C C.
Yelp
REVIEW AND PSA:
Review:
We have been eating at CoP for, well, decades and have always had a wonderful experience.
So, when my sister and brother-in-law asked to meet for a holiday dinner, we immediately thought of CoP since they'd never been there. The experience was very DISAPPOINTING, to say the least. Our server seemed to either be very distracted or lacking any in depth of knowledge on the menu or how their process worked. When my wife had a question about the salads, before she could ask the Q entirely, he said "you can't just order the salad without ordering your entire meal". Ok, but that wasn't the Q.
When we were close to finishing our meal, my wife said we wanted to order one of the dishes, which are family style, and have it split into 2 meals to take home for the next day. Our server responded "we can't do that" and when questioned as to why, he said I will have to check with the kitchen because that's never been done before." REALLY?!? So no one has ever ordered take out from CoP before! Hmmmm....
Each of us had a salad, but two people didn't get any of the pears (which was the highlight of the salad) ONE plate of pasta each and a total of six drinks. Three of us had coffee and the server brought the creamer in a large hot coffee mug and said "don't worry, the mug is hot but the cream is cold". ??
PSA:
As we were having a general conversation, my brother -in-law pointed to the little placard in the center of the table which read "a 22% service charge will be added to all bills. Tips are appreciated, but not expected."
We generally leave a 20% - 25% tip, depending on the overall experience. As stated previously, the service was about as bad as we've ever experienced, so it would have not been 20%; therefore, leaving an additional tip, even 15%, would have equated to a 37% gratuity overall.
This forced service charge brought our bill for the dinner described above to $284!!
Trust me, we understand the cost of everything is skyrocketing out of control and the management and owners of restaurants in general need to understand that for many of us, going out to dinner is no longer a Nice-to-have, but a luxury because, guess what, we work hard and everything is expensive for us too!
If I am forced to pay a special service charge, please make it worth while. We WILL NOT GO BACK TO CoP and certainly won't embarrass ourselves by recommending them either. When you take into consideration the overall experience and tie it to the cost, the Olive Garden is a really good deal!!