Olive Garden Italian - Gastonia

I had a great experience at this place. the service was wonderful and the food was delicious per usual. the apfel sangria was absolutely amazing!

My family took me out for my birthday. When the waitress asked if we were celebrating anything my wife quietly told her it 's his birthday, but no group singing please. Our order was taken and everything was delivered quickly, hot and as ordered. Our drinks never ran out and plates were cleared when emptied, all without our conversations being interrupted. Back to my birthday celebration, our waitress quietly asked me which dessert I wanted and a few minutes later here she came. She leaned down and asked if she could sing happy birthday to me in German. Absolutely! I received a one on one serenade that was a beautiful surprise. We love this place.

I want to thanks the receiver staff they were able to accommodated me with a booth. Also Erika (waitress) for giving us so much attention. Every few minutes she passed by to check on us. Our food was a little late, the manager came over and apologized for the delayed she was so kind I wanted to thanks her for great attention. Food delicious. I love that lasagna clasico. also the strawberry bellini. Great cocktail.

We love Olive Garden. Been one of my personal favorites for 20 years. This one in Gastonia has gone downhill though. Kind of expected with it being Gastonia. Normally they are on point but the last couple visits have not been %100 as they use to be. The past 3 weeks been getting the Olive Garden crave if anyone knows what I mean. Called ahead for pickup a number of times but they been so busy it would be 2hrs before they could have food for us. I understand being busy but 2hrs for a couple meatballs and some Chicken Alfredo? Ok, I?ll try again another night, another night and another night. Finally!, called in at 6:15 one night and they could have it ready by 6:50. Good deal. Too bad we get home and see our meatballs have a splash of red sauce and no cheese (yes, we made sure to ask for it. The guy on the phone wasn?t even sure what we meant by red sauce. Sorry dude, marinara. Whatever, I?ll put my own cheese on. How much does that boat of Alfredo cost though? I can?t remember, $3.50?,$5.50? Either way my cup is half full guys. Picture has been attached of both of my complaints. Good thing we are eating at home because if we wasn?t the wife, kid and myself would be sharing a fork, knife and 1 mint. $50 purchase and how lucky we are to not have to eat with our hands. I guess when you are busy and Covid is past you then you don?t care if you upset your customers anymore. If there is another shutdown I?ll be sure not to support you guys as we did in the past. Ordering off the limited paper menu and wearing face mask while the waitress complained the whole time was understanding but it won?t be dealt with again. We will be sure to check out a few of the new places in town and put Olive Garden on ice for a while. Writing this actually made me feel better. Nice way to recover from the slap in the face from one of our favorites.

This visit to Olive Garden was ok. We got in faster than expected which was great. The guy that appeared to be the manager was very nice and attentive throughout our entire visit. Our server was good but seemed to be having an off day. Our food was ok. The salad and breadsticks were good. The Fried Mozzarella was excellent and the Italian doughnuts were very good as well! We liked the raspberry sauce better than the chocolate! There was a stinky/stale odor in the air. It's almost like they need to clean the carpet really well or rip it out altogether! Thankfully this visit was paid for primarily from a gift card. We'll stick to some locally run family restaurants when we want Italian!