My manager pulled me into the office before my shift today and asked me for my refill scores. 100 on soup and salad, 97 on breadsticks, and a 94 on beverages with a 77 for my Ziosk. He wrote me up because my guests aren’t paying on the ziosk and sometimes their credit cards or gift cards don’t even work on there. But I am religiously ringing up everything that I can on there.

He then told me, “if your scores drop next month, I will drop your a*s.” And everyone was wondering why I wasn’t myself the whole day. I’ve worked for this company for almost 5 years and I learned that we work to better ourselves. Not for the company. Because things like this happen…

My shoulder has been hurting for a month now, so I went to the doctor this Monday to get it looked at. It's my Rotator cuff, from the tray. I told my manager, she just shrugged it off. Next day, I told my GM, and asked for a different position, like maybe a host because of my shoulder, he said no. Said that I could apply for disability. ...

Our hosts routinely double and triple seat servers. It is so frustrating! I cannot give good service when table 1 wants to try 3 wine samples, table 2 has a million questions, and table 3 wants all waters and then regular drinks, and I still have table 4 that is in the middle of their meal. I get behind so quickly. We have asked repeatedly for them to stop doing this, but they don't listen. They triple sat our bartender on a weekend last week! What is up??

Has there been anyone on the dish side of things have had done dish and bus tables all on the same shift? I am looking to apply for any position there soon and I have had busser and dish experience for about 4 years now. Did any place made their dishwashers do bussing of tables as well?

Ihop (during certain times) and Newk's Eatery made me do both. I don't mind it at all. Just curious if any Olive Garden makes them do it, abd other things like filling ice up.

Hi! I got hired as a host for og on Wednesday. It’s currently Friday and I haven’t gotten an email, text, or call when the orientation is but when I got hired the manager told me it’s next week. So I do have a few questions and I’m sorry if they’re dumb I’m just nervous. Do I call and ask when orientation is or do I wait? Or when do they usually say when it is? How long is training for a host and what do they do? What are some tips as someone who is new to being a host? Also I don’t want to hear the whole “don’t work there” etc, I’ve applied to over 15 places and og is the only one who got back to me so I’m desperate. Idc if the job is shitty

Hey! New OG server. I just got my first pay check. I’m trying to transfer to my bank. Any way to by pass the 2-3 days? I couldn’t put in my debit card for some reason and doing the transfer to bank takes too long.

I’m assuming I’ll have to withdraw cash and deposit it again.

I’m making the baked ziti tonight and was wondering if they just grab a plate, spoon some noodles one and add sauce on top, top with the cheese and breadcrumb mixture and then just broil it? At Olive Garden is it actually baked? Or just broiled? Thanks!!

I've asked it a lot

Any OG’ers out there know if you are eligible for rehire at any other Darden restaurant if you get fired from a different Darden Restaurant? If you can be hired on at a different, is there a certain amount of days you have to wait to be eligible? Amy info would be helpful and appreciated.

Anyone know where to buy the Paper Pads for writing orders on. I left OG and the only thing I miss is the paper pads

I used to work at Olive garden and they gave me a new pay card and I can’t activate it, I called and they said my employer needs to activate my information with it or something. And I called the Olive Garden I worked at and they said I have to come in which I really don’t want to do. Is there any way out of coming in and seeing them?

Hello, I'm a bit confused because of the way people say it vs what's on olive gardens website. It it unlimited soup AND unlimited salad + unlimited bread sticks or is it unlimited soup OR unlimited salad + unlimited bread sticks? Or was one of them a limited deal of something like that? Thanks for the clarification!

I just finished day 2 and I am terrified I’m going to fail. I feel like I can’t remember anything because I’m trying to remember everything. How do you retain all of this information quickly? I feel like I’m too dumb to be a server and I really want to do good at this

I’ve just been talking to my girlfriend and it has been revealed to me she has breadsticks with garlic aioli. This shocks me as I believe breadsticks should be enjoyed in their unadulterated glory. What are everyone else’s thoughts?

Tomorrow i’m going in for an interview for the to go role, what should i be expecting question wise, and what’s the role like at OG? I worked at a pizza place for 2 years doing to go so i’m familiar with pos systems, cash drawers, stocking and cleaning, bagging food, taking orders (pick up and delivery) etc. i worked in a very busy spot so i usually had 1-2 other people with me but on a normal weekday it was just me working. any advice is greatly appreciated! also i wanna mention , on a slow night i’d make $40-$60 in tips, on a busy night it was $100-$150 is it the same at OG?

I went to olive garden and the gnocchi soup tasted weird. It had a weird acid flavor after biting into the gnocchi and a bit into the soup. Any idea what that is? I never tasted that before.

I have work this Friday, and I have to tell my managers I have a wedding on the same weekend as Valentine's Day. However, in Krowd, the dates are locked, and I can't call out the 14th and 15th, which are the days I will be in Georgia. For context, I'm in Virginia. Can they fire me for not being able to work those days, or will they just shrug it off?

Any other restaurants suffer with the cap to the floor cleaner being ungodly tight? I gotta get a wrench to unscrew it. Does Ecolab have people using torque wrenches on these capsor am I just a weakling?

I don't understand the stigma surrounding Olive Garden and their unlimited breadsticks. If you're curious as to how it's economically feasible, you have to first understand how bread is made. It's literally just some flour, water and shit like that - some simple stuff if you ask me. Ingredients like these come dirt cheap. I mean we're talking PENNIES on the dollar, these big corporations get bulk discounts galore! Even for average joes like you and I a 5lb bag of flour only goes for what, $2.50? Imagine the amount of fuckin bread you can make with that. You'd have baguettes piled up so high your house would become a French settlement within weeks. I actually have fond memories myself of making breadsticks as a young man. New Jersey, 2005-2008 were my golden years of bread making, I knew a homeless fella by the name of Willie Bendilisk, or "Two Timing Willie" as the block referred to him. During those days the world was in crisis - a massive parmesan and garlic shortage. As you would expect, this really messed up my breadstick business, and I just couldn't have that. This was my main source of income. Well, Willie had my back you see, as he never really got around to showering much, so he collected a film of cheese-like substance on his scrotom. Showed me it a few times. Emitted an odor similiar to Mozzarella now that I think of it. It sounds terrible but I just didn't have the heart to feed my customers unseasoned, plain ass breadsticks, so I had ol’ Willie scratch off some of that scrotom cheese into a pepper shaker and I'd sprinkle it on with olive oil. Strangely enough it was an overnight success! I got so much business that I was able to upgrade from a food cart to a food truck, and then I established a brick and mortar location around 2010. Sadly this success was short lived when ol Willie got hit by a commuter bus and died on impact. My business sank and I had to file Bankruptcy around 2013 after the scrotom cheese I had kept in cold/frozen storage for emergency situations like this ran out. Never was able to recreate that flavor again, and that's how I ended up taking a Greyhound bus to Nebraska to become a male prostitute. But at the end of the day you really need to give it to Olive Garden, the service they provide and the incredible breadsticks they serve - you should not even ask questions and be grateful for what they DO provide! Thank you so much for the hard work you guys do and ignore the haters.

I’ve been at my OG coming up on 6 years now. I have sick time obviously accumulated. We have whole new management and in the last year they have been trying to weed out the senior servers to make their own staff. Mainly wanting young staff. I haven’t been fired but I also haven’t been scheduled since before Halloween. I can get the sense they’re trying to get me to quit. But I’m not going to (i have another job since this)

Is there anyway to cash in my time while not being scheduled? Or do I have to wait till they fire me to cash it all out?

Was going through the handbook and it said something about one small piercing facial piercing(and tongue) being okay. I’ve been wanting a septum but haven’t gotten one because of work. If I can’t, I get it, but if I can, sweet.

UPDATE: Just had my interview. It lasted all of 5 minutes and it went well considering the shortness of it. She said she would be looking over applications and if she has any openings she’d reach out. Am I right in assuming I did NOT get the position and she was just being polite?

Hey friends! I was fired from my marketing director position (5 days before Christmas, no less) and I’ve been unemployed since. The mental toll that comes with getting fired and job hunting has been atrocious, enough to make me want to work toward just staying home and being a housewife/raise my kiddos.

I decided I really miss restaurants, and I’ve worked at a Longhorn in the past. I applied at OG and since it’s all online/AI now, I was immediately scheduled for an interview for tomorrow. It’s a 15 minute interview and I was told to bring my I9 documents?

The question: is that normal? I’ve never been told to bring I9 docs to an initial interview and I’ve also never seen an interview be so short but I’m used to more professional industries with 1-2 hour interviews, and 2-3 rounds of that. Due to this info, should I expect to basically be hired and the 15 minute interview is just to confirm I’m a normal person and to process my docs? Has anyone else been hired recently experienced this? I’m super excited, I know OG is cheaper and not the best money but I’m passionate about carbs and just desperately need income at this point.

Hello, quick question, if you order the tour of Italy can you request that the lasagna and chicken parm, get a paddle of Alfredo not tomato sauce? Is that an up charge?

Hey talk my high school robotics club got qualified for the state level competitions and we’re going to Olive Garden to celebrate

I’ve never been to Olive Garden and I’m pretty bad with social situations so I need some help with the behavior expected here like how much do I tip and is there a dress code

Also any recommendations under 18 dollars?

I have been getting this question a lot. I see it everywhere. I think it would be helpful to list the pros and cons of doing this.

TLDR; Yes, but if you stay too long you will learn a lot of really bad habits.

Pros:

1. They will hire you with no experience. You don't have to lie. Just learn some basic interview skills and you are in.

2. It really is a lot of fucking work. A few months will toughen your ass up in terms of being able to literally walk back and forth nonstop for six hours carrying endless bowls of reheated soup.

3. The customers are generally awful and unappreciative. Hard to call this an actual PRO but on the positive side it will toughen you up.

CONS

You do not have to know the menu here. Even if you do, you wont really use the knowledge much. The menu sells itself and is really simple so 98% of the time you are literally just like " OK, seafood alfredo. Absolutely. Would you like soup or salad with that? Ok you want the zupa toscana"

My trainer, a service pro, actually argued with us because she didnt think that the chicken parmesian used parmesian cheese. She couldnt remember what kind of cheese went on chicken parmesian, so she offered to ask the chef so he could inform us of our ignorance.

Seriously.

It just goes to show. There is something about this job that will eventually make you a lazy robotic server. I see it with a lot of my coworkers. Theyre just glorified food runners.

You also wont really get good practice at interaction with tables. Darden has kind of made that impossible because you wont have time to chat. You have to other six tops yelling at you for a salad refill and five more toscana soups. Oh an when you drop that off btw we need more breadsticks. Oh btw we are going to split it four ways and pay with a combination of old gift cards and cash.

Oh btw we heard you offer a birthday desert to table 42. Suddenly ive just remembered that all of my shitty kids here are also born this very same day. Can you please go grab each of them a sicilian cheesecake? Thx. Heres 8 dollars tip for your trouble.

This is why a lot of people hide the fact that they worked at olive garden on their resumes. Youre only barely a real food server here.

Sometimes I will see shifts available for pick-up, but I didn't receive any notifications about them. Does this mean they are swapping with someone or what?

Hi friends so my store (I think eventually all this year) is starting our uber eats deliveries next week… as someone who gets majority of their income from to-go rather than serving are yall making more or less money since uber started? I’m definitely concerned about losing income if the majority of our orders is going to be uber eats seeing as how we split the tip with the driver and then split with the team… I’m trying to be positive but it seems like a lot more work to not have a pay raise or guaranteed higher tip out. Thoughts? 💭

Hi so i got rejected after my first interview, Is it worth re applying at a different location if ive fixed the issues they had with me. For example as a student there was an issue with my availability since im a student. Ive heard that OG hires servers without experience so maybe im delusional if i think i can try again. Any advice is appreciated.