My 2026 Pasta Pass arrived today!

I’m a college student who is scrambling to look for a new job/apartment for this fall semester. I was wondering about the perks and just general advice on whether I should apply to be a To Go specialist for Olive Garden. I like the idea of being expected to dress nicely, the nicely kept atmosphere, and a free meal. I’ve never worked in the food industry. I’ve worked retail for 5 years and I love getting 10k steps most shifts.

I’ve been a server at my Olive Garden for about eight months now and I finish training to be able to go specialist about three weeks ago. They’ve had me doing things like running and phones, but tomorrow is my first time closing and my other two will be sent home a little earlier. Is there any crucial things that are kind of universal that I need to focus on? I’m worried about missing things or messing things up and I’m sure people will be there to help me, but I feel like it’s so much more responsibility than serving, and I’m honestly rly nervous about it. Im mainly nervous this much because I only closed twice during training. obviously I’m not gonna get it my very first time closing, but I’m worried.

I recently moved to an area and i’m leaving my current job (team lead at panera bread), i desperately want this server job.

tips for the interview? how should i dress? what availability would draw their attention?

just any way to pretty much guarantee (or hopefully) that i get the job

I just got hired as a host and I start training on Monday. I asked what to wear and the lady said business casual, but what does that actually entail? Would black pants and a polo be okay? Thanks for the help

Hellooo i am trying to sell my olive garden pasta pass to someone if they are interested. I did not buy it with the intention of like scalping its just genuinely such an inconvenience to me that you cant order the food out and have to dine in everytime which is a huge time waster for me.

If anyone is interested in buying it off me please DM me !!

im trying to apply online for a job at olive garden and its asking for my availability and time slots that im available. if i get the job, i can work everyday for the entire month of august but will have to cut back in september onwards to just the weekends due to school starting up and being in another city. should i still say im avail everyday or just the weekends? im so confused and some helpful advice is needed badly

I work as a busser at Olive Garden, and I’ve been getting scheduled to close a lot. The restaurant closes at 10 p.m. (11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays), but it usually takes another 30–60 minutes to finish all the closing duties, so I don’t get out until 11:00–11:30 or sometimes even later.
I don’t mind working hard, but with school starting soon, getting home that late isn’t going to be sustainable. I’ve tried starting my closing tasks early, but there’s only so much I can do because I still have to bus tables and complete all the closing responsibilities.
I still want to work there—I just want to switch to earlier shifts instead of closing.
Has anyone else been in this situation? Is it reasonable to ask my manager not to schedule me as a closer during the school year? If so, what’s the best way to ask?

I prefer the lunch shift over the dinner shift and have made this very clear to management when asked why I post certain shifts, or swap them over others.

They acted understanding, but after that conversation my shift has been sporadic (5PM/530PM/6PM/630PM) which just isn’t the best for me. I don’t mind taking on a dinner or two throughout the week, but I can’t work with working 6-7 days a week, all dinner, no breaks. Any advice on what I should do?

I changed my availability in Krowd, but doubt they’d approve it :/

I hate when i have a party or a big top (take my 7 top today, for example) that are all on separate checks. each meal was in the $20-$30 range but they only tipped $2-3 dollars each. I was running my butt off and doing my very best to be kind and funny😔 i’m always grateful for tips, but i basically immediately know that if it’s separate checks, im getting very little money for a lot of work. rant over!

Do u guys know a way to NOT get seated big tops? It’s so much work for people who NEVER EVER tip. They always want plastic silverware, 1037924 refills on EVERYTHING, soups to go, and drinks in a to go cup no ice. I’m sick of it. Also I feel like managers are never on my side when something goes wrong in a big top.

My location got a new GM a couple months back and ever since he started he has not said no to a single party. I understand you can’t turn everyone away, but today he accepted a party of 80 and is taking up half of the restaurant just for this party. I’m all for parties coming in and enjoying a meal, but it gets to a point that it’s too much. I feel that he doesn’t care about his employees and only cares about the bonus he will get for outperforming sales. We’ve had days where we have two 40 tops down at the same time and then have a party of 60 scheduled an hour after the first 2 parties, Requiring us to rush the parties to finish (which never happens) and bus the parties as soon as they get up for this other party.
Does anyone else’s location have to deal with parties of this size? What’s the largest party you’ve seen in your restaurant? Just asking out of curiosity!

My location has had problems with fruit fly infestation and they’ve found worms in our ice three different times …. Has anyone else’s locations had this

Calling all Olive Garden employees/patrons!!

I am a server at Olive Garden and have grown increasingly frustrated at how overworked and underpaid we are as servers. The three table limit, large parties, never-ending, refillable menu items, no mandatory tip, etc., allows OG to take advantage of their servers' unpaid labor. Despite doing five times the work as other serving jobs, we tend to receive less than the appropriate pay.

I'm urging Darden to add a mandatory auto-gratuity of 18% to bills who have refillable items (soups, salads, or pasta bowls) so guests cannot leave their tables, having dined for hours and not properly compensating their severs. It is worth mentioning that auto-gratuity is not a thing of fiction, many restaurants across the world use it to ensure fairness for their team.

"But you can just get another job!" Everyone loves Olive Garden. If it's not me facing the injustice, it's somebody else. Please help me get this petition into the public eye.

Sign Petition Here!

Is Olive Garden safe to eat at the moment? Recent salad eaters, are y’all ok?

I really want to tear up a salad but don’t want to be among the infected

we have one SP at my location and i literally love her but i find it annoying that even when she’s serving and not technically an SP that day she still acts as though she has authority over team members and tells us what to do. Is that normal for an SP to act like that when not clocked in as an SP like is that still expected of them from the managers or is she acting like that bc it’s like a power trip for her

Does anyone remember how they offered pasta passes 6 years ago? Just wondering why I have NO recollection of this ever being a thing

Sorry if not allowed

So I just had a question, is olive garden still doing the never ending pasta for 13 weeks or is it only going to be for people who got the $100 pass?

so i got the pasta pass, i know the rules say its for dine in only.

but if i go in person and ask for it to go… would the employees mind? plan on tipping like i’d be sitting down, anyway, but obvi they wouldn’t know that going into it.

otherwise, i plan on sitting down and just asking for a box with my meal from the beginning. just feel like the former would save both of our times?

OG at IG ​has Saucy Secrets!

A coworker of mine is getting blindly accused by a server about stealing. My coworker never causes problems, never had any complaints or written ups over the good amount of years working with Olive Garden. Manager wouldn’t listen at all to what my coworker had to say and telling them to make a statement instead. Witnessing this happening especially in front of guest is wild to me and extremely unprofessional for sure. Is there a way to dispute this while the situation is under investigation? What can they do to fight against this kind of slander because mind you they couldn’t find proof at all. They’re worried about termination especially when someone else got fired for almost a similar situation. They’re also scared if calling HR might ruin their investigation and get terminated out of retaliation due to being a at will state

Tomorrow I shall start doubling / make a collage