Olive Garden

Villapardo and I love the Olive Garden. The breadsticks....ohh, the breadsticks...........hmm? What was that? Oh yeah, right sorry.

Leaving those deliciously warm, cheesy and salty breadsticks alone, dining there has always been an experience. Whether it be from a waitress who really didn't want to be there and stared at us for those extra two seconds too long, or the time we received frozen tiramisu for dessert. Regardless of the way we got the food, it was always incredibly delicious and warm (well, except for the tiramisu.....) and fast.

So we decided to risk it, and dine there today. It started off innocently enough. It was a very rainy Saturday afternoon, and what better to do on a day like that but got out to eat? A lot of people thought the same way we did and when we got there, I thought we were going to have to wait a while, since there were so many people. However, we were told ten or fifteen minutes. Awesome, not bad at all. So after around 15 minutes, our little buzzer thing starts buzzing. I heard it buzzing from Villapardo's jacket pocket. Now, I usually have horrible hearing, but I guess
A) I was really hungry,
B) I randomly hear vibrating objects (like cell phones, silly!)
C) Villapardo has a very thick jacket and can't feel buzzing.
We head into the building and give the she-male greeter our buzzer (seriously, we didn't know if it was a girl or a boy). S/he tells us to stand in the hall, someone will seat us shortly. We get into a heated conversation (about the people I work with) and realize that we've been standing there for 10 more minutes, and they've taken a good 5 other people in. Villa checks in at the desk and "oops", I thought you were seated already." No matter though, since we were taken in right after that.

We get to our table and our waiter comes over and asks us if we want something to drink. I order a water with lemon (my staple drink. Boring, I know) and Vill orders a Sam Adams White Ale. Waiter (Jose) doesn't know if they have it, but will check. He comes back a few minutes later and tells Vill that they have Sam Seasonal, but not sure what kind. Whatever. Jose comes back 10 minutes later with our drinks, mine, minus the lemon. I ask him if I could have a lemon (I'm usually not picky, and will NOT ask for something that has been forgotten, but I really wanted the lemon!) He comes back after a bit with our appetizer and a cup of limes. Vill and I share a look, Jose sees it and asks what's wrong. I said " I wanted lemons."

"What, the yellow ones?"

*Scratches head* Yes.

"OK, I'll be back"

............

Now, I don't know about you, but how do you NOT know what a lemon is? Has your lemonade been green?

Anyway. At this point, it's still not bad. It gets worse. Jose comes back with my lemons, and we ask if our meals come with a salad. He says "yes", we say, "great! Can we get it with no onions? "
"No onions?" he repeats?
"Right"

Vill and I always do this. Or rather, always want to do this, but always forget to ask for the no onions. So being very happy that we finally remember to ask for no onions, we forget about our waiter and lapse into conversation.

Jose comes back, waiting on us and another table. He puts the salad bowl onto the table, goes to his other table and walks away. We look and see. Oh. There are onions. Not wanting to create a fuss, we deal, pick out the onions and move on. Jose comes back, asks if we want more salad. Vill says "yes". (we really like food, no matter what kind. Except don't give me olives. or yogurt. or raisins in anything *shudders*). Apparently, the other table he was waiting on, we'll call this #2, also wanted more salad. So Jose again appears with two salad bowls. He puts down ours and specifically says,

"No onions, right?"

Way to go, Jose!

Jose leaves, Vill mixes the salad and realize that there's no dressing on it. Sigh.

Our meals and #2s meals come out at the same time. The server mixes up the tables, but it's quickly resolved.

Food is excellent! Jose comes and checks on us and Vill asks for a club soda, and he'll use the limes that are on the table.
10 minutes later Jose comes and checks on us again. Vill reminds him about the club soda.
Jose comes back 2 minutes later with the soda and a dish of lemons. Just in case, you know......

We finish dinner and of course, it's time for dessert. Yummy tiramisu time!! We order one tiramisu and two coffees.
We pray he gets the order right.
Jose comes back with two coffees and one tiramisu! Wahoo!
"Do you have any cream?"

"Oh, you want cream, too?"

Double sigh.

Cream arrives. Coffee is good (Vill thinks it's weak).
Check arrives.



It seems that young Jose got confused and started ringing #2's meals on our bill. We have two meals that are not ours added and then voided out on the check. We study it, everything adds up correctly. We pay.

We did call the manager up after we leave, just so she has a heads up on Jose. She basically told us that we should have said something before we left and she would have taken care of our tab. Nice to know.

Thank god the food is good!


(Sorry if the post is crazy and doesn't make sense. I kept having to stop and collect my thoughts about the experience, so this is basically a rough draft. Fresh out as I see it. :-) )