Falling Short: This Diner’s Experience at Olive Garden
Yesterday, I was shopping with my youngest daughter in a town about 30 minutes away. We went looking for a new comforter and shower curtain for her room. But also, as an added bonus, we snuck in a little early Christmas shopping. After what was a great morning/ afternoon of shopping, even though she didn’t find a comforter or shower curtain, we decided to go out to lunch. Since we stayed in the same shopping center, we decided just to grab lunch there. I was a little excited because one of my favorite restaurants that I don’t get to eat there often was there. So we decided on Olive Garden.
As we pulled into the parking lot, my mouth was already watering thinking about their eggplant parmigiana, which is my absolute favorite. I had decided that I was just going to get an appetizer, but after viewing the menu, I thought it was actually cheaper to order the eggplant entree. So we walked into the Olive Garden and were greeted by a nice young lady who was handing a couple their to-go order. She asked us if we were eating in or dining out. I said, eating in, so she said I will go get one of the hosts for you. The host was quick to sit us, but after that is where it all went wrong.
So Gracie and I sat and looked at the menu and decided within minutes what we both wanted for lunch. We waited patiently for someone to come by and at least acknowledge we were sitting there and ask us for our drink order. We sat and waited and waited. And still no acknowledgment from the waitress that we were even sitting in her section. When we walked in, she was taking another table’s order. And then proceeded to wait on everyone else who was already sitting in her section refilling their drinks and bringing their food, and still, we sat there just waiting to be acknowledged.
After multiple times of being ignored and sitting there waiting for even our drink order to be taken, I went up to the hostess stand and told them to tell the waitress not to even bother waiting on us as we had been sitting at the table over 10 minutes and our drink order hadn’t even been taken. They offered another waitress. I was like, okay.
But then they said everyone was booked, so if we just sat down at our original table that they would get our drinks. I asked if we would be served by the same waitress, and they said yes. I was like, why would they think I would be okay with that, considering she didn’t acknowledge our existence? They said they would have to put me on a WAIT List for another table.
A WAIT LIST!! Can you believe that after sitting there without even our order being taken with no acknowledgment except for the host and the young lady who we talked to when we walked in- we were going to have to wait some more? WOW!!
Needless to say, at that point, I was upset and calmly said no thank you. But on the drive home, I kept thinking how much I love Olive Garden and how this has made me not want to eat there anymore.
Not only did we walk away hungry but also disappointed in the fact that we weren’t even acknowledged. As much as I love their eggplant parmigiana, it will be a while before I eat it again because of the bitter taste of dealing with The Olive Garden located in Wilson has left in my mouth.
