Olive Garden Italian Restaurant

Good food, decent service and the convenience of being able to place the order from the touch screen on my table was great.

After many hours at the Seattle Zoo, I had worked up an appetite. I had a craving for Olive Garden.
This franchise was in the GTA many moons ago, when I was an undergraduate. Geez, I feel so old now! Anyway, I would either have visit Winnipeg or Buffalo to get my fix. Whenever I am in the States, I like to squeeze in a meal here. It just brings back happy memories. I consider the food comforting.
My server was nice. We chatted. He made me feel welcome and figure out that I was a Canadian tourist.
I tend to order what I love and rarely deviate from it:
— Zuppa Toscana
— Chicken scampi
— Raspberry lemonade
— Tiramisu
I then to get full after finishing my main meal. Instead, I have the tiramisu boxed up. All that walking at the zoo prompted me to eat dessert at the restaurant.
Something that was new in the table was a touchscreen kiosk. You can play games, order more food, and pay your bill on it. My payment went through fine. It seems a bit informal, but it’s good if you’re pressed for time and want to get on with your day.
The food was yummy. I love the mint chocolates that you always get. I enjoyed me time here.
(94)

Highly deplorable and indifferent management and questionable ethics of the staff. We went to this restaurant for a family celebration. My wife was carrying a really nice handbag that I gifted her few months ago and it had her IDs, credit cards and other important belongings. She forgot the bag there, we left at around 9:30pm. We realized it first thing in the morning next day. When we called they said they don’t have it. Talked in a very indifferent way. I went to the restaurant to talk to the manager. The hostess was actually smiling pleasantly after I told her what happened. I couldn’t believe it. The manager was like I couldn’t care less. For such a large chain, no cameras. Horrible overall experience. I’m never going there again.

Olive Garden has the best server his name is Art
He gave as an outstanding service
The food was better than we expected
Thank you and we will come back really soon

I had really good time with my boyfriend here. Their service was awesome! Our server was so friendly and nice. But food was okay.

Is it possible to leave a zero? It should be because we got zero service. After nearly 20 minutes of being seated our party of 7 had not even seen a server. No water, not anything and zero response to the call server button on their ridiculous «service kiosk». We got up, left and won’t bother visiting again.

I actually had a great experience here and I truly did not expect it! I never have high expectations for chains especially Italian chains because of all the opportunities to cut corners. This place if usually packed for dinner time which deters me from coming here… Don’t want to wait 45 minutes, but this time no wait! We rolled on in and got a table immediately. Our server was very nice and patient with us and even offered us some wine on the house. Great gesture but I wasn’t in the mood to drink, I ordered the spicy calamari for all of us to share and of course it came with the breadsticks and salad and soup! Calamari isn’t spicy. It’s normal calamari with some fried peppers thrown in but the calamari still tasted good. The breadsticks honestly are sub par and I don’t care for them, I’m not the biggest soup guy either but I love the salads. So after filling up on that our main courses arrived I got the shrimp alfredo and my friends got chicken parm and the king trio or whatever it’s called. Essentially it’s chicken parm with Alfredo with lasagna. (Separate) I loved my Alfredo and it tasted much better than I expected! Pasta was cooked perfectly and the sauce was great. My friend liked his chicken parm, I had a taste and I thought it was pretty dry. I’m always wary of breaded chicken unless it’s cooked to order and my other friend agreed with me and opted to not finish his dish. All in all I personally enjoyed my experience. Our server forgot my tea and didn’t really clear dishes off our table for new courses but other then that he did a great job. When it comes to the food I’ll honestly just choose what to eat here carefully. And every time I order I leave satisfied!

A wonderful dinner experience begins with a great server, and tonight, my family had just that. Our waitress, Martina, went above and beyond in providing our family with ideal service. It was obvious that she truly cared about our needs. On top of all that, our food was excellent. The portions were great and was served very quickly. Most importantly, the bread sticks were very hot. Will be back for sure!

I would like to share the wonderful experience we had with a wonderful server!
Martyna (unsure about spelling!) was so friendly and made our experience worthwhile. It isn’t often that you stumble upon a great waitress at large chain restaurants but this was the exception. To top off the friendly and quick service, she gave us lots of extra chocolates! We will be back and hopefully Martyna will be there!

This is the most poorly run Olive Garden I have been to. The first time I went our waiter completely forgot about us. We didn’t get one of our plates of food and even asked about it when he dropped off the rest of the food. He still forgot it.
Every time since there has been something wrong with the service. The staff seems unaware that customers prefer water in their glasses. In general I feel the Olive Garden franchise has plummeted in quality. Overpriced, stingy with sauce, over salted, mediocre dishes. This location is no different and is truly the pinnacle of all those negative characteristics.

Worst Olive Garden I’ve ever eaten at. The salad was drenched in dressing. The bread sticks were not warm. My $ 12.99 (special order from selected entrée’s and take a selected entrée home). fettucini alfredo did not have enough alfredo sauce, and was served as pasta with a ladle of alfredo poured over it, not mixed in. Just cafeteria style. Edible, but not tasty. My guest had the regular entrée of seafood fettucini. The dinky shrimp, and miniature scallops, and sauce was mixed throughout the pasta, and tasted, just O.K. I had a cup of coffee. Very plain, like folgers or something. Clearly not cooked meals, rather like a open the can, open the frozen box, place on top of pasta preparation. When I told the waiter I wanted the ravioli entrée for my to go entrée, he was backed in less than 2 minutes. What does that tell you. Place raviloi’s in container, pour marinara on top, put on a lid. Not cooked. Pre cooked and placed in time out, until ready. Too much money for what you get.
See my recent review on Tropea Italian restaurant in Redmond.

We stopped here after skipping the café at Molbak’s Garden — it was empty so maybe that wasn’t a good sign? The funny is, we always enter «Olive Garden» in our GPS for restaurants when we want to eat something good and filling and this spot was no exception after a long days’ worth of wine tasting in Woodinville.
Sure, the original COSTCO is here in Kirkland (we got gas here) so this trip out to the Olive Garden made it all worth it; we have a bunch of Costco in Hawaii but we have yet to have an Olive Garden make it out across the Pacific Ocean (there were plans but they fell through??).
Great parking, quick service, good and predictable food. Can’t go wrong at Olive Garden!

Sunday night dinner: quoted 10 minute wait for a party of 2. We decided to sit at the bar area. Turned out to be a good choice. Our server Kevin was not only extremely efficient, but also humorous. He was also very open to feedback and very responsive to all our needs.
I highly recommend the citrus chicken sorrento: tender, grilled chicken in a citrus honey glaze. Served with lightly seasoned vegetables and artichokes. $ 15.49. The chicken was delicious and moist. Vegetables were not overdone. Served with grilled lemon, which you have to try if you haven’t ever experienced the sweetness.
Comes with choice of soup or salad. I opted for the bean soup which was also delicious. Filling too!
The house red was fruity and medium bodied. Very good for a house wine.
Checkout was quick. Done right from your table on an iPad type monitor. You could scroll through their dessert menu too from this app!
They do everything right here. Will be back!

I really enjoyed eating here! Everything was so fresh and clean. I love the salad, breadsticks, and dessert! The waiter was very friendly! i love their new ziosk system! You can order food, drinks, and play games! That should speed up the service and waiting times! Thank you so much!

This was a pleasure to go to as I walked in we were greeted by hosts and quickly were sat. My server was so friendly and tended to us everything I needed was met. Except for utenstils. But that’s okay we got it after I asked.
I got the cucina mia where u can pick your type of pasta and tpe of sauce I got the chicken fritta with rotini pasta and the plate was just sooooo full for me I had more than enough to take home. Chicken was done nicely and noodles were nice and soft.
I had the opportunity to figure out who was a manager and walked around to ask if everyone was doing well. That is always a good sign I love it, I’m in the restaurant biz and I rarely ever see a manager/​owner on duty who his tending to customers. Props.

The dining area was too warm which was a bit uncomfortable, the chicken scampi was bland and bread sticks were a little stale. the chicken gnocchi soup was flavorful but the chicken reminded me of the chicken found in canned soups, kinda chewy, dry, processed and artificially flavored taste. Everything seemed highly over salted. our waiter was however very attentive and friendly.

Been coming here for years and when you want to sit and hang with friends over a nice meal this is where we go. My husband and I, with our friends of course, came here almost eight years ago the night we got engaged. Our best friends, who just got married, came here for their first date.
Great memories and great times. Plus yummy drinks. Lol

I’ve passed this place a thousand times and had never ventured inside in the 20 years I’ve lived on the eastside. Why not, I asked myself frequently. I used to love the Olive Garden years ago when I lived in Rochester, New York, and an OG was right down the street from my apartment. It was great then, and perhaps I didn’t want to try this place in Totem Lake and be disappointed, as I have with so many other restaurants I used to love (like Friday’s).
Tonight I met a friend here and I was impressed. Like, I’m kicking myself, why haven’t I been to this restaurant before now? I arrived at an off time, at 4:30pm and we just sat in the small bar area. The place was cute. I looked in the main restaurant and it too was cute, and clean, with comfy looking booths and lots of windows. There was hardly anybody there at this time. Our waiter was the best ever! SO nice and friendly and attentive. And my pal and I have lots of dietary issues, so we aren’t the easiest diners, and our waiter was so accommodating. I asked for some plain vegetables, cooked a certain way, and this wasn’t on the menu at all. And there was no problem! The waiter got it and it was perfect. My friend’s order was, too.
I checked out the menu (despite not ordering from it). There’s a good variety of soups and salads and tons of pasta dishes. So they’re Americanized; so what. For what this place is, it’s great.
The prices are all reasonable, and as people started filling up the place, I checked out the platters of food being delivered to tables. The portions are huge.
As I was leaving, it was a bit after 6pm and the place was crowded and people were streaming in the door. Lots of families, and older and younger couples — a good diversity of patrons. This is a super popular place. I think that speaks volumes.

This is kind of a blanket statement about Olive Garden locations in the Seattle area in general, but… I LOVE that (unlike CA) you can walk into an Olive Garden at any given time when it looks absolutely horrendous, and your wait time is only ~20 minutes. Score!
I typically avoid chain restaurants, especially due to wait times to be seated, but Olive Garden is a staple that I just can’t pass by. There’s nowhere else that can replicate those buttery breadsticks and neverending salad like they do. Sure, you can get much better quality Italian dishes for much less money elsewhere, but you’re really coming here for the convenience of getting «Caucasian» Italian fare. And cheese, lots of it.
I’ve come to enjoy chain restaurants more in the Seattle area, because if it’s a chain, it usually means a private parking lot (free). This is a PERK!

Allow me to start this review with a brief explanatory narrative.
When I was in high school, in my infinite 16 year old wisdom, I was trying to have a political discussion with a classmate. I said, «Our country has become something of an oligarchy. You have to have money to be in power», to which my astute schoolmate replied, «Out country has become something of an Olive Garden. You can have the chicken parmesan, or the spaghetti and meatballs, but either way you’re going to have diarrhea tonight.»
I suspect my classmate’s opinion of Olive Garden (and possibly America) is shared by most progressive citizens, but I’d argue that Olive Garden actually has quite a few merits, not the least of which being a little thing they like to call Mozarella Fonduta.
The Mozarella Fonduta appetizer is legitimately the best fondue I have ever had. It’s creamy, hot, cheesy, gooey, smokey, and umami with a perfect hint of spice offset by the gorgeous crunch of the bread it’s served with.
I also adore the Lasagna Fritta, which is, in the interest of full disclosure, just Italian-​inspired junk food, but I have a hard time disliking deep fried crispy lasagna bites filled with ricotta and Italian herbs on a bed of creamy alfredo and topped with tomato sauce.
The salad here is also quite inspired given that it’s just a chain – it comes with any entrée, along with their famous breadsticks, and the tangy Italian dressing adds the perfect note of complexity to the crispy iceburg lettuce.
I’ve dragged multiple people to Olive Garden in my long career of loving this place, and nobody has ever left unsatisfied. Olive Garden is my comfort food, but I think there’s a surprise there for anyone who gives it a go. There’s such a variety of available items that it’s hard not to find something you like – not to mention their exquisite appetizers and drinks. Whether it’s girls night out, an evening with the spouse, or just a Thursday night when you don’t feel like cooking, don’t be too eager to write off the OG. It’s cheesy, it’s tasty, and it’s worth being made fun of by the hipsters in your life.