Address: | 101 Quarry Rd, Downingtown, PA 19335, USA |
Phone: | +1 610-518-6323 |
Site: | olivegarden.com |
Rating: | 3.9 |
Working: | 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–11PM 11AM–11PM 11AM–10PM |
A
A Private User
Minorities beware. The Olive Garden, at least the one in Downingtown, PA, pretends to provide the atmosphere of Italy - but Ive been to Italy, and one thing I can tell you is that in that country, regardless of race, creed, color, or beliefs, you are welcome as an individual to enjoy the food. Not so when you go to eat at the Olive Garden! My party arrived (we were celebrating a friend moving away) and respectfully, albeit with some enthusiasm that may have been contributing to the already loud, talk-at-the-top-of-your-voice environment, we were having a good time, laughing and joking. Toward the end of the meal, after waiting ridiculously long periods of time for our food, requesting extra bread and being told that they "ran out", we were then asked to be quiet or leave. After quickly scanning the room, it was pretty easy to see that the only "loud" table being asked to leave was also the only table with people at it who were not white. Never mind the obnoxious, screaming, 5 year old at the table behind us, or the infant that never stopped crying to our right, we were apparently "disrupting the other visitors". Guess they arent used to serving people who are black. I suppose they choose to ignore 50 some years of progression in the world of equal rights and decide they can determine who is allowed to dine at their restaurant based on the color of a persons skin. I should probably tell you at this point that I am a white female, but my party consisted of one other white female and 8 black females – the only non-Caucasians at the restaurant at that time. The manager attempted to placate us with gift cards and "bread sticks to go" when we argued that others were being just as loud as we were (if not louder), but we were still pushed out of the door unceremoniously. I will NEVER eat at another Olive Garden again, in Downingtown or otherwise. What a sad disappointment not only due to their mediocre food and bad service, but also for their bigotry and ignorance.
A
A Private User
My husband and I where planning to visit the restaurant for a long time since its new and it looks beautiful. we finally when there last night, and we where sat right away which was good. the server comes up and asks if we would like to try a sample of the house wine, we accepted, so she brought three wine glasses that were visibly filthy. however, she poured the wine anyway. we did not drink the wine. she comes back to ask if we wanted to order any other drinks or appetizers. we ordered two appetizers and drinks. then, we are looking at the menu when we hear the people next to us were asking for to go boxes to their server who was right next to them sweeping with a dust pan in her hands. so we wondered, if she washed her hands before she wrapped the food. then she came back,brought the food back with the check and went right back to sweeping. our server brings the appetizers, bread and side plates and goes right to the other table to talk to them but she forgets to bring silverwareto us. so we had to wait for her to finish her story with the other table to get her attention so we could get the silverware to start eating. she brought the silverware, and i oppened my napkim and it was dirty with sauce on the inside. pretty nasty! couple of minutes later she brings our main courses but she didnt take our appetizers plates off the table yet. my pasta was not aldente, it was cold and the sauce tasted like the took it out of a can. my husbands steak was well done and he asked for it to be medium well, and he couldnt eat it because it tasted like it went bad. When the server saw that my husband couldnt eat it she said that she was sorry and she offered to take it off the bill. finally we asked her for the bill, and she took the steak off which was nice.
VI
Virginia E. Patterson
Olive Garden - Downingtown. The food was horrible, the service adequate. My grandsons pizza was overcooked (burnt). My Raviolis were served way overcooked, thought that I had ordered Fried Ravioli - had to be send back. The food that was served us should not have been allowed to leave the kitchen. There was a lot of confusion about the salad and bread sticks. Bummer. So no asking for more here. No visit from Manager, no offer to have meal comped (at least my dinner should have been)..Out of a party of 6, 3 of the meals were either wrong, uneatable or had to be sent back. This is not the Olive Garden that I remember. Could not understand why, this is a chain....then I read reviews-we were a party of African Americans and looks like we are treated somewhat differently at the Downingtown Olive Garden. What a pitty - this is 2012. I will never visit this Olive garden again. The shame, looks like this restaurant could have great potential - the location and the Olive Garden name. We were seated rather quickly, but the caliber of the service provided left a lot to be desired. We politely collected ourselves and left after trying to muddle through our dinner. When a new chain opens in a town, more attention should be paid to customer service and food prep when all that is hired are High School Students. Just a thought
A
A Private User
Overall consensus, Underwhelmed. First visit to an Olive Garden, ever. My initial experience was negative in that I called in advance to advise the restaurant that we would be a party of 8 coming in around 12:15 for lunch on a work day. I was informed that the restaurant does not take call ahead seating. That should have been my first and last communication. When my party and I arrived, we were seated promptly. Our waiter, Devon, was slow to arrive. James, the other waiter arrived much much later. Drinks were slow to arrive. Refills had to be asked for. Breadsticks and salad were even slower to arrive. The group indicated that the food when it finally arrived was lukewarm at best. My order was prepared in error. I ordered a chicken alfredo pizza and received chicken alfredo pasta. So, back to the kitchen it had to go. Devon profusely apologized, but it did little to appease me. 20 minutes later, I received the pizza. At the 3rd slice I stopped eating because I ran into a gristly piece of chicken that gagged me. My first experience, disappointing to say the least. We were not comped anything for ordering error. Our tip was adequate for the lack of service and order error. I wont be back.
A
A Private User
Went there 1st time since it opened. The service was fine but they were out of two different items that I tried to order for lunch and finally had to settle for salad and soup since I was out of time and was afraid anything else I ordered they would be out of. Soup was fine but the salad did not taste as appetizing as I remembered. My friend ordered the portopello raviolli and the sauce was curdled. My son ordered the kids meal but they then brought out the wrong sauce. I have never been to a restaurant where they served curdled sauce before. I complained not so much to complain but because they might want to know that the food was subpar to improve it. The manager did comp me the meal but I did feel that he just didnt care, like I was bothering him. Even my 10 year old son said "Mom, I dont think he cared: I will not return.