Olive Garden Italian Restaurant

It was really good. I'm gluten free and vegan so they made me my own specialty plate. It was nice of them to do

Food was fine. We got our appetizer quickly, our salad quickly, and our meal quickly. Problem was, we had all that food piled in our table at once because we weren’t given time to enjoy the appetizer or salad before entrees came. With drinks for 4 people and all that food, the small 4 top table was packed. Our dinners got cold while we tried to actually enjoy our app and then our salad. I noticed the same timing happening at other tables. I took my cold dinner home. Very disappointing because we were looking forward to a nice, relaxing dinner with our sons. We felt rushed by staff as well. The waitress, Olivia, actually removed our unfinished appetizer platter so she could put the salad down. We had to ask for it back and she couldn’t seem to understand why we wanted it back. Well, because we had like 4 minutes to eat it. I have never seen what forced pressure to get done before. And the restaurant was not at all crowded. Last complaint: I got the Tour of Italy and almost all of it was on my plate when she took it away to put in a leftover box. She put all that food in one small take away box. I looked inside and my parm was buried under fettuccini which had the lasagna on top. The entire box was packed full. Very unappealing. What has happened to Olive Garden?

I ordered food for pickup, and my daughter loved, but had an allergic reaction to, the shrimp alfredo after a few bites. I called to see if we could get a new entree. I was transferred to the manager. Henry was super kind about it. We got a fresh chicken alfredo entree, and my daughter was super glad to see more breadsticks in the bag. Everything both times was nice and hot and tasty to boot! Good food and good customer service!

I have to give a major shout out to the team at Rockford Olive Garden. I called earlier in the week wondering (and assuming the answer would be no) if they could possibly accommodate our out of state BMX team- about 50 people. Much to my surprise- and appreciation, the manager on that day (I forget her name unfortunately) gave me an absolute yes and assured me they could handle that! We followed up together a day before to confirm and she had even gone ahead and made sure they had enough staff and was confident they could handle such a large group. Once we got there Saturday- they were ready on time for us and made sure we knew we were taken care of. Very professional management (Suzie and Adolfo) and our wait staff was efficient and timely (Kaitlyn, Dominique, Kristy, Cody & Nija). They had a really organized system to assure all families got the correct bill given our families and kids were all spread out in this large group. Everything went truly better than expected. In a world where the answer is often a “no” this group gave us an enthusiastic yes and did a great job! Thanks again for an amazing experience! Highly recommend this place to others looking for large group accommodations.

I love the NEVER ENDING pasta 🍝 Bowl. With never ending first course of soup or salad.🥗 And breadsticks 🥖. 😍 Drinks are awesome 🍹🧉🍸. Holly went above and beyond. 👩🏼‍💼excellent customer service. Highly recommended. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

Went there to celebrate my 70th birthday. What a mistake! They sat us near the restrooms in the noisy back where the delivery orders were picked up, in spite of the fact that the restaurant was virtually empty at 5:30 PM. Very unappetizing and not the way we wanted to celebrate. Our server took a long time to take our order. Our drinks took forever to arrive (over 20 minutes) & one was obviously not what we ordered (wrong liquor, wrong color, & wrong glass). As others have pointed out, after a long wait for our drinks, our food was delivered all at once and there was no room on the tiny table. The food was good but not great, especially given the ambiance and poor service. And expensive to boot. Not at all a good celebration. Won't be going back.

Olive Garden is a Rockford masterpiece. Yes, I realize it’s a franchise but their staff is so charming! Huge shout out to our server Davian B. I hope he gets a promotion because he rocked it. He made our dining experience so fun. He was witty, had banter, and gave really yummy menu recommendations. My friend and I were celebrating our baptismal ceremony since we’re both getting baptized together and he made our lunch so memorable. Even snapped some photos for us! I give you guys 5 stars, 2 thumbs up, and a chef’s kiss.

Our food was great. Watch and count your change upon paying. Our bill was under $30.00. My husband paid with a $100.00 bill. He received back the amount Our bill was. We were to get $72 and some change. Nope when he told the server, she was not even flustered. Opps let me get you the correct change. Hmmmm. We wondered how often that happens. Count your change if you use cash.

This is concerning the East State Location Rockford, IL !!!BAD MANAGEMENT!!! The Food is decent for a chain Italian Restaurant. The Service can be Great *IF* the Management isn't cutting corners so short to so-called save on Payroll. On 3-20-25 a friend & I had went to the Olive Garden in Rockford, IL (off of E. State) . We were seated by the Hostess within 10min. (the restaurant had no more than 5 Tables of Customers. The rest was empty. Waitress was at table in decent timing to take our order but it took quite long for her to bring our Soups&Salad we ordered. We really started to wonder where she & the other Waitresses & Front Staff members kept disappearing to. Soon after we were waiting for over 15min. for her to check on us we noticed the very few other Front Staff workers were there all bussing Tables, in the Kitchen Doing Dishes Kitchen etc. I was aware that they had always had a buss staff normally at any of the other Olive Gardens so where were their buss people? I asked the Waitress if they were short staffed. She replied "Oh No! I apologize for the lack of attentiveness to your Table...Management at this particular Olive Garden out of 3 others I have worked at (over the yrs. living in other states) doesn't believe in keeping Table buss people on staff during the afternoon. We are told it's just not busy enough to keep them on their Shift for any longer & then we are made to do all the bussing, Dish Washing, reseting of Tables & do the prepping of our customers soups, Salads etc.". She wasn't making excuses for her lacking in any way. We saw she was hustling around as fast as she could. Then I asked if she had to split all her tips w/ the buss people that come in for the dinner rush even w/o them being there working prior to their shift & she said Yes! I felt so bad for the Wait Staff! It's NOT acceptable by any means to steal from the Wait Staff & make them give *their own* hard earned $ to people that are not even on Staff yet! Great Work Ethic ethic eh!?!

Even though we waited for 20ish minutes, we had very good service after. The waitress was so attentive and the food came out relatively quick. All of it was delicious!

It's boiler plate franchise but the service got us at 2 stars. Totally for the elder crowd that's got nothing else going on for the day as this will be a highlight for them. I just wanted soup and salad with blue cheese and learned there's only ranch or house. Color me shocked. The parking and entry isn't the greatest as the entry portion confused my party. I expected a wait at 5p Saturday for middle America but what's the point of bringing anyone to the table when the server is swamped or can't manage their section? 6 minutes to order and badabing 9 more minutes for water. Another wait for salad and soup. No hot food. Nothing fancy or special. Just standard fare. I should've grabbed anything so I'm less stressed to get some calories and maybe I could manage this outing better. For now, I'm too old for such and I write this to remind myself in case future expectations lead me to try again.

We arrived for an early lunch and found the bar area busy but the rest of the restaurant quiet. The bartender was training, but she did a great job. Being in training service was slower but she was trying her best. The bartender was covering both server wells, customers in the bar area and the bar. To much for one person. The manager was only visible when she came out to take a phone call at the host station. Management should have been supportive of the training. The food was great as always at Olive Garden. Love the gnocchi soup.. The restaurant appeared clean, but the bathrooms need work. The locks on the stalls are broken.

I really like this location. I've been here 2-3 times since moving to Rockford. The staff is always friendly, service is quick, never a problem with the food. I fell in love with the pumpkin cheesecake I received for my birthday a few months ago. This place is consistently good. I forgot the name of my first waitress, but yesterday Liz was filled with positivity and fun energy, she was great.

Very good food And the Waiters were very nice. Great lighting too. It's almost as good as other places but I would recommend

Called to make a reservation for a party of 10 for dinner celebrating 3 graduations this weekend. Was told I had to call day of, not day before. Called day of and was told they only take reservations 24 hours in advance. What the heck??? Was put on the call ahead list. Showed up and still had to wait over 35 mins to get seated while the place was totally empty. Had a party of 10. Told waitress it was a split bill. 5 people each ticket. We were assigned 2 servers, one for each set of 5 people. Took 20 mins to just get our drink order taken. 3 of the 10 drinks were messed up and incorrect. We were given tea instead of lemonade. Took over 15 mins for corrected drinks to be brought. Were given 5 bread sticks and 1 bowl of salad for a table of 10. One member in our party ordered cheese sticks and meatballs for their main meal instead of a traditional meal. Because of dietary medical Issues, asked for them to be brought as an appetizer so we expected them earlier than the meals. They received their complete order before anyone else received as much as our drinks. It took almost an hour to get our food. 5 bowls of chicken gnocci soup at this table and not one have more than 1 gnocci in the soup. 2 meals were barely luke warm, another meal was inedible and had to be sent back. The chicken was rubbery and could not even been bitten through. It was sent back and taken off the bill. I didn't reorder another meal as by the time they came back to check how our food was, almost everyone was done w their meals. It would've been another hour to get a replacement. I ate some more salad and just went home hungry. When we accessed the check it had not been split. We had to wait yet more for that to be done. Possibly the worst customer service in a restaurant I have ever had. We will not be returning to this location again

Excellent service at the bar. Food was very good! The ambiance isn't that great. At least not at the bar. Didn't have the feeling of a bar. Too bright and cold feeling.

I called the restaurant today because I have 6 adults at home Sick from 17 and up and I specifically ordered the gallon size zuppa it had kale and healthy broth. I get home and there is one slice of potato and the rest is juice. 3 bites of kale so I had to add my own 2 bags of kale and 2 boxes of spinach to bulk this up $50 and it was useless. Disappointing. Will not trust them!

Family friendly. Clean. Great food. The breadsticks are complimentary and plentiful. Started out with a great bottle of Pinot Noir. Staff is very friendly and accommodating. I had the Tour of Italy. Awesome! We were on the early dine menu so the wait was minimal. Prices were very reasonable. Nice sized parking!

Absolutely fabulous catered dinner from Olive Garden last Sunday. It was a birthday celebration and we decided to have it at home. Wonderful experience. Food was very well packaged and hot when we got it. Plenty of everything and very good price. Recommend everyone try this service.

I had desinteg as my server and she was the sweetest of all time. The spaghetti was so grand, and I had a bit of a wait time but it was worth the wait !

Went there for my birthday main dish was fine. Order take homes and they were half the usual amount. Normal you get to pick your desert id it is your birthday. Not this time they gave us some sort of dry donut thing that you had to dip in some sauces on the side. Over charging for PASTA and now getting cheap about it? Disappointed.

It's a chain but the food is consistently good. Service is always prompt and not too chatty or trying to upsell you on everything. I'm addicted to alfredo and breadsticks so I'll be coming back.

This restaurant is a great place to go after a day of shopping. Relaxing atmosphere and you can eat something light like soup and salad or order a meat or pasta dish. Great variety, but you must have bread sticks with your choice of sauce to dip in. The peach Raspberry ice tea is my favorite, but you might enjoy a glass of wine. Our waiter was very good and made sure we had plenty to eat. You can get more breadsticks or salad. Reastaurant was clean, including the restrooms, and staff were all friendly and accomidating. The parking lot is big but they are busy. This is right on State Street and next to some great stores to shop at. Make time to relax and enjoy a good some lunch.

Went there for my 70th birthday, and I've been there for other birthdays. This was sad, informed the staff and nothing happened. The food was good, not crowded at all, but keep hearing, "We are so busy." Nice looking place, bathroom clean.

Just like the rest of reviews for this place their service, food and cleanliness all are very disappointing. We wanted to order a single soup and split it between the kids. Of course we won't be asking for refills. But they just refused. Got to show some consideration for people! Skip this location in Rockford. We have been to some other good locations but this one was a bad experience.

One should never expect to have a gourmet Italian meal at Olive Garden, but, it's usually better than it was today. Service was off and so was the food. My daughter's Mac n cheese was inedible and my salad was sad and wilted. The soup tasted fine, but the veggies were too large, and they needed to be cut prior to be eating. Not worth a 20 minute wait for a table.

The food here is always amazing, as well as the workers. They always are friendly and check up on tables often. It's always clean and not really noisy, which I love. Amazing place to take your significant other for a meal.

pattie was so nice!! The food was also great with speedy and easy service. A great time for the whole family

Food was good. Sane as we remember. But, the big star was our waiter. His customer service skills were tops. This was the night President Trump was almost assassinated. Will never forget when the news popped up on our phones. Terribly sad for our country.

Service was good, food was bad. I ordered fettuccine Alfredo that came with chicken, the chicken was bad, and the texture was terrible. The interior or "ambiance" was alright but other than that I would say it's not as good as it used to be since the chicken seemed like it was microwaved.

Me and good bro Leon came here after one of our missions cause we were very hungry after all that hard work. We enjoyed it very much so. Leon even insisted we go back again sometime. We like to get the seafood Alfredo cause we like seafood so much we snack on shrimp before, during and after our bro time. you're shrimp is S Tier for sure. my personal #1 favorite in the market. ~ Chad Redfield

amazing food. Sony was a pleasure to have as a waiter; very attentive, friendly, and offered help to my handicapped father if needed:)

they sell just frozen foods and low quality. their products are not fresh.. When complain they were rude in response. Thy tend to do this when u taking togo. I do not know what they do for dine in. Their bowls are soo frozen that it take about 30mins to get it in a eating condition.

Only 3 stars because something bad has happened to their breadsticks. Harder and dryer now than moist and softer like they used to be, lacking the great flavorful topping they had. Hardly any buttery stuff on them now!

Absolutely horrible experience. Today I had a craving for the unlimited breadsticks at Olive Garden. I decided to head over and get some grub. I personally love pasta and coming from someone who has very close Italian family friends, pasta is a must have entree. I'm more of a marinara guy to be honest; Alfredo on the other hand makes me want to strap C4 to my chest and go boom -- it really is a lazy excuse for pasta. Anyways I ordered the rigatoni with meat sauce and meatballs. The meatballs were good as usual, large and beefy. The meat sauce was pretty good minus a few tomato lumps which I can understand the appeal of, however I'm not a fan. Typically the rigatoni has a very soft and pleasing texture. Contradictory to that, the rigatoni was absolutely horrendous. The noodles were extremely undercooked and especially cold -- I'm sure those factors had a play in each other. Now it would have been a simple task to inform my waitress of the sin of noodle that was laying on my table, however I was on a time crunch and I was very hungry. So I was forced to chow down and keep quiet. And you would think that the waitress would have stopped by to ask how the food was but she was absent until I swallowed the rocks with sauce. She brought me the check and I paid as it was my duty as a customer.

If I could give 0 stars I would, it's Veterans Day and my husband is a veteran. Went on the their app to join the waitlist and when got called on and seated. Sat at our table waiting over 25mins for a waitress. Host sat a couple next to us and the waitress went to them. We lost our shit and left!!! Never coming back here and was sad that my husband who's a veteran couldn't get a meal on Veterans Day!

Today was a sub par visit, I'm sad to say. Showed up a few minutes earlier than my friend, but they seated me anyway. I waited and a server said something to me in passing. The the hostess came and asked if anyone took my drink order. I sad no. She quickly grabbed two waters. I asked for iced tea as well, she said that would be coming. My friend arrived. No server to be found, seems there was some confusion on which server had our table. Finally a server arrived, she took our order quickly, brought out our salad and soup. I noticed immediately that the soup didn't taste quite right. I had the salad and it was extremely overdressed and extremely salty... I've never had this issue of extreme saltiness. And normally, you can hardly see the dressing on the salad. My plate was filled with dressing. We asked for another bowl. Same thing. We quickly finished and waited for the server to bring our ticket. Waited for 15 minutes, so I asked to speak to the manager. He knew there was a problem and apologized for not addressing it. He comped one of our meals. Upon arriving home, my friend became violently ill, spent the rest of the day hugging the toilet.

Shockingly bad service from a restaurant we've gone to for the longest time. Told a 10 minute wait, which turned into an hour with no clear explanation,l. Finally get seated and no one showed up for 15 minutes, they take out drink order and another 15 minutes before we get those. All considered I don't foresee this place keeping its doors open much longer if things don't change. We gave them another shot just last night seeing as the parking lot and restaurant looked relatively slow. Walk in and ask wait time, they said 25 minutes so we decided to go somewhere else due to what happened the last time. Before we even hit the sidewalk we heard the hostess tell the same sized party that was behind us in line it would be a 45 minute wait. Crazy

Food was tainted. I've eaten here two times in the last year. Each time I got food poisoning. From talking to the Winnebago County Health Department food poisoning from this establishment is a common theme. This is the McDonalds of Italian...............

Cari was amazing , yesterday I visited this restaurant and phenomenal food and service. Cari was definitely the highlight of my afternoon, Such a sweet person excellent customer service 10/10 would definitely come back again because of cari .

I remember the days of long ago when eating at Olive Garden was a weekly delight. Great staff, fabulous food, and very comfortable atmosphere. That all began to change in 2018 and slowly went downhill. it got so bad at my last visit that I no longer even try. I have never once seen a waitress in training being introduced and monitored by another at my table or any other. I suspect that is why service became so awful that my last visit brought my dinner 30 minutes after ordering it any my glass of wine , which I ordered at first visit by the waitress being finally delivered after I had finished my meal and stood up to leave. Yes, my water glass had long been empty, and no one came by my table to check. Sometimes you just need to move on and not look back.

Let's face it . You've (probably) been to Olive Garden, I've been to Olive Garden. I've been coming here since my preteen years. While it doesn't feel nearly as fancy as I first recall, the place has remained pretty consistent for the last 2 decades. You know what you're generally getting coming here. At the end of the day, its always the Zupa Tuscana soup that I come for, and that's what will keep me coming back. With a restaurant like this, you almost have to take opinions with a grain of salt. Service level fluctuates with staff turnover. That's just the way it is for a long standing chain establishment and this one is no exception. Will the place knock your socks off? No. Have I had a bad meal here? Not really... especially not to the point where I'd remember. I'd still take a casual date here.

Terrible service. Had a waitress who not only messed up our order and served late cold food, but also others around us. There were people who were seated after us and were able to complete their whole experience before us. I asked for an extra order of shrimp along with my steak Alfredo and received what looked like shrimp that was microwaved right out of the bag. I'm not one to rant, but very unacceptable. I was not going to pay for extra shrimp that looks like this. The waitress even pointed out that the shrimp was not seasoned. Didn't even want to take it.

Got there they said 20 minutes wait ; sat down 20 minutes great! Then I saw they sat us at a table that the previous customers left without eating; do not know how long they waited; after waiting 10 minutes a guy waiter said did anyone help you yet I said no; he said I will tell your waitress 5 minutes more goes by her first words were did you just sit down at this table (WOW) I said no I was seated 15 minutes earlier; Now I ordered my food no bacon no peppers. She brought it out put in front of me & I said no peppers again she said that's correct takes in back 2 minutes later back no peppers but they missed some under the chicken; this place has problems!!!

Wait 35 min for lunch. We are finally seated, walk by 2 roomsy approximately 16 tables empty. There was no lack of wait staff. Such bullshit. They turned away several patrons as they said not worth it. I'm Agreeing. Won't be back to this McDonald's of Italian restaurants. this was def not a covid issue

I've been to Olive Garden Many times. The breadsticks are great! They let me get zucchini noodles with shrimp for the create your own pasta menu even though it wasn't one of the options so that was really nice!

Worst customer service! No waitresses, but tons of hostess standing around in the front!

This was the most costly meal we have ever ate. While it wasn't because of the food, it was because of the incident that happened afterwards. Let me start by saying the food was awesome, and the service was phenomenal. We left with full and satisfied bellies. However, we get to our vehicle and find our vehicle on a brick and our whole wheel missing(lug nuts and all). While I'm sure there isn't a protocol for this, the manager was super sympathetic... but that's all they were. There aren't any cameras in the parking lot, and to our knowledge nobody seen what was going on. How does an establishment like this not have cameras, at the very least for the safety of their employees leaSo, we get back to the parking lot (where it's freezing)and there were employees walking out in groups to "check it out", once again I'm sure it doesn't happen everyday, and they were all sympathetic as well. This was just the most frustrating experience I have ever experienced. Furthermore, they took down our information and I'm not sure why? They haven't contacted us or anything since the incident. Moral of the story, I'm sure this doesn't happen all the time, however we will no longer patronize this specific location. We travel 35 mins to eat here, and It's not a good feeling to spend $60+ on a meal, and then another $500 on a new wheel and tire. UPDATE: Olive Garden has since been in contact with us, they have been super sympathetic and apologetic. We appreciate them reaching out and showing concern. They have done everything to make the situation right. We can't thank them enough.

Food was excellent; that was not the problem. Everything else was the problem! We were seated waaaaay in the back of the PARTY ROOM, where there was a GIANT party going on! (I didn't even know they had a party room, which is fine if you are one of the people "in the party," but totally sucks if you are not)! The people in the party were incredibly loud and there was a baby shrieking half the time. Not only that, we seemed to be forgotten, since we were way in the back of this room, tucked into the corner. We called ahead of time for reservations, and this is what we get? They forgot our breadsticks, water, and appetizer...we had three different waiters (for some reason) and it was just incredibly UNrelaxing!!!! One reason I usually love the Olive Garden, is that it's such an incredibly chill place to eat. Where was the nice Italian music? The only "music" we could hear was a crying baby and a giant loud party! I've been feeling so irritated ever since we got home. I used to love the Olive Garden! I would always rave about it to everyone! Now, unfortunately, I don't feel like going back. It's a shame....

I was staying at hotel near to Olive Garden Rockford, IL. I ordered Shrimp Alfredo to pick up & go. Three minutes back to hotel. Also ordered breadsticks and marinara dip. Opened packages and breadsticks were superb! The Alfredo Shrimp was like a "solid paste cake"! Trying to eat it with the totally flimsy plastic fork was impossible. I gave up and just ate the shrimp and "bits of fake shrimp". Not impressed. Will not reorder EVER. So much for their ad about dipping your breadsticks in any extra Alfredo sauce!

horrible service horrible waiter screamed at us as we walked out the door telling us our order wasn't paid for when it was paid for just all bad experience will never come back again

The staff is very nice. The food is always amazing and the service is wonderful. The manager walks around and asks how everyones food is. It's a wonderful place to eat

I enjoy coming to the Olive garden. The staff is friendly. The all you can eat soup and salad is great for a hot or cold day. I like the egg plant parmesan it's very good. They have a variety of good selections on their menu.

The service was great as well as the food! We got there are 8:30 and the hostess at the front told us it would possibly be a 1 1/2 to 2 hour wait but it was only 20 minutes. It was a very nice last meal with my family before I had to head back home to San Diego. We have been there multiple times and every time we are so pleased. Thank you!

You only get 2 olives in your salad at "Olive Garden." Doesn't make sense. The food is fabulous. Believe me.

Very disappoint visit. We normally love coming here but not today. It was my daughters 21st bday, i mentioned it to the lady seating us who said she will tell server. Took 15 min for waitress to come to table to take drink orders, the 25 min to get drinks, took order and disappeared for awhile. Finally came out with soup/salads forgot 2 salad plates, only brought 4 breadstick when 5 of us there. 2 min later our food was there. My spinach/artichoke dip was burnt. And gross, took forever for refills on drinks. She took forever to cash us out seeing our kiosk didn't work. Not once heard anything about my daughters bday! I feel so bad for my daughter, thus was her choice for her 21st bday meal! Time to find another restaurant.

Best Olive Garden around in the area, even better than the one in Janesville! Food is delicious and workers are amazing!