Olive Garden Italian Restaurant

So the only reason I dropped the stars was because of the hostess’s up front. It was Friday night and we arrive we get rude looks from the hostess’s up front. They were putting together kids menus and gave the impression that we were a bother for walking in. Even the girls tone of voice was rude. Definitely not the best first impression .
However that all changed when we sat down. Our server was super friendly and attentive. You can tell she actually knew customer service. Food was great as always. I’ll definitely be back. But hopefully those girls will get some training on how to smile and greet customers

Decent Italian franchise restaurant that has been in Escondido for a couple years now. The look itself does not change but, Olive Garden always introduces new entrees as seen in commercials. During the week wait service is not bad and our waiter was really attentive. An interesting thing they added is a Ziosk device at tables where you can order drinks and appetizers with a touch of a screen.

Amazing service today!!! I had to try out the new plate (lobster ravioli) and it was amazing like all of their other food of course. The service was awesome as well he was extremely patient with me as I wanted to try out some wine. I have not been here for quite some time and they had these little tablets where you can place your order in and also pay right at the table! This is pretty awesome plus after I placed my appetizer instead of having to be annoyed because it takes too long the little tablet has these little trivia questions great thing to have when you want the time to pass by

Wait service was okay, not outstanding but acceptable.
Food was a different subject. Pasta was cold, meat ordered on top was also cold.
Pasta that was reordered was warm, not hot.
Waiting for food took forever. Restaurant was not busy. 330 pm on a Sunday afternoon. Got busy at 5 when we left.
Manager «Jesse «was nice and appoligized. He offered extra dessert and to remake a meal, but we were beat and frustrated at that point. Kudos to him for trying to right the situation and for taking one meal off out ticket.
Moral to the story… please ask for the manager when meal is not up to standards.
And maybe Olive Garden is not like it used to be.

Food was amazing! But our favorite part was our server Becca (: she was so attentive and helpful. So sweet. It’s so hard to find good customer service like that now a days. My fiancé and I are all about customer service and she is truly exceptional. She told us we were a really cute couple, Made our experience very memorable. She deserves a big raise!

I highly recommend this location for large parties. This location has the most amazing staff! We came in last night with a party of 30 to celebrate my mother in laws 75^th birthday. Our table was ready at 5:30, exactly the same time we made our reservation for. Having the table ready right on time for a party this large is practically unheard of. Every single member of the wait staff served us with a smile. I was expecting a delay when it came to us getting our entrees… No wait at all. Everything was so perfectly timed. The food was amazing and you guys did such a great job making my mother in law happy which makes me happy because she deserves nothing but the best. Thank you everyone for giving us a night to remember.

We went for the buy one, take one home deal and my husband and I ended up with 3 more meals to take home because the portions are very generous, so I had to take half of mine home. The spaghetti with meat sauce and meatballs was very good. We don’t go to Italian restaurants very often because the red sauces tend taste like store bought sauces, but this one tasted home made. The salad was good but the bread sticks were a bit salty.
Our waiter, Paul, was outstanding!

FYI This restaurant needs some serious retraining of staff and service. Not only was my entrée’ served after a long time it showed up at the same time as our soup. A real disappointment and truly an appetite buzz kill! Will I go back? Probably Not!

This place is outstanding. service is excellent food is excellent. lunch special it is a great deal

I do like the salad and breadsticks so that much gets a star but the entrees seem to get worse every time I come. I used to love Olive Garden. Our last meal there a week ago was bad. We sent my son’s plate back. He’d ordered pasta with five cheese sauce. The sauce tasted and looked like bland tomato soup. I was too nice to send both of our dinners back. My son ordered something different that satisfied him. Mine was shrimp and talapia. Totally bland. Olive Garden just isn’t worth the money or time anymore.

7÷9÷2015
Gave this place a try for lunch with friends yesterday. Not bad. Lots to choose from although not authentic Italian cuisine not to bad for a chain restaurant. We tried the specials with choices of three dishes in one. It’s nice to have a combo. Best part was the Never Ending Soup, Salad and Garlic Breadsticks.
The service was very good and we were never lacking anything.
The prices are average for a chain in the city.
This Certainly isn’t the best Italian Food in The County but it filled the hole.

Super Friendly staff, went In about 11am got seated quick and our waitress Erica was super friendly.

I have been to this location about 4 times so far and I have not had a single issue. The salad and bread sticks were always delicious. Salad cold. Bread sticks warm. The staff was always courteous and prompt. The drinks definitely not bad. Now… the food review.
I consider myself an Italian woman and am proud of it. My grandmother is second generation Italian. There is nothing like some good old fashioned real Italian cooking. Nothing will ever compare to a fresh eggplant parmigiana from scratch or a good home made gravy with fresh garlic and basil from the garden. [Well…tomato sauce but the gravy debate rages on ;) ]
With that being said, when I come to Olive Garden I know what i’m getting myself into. It’s pretty good food, decent price (depending on your order), friendly service, and a nice atmosphere. I’m not coming here expecting authentic grandma’s Italian cooking. It’s an Americanized version in large portions made quickly to service hundreds of people on a daily basis. So with that in mind, they’re service is and food is just right for what they are offering. I’ll most likely be back again.

Shame on me for coming back here again, I keep saying never again and then a year later I forget.
I don’t mind pay $ 18 a dish for fine Italian cuisine, the problem is that the Olive Garden is charging this for their entrees and it is not even close to decent Italian food. This is the same exact place it was over twenty years ago. Bread sticks /​soup or salad on a wooden table with the silverware rolled up in a napkin. This place would probably get a better rating if the kept the dishes around $ 10-​$ 12 as they are not pricing to other fine Italian restaurants. At the price point they have set there are real Italian restaurants that will serve you incredible food.
I am over this, really I am going to try and remember this for the long haul.

Love the toscana soup. Trying something new today. Chicken Parmigiana & Chicken Lombardy.

We showed up at 4pm on a Saturday hoping to avoid the crowds. When we arrived there was hardly anyone in there so we requested a booth. We were told all 5 of their booths were full, but should only be another 10 – 15 minutes… so we sat at the bar to wait… and we waited and waited.
Finally after an hour, and my husband numerous times trying to find out what the hold up was, we ended up walking out feeling extremely frustrated at the time we wasted on top of being starving at this point. We had talked to what appeared to be a manager and he had no answers for us. While we sat in the bar we spotted NUMEROUS tables/​booths that sat dirty the WHOLE time! Complete and utter BS!
We ended up going down the road to Fillipi’s where we were warmly greeted, treated like family and had a wonderful meal that we will likely be making more meals out of for days.
Never again will we patronize this particular establishment when we have plenty of family owned restaurants around who actually care about customer service.

Terrific food! Even better service! Had the lunch soup and salad. Gnocchi soup was really good.Yum. Roni our server was really terrific.

I always love a good trip to Olive Garden. The salad is always perfect as are the bread sticks. Monique our server was fantastic! We got a bottle of wine and three entrees and the bill was a bit under 90 $. The garlic herb chicken was moist and the mashed potatoes were soft and full of flavor. The tour of Italy trio is awesome for someone who can’t make up their mind. And the seafood Alfredo was PACKED with shrimp and scallops (cooked properly)
Plus I love their peach Bellini cocktail!

I came here with my siblings after a day at the Westfield mall, ravenous and super excited for solid Italian fare in addition to the famous unlimited soup/​salad + breadsticks. This Olive Garden is located conveniently off of the junction of the 78 and 15 in Escondido — super convenient to access. Coming at prime dinner time, we were told that our wait would be about 20 minutes, but in actuality we were called in less than 10 — a nice way to start off the evening.
Olive Garden is definitely a family-​oriented restaurant. From all tables you could see a gathering of parties in various sizes — such a cozy atmosphere. This Olive Garden’s décor is not unlike others — very homey with the family dining table set up and the low hanging chandeliers.
Our server was very nice and despite the busy nature of the place, was attentive and helpful. She was able to fulfill requests for our salad and breadsticks promptly. Speaking of which, the breadsticks were always delivered soft and fresh out of the oven, but the salad was too drenched in dressing for my taste.
As for the main dishes, my sister and I split the Tour of Italy, which is definitely a plate that is share-​able. It comes with three different types of entrees — chicken parmesan, lasagna, and spaghetti with alfredo sauce. With all of the breadsticks and salad prior, I could barely finish my portion! My favorite was the alfredo — the sauce was so creamy and rich that provided a nice balance to the other red sauces. The main dish was otherwise standard, and nothing spectacular — but for what you get with the main dish (salad and breadsticks), I’d say it is definitely worth a trip and easily satisfying.

My mum and I came here on a Tuesday night, it wasn’t too busy or too slow. Got seated immediately. At first it took about 5 minutes for our server, Amber, to greet us and take our drinks but we noticed she was busy with her other tables. No appetizer needed as you get unlimited breadsticks and salad with your entrée, so ur set on that!
The «Tour of Italy» dish I had was a generous portion of lasagna, pasta, and some chicken with marinara sauce. Very delicious– but couldn’t finish it all. Amber was too kind and packaged our leftovers into boxes for us. And for desert we tried the pumpkin cheesecake– über delicious, definitely try it!
Overall excellent service and great food. Thanks Amber