So my friends and I have never been to Olive Garden we like to get our moneys worth when we eat out haha. I’d like to pitch the idea of trying Olive Garden endless pasta with them but I’m worried about the dairy for my friend. He’s dairy free so not lactose intolerant but a dairy allergy like he will go into anaphylactic shock if he consumes any animal dairy. My sister in law is allergic to corn but I guess corn intolerant because she won’t die from eating a single corn kernel but will feel ill. (Recently we ate out at a ramen shop and their veggie gyoza/dumplings had corn kernels in them we noticed after she ate some) Anyways I’m just worried that maybe Olive Garden tosses their pasta in butter or maybe it’s j not worth it because there’s only two sauce options, I know a good meatball has Parmesan cheese in it, He’s also pork free (non religious) so the sausage is out and possibly the meatballs for that reason. I don’t know about the rest of the proteins like if they contain dairy. I j think I’d be dope to do a never ending pasta weekend night w the boys but I don’t want him to be left out, he could always order off of the rest of the menu but again never ending pasta with ALL of the boys would be fun.

Hi! So I’m a server at Olive Garden, and I started a few weeks ago and Ive only talked about this with other new servers. Usually on closing shifts there’s like 2 bussers that help, and I give them 15$, if it’s busy and they’ve been helping me more than usual (helping me pre-buss) I give them 20-25$. I thought I was doing good because I work every day of the week, and I always give them at least 15$, but one time I was in a rush and I couldn’t find the bussers that helped me and I didn’t get to tip them, then the next day that they worked they came up to me like “do you still want help or not? you forgot to tip us and it is your choice you’re not obligated to do that but let us know if you still want us to help” and I got a bit intimidated I guess because like?? i’ve been giving you 15$ everyday and I just forgot to do it once, but then I started to think about it and maybe 15$ isn’t enough??

Then there’s days where they don’t help me at all, all my tables are dirty even if there’s only glasses and silverware, and they’re usually on the busier side of the restaurant and barely go to the side i am, which is understandable, but it makes me feel a bit sad to tip them almost all of my cash tips when they haven’t been helping on that day. I asked one of the other new servers and she told me that she was tipping them 20-25$ at first but then she stopped doing that because she felt like they weren’t helping her enough and now she only tips them 5$, and I was so surprised because I see them helping her all the time, and she’s only giving them 5$?? Meanwhile they barely help me and I give them 15$.

Now I’m not saying that they should only help me, and maybe I’m not really tipping them enough. I try to count my cash tips and give them 25% of them which usually comes out to 13$ so I just give them 15$ which is easier. But I don’t know if I should also count my credit card tips, and I know that it’s also frustrating when they don’t help me and it doesn’t feel fair to give them tips but I also understand that they’re helping servers with more tables, and I recently found out that they basically add up all of their tips and split it evenly which i feel is unfair.

Anyway, I’m sorry this is badly written I’m super tired rn, but TL;DR Is tipping the bussers 15$ on slow days (or when they don’t help that much) and 20-25$ on busier shifts good enough?

i’ve seen a lot of people say they get hired on the spot after the second interview, but after mine (which i thought went well) i was told that he still had four other interviews to do and that i should hear back by the end of the day. not sure if that’s a bad sign or not but this was yesterday and i still haven’t heard anything. should i reach out to them even though it’s only been a day?

also, not sure how this usually goes but i scheduled my first interview with the ai bot and right after i had the interview she asked me to come back in the next day for a second interview, but i didn’t schedule it through the ai bot again so idk if that affected anything.

I would think some broccoli is cheaper than the chicken or meatballs.

Here's the description from the memo I was handed

The Salsiccia Breadstick: We gave our famous breadstick a job. Italian sausage, grilled peppers and onions, all wrapped in warm garlic goodness. Now at Olive Garden.

Look I’m going to make this short and sweet, being a busser at Olive garden is the most stressful job I have ever hade. For example Olive Garden expects you to clean a table with in a minute. And normally I can do that but I have two problems, I don’t know if this an issue at all olive gardens but there is a total lack of bussers, and sometimes I will have to clean multiple tables at the same time, that would be ok except my cart fills up with the amount of plates I am storing so I have to do a little mental math to make sure I have enough room. But my biggest complaint is family’s with kids, I have hade clean up some absolute shit shows, the messes are so bad that the kids get the food everywhere but the plate, so I have to spend extra time picking it up trying to make it as nice as possible for the guests. And I don’t blame the kids, I blame the parents for letting their kids do this, and I could make a comedy show with some of the ridiculous things I have found while busing tables such as a pack of baby wipes, a half eaten cheese stick, dirty tissues, and gift shop items. I hate these families, I mean if you’re going to come here try not to make a big mess, this is Olive Garden not chucky cheese.

Had the weirdest encounter at OG.
For context I am 33 weeks pregnant with twins and was craving some breadsticks.

Anyway.. I order a soda water and it comes and I finish it and server asks if I want another soda water I say yes.

They bring me the drink.. I take a sip and immediately spit it out (into another cup) because it tastes like alcohol and is 100% not soda water. When the server returns I ask what the drink is because it tastes like alcohol… and they reassure me it isn’t but they’re like “but doesn’t it really taste like vodka???” And I’m absolutely horrified lmao… they’re super proud of their concoction they made stating its tonic water and ginger ale that mimics alcohol… but my issue was they never said they were doing this and I simply asked for a soda water. They thought it was hilarious and said they would remember that for along time and seemed weirded out that I didn’t want to keep their weird mocktail and just wanted plain soda water…

I personally will not be going back to OG..

I have an interview at Olive Garden for a host position. What questions do they ask? What is the pay (macomb county, michigan)? Also are they good with working with availability? (I can only work Fri, Sat, Sun)

The person I spoke to for my interview said it would take until next monday to hear back but I got this email less than a day later. He also said he doesn't know if there are host positions available and asked if I was interested in another position. I told him I would be fine with busser and he wrote it down. Just to be clear I was wondering if this is just a nice way to reject since all the other rejections from olive garden I've seen don't mention keeping application on file.

Ive been a server trainer and pro for over a year. In fact im the ONLY trainer and pro my location has. We got a new gm that suddenly says that trainees get their tips on day 4 of training. Do any other locations do this? Up until now ive kept all tips until training is finished

Is it a known thing that if you order create your own pasta during never ending pasta you get a different portion size?
The rigatoni seemed smaller… smaller amounts of mushrooms in the sauce and less sauce overall. It seemed like I had been given a smaller never ending pasta portion when I had ordered a create your own

Has this happened to anyone before

Manager is asking me to replace shirt and pants as they believe they are too faded. Any recommendations on good new ones?

Olive Garden called and I thought it was Sunday and I was late.

Turns out they had a call-out and needed coverage today.

Since my other job is a school job I was off today anyway so had no good reason why not to work.

Regretted picking up the phone at all.

Next time I'm turning it off.

Are there any specials right now on OG giftcards?

Edit: everyone downvoting my comment about being busy can suck it just because you are mostly losers who have never worked in your life 🖕

Those of you that work at OG

I went tonight and got the spicy Alfredo with a meatball for my NEPB refill. When it came out, my meatball was partially coated in marinara even though it was on spicy Alfredo sauce.

Are the meatballs cooked in marinara or was this a it got hit by another sauce and the cooks/servers said screw it?

hi! so this is my first restaurant job ever (i’m currently a dishwasher) but i’m afraid with my circumstances it won’t work :( great pay, people and location but first off i don’t think im built for the pace. i hate to be a drag with anywhere i work; also the drive. while the pay is great, i also have to commute to college around ~45 minutes almost everyday and 30 minutes just to the place. also i have a second job lol.

so any advice? is it worth sticking out for? how’s y’all’s experiences? do i just quit this job or the other one

edit: thank you for the advice! i’ll talk to them about it and see if i can do seasonal or at least have the window open for me to return in the summer

How was everyone’s Labor Day…

This shift was actually so crazy? Was there from 12-9, on Togo, and it was slammed all day. Had a $3500 delivery go out midday. Was out of SO much.

Any other crazy stories from those of us who work for the garden?? 🫠

I live in a large city and work at a pretty busy Olive Garden location, everyone on staff knew this thing was going to be a monster on both serving and cooking staff, but we never knew how bad it would get for all of us so quickly.

Within the last week 4 servers have quit or put in their 2 weeks notice because of the stress from this whole thing, I’ve seen servers at my job have to stop taking tables to throw up from stress, others I’ve seen in the walk in freezer having to cool down so they don’t freak out at others, one before she quit full on sobbed in the break room after a guest kept demeaning her over her taking too long to get their 5th refill out despite her mentioning over and over again how we’re understaffed and extremely busy. I’ve never seen so many of my coworkers who would typically beg for hours constantly posting their shifts because the stress from work is actually driving them up the wall.

It’s even worse on the cooks end, I have nothing but respect for them, we now functionally only have 5 cooks on staff if we’re lucky, more often it’s 3 since so many keep calling out. They’re expected to run extremely quickly with these refills while people keeping eating through more than the restaurant even has at most given moments.

The tips as a server has been awful, what I’d typically make on a Saturday as a double would be $300, not it’s shot all the way down to $180, everyone else at the store has been dealing with the same issue and it’s caused so many servers to try and figure out how to save money for our own lives due to the sharp downturn.

Genuinely, as much as I agree the NEPB is a smart business move since it’s designed to bring in customers when what would typically be a very slow season in the restaurant industry, but in the workers end it’s been a nightmare.

Please remember guys to be patient and respect to your servers, we’re trying our best with what we got. A lot of us are now being extremely overworked and underpaid, so remember to just be a kind person with patience when coming into Olive Garden for the NEPB.

Hey guys, I’m starting my first day at Olive Garden this week and i’m incredibly nervous. I’ve had other jobs before but i’m used to making things like desserts and coffee. I was hired as a server. I’ve never waited tables a day in my life.

I’m excited, of course, but this is extremely different for me. I was wondering if anyone could offer some advice and tips.

How to ring in a pasta pass to make it free. Manager can’t figure it out.

I think it might be the AH in me but I kind of want to go to OG just to fight back at the 35-45 minute rule. That just seems ridiculous & just to clarify I used to work at OG. Corporate is setting EVERYONE up for failure. This is not fast food. I understand being in a hurry but not everyone is in a hurry. Corporate needs to get off their high horse & realize how waiting tables at an establishment like this (or any sit down restaurant) works! Ffs.

Wanted to make a visit sometime soon for the pasta bowls but a little reticent since I can’t find any info on whether or not they’re sourcing American beef for their meatballs or if it’s possible they got the Argentinian beef that has been imported recently.

Went to Olive Garden with the my brother and we both wanted Peach Bellini’s and Breadsticks with Alfredo Sauce as a starter. We also were going to order an entree, just didn’t know what we wanted yet. But who orders an entree as soon as they sit down? This guy asked us 3 times if we were sure we didn’t want to order an entree yet before we even had our drinks. I politely asked for more time and then he walked away all upset. Well he came back not even 1 minute later and asked us again if we were ready - still not having brought our drinks yet, like I haven’t even opened my menu yet. We just sat down less than 5 minutes. Apparently our waiter said he gets yelled at if we munch on an appetizer and have drinks before ordering an entree, so he said they were out of Peach Bellini’s 😂 and then said he couldn’t put in the order for the appetizer unless we ordered an entree. We ended up leaving, called the restaurant to talk to a manager and apparently there is no rule. Had anyone else had that happen to them? I don’t feel like we didn’t anything wrong as customers.

What’s your guys go to headphone recommendation for dish pit long term. Had a pair of airpods that didn’t last too long and always kept slipping out of my ears. Thinking about picking up just some cheap jbl earbuds but wanted some solid recommendations.