The Olive Garden
• West: 10121-171 St. | Edmonton, AB
Average User Rating:
5.67/10
5.67/10
Recommended by:
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"A bad "Wait" can make all the difference"
Heather
April 2010 — "My boyfriend and I went on a date tonight. The first night in a while that we haven't had the kids. We wanted to keep it casual, speedy and tasty. Since we both like Italian, we decided on the Olive Garden.
It was a Saturday evening, so a bit of a wait, but not too bad. We sat in the bar and talked a bit with the bartender while we waited for our table. We didn't wait much longer than we were told we would have to, so that was nice. We were seated at a nice corner table, which seemed appropriate for a date night.
Then, The waiter"... I'm thinking a guy who either isn't happy with his job, or is just generally not happy with life and the people in it. He was abrupt, rude and overall, just plain unpleasant. He forgot to ask us what accompaniment we wanted with our meal and just chose one for us, when I asked him to correct it he was not a happy camper. He literally threw our plates on the table and huffed off.
Before he arrived with our replacements, our entree was served by another employee. She was very pleasant and when we asked her if perhaps our waiter was new and nervous she said he had been there for a while.
The food was adequate. The Ravioli that my partner ordered seemed to have a sauce that had curdled. My Capellini Pomodoro was tasty and filling. We didn't complain about the Ravioli because we really didn't want to deal with another little fit by our waiter.
So overall, I would have to rate this as a poor visit, but in all fairness, the waiter can really decide if your meal is good or bad.
We're willing to give the Olive Garden another chance.
"
User Rating
6/10
6/10
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"Brrrr....Icy Icy"
Heather
November 2009 — "Weekday nights after the business crowd is set loose can be a difficult time to find a dinner table if you are not willing to wait a while. The Olive Garden is no exception. Thinking that a 4:30pm meeting time would get us immediate seating was a faux pas on our part. We were greeted by the hostess with pencil crayon in hand and I knew she was just chomping at the bit to put our name down on the waiting list. We were handed our little personal paging device, the same one everyone in the foyer had, and turned over the hourglass so to speak to begin watching the sand slowly move.
Within a half hour we were escorted to our table. Having already felt how cold the restaurant was being kept, we were not happy to see that our table was situated right under an air conditioning vent. Who knew we needed air conditioning in Edmonton when the thermometer was reading -18?
We asked our waitress to turn up the heat, but to no avail and we ended up eating in our winter parkas.
We quickly ordered our meals, beginning with a hot cup of coffee and the starter salad. The salad was crisp and cold, yum, but so was the coffee, yuck. We asked for a refill of coffee, not so cold this time but still tepid.
My Capellini Pomodoro was tasty, but if you haven't already guessed, too cold to melt the cheese grated on top. The Chicken Manicotti that my friend ordered was actually a little warmer, and according to her, very tasty.
Having said all that, I have been to this Olive Garden on several other occasions and for the most part have gone away quite satisfied. I'm not sure what went so wrong with this visit, hopefully it was just a blip on the screen and my next visit won't require mitts and a scarf. "
User Rating
5.33/10
5.33/10
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DescriptionThis well-known restaurant chain serves a variety of Italian dishes. All entrees include complimentary soup or salad and bread sticks. Two locations in Edmonton.
Location InformationWest: 10121-171 St.
Edmonton
AB
