Evaluation Essay: The Olive Garden My favorite restaurant to dine at is the Olive Garden. The Olive Garden restaurant is a well known corporate chain of restaurants that offers a wide variety of Italian dishes. The Olive Garden is a mid-priced, causal restaurant specializing in Italian food. I love the experience of dining at the Olive Garden because the atmosphere is welcoming, the food is great and the service is excellent. A particular visit last month proved to me that Olive Garden lives up to the expectations of its guests. Olive gardens creed is “Treating you like you’re family”, is true for me.

The casual attire allowed me to feel relaxed like I was at home. It was loud at times but gave me the feeling of being with a large Italian family eating great food and having a good time. The walls had very decorative decor and made me feel like I was in an Italian marketplace. Pulling into the oversized parking lot, the first thing I noticed was all the landscaping and how well it was maintained. I found the restaurant overall very well maintained and clean although the floors were a little on the messy side. Olive Garden offers a wide variety menu of Italian specialties.

First I started off with an appetizer. I ordered the “create a sampler” where you can set up two or three different appetizers on one plate. Next were the soup or salad, and breadsticks while I was taking a look at the menu. It contained a wide range of lasagna, chicken parmesan, seafood, and pastas. The meal I ordered was the tour of Italy entree which gave me three of my favorite foods all on the same plate. It came with lasagna, chicken parmesan, and fettuccine alfredo. I was very satisfied with my appetizer, the all you can eat salad and breadsticks, and of course the tour of Italy.

And finally the service at the Olive Garden caught my attention. As soon as we walked through the door we heard, “how are you and welcome to the olive garden”. We were taken to our table and asked a drink order. Our drinks were received and the order was taken in a timely manner. The server was very knowledgeable of the menu and was very polite while taking our order. We were told our order would be put right in, and the salad and breadsticks were on there way. Then the food arrived and we began to eat. As we ate our meal the server came over twice to check on us and get us refills.

The only problem with the service was that our check was a bit delayed getting over to the table, but its understandable considering how busy they were. While dining at the Olive Garden the service was fantastic. The server was very attentive and took very good care of us. I enjoyed my experience greatly and will continue to be an Olive Garden customer. The Olive Garden restaurant makes the best out of everyone’s visit. During my visit I enjoyed the atmosphere, the taste of the food, and the friendly service. As Olive Garden continues to treat its guests like family, this well-known Italian restaurant will remain my favorite.