Olive Garden Italian Restaurant See bottom for locations and maps You might also be interested in these:     Italian Food Restaurants   Add Review       1000 Memorial City Mall, Houston, Texas 77024  713.973.6287 MY REVIEW: You know, i have to say that most of these reviews are out of line. every restaurant has its bad moments. that is simplya fact, and happens wherever you go. As for prices and portions-Look around people!!! the economy is not in a great state. as gas prices go up, so does delivery charges for the businesses. unless the business world is expected to take hit after hit, they will eventually have to raise their prices. if this concept is too hard for you to handle-chances are that you are better off going to m*cdonalds and ordering off of their dollar menu. NAME: happyguy SUBMITTED: 10/9/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 10/08 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times 1000 Memorial City Mall, Houston, Texas 77024  713.973.6287 MY REVIEW: How far we have come.... By far the worst location for a long time, the Memorial City Mall location has shown us that with a new attitude and some amazing new staff anything is possible. My wife and I recently had no choice but to dine there or starve. Reluctantly we entered. A new look, promising staff, and a passion for success has paid off with interest. Not only was I waiter fun and motivated but the food was stellar. Presentation of my Sicilian Scampi marvelous. My wife had a very specific modifed order and was so pleased with the night we have been back 5 times in the last week and a half. We are so happy with the Olive Garden that we will continue to go back every week. Thanks again "Joe" for the amazing service We will ask for you by name! NAME: Howard and Janet SUBMITTED: 8/26/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 08/08 FREQUENCY: Everybody here knows my name... 1000 Memorial City Mall, Houston, Texas 77024  713.973.6287 MY REVIEW: If mediocre food and long wait turns you on, then this is the place for you. I've tried this place twice. The first time, I had the spaghetti and meatball with the whole-wheat pasta since it really takes talent to mess-up this simple dish. And even though I went after the lunch rush (after 1:30), it took nearly 30 minutes for it to come out, and it was cold (not warm or tepid) - cold. The salad that comes with it had no green on the lettuce and probably not even a tablespoon of dressing. The second time, I had the chicken parmigiana wiht a side order of spaghetti with whole wheat noodle which it took them over 40 minutes to prepare. It was NOT worth the wait. Try to imagine an oversized MacDonald chicken MacNuggat painted with tomato sauce and sprinkle with 3 for 4 bits of cheese and you have what was served to me. Not only was it bad, they forget the spaghetti and it took them even longer to bring that out. In fairness I have place the blame squarely with the kitchen staff. The waiter on both occasions was courteous and obviously was try her best. I just wish I can find a Italian restaurant in this city that has both good service AND good food, but it seems you only get one or the other in this town In fairness to the waiter, she was friendly and promptly refill my tea NAME: Rick SUBMITTED: 7/5/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 7/1/2008 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times 2808 Smith Ranch Rd, Pearland, Texas 77584  713.436.2813 MY REVIEW: I'd say 50-50 here. The food is still good as the kitchen staff must follow the company receipes, but the staff is too young and/or untrained. The managers are also too young so they don't enforce professionalism. They're too busy being "friends" with the hostesses or waitstaff. The food is great but the prices are kind of high considering what you have to put up with to get it to your table. Whatever happened to Customer Service and putting a little coin into properly training your waitstaff? Are today's kids that clueless that they wouldn't mind being treated the way they treat us if the shoes were on the other feet???? NAME: Yellow Rose SUBMITTED: 4/23/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: December, 2007 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times 9080 SW Fwy, Houston, Texas 77074  713.774.0198 MY REVIEW: The Olive Garden has been one of our favorite restaurants for many years. If they had qualified onsite on on-floor management that could witness unhappy customers the problems would become obvious to them. It has reached the point that the service is bad each and every time we go. My wife loves the chicken marsala, orders it every time and has been very pleased. As for me, their salad was exceptional. But last night was so bad that we will not go back by ourselves or with the many friends we have taken there. As far as the service...let's just say we must have gotten a waiter that started his job 10 minutes before we sat down. After about 15 minutes I got up, asked an employee if someone would wait on us. When the waiter came my wife ordered the chicken Marsala and I ordered just the salad. The salad finally came, but it took us 10 minutes to have someone bring us a glass of water. I had told my wife that if the salad was as bad as it had been for the past several visits, we would not go there any more......I was unhappy and the waiter finally got the message ... we were a table of 2 but in the same small room he was the sole waiter for a table of 8 or ten people. What, for many years, used to be a delicious salad had become too much lettuce (in large pieces) very little tomato and onion and the dressing (which always made their salads tasty) had become 90% water. It seems obvious to me that there is no consciencious and caring management.....If there was just one employee that seemed to care how their customers liked their visit there, I would have loved to tell him my opinion. My viewpoint was not just reached from our visit last night, but just over probably the last 10 times we ate there. The long lines in the evenings on Saturday and Sunday will not continue being as long..............in my opinion. NAME: Buddy SUBMITTED: 4/6/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: April 3, 2008 FREQUENCY: Everybody here knows my name... 7525 FM 1960 Rd W, Houston, Texas 77070  281.890.0784 MY REVIEW: I'm sorry to see people's bad experiences with Olive Garden, as my husband and I went and had a great meal. The decor was a little old fashioned with rolling chairs, but I thought the food was good, and service fine. I actually look forward to going again for some basic Italian no frills food. The breadsticks were great, salad tasty and pasta great. No complaints! NAME: LoveGoodFood SUBMITTED: 1/4/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: November 2007 FREQUENCY: Visited once 1010 Old Spanish Trail, Houston, Texas 77054  713.665.6373 MY REVIEW: The quality of the food and the level of service has really declined. The price has gotten higher but the food is marginal at best. They discontinued the San Remo dip, which was really good....how dumb! The bread is too hard. The pasta is dry like they fix it and put it under a oven. The lasagna is greasy. I don't think I would return, even if I had a free voucher. NAME: TWheeler SUBMITTED: 11/24/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 10/2007 FREQUENCY: Visited 4-6 times 7525 FM 1960 Rd W, Houston, Texas 77070  281.890.0784 MY REVIEW: What is Olive Garden thinking? After shopping we were really hungry and we had dinner. I have to practicaly be rich to dine here. Sodas are way to expensive $2.35 each! Olive Garden increased their prices tooooo much. WE will not be returning. NAME: NickyRam SUBMITTED: 9/13/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: One month ago FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times 9080 SW Fwy, Houston, Texas 77074  713.774.0198 MY REVIEW: I had not been to an Olive Garden in quite some time due to the wide variety of non-franchise type restaurants here in Houston. Today, I was simply in the mood for a basic creamy chicken or seafood & pasta dish. I thought perhaps Olive Garden could handle this order easily, so I went in for an early dinner hoping to miss any rush that they might have. The quality has declined. The salad was similar to my memories of it. The bread sticks had declined, they are now harder, gummier, and flavorless. I ordered Seafood al Fredo. The creamy sauce was ok, the pasta was ok, basic, but the shrimp and scallops were much smaller and poorer than I have had anywhere. The entree size was a little skimpy. It looked a bit more like a side order from other restaurants. Just a few more strands of pasta ( how cheap is that?) could have filled out the empty spots in the bottom of the bowl. The service was barely utilitarian. I was placed in the back room where the employees were camped out on thier breaks or after work, this did not add to my relaxation. The server never seemed to make eye contact. It seemed that I was interfering with her time that she wished to do something else. I did get the items I requested. The server seemed to be rushing me at the end, and then finally told me that she wanted to cash out. Not sure what I had to do with this, I had already given her my credit card and reviewed the receipt and left a moderate tip. I left 15%, Had the service been better, I expect that I would have left more, in spite of the food quality which is outside of the server's power. I was drinking my coffee and relaxing. Before I was to fight the traffic and my next adventures. I expect it will be quite a while before I think of visiting an Olive Garden again. Oh, yes, getting into and out of the ladies room was inconvenient. One of the servers was crowded into the entryway to the restroom making her personal cellphone long conversations. The paper towel dispenser was very dirty and dingy. I have no confidence that the facility was clean. However the soap dispenser did dispense generous amounts of handsoap, which was nice. NAME: Deirdre SUBMITTED: 6/26/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 6/25/2007 FREQUENCY: Visited once 10830 Hwy 290, Houston, Texas 77040  713.682.1465 MY REVIEW: ordered the combo appetizer -- calamari and cheese sticks were dry. Partner had the combo main course (lasagna, fett alfredo, chicken parm) -- it was OK, a little dry. I had the pizza, it was good. Loved the spicy sausage soup.....Service was poor. Overall, not a good value NAME: Tigger SUBMITTED: 4/9/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 04/07 FREQUENCY: Visited once 12711 Gulf Fwy, Houston, Texas 77034  281.922.1523 MY REVIEW: My family and I come to Olive Garden frequently in a large group as the restaurant is always very accommodating and we all enjoy the variety of food, including the children. On our most recent visit, we were seated a table for 8 while we had 9 in our party. When we pointed out to the hostess that the table wasn't big enough for a party of 9, she went up and whispered to another hostess who seemed to think this was very funny. We were just left to stand there while they were cracking up over their own private joke. We didn't mind waiting for a table large enough to accommodate 9, but didn't like the behavior of the young ladies who were acting as hostesses. While waiting we were privy to a lot of information about these young ladies social lives. Not entirely professional. The rest of our visit was wonderful - the food was excellent, the waiter was extremely attentative and the atmosphere was wonderful. We will be back, but I do hope that management takes care of the issue they have around the hostesses station. NAME: chyanna SUBMITTED: 12/27/2006   LAST VISIT WAS: 12/2006 FREQUENCY: Visited 4-6 times 2750 Hwy 6, Houston, Texas 77082  281.531.8829 MY REVIEW: We've been visiting this Olive Garden location every 4-6 weeks for about 2 years -- it's less than a mile from home. They started out ok, decent food, pretty good service, but the place has steadily deteriorated over the last year. The food portions are inconsistent and the service has gone from pretty good to downright lousy. Last tried to eat there 12/15/06 (a Friday). We arrived at about 6:30pm and were seated almost immediately -- the place wasn't as busy as usual. Once seated, we waited nearly 10 minutes for a girl to "welcome" us, mutter our waiter's name and take our drink orders. Another 10 minutes passed without seeing her or the waiter. Another couple was then seated next to us, "welcomed" immediately and quickly visited by a waiter. That was enough for me. Our drinks were arriving as we were leaving. Management didn't seem interested in hearing any complaints. We've experienced slow service there before, but had been willing to chalk it up to this being a busy restaurant. Not any more. We plan to enjoy the other Italian restaurants in the area and will NOT be visiting Olive Garden again. NAME: Tinman856 SUBMITTED: 12/21/2006   LAST VISIT WAS: 12/06 FREQUENCY: Everybody here knows my name... 2750 Hwy 6, Houston, Texas 77082  281.531.8829 MY REVIEW: I have enjoyed previous visits to other Olive Garde restaurants. This was not at all my experience this time. It began with the waiter coming to the table to mumble the required pitch, which was not at all understandable. A hard act to follow but the food was barely warm, the waiter did not return to the table for 20 minutes, and i lost my appetite...the complaint to management fell on deaf ears as it appeared my comments were getting in the way of her social life...to sum up my latest dining experience, i'll have to be extremely hungry to ever go back! NAME: Brian Jenkins SUBMITTED: 10/31/2006   LAST VISIT WAS: October 2006 FREQUENCY: Visited once 9632 FM 1960 Bypass Rd W, Humble, Texas 77338  281.446.1692 MY REVIEW: Everytime my family has gone to this Olive Garden, the service and food has been awful. The servers are rude and seemed almost "bothered" by their customers. They would rather spend their time talking and laughing with each other. The management is non apparent. On our last visit as we walked to our table, we over heard a waitress make a comment about my son's size..yes he is big, but most high school defensive linemen are. She made a rude comment about the "all you can eat" pasta and my son. After hearing the comment, we immediately turned and walked out. We will not return. NAME: P Gloyd SUBMITTED: 10/20/2006   LAST VISIT WAS: 09/2006 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times 9080 SW Fwy, Houston, Texas 77074  713.774.0198 MY REVIEW: i normally love italian food but last time i went it the service was horrible.. i did not have a great experience there. my friend and i wanted for nearly 20 minutes just to get our bread and salad. We ordered an appetizer and it never came our food was good but i really think olive garden should consider hiring more people or more experience people. it was not even busy. lets just say it will be that last time i go to that location. NAME: Not Pleased SUBMITTED: 8/17/2006   LAST VISIT WAS: 2 weeks ago FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times 1000 Memorial City Mall, Houston, Texas 77024  713.973.6287 MY REVIEW: Excellent restaurant! Quick seating and attention by our waiter brought the breadsticks and drinks. Our waiter was quick and always either walking by to check the table or actually asking if we needed anything. Quick service on the food. The fare was delicious. The atmosphere was typical Olive Garden, warm and welcoming with enough space between you and the other diners for quiet talk. I enjoyed the dining experience and will be going again tonight. NAME: John W. SUBMITTED: 8/8/2006   LAST VISIT WAS: July 2006 FREQUENCY: Visited 4-6 times 7525 FM 1960 Rd W, Houston, Texas 77070  281.890.0784 MY REVIEW: Wow, this place is hopping as far as service goes. Ask for MAX to be your server, my husband and I were very pleased, he was attentive without being obtrusive. The food was good as always, but this is by far the best service we've had in a long time at any restaurant. NAME: Crabzilla SUBMITTED: 7/12/2006   LAST VISIT WAS: 7/06 FREQUENCY: Visited 4-6 times 2808 Smith Ranch Rd, Pearland, Texas 77584  713.436.2813 MY REVIEW: The Olive Garden at Pearland has not yet had cannelloni on the menu. So, the cannelloni was obviously not cold in the middle, as it was not in the restaurant. Dumb. NAME: realist SUBMITTED: 6/13/2006   LAST VISIT WAS: June 2006 FREQUENCY: Everybody here knows my name... 2808 Smith Ranch Rd, Pearland, Texas 77584  713.436.2813 MY REVIEW: Service was not good. The waiter we had forgot the appetizer AND the salad and breadsticks then served it all with the entrees. Another waiter was rude and standing behind my chair talking to another waiter, even though I said "excuse me" twice to get him to move so I could get up. He finally said "can I help you" and I had to ask him to move. The food was so-so. Not great, not bad. I had the shrimp primavera and the sauce was salty. Another party member had the canneloni and it was cold in the middle. Another had the crab and shrimp ravioli and said it was just ok. As always, their salad was excellent. Sometimes I think it's worth the aggrivation just to go for the salad. I hope they improve with time, since this is a new location, but I probably won't go back for a year to give them time to mature. NAME: Dorothy SUBMITTED: 4/27/2006   LAST VISIT WAS: 04/06 FREQUENCY: Visited once 18976 Gulf Fwy, Friendswood, Texas 77546  281.488.1022 MY REVIEW: Service: It was pathetic. Was told the wait would be 20-25 minutes long. A half hour passed and we patiently waited for our table, even though there wasn't that many customers. After 40 minute wait, checked with the host (was goofing around with the other staff members). He said they are still waiting on large groups to leave. A member of my party went around the restaurant to see how crowded it was. There were several tables large enough to accommodate our party of 4 adults and 2 kids in various pockets of the building. After an hour wait, we finally got seated. 10-15 minutes later, a waiter finally came by to ask for our drink order. Are they kidding me? They had to realized how upset we were on the wait and to top off things off with more waiting. Food: Was decent when it finally arrived -- lukewarm but edible. Salad came but the waiter didn't offered if there was anything else we wanted. The waiter said the breadsticks were still baking in the oven so we waited on that. Just placed the salad on the table and took off. 15 minutes passed when he finally came back to serve us our entrees. Asked about the breadsticks and he looked at our table as if we didn't see them. That's when he finally realized he never brought any out. Ran to the kitchen and came back with some breadsticks. As we're eating, the staff started cleaning up the other tables around us and getting ready to close the restaurant. We completely lost our appetite then. The long delay in seating us and serving our food just got us fuming and to feel rushed to eat when we finally got our food was IT for us. Finally asked to talk to the manager the place. Management: Don't know which was worse -- the over all service or the management's response to our complaints. Asked to talk to the manager and after 10 min. of waiting, asked what was holding him up. The staff said he had to finish up some paperwork. Ok, I guess his paperwork was more "important" and couldn't wait while some very disappointed customers was anxiously waiting to speak to him, I guess. When he finally did showed up, told him how poor the service was and the lack of attention to details from the food and staff was unacceptable. After hearing us complained, he sheepessly offered to take care of our bill. Made it known to him that we're not complaining to get a "free meal". We said that we're willing to pay the bill but wanted him to know what we experienced at his restaurant. After taking care of our bill, he didn't even have the nerve to return to see us and sent a staff to give us the receipt to sign instead. Very bad people skill in my opinion. NAME: Disappointed customer SUBMITTED: 3/27/2006   LAST VISIT WAS: March/06 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times 26715 Interstate 45, Spring, Texas 77380  281.363.1288 MY REVIEW: WE attended in a party of 10, having called in advance they did have our table ready, which is about where the good service ended. We were advised that there were no onions for our salad bowl (yet onions were in dishes requiring onions for the entrees). Secondly: not enough salad was served for 10 people, considering this is supposed to be an endless supply 1 person didn't have salad yet 3 people waited for over 10 minutes for more to come inspite of the fact that 2 people were "supposedly" serving us. thirdly: the regular iced time was barely colored water, again inspite of them replacing it..and when asked to have it removed from the check we arrived home and realized that it wasn't removed. The entrees were all very good. The dessert middle of the road for such a high price, and the serving were smaller than in the past. We were all rather agravated and my husband and i again said why do we spend our hard earned money at such a place when there are so many good places to eat at in The Woodlands. NAME: nanwyn SUBMITTED: 12/9/2005   LAST VISIT WAS: 12/05 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times 2750 Hwy 6, Houston, Texas 77082  281.531.8829 MY REVIEW: LOVE IT! I always get TOGO and i have to say that they are right on the second when they say that its going to be ready. The youung man (Barry is think his name is) that i always talk to is always on top of things and is so friendly that it does make me feel like family when i go in there, just as they say on the tv commercails. I would recomment this restaurant to anyone and everyone becasue there is not a day that i order that i walk out of there doors feeling unsatisfied with there service. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK! NAME: LESwails SUBMITTED: 11/23/2005   LAST VISIT WAS: 11/20/2005 FREQUENCY: Visited 4-6 times 9080 SW Fwy, Houston, Texas 77074  713.774.0198 MY REVIEW: Even though the price is overall higher compared to other restaurants like C*hili's, I think the food is worth it. The endless soup and breadsticks, the shrimp dishes, and the desserts are all highlights. NAME: PigEluvssmoothies SUBMITTED: 11/14/2005   LAST VISIT WAS: august 2005 FREQUENCY: Visited 4-6 times 26715 Interstate 45, Spring, Texas 77380  281.363.1288 MY REVIEW: My visit was to the I-45 Woodlands, TX. In a place where you're supposed to be treated like "family" we were treated like outcasts. We had a party of 25 to celebrate a graduation. We waited over an hr. to be seated together and they wouldn't even push tables together yet we were all charged an 18% gratuity as if we had been seated at the same table. We felt unwelcome at an older place that should have been thankful for patrons in a town full of new and better eateries. The food was not very tasty either. My husband ordered Shrimp Primevera that may have had 6 small shrimp served with penne noodles (bad choice of pasta for this dish. The original angel hair is best). Two others ordered Chicken Parmesan. They said it was barely edible. I had the Mixed Grill. It was pretty good and for $14.95 it should be. Their desserts are still great. Another problem we delt with is a customer seated at table in between our group was smoking a cigar. We were seated in a smoking section but cigars are still supposed to be illegal. We mentioned it but the patron was not asked to extinguish it. Oh, and on the way out, my waiter stopped me and said he had not colleted our check. I said, " my check was $69.71 (18% grat. added)and I gave you $80.00 and told you to keep the change". He apologized but it was still humiliating. I will most likely never spend another dime at this place. We had called ahead to let them know we were coming with a large group, waited patiently for over an hour to be seated because this was my daughter's favorite place to eat. I don't think it is anymore. What a disappointment! NAME: Peggy Marr SUBMITTED: 6/3/2005   LAST VISIT WAS: 5-21-05 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times 1010 Old Spanish Trail, Houston, Texas 77054  713.665.6373 MY REVIEW: First visit here, it was crowded (around 8:30pm on Saturday) and we decided to be seated at the smoking section (we're not smokers) because the wait was just too long! The waitress was friendly, but a bit slow on the refills. The Peach Ice Tea tasted great! I ordered the Ravioli, and it tasted average. Second visit here, I saw a lot of tables opened, but the hostess told us there was a 20 minute wait. I think she said that just to make it seem like they were busy, but she called us in within 10 minutes to be seated. The service was a bit slow, our waiter was slow on our refills. I ordered to Tour of Italy, and its sooo good! But a bit too expensive (around $13.00). NAME: evilis SUBMITTED: 2/27/2005   LAST VISIT WAS:  FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times   1000 Memorial City Mall Houston TX 77024 713.973.6287   12711 Gulf Fwy Houston TX 77034 281.922.1523   10830 Hwy 290 Houston TX 77040 713.682.1465   1010 Old Spanish Trail Houston TX 77054 713.665.6373   7525 FM 1960 Rd W Houston TX 77070 281.890.0784   9080 SW Fwy Houston TX 77074 713.774.0198   2750 Hwy 6 Houston TX 77082 281.531.8829   2103 FM 1960 Rd W Houston TX 77090 281.583.0330   9632 FM 1960 Bypass Rd W Humble TX 77338 281.446.1692   26715 Interstate 45 Spring TX 77380 281.363.1288   18976 Gulf Fwy Friendswood TX 77546 281.488.1022   2808 Smith Ranch Rd Pearland TX 77584 713.436.2813 ©Copyright 1991 - 2008 B4-U-EAT.COM. All rights reserved. Design and database by B4-U-BUY