward is conveniently located at the back end of the southland mall along Hesperian boulevard. There is always plenty of parking and almost always plenty of people there in line ahead of you. So you will be waiting for at least 20 minutes at almost any time of the day unless you made reservations ahead of time, (perhaps because you read a wonderful yelp review that reminded you to do so). Then, once you have your table your waiter will greet you kindly offering you a free sampling of house wines, (just trust me on this one and pass up this wonderful opportunity) and anything else you might need to drink. Your server will usually be very polite and helpful in ordering your meal and any other accouterments you may desire. I have never really had bad service here, (in fact it's the only reason for the third star on my review). You will get soup or salad, (if not both) and breadsticks with your meal. In my opinion this is the best part of the meal and for those of you who agree with me, just stick to the soup, salad and breadstick lunch, it rocks! Then we have the main coarse, no matter what you ordered, it will almost undoubtedly be over or under spiced and cooked. Meat ordered medium rare comes to the table medium and the same is true in reverse at times as well. Most of the meat dishes here taste as though the meat was boiled then over spiced and grilled to hide the fact, this will overpower the flavors of everything else in your bowl like plate and leave you bloated. I'm sorry if you identify with any of what I am saying. The truth is it happens far too often at this location. The staff will come check on you and ask if everything is ok and you are welcome to try and send something back, but I wouldn't recommend doing so, (we all know someone who knows someone who's worked in a kitchen and heard stories about why you don't do that). The bottom line is you are stuck with some really over priced bad food most of the time when you eat at the Olive Garden, but remember the service was good and the person bringing your food was not the one cooking it, so don't skimp on the tip. If you go here, be advised that the food is consumer beware and that you may be subject to one or all of the horrors I have described. I guess the bottom line that the Olive Garden isn't my thing, but if it's yours then drop in sometime and let me know what it is that does it for you... CHAD
(3)Emmika E.
I'd have to agree that it's really a "hit-or-miss" place. I mean, it's obviously fake Italian food, but atleast it doesn't cost as much as the real Italian restaurants (if there even are any in this area...I'm about 35 minutes away so I'm not sure). I've been here atleast 5 or 6 times as my hubby's Mom always buys us gift certificates. I always order the exact same thing--Ravioli di Portobello (or something like that). It's a ravioli stuffed with portobello mushrooms and cheese with a creamy sun dried tomato sauce. It's absolutely delicious, but for the price they should give you more raviolis (I think it only comes with about 6 or 7). However, I have to admit that I've driven the 35 minute drive out here just to order that dish. I've only strayed from it once, to try their gnocchi. Bad move. I'm very allergic to seafood and one of my gnocchi's was a SCALLOP. I guess it slipped in during the cooking process. Not cool. Thankfully I recognized it was different before I swallowed it and immediately rinsed my mouth out hoping to avoid a nasty barfy mess. I also have to hand them props for their bread sticks. Delicious. I've had better, but they're still pretty darn good. And their salad is very good, too, but really needs to come with more. And heck with the "unlimited salad and breadsticks" they advertise. Our waiters/waitresses have never bothered to bring second sets back to our table ANY time we've been there. Also something to mention is the MASSIVE line they sport almost every night. Last time we went we made a reservation and STILL had to wait 45 minutes for a table. And the time before that we decided to show up on a Wednesday night at around 6:30pm and we were told the wait was over 2 hours. 2 HOURS! ON A WEDS! That's more than the Cheesecake Factory! We asked if there was some sort of event going on there and the man said "No, this is just our typical dinner rush". Sheesh! However, I also have to acknowledge their take-out counter. I'm pretty sure everything on their menu is available for take-out. This is generally very fast and a good option if the line is out the door.
(3)Thuyvi M.
My first experience at Olive Garden was mediocre. Everyone kept telling me how good it is and stuff and it wasnt all that great. The service was ok and the food was bland and cold. I had a glass of Moscato which was really good however it was not chilled enough. I ordered the pear and Gorgonzola ravioli and the dish was decent. It had a sweetness once u bit into the ravioli from the pear but the sauce was warm and bland. The dish wasnt hot enough and the sauce was already drying up like it has been sitting there waiting to be served. The bread sticks were fresh but it was chewy and no flavor. I think butter or olive oil should be served with it. The salad dressing was too over powering and the lettuce was wilted. Our waitress was ok however we had to ask her for a glass of wine 3 times when it never came. She seem flustered or didnt want to be there to serve us. She should have checked on us more often. The decor inside was cute and the place seems big. However I dont think I would return here for pasta.
(2)Stephanie D.
There's something about their stuffed mushrooms that has me hooked. Other than that Olive Garden's pastas aren't too bad, as my 3 stars show it's A-ok. It's not the 1st place that pops into my head when I want a great plate of good pasta. I hate to admit it but I can be just as content with their salad, those mushrooms and good company at the table.
(3)Josie F.
I love this place!!! Especially when they have their never ending pasta bowl. We definitely ate our weight in pasta and soup that night. I love that there are about 6 different pastas to choose from as well as 6 various sauces as well. You have to pay more for meatball, sausage, and chicken, but for me the meat sauce that comes with the pasta bowls was just right. The service was excellent and our waiter was extremely attentive. He even gave us some extra breadsticks to take home with our leftovers.
(5)Antonella D.
My favorite dish here is the tour of italy. It has gone up in price though. It use to be 13.50 like when loive garden first opend in hayward i remember i use to always want my bday dinners at the olive garden i just loved it. The food is good, i love the salad a lot and the bread sticks. No need to get starters b/c you will get full off of the free break sticks and salad. They have nice special all the time, I try my freiends dishes very good! Really like this place. I think the food is great. What i hate is the long waits! They also do not do RSVP its first come first serve.
(4)Kreative T.
I love this place! Everytime I have gone, I have had quick and great service every time!! The food is great each time! Love the food!! Gets busy during lunch- (11:00 hour) but all around its good! Even if you have to wait to be seated it isn't that long. When they say 15 min. its 15 min or less~!!
(5)Kathy H.
Went here today with the boyfriend after our run in SF and was starving for unlimited something! :) Was pretty empty but soon within the half hour it got jam packed with the waiting area filled. Our waiter was super speedy at first but soon realized he took on too many tables, but still stayed consistent with us. I ate the Tuscan Grilled Chicken which was yummy yummy and my boyfriend had the unlimited soup and salad.. we were there for an extra half and hour just because he kept wanting soup haha :) Polite and speedy even during the rush. Would I go back? For the service :)
(4)Charmaine A.
The food is just as good as it gets.. From the salad, to the bread, to the pasta... Yum, yum, and yum! I do have to say though... The Filipino boys that work here are a tad bit overly-friendly and I'd say pretty brave considering the fact that the 2 times that I did come here I was on a date. But hey.. As long as I didn't find one of their phone numbers written on a paper hidden under my pile of unlimited pasta, everything is just A-OK in my book.
(4)Ed C.
Oh the breadsticks... Me likey breadsticks, me likey breadsticks! The Zuppa Toscana is bomb too. The two together is all I need. Oh, and a side of alfredo sauce. But they don't give you enough. It's like 3 bucks for a very small, very shallow dish. So I need 2 of them. The rest of the menu is just "bleh". Sometimes you just crave the breadsticks... So you need to come, but then you try to venture off and order an entree that "sounds good" on the menu... Always a bad choice. Should have just stuck to the breadsticks and soup. I can say that now but I bet the next time I go, I'll just do the same thing and order an entree again. I am such a sucker! Damn you Olive Garden, you win again!
(3)Jee Sook L.
This Olive Garden is disgusting...they lost 4 customers for sure. My 3 sisters came up for a visit and they loved Olive Garden in Modesto, Ca. So everyone was craving some pasta, so we went. It was a 25 min wait. which was okay cause it was peak time at lunch time. We got seated and waited 20 minutes for the waiter. 10 minutes for drinks. and 45 minutes for food. The food was cold and my sisters chicken alfredo was watery. My seafood Portifino (my usual), was very oily...We had to ask for bread five times before we got one...He never asked how we were doing until the check was asked. But during my dinning experience...what grossed me out was that I saw our waiter keep touching his tips (money)...taking it out, flashing it and put it back in his pocket...he did that about 4 times in front of me, cause the cashier was near our table. After he touched his tips...he didnt wash his hands and served drinks to another party. He was standing around and doing nothing while other servers were doing his job. I never ever did this before...but I didnt leave a tip for him...he was the worst waiter of all time!! I hope he doesnt work there no more...i would hate someone else getting the same experience we did.
(1)Athens r.
This place has always been a good choice. Ive always thought my 20 years was spent living inside a box with limited choices, that I missed such good places. Service has always been polite and fast. Whats not to say about O.G. Structure-wise, I always liked their scheme. Had to finish my gift cards so I still have 3 left for this week's budget so better use it on my off...Nothing really special: 1. Zuppa Tuscana- I really liked how they salted it. I wished there was more meat though. **Breadsticks were awesome..i like it soft and warm. 2. Tour of italy- this entree consisted of the breaded chicken Parmigiana topped with some red sauce, a plain fetuccini alfredo and the lasagna which i didnt finish coz i never liked marinara style sauces. 3. Regular coke- I shouldnt, but I have one day left to self-gratify my two-week binge. 4. Black tie mousse cake- i wanted to order the torta di chocolate but i thought my company liked cheesecake so I got the dessert which had layers of choco+cheescake. So i guess this ones good.. Except for the dark chocolate that ive always hated and my sis loved so much. (Ive always wondered what my sister see in it! yck!) Everything went great from ordering to getting it---smooth. Even when you get mistakes on the orders but they fix it right away-- I said to myself Im not gonna odrer angel hair pasta again coz i felt gagging everything out when I last had it from another Italian resto. So I was thinking of this all the time during the order(especially with the shrimp on top of it, w/c i liked to get) so it just stuck on my mind and led me to getting the wrong entree. Orders came and There! i had the wrong one. It sucks as I was so into my cuz's internet cp, so excited as I got my hands onto yelp, addictedly. took me several minutes to realize that I didnt get what I wanted--but they were so patient to just change everything.. All this experience with Olive Garden was great except for monster always laughing at me everytime I make mistakes especially when youre still on your learning phase. (Dont worry Im not shouting your name to the world!@!!-im not like you- you monster.) I just hope I get a new company who would teach u things around and not MORTIFY you, snarl and laugh out loud and make fun of it everytime u do something silly.
(4)jc d.
I went here with my family for dinner last week. THE SERVICE WAS REALLY REALLY BAD. The server was so rude-it took her forever to refill my soup, she never smiled and when I ask for a refill for the unlimited salad-IT NEVER ARRIVED. This was the worse customer service I ever experienced! I will never go back to this Olive garden. I live near but I prefer to dine at Fremont olive garden. Service is WAY BETTER.
(1)John A.
Wait time is always long but I can't complain it was a friday night. I like Olive garden but they changed a lot. The portions are smaller (ordered the tour of italy) and the food tasted a little old. I ordered the mussel appetizer it was very small mussels and some just came with shells. the sauce was very lemony. The waitress I had was great she always came and checked in and my drink was always full. The soap, salad and bread is always the best part of the meal even better than the meal itself sometimes. I would come back for unlimited soap and salad.
(2)Danielle W.
My family usually calls in a "to go" order because the wait to get a table is terrible. I know this, and yet I agreed with my hunny that it would be a good idea to go to the Olive Garden for dinner. I figured that it was a Monday night past the dinner rush, so the wait wouldn't be too bad. I was wrong... 30 minutes for a table for 2. *sigh* We decided to wait in the bar and have an appetizer with some drinks. The girl who was working behind the bar was great! She looked nice without being overdone, she was matter of fact in her tone without being rude, and she was polite without being fake. We liked her enough to stick around at the bar and order a full meal. The food was pretty good too, even though it's definitely overpriced. He got the Chicken Alfredo with the Salad. I got the Venetian Apricot Chicken and Minestrone. Bottom line... the place is overpriced and the waits are way too long. But if you don't care about that, go ahead and eat here.
(3)Vincent C.
I brought a date her a few days ago because i knew she loves pasta and i figured you can't go wrong with Olive Garden for a nice casual experience. This Olive Garden looked slightly smaller than the rest, but it still had the same atmosphere most Olive Gardens had. Anyways we got seated and we took a while to decide on what to order so i ordered the Mussels di Napoli for an appetizer. We waited patiently and wondered when our bread sticks were coming. She came back with our appetizer and we proceeded to order our entries and i asked for some bread sticks. She also didn't bring plates for the appetizers so i asked if we could get some plates for the mussels. She later came back with our salads and plates for the salads, but we still had no plates for the mussels; not to mention we still haven't gotten our bread sticks. Every other table had bread sticks but us. Finally about half way through our salads she brought some plates for our appetizer and we finally dug into the appetizer. Sadly to say the mussels didn't taste very fresh and I was pretty disappointed. Our Entrees arrived and we still had no breadsticks.. So i asked again if we could have some bread sticks still, she explained that they had to bake more so she didn't bring me some yet. But i noticed other tables next to us getting bread sticks from other servers. So i played it nice just nodded said thats ok, just bring the bread sticks when you can. Finally the bread sticks came! Yay right? nope because it came when we were practically done with our entries.. sigh. Sadly to say my experience at this Olive Garden was pretty awful if i don't say so myself. The mussels were mediocre at best. The entries were ok but nothing compared to the other Olive Gardens I've been to. The service was pretty awful, but i at least we got our food! Not to mention we didn't even get a single refill on our waters. thankfully my date enjoyed her time with me. Would i come back? probably not... thanks for the meal though!
(2)Jonah S.
Just came here tonight. The food was pretty good and the bread sticks we great. Not stale like at some Olive Gardens. I like the layout of this Olive Garden as well. It is different and very nice. The service is what is so great though. Our server, Brad, was very attentive and kinda funny. He was easy going from how he forgot what one order was when repeating it back. Also he was singing to himself each time he stopped at the table it seemed. It was Bleeding Love the first time and I couldn't make it out the second time. I will definitely be returning.
(4)Steve P.
I don't care what the Italian food snoots have to say about it. I love olive garden, consistent good food, great salad, soups are awesome and the meals reasonably priced.
(3)Mel G.
I love coming here. I never seem to try different plates because I'm just in love with their Stuffed Chicken Marsala. Next time I go I will try a different plate LOL. from start to finish everything is delish. From the breadsticks to the endless salad and your entree. yum yum yum
(4)Mauricio M.
Have always enjoyed the food at Olive Garden since I was younger. My girlfriend now likes it a lot mostly because of their current Moscato wine. One of my favorite things here is the Zuppa Toscana. Its their mildly spicy sausage soup. I love it! The dishes they have are always nicely portioned and taste good. Sometime the bread they give can be a lil hard, but thats how it is with most things given for free at restaurants, hit or miss. I am starting to get more into wines and their wine list, while not the extensive, is nicely organized from light to very bold. The servers we have had so far have been very knowledgable and helpful in picking out wines as well. Great place for italian food and for people who like their Moscato.
(4)Joanna A.
The wait time was estimated 30 min. Was actually 55 min. Crappy food & service! The hostess did not care when I approached her & said it has been already 50 minutes when we were told 30 minutes, her reply " it's an estimate!". Our waiter was clearly in a grumpy mood, we only got 1 menu for the 4 of us to share then after about 2 minutes he said so you ready to order, we said no we have to share 1 meno he said oh you don't already know what u want we said no he said okay I will give you a few more minutes. Appetizers were over cooked, deep fried raviolies were so dark & hard we didn't eat after one attempt to bite. Service was bad, no refills, he asked if we wanted cheese in the salad said no he did anyway then he said "oh no you said no cheese, oh well I won't give you cheese the next bowl". Over priced for the food & service I would have rather had McDonalds. Will never again go to any Olive Garden! Gave 1 star bc it was clean.
(1)Jarett S.
The Food never disappoints. The service this time around was sub-par at best. It took over ten minutes after we were sat, for someone to come over and get us drinks. The manager eventually came over and took our drink order. We only actually saw our server twice during the whole meal. It seems like these corporate restaurants just worry about quantity instead of quality. No one values good customer service these days.
(2)Samantha S.
Are you seriously considering eating at the Olive Garden?!?! Embarrassing!
(1)Lisa M.
I went to this restaurant 3 weeks ago after church (I know I took a while to write this!). Parking was not too bad and the wait time for a table was about ten minutes. I think we actually beat the Sunday rush. Our server was friendly and got our drinks to us right away. I would have actually prefered my strawberry lemonad with my meal since there are not any free refills on these but if you drink it took early then you have to buy another one right, lol. The soup, salad, and appetizers were pretty good. I ordered breadsticks with cheese for dipping. We were brought breadsticks numerous times which is great. The waitress was trying too hard to be super friendly to my friend's kids. They are not your average "goo gaga" kids so they were looking at her like she was crazy (at least she tried). The waitress got all of our orders right and even took a no longer wanted smoothie off of our bill. I ordered Chicken Marsala and it was awesome. I ended up taking most of it home because I was so full from soup and breadsticks! I will be back soon!
(4)Homer S.
Loved the service today .. asked for extra salad, extra soup, extra olives and tomatoes for Olivia. That's it food is normally consistent. My lasagna in the tour of italy was smaller then normal but thats fine there was too much other foods to eat anyway so took home most of it.
(4)Jazz E.
I LOVE OLIVE GARDEN. Their customer service is pretty good, can't complain. I love their pasta, their endless bread. And if you want to get their soup, I recommend getting the Zuppa Toscana, it has sausages and potatoes and all kinds of goodness. THE CONS: wait time is about 20-30 minutes, and a bit pricey. BUT really worth it.
(4)Eric C.
Last few times I've been here I've had good service, quick meal delivery and the food was good. Our waitress was really friendly especially when offering wine.
(4)Zuatrapatuarte G.
We always have a nice time here. Thanks everybody.
(5)Randy C.
This is the closest olive garden in the area but they do not disappoint. gotta love never ending pasta bowl days.
(4)Adam C.
I absolutely LOVE this chain. This one is hit or miss at times with service, but food has never failed to impress.
(4)Eileen H.
I went here for a department lunch out. I had a weird vibe from our waitress Isabel aka Izzy, even her manager was acting weird too. They were trying to act like they had great customer service but they had no perkiness at all.. We couldn't even get a fake smile out of them. I ordered the lasagna and it was cold and a very small portion. I would not recommend coming to this olive garden location.
(1)Hiten S.
Nice Service and Good food, They were extremely Busy and very crowded, for a Tuesday. 45 minute Wait. Other than that, everything was in order. Excellent people to serve you hot dinner. Thank you.
(5)Bernadette M.
I'm sure restaurant staff hates it when you come into the restaurant an hour before they close, wondering if they are ganna take their sweet ass time downing their late dinner. My bf and I were starving and he was craving soup from Olive Garden. We got a table for four b/c two of our friends were going to meet us there. But we wanted to order before our friends got there. We did and the server looked a little irritated but I left him a decent tip and said thank you for everything he brought us. I'm sure an older gentleman isn't too thrilled about serving a group of 20-something youngsters. So I always like to prove to servers like him that we are worth serving. I typically have really good servers here. So good that I asked to see a manager before I left one night because our server was outstanding. She smiled, got everything right, had personality, just made the dining experience wonderful. And another time, a young African American kid was working hard before he got shipped off for basic training. He had manners, was extremely polite and friendly. You couldn't help but give him a nice tip for wanting to go into the military during these hard time. Bravo. I ordered the portabello ravioli with the sun-dried tomato sauce. Very good. And I like their chicken parmesan. They also have three new dishes and one of their promotional martinis is made with vodka, chambord and raspberry sorbet.... Oh, it looked sooo good. But I had to pass. Next time. Good thing that there's always ample parking for this restaurant.
(5)Jennifer F.
We came here with a group of about 20 people for a birthday dinner on a Tuesday evening. It's just like any other typical Olive Garden. The service was actually great. The waiters were friendly and prompt. Our food tasted great. And even though they were already getting gratuity included in the bill, they did work for their tip. Lots of parking. I wouldn't go out of my way to come back here though... Only if I was in the neighborhood.
(4)Derek C.
Food was fine, but the service was absolutely horrible. After we got seated, the waiter took our order. We got our round of bread, soup and salad and we finished that pretty quickly. We waited for the waiter for a refill. And waited. And waited. And waited some more. The waiter finally came back but he had our main dishes and never asked us if we wanted a refill for our bread, soup and salad at all. Plus, we were low on water and he didn't ask us if we wanted a refill. We had to ask the waiter for bread. As we waited for it, we started to eat our meal. By the time our food was gone, we still had no bread. We finally got our bread AFTER we finished dinner. Plus, our waiter tried WAY too hard to be funny. He said stuff like, "You can only get that here at Olive Garden or Italy". Plus, he's like, "Did you want dessert or is that bread going to be your dessert?". Yeah, maybe...but the bread would've tasted a whole lot better if I could've enjoyed it with my meal. It may have been a matter of a shift change or the waiter going on break, as we did have to deal with two waiters. But, I was quite disappointed with our experience.
(1)Adam A.
This place is WACK! It is not so much the food as it is the service. Our waitress (I can't remember her name but she was pretty large with black hair) had a fake smile, the few times I did see her smile and was not very pleasant. She definitely had that look on her face that said "I hate my job". I have only been here 2 times and that was 2 times too many for me! YOU HAVE TO HEAR THIS!!! So my grandpa likes to go here for the unlimited breaksticks/soup/salad for like $5.99 (or whatever their price is), so on his birthday, I decided to take him there, he is an easy man to please. Except after 4pm, the soup & salad is $11.99!!!!! This is a low end chain restaurant keep in mind. We waited 15 mins to be seated in an empty restaurant, which automatically takes a star or two off to begin with. Then after our food arrived, I let the waitress know that it was his birthday, because I think its funny when they sing and embarrass you. So after we finished eating dinner......THIS IS THE GOOD PART- They come out to sing happy birthday to him and on a small plate they have, in the center 1 maraschino cherry with a candle stuck in the middle, and 4 mints around the cherry!!! I couldn't help my self, I just started laughing! Not to be rude, but I honestly couldn't help it. I can't believe a restaurant would even bother with that. They might as well just say that they don't do free dessert for birthdays. And it wasn't like my 85yr old grandpa was trying to get a free dessert. It was, in my eyes, a slap in the face. So we left the restaurant with the cherry in the middle of the plate, with 4 pennies around it! Hey, we were just reciprocating how much we appreciated this place and their service. Don't eat here.
(1)Karen L.
Best service I have ever had at an Olive Garden. I normally go to the one where I live and the service is decent. Came here for lunch so it wasn't too crowded, big place, and they have a doorman! We got the unlimited soup, salad, and bread sticks for $7.95 score! Our waiter was very attentive, suggested many things on the menu, and even the manager came around to make sure everything was in ship shape. The manager however, lacked a bit of enthusiasm, unlike our waiter who was super friendly. Our refills for all that we ate came out fast and I wanted more, even though I was stuffed. I don't go to Olive Garden too often, a few times for dinner because their menu options aren't that great, but I'll definitely be back for a nice cheap lunch! 3.5 stars.
(3)Jeffrey M.
Yes, Olive garden is the best "Italian food" in the area but you can do better. Olive Garden is the fast food version for those nights when you need a quick fix of garlic and salad. I have never had a meal that was bad or cold on arrival. Though the food is cooked and prepared from charts and instructions, the food never lets you down. So Olive Garden deserves a four because the kitchen has one way and one way only to make bread sticks and that will work and has worked for them.
(4)Lori L.
It's a hit-or-miss type of place for food and service. Long lines during peak hours. Their drinks are decent with peach bellini, teas, and italian sodas with wine samplings. However, they have gotten my order mixed up a few times and the quality of the food is inconsistent, just like the service.
(2)Anne N.
Came here for dinner trying to get our italian food fix... The lady told us that it will take 15-20 minutes to get us seated... What really got me puzzled was that how come there's too many people waiting to be seated when most of the chairs are empty? It's not really the customer's fault that we want to eat at Olive Garden at the same time, do we? They should have assigned more servers this time (i believe today's payday) what a terrible way to run a restaurant.
(1)Jessica E.
Screw what everyone else says! If you want some decent italian food, eye candy waiters, and good drinks come here! Don't ever go on a weekend because you will wait at least 30 minutes which sucks!
(4)Carl Z.
The wait was horrid and the options weren't all that incredible but the food is alright, I guess. The dish costs aren't as bad as many people make it out to be. The spacious arrangement is great, really promoting an Italian feel despite being indoors. *8-5-08: This evening, I discovered a new joy in my life - filled pasta. Though this chain is insistent on soaking up whatever order you pick in grease, salt, or whatever hyper flavoring they have left in their cabinets, it's impossible not to enjoy yourself here. For the amount you're given in terms of price/unit, yes, one meal can satisfy a soldier's starving stomach for 24 hours. ALSO, I've upped my rating of them from 3 to 4 stars. The breadsticks aren't that amazing and the salad and soup are a waste of time. Appetizers, desserts and drinks aren't anything particularly well to choose either. Stick with the big deals (AKA FILLED PASTA!) and you'll be cheery from night till next morning, kay? Okay.
(4)Roy F.
I go here with my wife once in a while. Foods OK. You get free bread sticks and salad with most of your meals. The foods not bad but sometimes they charge you more than what it said in the menu for some reason. Once in a while, we get a very very pushy waitress. The one we had try to push us to buy expensive wine and wanted us to order deserts after we finish our meal. We said we were full but she said "You can bring the desert with you!" They must make these waiters/waitress work on commission or something. Don't like the feel of being push to order food we don't want.
(2)Stephanie M.
Went to Olive Garden last night craving the soup and salad !!! Much to my dissapointment it was about 25 minutes until drinks, 40 until Salad, and an hour until the soup came. The guy was busy and I dont blamb him, but when we started begging other people to find our food and help us after an hour, we didnt get so much as an apology or explanation. Sorry Olive Garden, but the soup and salad isnt worth waiting an hour and a half for... You lost 2 customers for sure !!
(1)Ed K.
brotha maaaan.. olive garden is like the date supplement to use against picky chicks. this is why: it satisfies hers and your criteria for a dinner date... FOR SURE. lets say she's not that special to begin with but you are on a 4 game losing streak. 1st date in a 4 game series. you can win the first 2 games based on fanciness, food, and drink. theres such thing as endless soup/salad and seasonal endless pasta, which the both of you will indulge in. mmmhmm. ok. so check your calendar for the deals. i recommend the pasta's with the thicker noodles or even ravioli stuffed with cheese.. yeea.. whether or not she can eat or drink alot, it doesn't matter because every item on the menu has been field tested. you might even get full off the bread. even without the all-you-can-eat, the sauce and meat is not stingy or rookie-chef cooked. wait staff seem like 5 star resort trained servers and wine pourers who know when to get out your way at the correct time. couple glasses of whatever the wait staff recommend will give u a good buzz. then go to a movie.. just keep it cool, no mistakes and noone gets hurt.. money in the bank: i luv it.
(5)Pika C.
I've had some really nice Olive Garden experiences so I guess that made the ones here not that great. In other Olive Gardens, they would give me extra Andes chocolates and even a thing of breadsticks to bring home! At this one...it was just mediocre...and I had to ask for a bag for my box..they weren't trying to give me one. They also didn't refill the drinks as much as I'd like...I had to ask them everytime...
(3)John D.
Where should I begin: I had lunch there today with a friend of mine and I must say...the food was not as I had once experienced. My friend had the Seafood Alfredo and said that the sauce wasn't creamy as it once was but is now more "patchy". She had ordered a soup to go with it, the potato soup. She was really disappointed with how it turned out. She said the soup had very little potato in it save for a few small chunks and that the soup was more watery than creamy. To go with her meal, she ordered a strawberry daiquiri and said that there's too much rum in it. That's a matter of personal taste in my book. I ordered the Seafood Portofino and I wasn't impressed. The muscles were okay, but disappointed in the fact that it tasted like steamed muscles. Both the shrimp and scallops were small, and I have never seen shrimps and scallops that small. The pasta itself was bland and for the most part quite tasteless. The only thing that I enjoyed about the meal was the waitress and the manager, Bill, coming out and saying "hello" to everyone. Other than that, a disappointing meal.
(2)Luciane G.
I love Olive Garden, yes I know I can be bias on this, but this restaurant is family friendly, clean, and the food is to die for. I can't get enough of it!
(5)Jan S.
Hint; order any cocktails when you are first seated, the bartender is rather slow or the server is. Other than that the food is great and occasionally you get a server that really knows their stuff. I don't understand their staffing schedule, you wait for 15 to 20 minutes and get seated but there are several empty tables around you. I just don't get it.
(4)Daniel A.
Worst service and trashiest olive garden ever! Was amazed at the terrible service. Rude employees yelling and swearing around the customers. So bad
(1)Tani H.
I knew someone once who summed this up perfectly. He said: "If the Indians can sue over the Tomahawk Chop, then we Italians should be able to sue over Olive Garden." That was pretty darn funny.
(2)Jenny W.
Given the reviews, I was still willing to give it a try for my Birthday dinner. Didn't even make it to the restaurant and Olive Garden disappointed me. Called to make a reservation and the server said that they a) they don't do reservations b) average wait time (Sunday) is 35 minutes for 2 people and c) they get busier later on in the night. You would think b & c would lead to a change of a, but no. Stupid!
(1)linda j.
Hubby and I went, we ordered the salad, a must, and the never ending pasta bowls. It was better than the other times we've gone. New management or something, but we enjoyed our 'date'. We'll start going more often now.
(4)Debbie A.
First I have to say that I absolutely love Olive Garden. However, this location is not one that I am particularly fond of. I don't really have one near me so this is the location nearest and I don't get to eat here often. I usually go to Olive Garden when I'm up in Oregon visiting my fam. I actually had the opportunity to go to this location two times in one week. The second time I was hoping they redeemed themselves. They did a little but not much. The first time this week I went on a Saturday at about 2:30 p.m. I would have thought that it would not be too busy since it was an off time. The wait was quoted at 20 to 30 minutes. We ended up waiting over 40 minutes for seating at 2:30 p.m. on a Saturday. The service was OKAY. The food took quite awhile. I ordered noodles for my kids with butter and cheese ONLY. They ended up getting overcooked noodles with butter, cheese and PARSLEY. WTF????. My kids are noodle connoisseurs. Lol. They know what noodles with cheese and butter looks like and tastes like. I ordered the Steak Asiago. Mmmmm. It was soooo good but overcooked. I ordered the steak medium well which should be slightly pink. It was definitely well done. I went back today and there was NO wait at 12:30 p.m. I thought it would be packed. I ordered Noodles JUST butter and cheese again. I stressed that last time we got parsley in their noodles and we don't want anything but butter and cheese. We get the order and it has noodles, cheese and GARLIC. LOL. HOW HARD IS IT TO MAKE NOODLES WITH ONLY BUTTER AND CHEESE? I ordered my Steak Asiago again and it was overcooked AGAIN after I specifically said that last time it was overcooked and that I wanted to make sure it was cooked correctly this time. I do have to say the server was extremely nice but still slow. I still LOVE Olive Garden but I wish there was one close with better service. =(
(2)Sarah D.
One day, I inquired at a message board I frequent regarding peoples' opinions the Olive Garden, chain restaurants, and food snobbery in general. Predictably, it turned into a giant clusterfuck, because a lot of people eat bad food and want to defend that. I did realize that I had never actually been to an Olive Garden. And the defense of the OG was so vehement that it led me to believe that perhaps I was missing something and I should try before I judge. So, on the 4th of July (how appropriate!) my intrepid fiance agreed to trek down to Hayward with me in an attempt to enjoy the OG. We went hungry, and we went with open minds, agreeing that we would each chow down on at least 1,000 calories at that meal. It was far worse than I had imagined. I'm not kidding. It was flat-out-awful. We were offered "complimentary" a taste of the brand-new house white wine. It was pretty generous. It also tasted like it had been cut with water. I'm not even kidding. I drink cheap whites on a regular basis but this shit was actively horrid. We look at the menu. Hilariously, their very sad wine list, comprised mostly of Italian wines, were specially "matched" with their dishes. We'd learn just how ridiculous that concept was shortly. Chris ordered the stuffed chicken marsala, and I ordered some dish that consisted of fried and breaded chicken breasts that came with cheese tortellini. I'm still trying to figure out why people rave about the breadsticks. They were soft and white, with a texture and flavor not unlike Wonder Bread. They were distinguished, however, by a minuscule amount of butter and garlic salt on the top. That's it. Meanwhile the "alfredo" sauce didn't help. It was extremely bland, but at least it had that creamy texture, right? No. The shit started to coagulate right away, and was a lumpy mess within a few minutes. It didn't really taste of cheese, but it did taste of salt. This would be a recurring theme throughout the night. Now, I don't eat like a bird, but when our entrees arrived - with the requisite matched glasses of wine - it was easy to see that the portions were large enough for at least three separate meals. Two whole chicken breasts, and a full serving of pasta on each plate, plus some lettuce so we'd feel morally superior for eating our greens. Both entrees were greasy, but mine particularly so. I'd press my fork against the breading and a wellspring of grease would rise forth. And mind you, I adore fried food. I waited to be assaulted with heady italian herbs - or at least some garlic, it's hard to fuck that up, right? But no, my entree was bland and the chief flavoring was, again, salt. Oh, and both wines were horrid, although mine slightly less so. It was watery, but it tasted reasonably like wine. Chris' was extremely hot (i.e. alcoholic) to the point where the main note on the nose was turpentine. Both were reds, which can be matched with a robust chicken dish on occasion (particularly if the dish involves tomatoes and garlic) but of course, neither of dishes did, so the wines just overpowered the food. This isn't exactly a complaint. We each managed to eat about half our plates, and mind you, we'd been absolutely ravenous when we walked in The total? $68 with tax and tip. For two, one glass of wine each. Truly priced for the masses. At the end of the meal I was longing for Macaroni Grill, I would've killed for a TGIFriday's. It wasn't just, "Oh ho ho, such a mediocre chain restaurant meal!" Oh no. It was objectively awful even in relation to other chain places. I also tried to check on the nutritional content of the meal, but surprisingly, the OG does not make its' nutritional information public, claiming it's dishes are too "authentic" and "unique" based upon the individual preparation of each chef to accurately count calories. Uh huh. I was able to guesstimate based on similar recipes and it was clear, in the end, that our meals probably exceeded 1,500 calories each. Now, I'm not one to go on hand wringing about the obesity epidemic in America or anything, but if you stop to consider that the average American might consider this a totally reasonable meal, it's hard not to draw any associations between our preferred style of dining and rampant heart disease.
(1)Chi N.
Today was our anniversary so I took my wife to go to.this same restaurant which we went on our first date.First off, we had to wait for awhile for the waitress to notice us & handed the menu, then the waitress didn't even introduce herself. If I has a complaint then I can't tell them who was my waitress. Secondly, they brough out the wrong soup for my wife. The waitress took it back to get the correct one. The soup was poorly cooked, taste like floury sugar. They called it chicken soup but my wife said she didn't see any chicken in there. Thirdly, the steak dinner was really bland, not even a pinch of salt. It was cooked medium rare, but tasteless. Then I had ordered my dish to be made spicy using chilies not bell peppers, again another mistake. Finally, the waitress was more distracted with cleaning up and preparing to close then the current patrons she is serving. My previous dining occasion was way better, at this same restaurant. The waiter came back every five to ten minutes to check up on us. This one comes around every current to twenty. My wife and I are seriously disappointed with the service we received. Next time I will try Miimis cafe to see if the.service & food are better.
(1)Brad B.
I like this Olive Garden because the staff is so friendly on our visits and I love their soups.One of the managers I think her name is Olga is always working when we come in and she tries so hard to make the customers happy, not easy at this restaurant. I have personally seen on 2 separate occasions people play the "race card" at this restaurant. And since we were in full view of the "situation" both times I am a little disturbed by how quickly customers will throw the word "racists" out there when there was no racism involved. I think it may be a problem with the clientele and the area more than the actions of the employees working here. We come for a lunch or dinner at least once a month for the consistently good food and service. the celebration cake while a bit pricey is really good.
(4)Heather D.
About two weeks ago on a busy Saturday night, my husband and I decided to go to the Olive Garden. He has never really liked this place, but agreed to go with me because I was craving Italian food. Of all the awesome Italian restaurants in the Bay Area, why on earth did I decide on this place? When we got there we were told it would be a 20 minute wait, which was to be expected on a Saturday night. I decided I wanted a drink, so we went into the bar area. Of course the bar was busy too. Minutes went by and no "hello" or "I'll be right with you"....hmmm....I finally ordered my drink after nearly 5 minutes, an apple Martini. Behind me, some guy who just walked up, ordered another drink, a Long Island Iced Tea. Minutes went by again (I was still understanding they were busy) and no drink. Then that guy behind me was served his drink!.What? I was STILL waiting for my drink and the little buzzer they use to tell you your table is ready went off, so my husband went up to the hostess. Now mind you, he specifically requested a table, NOT a booth. About a minute later while I thought he was being seated, my husband walks up and says after you get your drink we are leaving! Of course I get my drink just about then! My husband tells me the ditsy girl who showed him to the table brought him to a booth. When he told her we wanted a table, she just looked at him like he was speaking a foreign language. Apparently he told her to forget about it, that we were leaving and not going to eat there this night. While I was quickly drinking that $9 apple martini ($9 bucks!), the ditsy girl comes back and says our booth is ready! He tells her he would like to speak to the manager. We tell the manager of the lack of customer service at the bar (no "hi" or anything) and the total lack of brains of their waitstaff/hostesses regarding our request. The manager apologized, and we told him we would not be eating at the restaurant this evening. (We just wanted him to know about the horrible service!) Then AGAIN, that ditsy girl comes up to us and says we have the table available....now I witnessed him telling this girl once already we weren't eating there tonight....he told her this three times now! Can you believe in the few minutes longer it took me to drink that apple martini, ditsy girl came up ONE MORE TIME to tell us our table was ready? The bottom line is this: We are in our 40's and have made it to a point in life that we will not tolerate poor service. This Olive Garden is basically run by teenagers. This is what happens when teenagers run a restaurant. We will never ever go to an Olive Garden again, just because of this. (Which totally sucks because I love their neverending salad bowl and breadsticks!) There I finally posted this on Yelp!
(1)Beejay P.
when you eat the food here, it will enter your body and you will convert it into energy throughout the day. after some time, it will come out your ass and then you get to enjoy the best part of the olive garden experience: the slow relaxation of the asshole.
(2)Dela A.
After a long week of helping a friend move, I was taken to Olive Garden. Ive been to this location maybe once or twice so I felt like I knew what to expect and Id be cool. For the first 10 minutes after we were seated, I wondered if our server was going to bring us water at the very least. I figured since it was fairly late (10:30pm), they were close to closing and ready to get out of there. So I'm sitting here next to a large Asian party of like 7 and they were hella loud talking about the most ridiculous b.s thinking to myself, I really feel the Yelp star rating going down on this one. lol My dining companion apparently could take no more and asked if I wanted to move so I quickly said yes. Once we moved to a table further away, the large party gave us a weird look and continued with their jokes and story telling. There was a picture on the wall next to our table which portrayed a family in a wooded area eating at a picnic style table. Just as I started to analyze their smiles and their faces, our server finally came over. I ordered something simple from the appetizer menu, the Sicilian Scampi (getting back to my Sicilian roots (-: ) and he ordered what I learned to be his favorite, the Tour of Italy. Our food came quickly. At first sight, my meal didn't look the same. Maybe its been a while but I remember the bread being toasted and the sauce being a lot lighter. The sauce was heavy, the shrimp was low quality, the bread was soggy, the so- called bruscetta was only chopped up tomatoes.... Yeah, things have definitely changed. My friends plate appeared to be good based on how fast he scarfed it down. lol He encouraged me to taste from his plate and after tasting the lasagna and parmesan crusted chicken, I started to become more thankful that I didn't have a huge appetite and I had already eaten before leaving home. Our server was nice, prompt and apparently he and my dining companion established a bond that I will never be able to understand. lol They talked about traveling and the different places they have been, their experiences and how our servers birthday was coming up this week. All in all, I give this place 2 stars not for the quality of the food, but the appreciation and recognition I received for helping my friend and the quality of the companionship. Other than that, I am not a fan of Olive Garden. Sorry....
(2)Danielle D.
decent food but the people in there tend to get ultra-hood.....
(3)Jaimito C.
So the food is good but the last time i went the service sucked but not completly. I say not completly because our main waitress was fantastic. Very friendly and accomadating but when she went to break... forget about it! Her fill in was a straight shmuck who honestly should find a new line of work. By me saying that, im not saying the rest of the servers are bad, just that guy. He was so bad the server from the other table was askin us if we needed anything. When our main girl got back she was so suprised we were still there. Me and my lady were relaxing n enjoying our convo so it was no sweat off our backs but that guy could go sit on a twelve foot rusty pole for all i care. She apologized and tried to make it up to us which was nice. Also saved the day as far as them getting a tip. I was on the way to throwing em two bucks and a couple middle fingers. Haha food is tasty tho and good sized portions.
(4)Dani N.
It was a Wednesday and I had worked all day then had class all night without a drop of food. The only thing on my mind was eating and the Olive Garden salad. That is the only thing that got me through the class. I walked through the door and was immediately assaulted by their host. He was a little too cheerful for my extremely empty stomach. I then went to the bar to order my bread and salad when I was ignored by the bartender who shamelessly flirting with a baldy. When she finally noticed me she did though, "oh have you been helped yet" line. Finally my order was in, my food was packed and I paid. I walked out with a breadstick already in my mouth, passed by the ADD host who apologized for the scare, "I just get a little excited sometimes" and left. The wait wasn't terribly long, and the service was not too bad... but I was a girl who was hungry and needed food. Would I go to that specific OG again? Nope. But nothing personal against it. It just didn't wow me enough to come back.
(3)Mary P.
i'm NOT an olive garden fan but my cousin twisted my arm since she was craving her shirmp fettuccini dish, so off we went. by far, this was my BEST olive garden experience. my server was the best [i think that's what topped it off] & he recommended his favorite dish to me [grilled chicken & shirmp caprese] with a glass of 1 of their red wines. i was in olive garden heaven. FOOD: 4 stars [the bread sticks were really hard that day] SERVICE: 5 stars this made it a great day :)
(4)JD M.
Well this past Sunday I called in yo place an order and the girl who answer the phone was not that friendly at all. I said to her I wanted to place an order and she put my on hold for over 25 minutes, then she finally answers again and didnt even said I am sorry for your wait or anything. Then I placed our order and we arrived to picked up we ordered the Chianti Braised Short Ribs and The Raviolii and two Gnocchi Soups and The Dessert trio. Well Everything was just a disappointment My ribs were tough and it was suppose to have Rissotto and there was almost no rissotto. I literally had about 4 spoons of it and that was it. The soups were suppose to have gnocchi and there was not even one in our two soups. When I arrived to pick up the host redirected us to the Bar/Bistro and the girl who came out barely said "Hi' or anything she gave us our food and I ve notice that we only had four things of bread and Since I saw the commercial that they will give you unlimited bread I requested her for another little bag of bread, and I guess they charge extra if you a couple more of the bread sticks she looked at me and said would you like to order 6 or 12 more, because we only give two bread sticks per dish, and I mean our dishes were really under portioned. We only ate there a couple of times before and it was ok, but this time was a complete disappointment. I dont think we will be going back because again the price and portion of the dishes dont seem right. Service also just made our decision easier!
(1)Janice F.
i LOVE olive garden! my faves: calamari, seafood alfredo, tour of italy, breadsticks, salad, and tiramisu. it just sucks that you can't make reservations. also when you arrive and there's a wait on a busy night, there's not much area to stand/sit. however, if there's room at the bar area, you can actually order a drink and/or appetizer while you wait. some people just choose to order and eat their entrees there too.
(4)Mel P.
If you come here thinking this is authentic italian food you are headed to the wrong place. It seems as though the Olive Garden is only good when you are a kid (then again, what do you know about food--you're just a kid!). As an adult, the food is cheap but not cheap. You are better off cooking an Italian meal at home! However, I will say the bread is still awesome to me (which is why I give at least one star)! The servers try to serve you up with corny ass jokes but they were friendly so that was okay. The portions seem huge to me and don't order an entree if you have ordered an appetizer...you'll be full with that along with your salad and bread...too much gluttony. Not only are you paying for a crap meal but your waistline will pay for it later, too! Oh, by the way, with a large party we waited for an hour and half for our tables and two hours for our food...wtf? Not worth it at all...
(1)Andrew Y.
Olive Garden is yummy. It's the unlimited breaksticks! I love breadsticks! And the salad, well if you like salad, but unlimited breadsticks! I'd have to say that the meals themselves are shrinking just like every other place in North America, but I guess that's the price to pay when people are eating way too much these days. Yes, I know, I should talk. I review a lot of food places. Anyway, you should check it out. There aren't that many bay area Olive Garden's and it's worth the wait.
(4)Mary U.
My favorite place to go for a family meal.
(4)Gabriel D.
I once went here with some friends of mine from New Jersey. And they actually ordered entrees. Shameful! One of them even claims to be Italian. Or was that eye-talian? They upset the order of the universe by ordering more than salad and breadsticks...I hung my head and never returned.
(3)Cindy H.
Their bread-crumb tilapia fish is so good. It was crunchy on the outside, but soft in the inside.
(4)SalviMex L.
The food there is GREAT but thier service is horrible!!! I have been going there for 8 yrs and the service gets worse. The servers are rude, and incompetent, they can't get orders right and throw the food at you. Lets no get on the managers 1 of them is a good one (African american male) but that Hispanic manager is a B*&ch. She told us that if we didnt ike the service the rude servers were giving then we could leave, is she not aware that the customer is always right? So I dont recomend you got to that one, I'll start going to the Fremont from now on. YES, the service was that bad that I would drive 2 towns down just to eat thier calamari!
(1)Norma M.
The service was good. I ordered the Tour of Italy and it wasn't a lot of food for the price. The lasagna was very good and the fettucine was okay. However, the chicken parmesan was unedible. I tasted it thinking may be it was just the piece I had but tonite it was the same and I threw it away. It was a less than superior piece of chicken. My gf had ordered the regular chicken parmesan and that chicken was excellent. I wish I had brought it to their attention last eve so that they could have replaced the chicken. It was awful!!!!!!!!!!!
(3)brenda b.
Wait, bread sticks, beverages, salad. That's what can be found, in this order at the Olive Garden. If you get there after 5pm, on any given day, there will eventually be a wait. The food will get you full, but craving for more, I doubt it.
(3)Cindy D.
Eww I have never liked Olive Garden...I feel sorry for people who like this.
(1)Rinne R.
i still like to go to this restaurant! i always leave full, because the food is good and rich and huge in quantity! order the zuppa zuppa, calamari, seafood portofino or alfredo, and you'll be in pasta heaven!!
(4)Cindy C.
i am beyond disappointed with Olive Garden! Well maybe just with that waitress that starts with the letter "S". She was so rude and disrespectful to my party of 6!! When we were seated, she was no where to be found..until 15 minutes later, I asked the host, "who is our server..we been waiting and no one came to us yet." Then the host went to get her and "S" came out 5 minutes later with attitude! She took our order and we waited again!!!! finally she came back with water but she said she could not get the other drinks yet because it is up front at the bar and she's in the back. WHAT THE HECK?? walk yo a$$ to the front then!?! 15 minute later, she came out with breadsticks, salad and the soup but NO DRINKS and when my sister friend asked oh where are the drinks? she responded full of attitude saying, " i been in the back this whole entire time, I have not gone to the front." And the story can go on....! IT was just a horrible experience with waitress "S" My dining experience here took over 2 hours because she lagged us the whole entire night. Even when we asked for the bill........ we waited for over 15 minutes..... pretty damn ridiculous! To the manager, please contact me if you keep up with your yelp reviews, I would love to share my horrible experience regarding your waitress who was extremely RUDE to me and my party.
(1)Audra M.
I don't get it. Why is this restaurant so popular? There are sooo many better Italian places, oh well. I went here for lunch with some coworkers (not my first choice, but they wanted to go) The service is super slow. It wasn't that busy when we went, but it took forever for our waitress to take our order and bring us our check. The two stars are for their healthy choice menu. I ordered a chicken dish that was under 500 calories, and it was pretty tasty. They are overpriced though.
(2)Mychael H.
All of garden is the best restaurant ever had their pasta and they have good services. And I come here right after class from chabot college.
(5)Mahfoudh B.
If you want to ruin your day, this is the place. Our waiter was the worst you would ever see. Our drinks came 30 mn late, our appetizers came late and cold, 45 mn late and waiter was busy annoying the 2 girls next to us. Btw, he doesn't even smile and the orders were incomplete. I ask to speak to the manager, good luck!! I had to ask for her myself. We were over charged by the genius waiter who didn't even bothered apologizing. I'm beyond disappointed and the manager made it worse by her attitude. I don't wonder why the waiter has such attitude, when the manager doesn't even care . Such a waste of time and energy.
(1)Denise H.
This place isn't too exciting. BUT it's pretty exciting of you've been craving it after a few drinks. As they're known for their salads and breadsticks, you really can't fail. What was pretty impressive was the breadcrumb lasagna thing that has a picture on the menu to woo customers. I have to admit, we fell for it. I didn't know what it was but it looked pretty. It came out and looked exactly like the picture. And it was super yummy! The service might have been a tad slow because we were some late stragglers, but we didn't mind too much. Good thing we didn't have that one waitress that starts with an S that other reviews were about! Whew!
(3)Jennifer D.
The freaken service is so slow! And it s not even a busy night.. bread sticks were hard...and took 1/2 hr to make it to our table. 15 mins now still waiting for her to pick up our bill.... errrrr
(2)Elizabeth N.
Definitely not a fan of this Olive Garden location. With my gluten free allergy, I was forced to choose from and extremely limited menu for my pasta dinner. Good thing I ate a lot of salad! When my pasta came out , half of it was destroyed/smashed, extremely unappealing pasta that was soggy. I asked the manager if they could redo it, which they did, but the second plate came out JUST AS BAD! Unbelievable. They didn't even get the sauce properly either time. I always set the creamy sundried tomato pasta sauce. I didn't eat anything but the extra side of chicken that I ordered with it. Very disappointing and I'm glad I won't ever be up in this area to go back to this location. The two stars are for the good sangria and because my "meal" was free because of how unhappy I was.
(2)Johnson N.
Arriving at 9:50pm (10 minutes before closing!), we felt bad for even thinking about stepping through those doors at that time... but we needed our Alfredo fix. We ordered the usual, Zuppa Toscana to start, and then pasta of sorts and Alfredo. Their Toscana is always amazing, their Alfredo is very good (mostly because it's suuuuper cheesy), and their breadsticks are decent... when fresh. Our waiter, Rick, was awesome. Even though we came in late, he was very inviting and didn't rush us whatsoever. We went through a pitcher of Sangria, so we weren't exactly rushing our way through. Realizing that we were the last ones in the restaurant, we plowed through the rest of our meals and left. As a thank you, we left a pretty generous tip. Thanks man, we appreciate the great service! 4 Stars
(4)Anthony S.
It is your standard Olive Garden. Been here on previous occasions and was treated well. Decided to go here for my birthday and it wasn't the best choice on my part. The service started off well but when it came time for our main course things went bad. The server said it would be about two minutes and our courses never arrived. Spoke to our server and he informed us that he already spoke to the manager about our table because he knew our meals were taking way to long. The manager soon arrived and talked to us about our concerns and informed us he would defintely try and compensate us for the problems they were having. Shortly after speaking to the manager our food arrived and things got worse. My brothers steak was well done when he had ordered a medium steak. My sister ordered linguini and received a mixed dish of rigatoni, spaghetti, and fettuccine. Not one piece of linguini. My lovely lady orders a dish with Italian sausage and received meatballs. We were all at the table not wanting to cause a scene so we just began to eat. My brother on the other hand decided to return his food and not eat at all. The manager again return and asked how things were going and I informed him of all the problems. He was disappointed, and apologized. I left there feeling horrible. I chose this place to enjoy a nice birthday dinner and things went wrong. We did leave the wait service a tip and feel as if the kitchen had all the problems that night. If we return I hope the cooking team has stepped things up.
(2)M P.
Hadn't been back to this Olive Garden in months due to our previous bad experiences, but tonight let our 9 year old pick where he wanted to eat so this is where we ended up. It was later in the evening so our wait for a table wasn't too bad. Within minutes of being seated and given our menus our waiter was asking us what we wanted to order - had to ask him to give us a few minutes. That I could have forgiven. My husband and son got their food and then my wait began. The waiter came back after five minutes or so and said my food would be right out but it never came. Every now and then he would come back and profusely apologize about the wait and still the food never came. Both my husband and son were completely finished eating when my food finally arrived. Just got a box and brought it home. This is the reason we stopped going here and the reason we'll never go back. Every time we have gone to this restaurant they've either messed up our order or brought someone's food late. Judging from the other reviews we're not the only people who had crappy service. We go to other restaurants all the time that manage to get all the food for our table out at the same time. I don't think it's rocket science. Whoever is managing this place either needs to be fired or go back to restaurant school.
(1)Alejandria S.
Had the greatest time when I went for my little sisters bday in,January had the sweetest waitress Victoria I have twin girls toddlers and she knew what to bring them to help us have a actual dinner love this olive garden
(5)Selaya R.
The cheese ravioli is delicious but the wait is way toooooo long and parking is bad..... Dont ever bring any kids here....
(3)Patrick A.
Friendly people and all the cheese you want on your soup doesn't make up for the food and calorie count. And if you do end up eating here, don't you dare open the calorie book on the table. The raspberry cheesecake alone was more calories then my entree. But, all you can eat soup, salad and bread sticks? 2 stars ;]
(2)Michelle G.
Olive garden is for sure the place to go i usually get the salad bar or the unlimited soup and pasta . they are so good . But honest;y i could go to olive garden and just eat the bread sticks alone without the dinner. everything there is just good. i gota nice waiter who was kind of hitting on me . but its all cool i love that place ... definitly recommended
(5)Vipin M.
Granted we have always liked OG food but it was the service that took us to 5 stars. We were served by the most courteous server - Tracy. She brought soup and salad and then again, with a smile! We used that 2 for $25 plus google offer together. Restaurant was about to close but she did not rush us even a bit! Good experience. It is bit far out for us but worth the drive. Thanks!
(5)Gabriel C.
I should have wrote this a long time ago...but I guess better late than never. Sunday @Lunch, right after every one is out from church is the worst day and time of the week to eat this place (I'm sure you knew that already). With that being said, I phoned in an order for take out. As I was paying for my food, I noticed that they charged Dinner prices for all the dishes. I asked, why are they charging me for Dinner prices at lunch. Their response: You specifically need to state you want your food from the lunch menu when you phone in your order. How in the fuck was I supposed to know that, being that I do not work there? Do you have to ask for a lunch menu when you go there during lunch? I thinks not. I asked if they can adjust the prices to reflect the lunch prices and they said no, due to the larger portions. I paid it because, I didn't want to make a scene and I had hungry folks at home waiting on their food. Long story short, these bastards ripped me off. Haven't ate there since. Spread the word....If you order for Take Out at lunch be sure to mention from the "LUNCH MENU"!
(1)Jeanine M.
This place has it's ups and downs, but overall it's definitely worth going to. The service is usually pretty good, however one time I had this waiter who kept forgetting our tables order, and he was also confused about what the difference was between a meal salad and a side salad. Maybe it was his first day though... Most of their items are pretty satisfying. Their bread and smoked mozzarella brie dip is absolutely delicious!! I've ordered that twice from there because It was so good. I've also tried their cheese ravioli in marinara sauce and that was lovely. only thing I have gotten there that I didn't like was the breaded eggplant and penne pasta. That was very bland, and I didn't even want to finish it. Their drinks are pretty good too. I really enjoy their strawberry daiquiri's and they have a very interesting chocolate martini. There is lots of parking, and lots of seating.
(3)Alexa O.
My husband likes this place so we come here every few months. Usually the food is ok but the last time we were there, we were very disappointed. The food was cold and my veggies were mush! I am trying to stay away from chain restaurants because it can be inconsistent.
(3)Wooptydoop L.
I've been here a couple times and it's neither horrible nor fantastic. The good: big parking lot, good service. The not-so-good: 10-min wait even with many empty tables at 1:15pm. Soups taste like they came straight out of a can, (the zuppa toscana is worth ordering, if you don't mind the saltiness). The chicken and the shrimp dishes are the ones I'd go for, but then I wouldn't come back here unless someone else picks this place, because it's really just average.
(3)ALEX M.
Visit this Olive Garden last Wednesday....first time in this location, like decor + service. The server was very helpful and prompt to answer our questions. Went to try the Never ending Pasta.....the deal is ok! but felt that was deceived by the commercial.....
(3)Shereen R.
I gotta give it up to the marketing crew at Olive Garden HQ. The commercials make the food like soo appetizing, and the descriptions on the menus are mouth-watering. But, it's really all just mediocre. The service, the food, the atmosphere -- all bleh. What always pulls me back here is the company I keep. And I think I've always been able to gloss over the mediocrity because of all the great conversations and good times. So, I blame them for all of my meh experiences here. Haha, just kidding! ;-) Let's break it down: + Soup, salad and breadsticks!! In my book, that could account for the full 3 stars, really. It can be very filling, and it's hard to say "no" when they ask if you want more. - The service is a hit or miss. Sometimes they get your order right, other times there's a "mix-up" in the kitchen and you wait an extra 20 minutes while the rest of your party either eats or stares at you guiltily because they want to eat but can't b/c *someone* doesn't have their food yet. - The food is just okay. The pasta is generally cooked correctly, but the sauces aren't anything special. Marinara's are run of the mill and the alfredo's are more heavy and dense rather than creamy and light. Proteins (e.g. steak, chicken) can be dry, but nothing that some sauce can't mask [unless of course, you don't like your sauce. then you're just SOL.] - The value isn't all that great. Sometimes at the end of the meal, I find myself wondering, was that even worth it...? - There's almost always a line. Unless you eat during the off-peak hours, expect to wait at least 30 minutes for a table. + Free wine samples before your meal starts. Score! I think part of Olive Garden's success is that they are few and far to come by. It's somewhat of a novelty, really. Because when you're here, you're family. And (most of the time) when you're with family, nothing else matters. ;D
(3)Thomas P.
I would probably gave a three star, but the waiter "Boris" rushed us, or created that atmosphere like he was in a hurry.
(2)Becka C.
This location is very busy. It's in the somewhat desolate parking lot of a mall with little other family restaurant choices around so everyone that's local comes here. Not to mention if you're from the East Bay you'll see that there are very few Olive Gardens anywhere so you'll compete for seating. My best thought was once you put your name on the list, sit in the bar and get a glass or wine. You'll enjoy those 45 min of a wait instead of sharing a crowded bench with families you don't know. A tip is that you can order at the bar as well so if you're there for the food and not the atmosphere and dedicated service, go there! The waitresses are always nice, but we have been handed off 80% of the time to another waitress as our initial one goes to dinner. Why does this happen that often here?
(3)Anna T.
Peter was our server, and he was wonderful! He was very attentive to our needs/wants. The food was good esp. the salads! I love this Olive Garden. I have never had a bad experience here! Keep it up....get the seafood alfredo!
(4)