Olive Garden

[sarahwaveshello]

Hey All!

I just wanted to pop in and give a good review of my local Olive Garden. My MIL is a pretty picky eater, so for her visit we were really limited in our dining options. I didn't want to add my gluten-free diet to the list of limitations! So I checked OG's online website and to my surprise they do offer a selection of gluten-free options, including gluten-free pasta. So, OG is where we headed, armed with the knowledge that I'd be able to eat in peace. When we ordered, our server seemed surprised that I was ordering gluten-free, but offered to bring out the gluten-free menu just to "double check" that they do offer what I'd ordered. We looked at the menu and confirmed that there was the gluten-free meal I wanted, and that was that. The sweet server brought out the salad completely deconstructed, sans dressing and croutons. Awesome! Thirty minutes later, though, and still no meals. Our frazzled waitress came over to apologize that it appeared the cooks were "out of gluten-free pasta" and had neglected to inform her, so my husband's and MIL's meals had been left to get cold and mine was, obviously, not happening. I'm pretty used to shoddy experiences eating out, and c'mon! it's a PASTA place for crying out loud. I was unfazed and told the server it was quite alright, I'd had plenty of salad to fill me up. She was ADAMANT that it was not acceptable to be out of gluten-free options and she promised to get the manager involved.

A few minutes later, my MIL and husband were served fresh, piping hot meals and the manager came over to personally apologize. He comped everyone's meal, plus three desserts and drinks, and on top of that, gave us a $30 gift card for the trouble.

I'm truly grateful that slowly but surely, the importance of offering gluten-free, dairy free, vegetarian options is dawning on some people.

[jswog]

  On 10/11/2011 at 7:18 PM, sarahwaveshello said:

Hey All!

I just wanted to pop in and give a good review of my local Olive Garden. My MIL is a pretty picky eater, so for her visit we were really limited in our dining options. I didn't want to add my gluten-free diet to the list of limitations! So I checked OG's online website and to my surprise they do offer a selection of gluten-free options, including gluten-free pasta. So, OG is where we headed, armed with the knowledge that I'd be able to eat in peace. When we ordered, our server seemed surprised that I was ordering gluten-free, but offered to bring out the gluten-free menu just to "double check" that they do offer what I'd ordered. We looked at the menu and confirmed that there was the gluten-free meal I wanted, and that was that. The sweet server brought out the salad completely deconstructed, sans dressing and croutons. Awesome! Thirty minutes later, though, and still no meals. Our frazzled waitress came over to apologize that it appeared the cooks were "out of gluten-free pasta" and had neglected to inform her, so my husband's and MIL's meals had been left to get cold and mine was, obviously, not happening. I'm pretty used to shoddy experiences eating out, and c'mon! it's a PASTA place for crying out loud. I was unfazed and told the server it was quite alright, I'd had plenty of salad to fill me up. She was ADAMANT that it was not acceptable to be out of gluten-free options and she promised to get the manager involved.

A few minutes later, my MIL and husband were served fresh, piping hot meals and the manager came over to personally apologize. He comped everyone's meal, plus three desserts and drinks, and on top of that, gave us a $30 gift card for the trouble.

I'm truly grateful that slowly but surely, the importance of offering gluten-free, dairy free, vegetarian options is dawning on some people.

As a server at Olive Garden, I'm sorry to hear that your experience was sub-par, but am VERY glad to know that management made things right, which is policy for OG. I just recently had an issue eating out at another Darden restaurant, Longhorn Steakhouse, and my meal was also comped. I ordered it using all of the instructions stated on their gluten free menu, but it still came out with the marinade on it (which the menu had explicitly stated it needed to be without in order to be gluten-free). The server took it back and then came out and assured me that the kitchen manager said he was 'sure' it was gluten-free, but that they'd go ahead and re-make one for me anyway. The manager came on over and apologized. We had a good time visiting with friends (we were traveling and visiting with friends we hadn't seen in a while), but the service/meal were lacking. My husband and I went to another Longhorn with different friends two days later and the service and food were perfect!