I’m looking to cater for a baby shower and wonder if this is enough food:

- 2 BYO Pasta
- 2 orders of 12 breadsticks
- 3 orders of mozzarella sticks

We’ll also supply our own dessert.

Wanted to make a visit sometime soon for the pasta bowls but a little reticent since I can’t find any info on whether or not they’re sourcing American beef for their meatballs or if it’s possible they got the Argentinian beef that has been imported recently.

Hey guys, I’m starting my first day at Olive Garden this week and i’m incredibly nervous. I’ve had other jobs before but i’m used to making things like desserts and coffee. I was hired as a server. I’ve never waited tables a day in my life.

I’m excited, of course, but this is extremely different for me. I was wondering if anyone could offer some advice and tips.

How to ring in a pasta pass to make it free. Manager can’t figure it out.

How was everyone’s Labor Day…

This shift was actually so crazy? Was there from 12-9, on Togo, and it was slammed all day. Had a $3500 delivery go out midday. Was out of SO much.

Any other crazy stories from those of us who work for the garden?? 🫠

Those of you that work at OG

I went tonight and got the spicy Alfredo with a meatball for my NEPB refill. When it came out, my meatball was partially coated in marinara even though it was on spicy Alfredo sauce.

Are the meatballs cooked in marinara or was this a it got hit by another sauce and the cooks/servers said screw it?

I can't eat more than two each time I go. Are any of you having more than that??

Olive Garden called and I thought it was Sunday and I was late.

Turns out they had a call-out and needed coverage today.

Since my other job is a school job I was off today anyway so had no good reason why not to work.

Regretted picking up the phone at all.

Next time I'm turning it off.

I live in a large city and work at a pretty busy Olive Garden location, everyone on staff knew this thing was going to be a monster on both serving and cooking staff, but we never knew how bad it would get for all of us so quickly.

Within the last week 4 servers have quit or put in their 2 weeks notice because of the stress from this whole thing, I’ve seen servers at my job have to stop taking tables to throw up from stress, others I’ve seen in the walk in freezer having to cool down so they don’t freak out at others, one before she quit full on sobbed in the break room after a guest kept demeaning her over her taking too long to get their 5th refill out despite her mentioning over and over again how we’re understaffed and extremely busy. I’ve never seen so many of my coworkers who would typically beg for hours constantly posting their shifts because the stress from work is actually driving them up the wall.

It’s even worse on the cooks end, I have nothing but respect for them, we now functionally only have 5 cooks on staff if we’re lucky, more often it’s 3 since so many keep calling out. They’re expected to run extremely quickly with these refills while people keeping eating through more than the restaurant even has at most given moments.

The tips as a server has been awful, what I’d typically make on a Saturday as a double would be $300, not it’s shot all the way down to $180, everyone else at the store has been dealing with the same issue and it’s caused so many servers to try and figure out how to save money for our own lives due to the sharp downturn.

Genuinely, as much as I agree the NEPB is a smart business move since it’s designed to bring in customers when what would typically be a very slow season in the restaurant industry, but in the workers end it’s been a nightmare.

Please remember guys to be patient and respect to your servers, we’re trying our best with what we got. A lot of us are now being extremely overworked and underpaid, so remember to just be a kind person with patience when coming into Olive Garden for the NEPB.

I think it might be the AH in me but I kind of want to go to OG just to fight back at the 35-45 minute rule. That just seems ridiculous & just to clarify I used to work at OG. Corporate is setting EVERYONE up for failure. This is not fast food. I understand being in a hurry but not everyone is in a hurry. Corporate needs to get off their high horse & realize how waiting tables at an establishment like this (or any sit down restaurant) works! Ffs.

What’s your guys go to headphone recommendation for dish pit long term. Had a pair of airpods that didn’t last too long and always kept slipping out of my ears. Thinking about picking up just some cheap jbl earbuds but wanted some solid recommendations.

So I got the job as a dishwasher and have never worked at a restaurant only warehouses before. I have orientation in the morning so I’m wondering what I should expect? When does training start after that and will I be paid during training? Anyways wish me luck.

since my breadsticks were missing the liquid butter thingy spread on them, i am thinking to order 100+ breadsticks+ today due to this mistake, and see if they get it right.

It's been ten years since I served, and holy shit, nothing has changed. It's like every restaurant has the same few types of people working there. Some snippets from tonight:

Manager: "Run this to table 310!"

Me: "I can't. I'm running to my own tables right now."

Manager: [proceeds to load up a tray]

Me: "No, I can't."

Manager: [tells me to take tray]

Me: "Okay. Can you run my food to my tables?"

Me: [avoids the kitchen for the rest of the night except to check on my own orders because I've been running EVERYONE'S orders ALL NIGHT and my tables are having to watch me constantly bring other people food even though they've been waiting forever due to the backlog in the kitchen]

Like, we get it -- food needs to be run out. But if I tell you I can't, you need to accept that I can't. I'm not lying or making things up, and none of us has the time to sit down and have a conversation about why I can't run food at that moment. It sucks, but at the end of the day, I'm basically a contractor, and I get paid by my customers, not by the restaurant.

Then we have "Patsy." She's a career server. Probably in her 50s. Bossy. Task master. Keeps getting wider and wider, so EVERYONE has to move when she comes through the door. The one you want to work a party, but not someone who is pleasant to work with:

Patsy: [aggressively] "DID YOU ROLL YOUR SILVERWARE?"

Me: "Can you find a better way to ask that question?"

Patsy: [shamingly] "YOU NEED TO ROLL YOUR SILVERWARE!"

Me: "Do I report to you?"

Patsy: [school marmishly] "LET ME KNOW WHEN YOU'RE DONE WITH YOUR SILVERWARE OR YOU CAN'T CLOCK OUT."

Me: "Nah, I'm good." (Because, you know, I took care of all of my side work already, and I don't need her for that.)

Patsy: [huffs and puffs and realizes she doesn't intimidate or get to boss around everyone in the restaurant, probably goes and tattles to management like she does every time someone lets her know that she needs to chill. They want her gone but she's good at serving.]

And then there's Jenny. Jenny is a diva -- she doesn't run food, doesn't bus tables, doesn't scrape plates before throwing them at the dishwashers. She's the one who finds the new people and makes them do all of her work for her, but she'd never dream of sharing tips with the people who do everything for her except take and enter orders. No one knows how she keeps her job. She loves to take huge parties because she can get a lot of money, even though she barely does any work for it herself.

We also had Grace on staff tonight. Grace is a decent server but a frazzled and fragile train wreck of a human being. She stakes out her own little spot in the back because the front is too crowded, but if you go back there to get drinks or ring in an order, she tells you how she's overstimulated and needs everyone to get out of her space. She has an hourly cry and has to go outside to vape/smoke, but she eventually makes it through the evening. She'll rage-quit in a month or two and take another casual dining serving gig somewhere else, or she'll come back when she realizes she's exhausted all of her other options.

Now we get to Felicia. Felicia is an okay server, but she's WAY aggressive when it comes to her tables. She'll knock you out of the way to get to something, even if you're right in the middle of something (ESPECIALLY breadsticks). She'll squawk if you look at any of her tables (but she'll let you bus them). She wants huge sections and all the parties. She's a go-getter who wants tables flipped every 20 minutes, probably because she calls in sick for at least 1/3 of her shifts and needs to make up for the lost tips.

Honorary mention: Suzie the hostess. She's 17 and spends most dinner shifts in tears because she doesn't understand why people are expecting her to, you know, DO anything.

The rest of us are just kind of vibing and doing our work.

Which type am I missing? (And before anyone gets snarky: I'm good at serving. I have no complaints. My managers already know which employees I'm talking about and we all just laugh them off because, whatever. I get any shifts I want because they know I'm going to work.)

I know the first bowl of pasta is always the biggest and I’m just gonna assume that the first portion is the same as the normal entree dinner sized pasta bowls (correct me if I’m wrong). are the refill portions of the pasta bowl around 3/4 of the first “dinner” portion? Or would they be maybe more around 1/2? I’m trying to calculate nutrition stuff and I was just wondering how to calculate the refills since I think the picture below applies for the first bowl but not exactly the refill portions.

for example rigatoni Alfredo for the first portion would be 440+870
but if I got it as a refill idk what to put.

also please don’t start with why I’m going to Olive Garden if I’m trying to be careful with nutrition lol I just like to treat myself and the nepb is all I’ve been looking forward to for this past month 😙

I'm normally very detailed with my math when I tip on NEPB. I try very hard to make sure I tip based on the estimated retail price of what my table is served + extra for each trip the server makes. BUT I was very shaken from something the hostess said to me about myself and the person I was dining with, so I was in the middle of a panic attack, so i just guessed and got the hell out of there. Had it just been me, I would have left, but the person I was with was really looking forward to the meal and didn't hear what the hostess said, so I stayed.

Two guests, nepb, non alcoholic beverages

We each had 1 drink refill (at the same time)

1 breadsticks refill

2 pasta refills each (each refill at the same time)

The person I was dining with also asked for breadsticks to go and bought a cheese grater (she's been wanting one forever lol)

The server brought boxes and did have to run for an additional box, so an extra trip there.

The total with the grater was about $69. I'm worried I didn't tip enough and don't want to say what I tipped to avoid possible embarrassment, but will go back and tip more if I under tipped.

So if you've gotten this far, what would have been an appropriate tip?

Went to Olive Garden with the my brother and we both wanted Peach Bellini’s and Breadsticks with Alfredo Sauce as a starter. We also were going to order an entree, just didn’t know what we wanted yet. But who orders an entree as soon as they sit down? This guy asked us 3 times if we were sure we didn’t want to order an entree yet before we even had our drinks. I politely asked for more time and then he walked away all upset. Well he came back not even 1 minute later and asked us again if we were ready - still not having brought our drinks yet, like I haven’t even opened my menu yet. We just sat down less than 5 minutes. Apparently our waiter said he gets yelled at if we munch on an appetizer and have drinks before ordering an entree, so he said they were out of Peach Bellini’s 😂 and then said he couldn’t put in the order for the appetizer unless we ordered an entree. We ended up leaving, called the restaurant to talk to a manager and apparently there is no rule. Had anyone else had that happen to them? I don’t feel like we didn’t anything wrong as customers.

What are you guys getting tipped by customers?

How many no tip?

Avg tip %?

Typical tip from NEPB customers?

Heyo! This is my first serving job and I was wondering if any older servers with experience can give me any tips or advice because i really don’t know what to expect when it comes to serving and the restaurant industry. I would really appreciate the advice and feedback. I already did my RAMP certifications so I don’t have to worry about any of that which is nice. Also what do the abbreviations mean next to my scheduled time? How do you guys memorize the menu as well?

With the never ending pasta bowls, do you ever do refills for yourself to eat? Lol

Random question - is anyone else followed by Olive Garden? Just remembered how back in 2016 me and friends were followed back by Olive Garden on insta, and I just checked today and over 10 years later they’re still following me lol!

TL;DR -- Realistically, what time is "business decline" on weeknights in a relatively quiet town of 70k'ish? I know there's no specific time. Just interested in thoughts.

Recently started at OG. It's fine so far. And I'm experienced, so training was really just learning a few Darden particulars. But I'm thinking I was too good during training (lol) because they've got me scheduled a LOT. WAY more than I signed up for. I have a 5am day job, so I told them at both interviews three shifts a week (no more than one on weekdays -- I have to sleep!), and now they have me scheduled five days next week. Most of those are DBD, so if I can get out of there by 8 or so, it should be okay for now, but we'll definitely need to recalibrate and make sure we're on the same page with shifts/scheduling.

hello there i work here now! also i said my availability was 4:30 to close and they have me scheduled for shifts starting at 3pm, so now im mad.

i’ve worked in retail, be honest with me, how bad is working here?

When i first tried it it really tasted grassy/overpowering. The cheese itself is good but theres little strips of something in it but I cant tell what. I assume that is what is giving the grassy taste.

Its been a while but today I tried it again and Thankfully while still grassy, it seems a lot more toned down compared to before. Either that or the Alfredo sauce and extra cheese is drowning it out.

Corn free products are not listed on the Olive Garden allergen list. Does anyone know if any of the red sauces are corn and corn byproduct free? Here is a list of corn byproducts: Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C)

Baking Powder (corn starch)
Brown Sugar – look for use of Caramel color. Domino’s Brown sugar no longer uses Caramel color
Calcium Citrate - the calcium salt of citric acid. See Citrate below for details.

Caramel – coloring used in soft drinks, derived from corn “or cane sugar.” The “or” in Coca-Cola's explanation refers to a temporary change to make the ingredients Kosher for Passover. The rest of the year, it is from corn.

Cellulose, Vegetable, Powered, etc.
Citrate - can refer either to the conjugate base of citric acid, or to the esters of citric acid. An example of the former, a salt is trisodium citrate; an ester is triethyl citrate. Forms of Citrate include: Calcium Citrate, Magnesium Citrate, Potassium Citrate, Sodium Citrate, and more.

Citric Acid - the source sugar is corn steep liquor along with hydrolyzed corn starch

Corn

Corn Meal – items baked sitting on Corn Meal such as Bagels, Breads or Pizza, may not list Corn Meal as an ingredient

Corn Starch – in most over the counter medicines that come in a dry pill form. Yes, this includes Benedryl too. Watch for Corn Syrup in the liquid forms.

Corn Syrup
Decyl Glucoside - used in personal care products such as shampoo. It is produced by the reaction of glucose from corn starch with the fatty alcohol decanol which is derived from coconut.

Dextrin, Maltodextrin – thickening agents found in sauces (check those frozen veggies!) salad dressings, and ice cream

Dextrose (glucose) – corn sugar, found in cookies, ice cream, and paired with glucose in hospital IVs unless specified not to! Can also be used as a carrier with anesthetic shots such as Lidocaine and Novocaine! Dextrose is also injected into meat, lunch meats and deli cuts. Be weary of “honey baked” items, the sweet flavor may not be from honey.
Ethanol - made by fermenting sugars produced from corn starch.
Ferrous Gluconate - i.e. as found in canned olives, and comes from corn or potato acid.

Flavoring - Artificial or "Natural Flavors" - as defined by the FDA regulations of labeling of spices, flavorings, and colorings.
Golden Syrup - Sometimes recommended as an alternate to Corn Syrup, but it may contain Corn Syrup as well.

Honey - May contain corn syrup, as HFCS is sometimes fed to bees, resulting in corn in the honey produced.

Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HVP)
Iodized Salt – Morton’s FAQ explains why they add Dextrose (corn) to their salt.
Lactic Acid - Commercially, lactic acid can be made synthetically from chemicals or organically as a byproduct of corn fermentation.
Lauryl Glucoside - is a surfactant used in cosmetics. It is a glycoside produced from glucose and lauryl alcohol.
Magnesium Citrate - Magnesium salt of citric acid.

Magnesium Stearate
Malic Acid

Malt

Malt Flavoring

Maltitol - (also known as Maltisorb and Maltisweet) Commercially, maltitol is a disaccharide produced by Corn Products Specialty Ingredients (formerly SPI Polyols), Cargill, Roquette, and Towa, among other companies. Maltitol is made by hydrogenation of maltose obtained from starch.

Maltodextrin
Maltose

Mannitol - A naturally occurring alcohol that is often combined with corn derived sugars. Here is the link on USDA's websiteexplaining this practice.
Methyl Gluceth - an emollient used in cosmetics manufactured from corn sugar and corn starch.

Modified Food Starch
Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) - The MSGMyth site explains MSG is made from corn.
Polydextrose - is synthesized from dextrose, and contains sorbitol and citric acid. It is a food ingredient classified as soluble fiber and is frequently used to increase the non-dietary fiber content of food, replace sugar, reduce calories and reduce fat content.  Note: Dextrose, Sorbitol, and Citric Acid are all on this list of ingredients derived from corn.
Polylactic Acid (PLA) - Plastic made from corn starch (U.S.) or sugarcane.

Polysorbates (i.e. Polysorbate 80) - Polysorbates are oily liquids derived from PEG-ylated sorbitan (a derivative of sorbitol) esterified with fatty acids.
Potassium Citrate - See Citrate above for details.
Powdered Sugar - contains corn starch

Saccharin – in powder form IS Sweet’N Low and therefore contains Dextrose.
Sodium Citrate - See Citrate above for details.
Sodium Erythorbate - is produced from sugars derived from sources such as beets, sugar cane and corn. It is a food additive used predominantly in meats, poultry, and soft drinks.
Sodium Starch Glycolate - is the sodium salt of a carboxymethyl ether of starch. It can be derived from any starch source (rice, corn, potatoes, etc).
Sorbitan - is a mixture of chemical compounds derived from the dehydration of sorbitol.

Sorbitan Monostearate - an ester of sorbitol and stearic acid. You will see this ingredient used in Yeast (and possibly other places as well).

Sorbitol – You will find Sorbitol in Sugar Free items such as candy, chewing gum, cosmetics, mouth wash, and toothpaste
Starch – often this is corn starch unless it specifies something else, like potato starch
Sucralose - Sucralose by itself may be corn free, though it is likely one best to avoid. Repackaged as the brand Splenda, it will contain dextrose and/or maltodextrin.

Sweet’N Low – contains Dextrose, and according to Sweet’N Low, ALL sugar substitutes in powder form contain Dextrose.

Tocopherol (Vitamin E)
Vanilla Extract – most brands will have corn syrup, though you can find organic brands that do not, though the alcohol may be corn-derived.
Vinegar, Distilled White - can be made from any sugar, but the most common method is to use corn that has been converted from starch into sugar.
Vitamins - Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid) and Vitamin E (Tocopherols). Use caution with products that are "enriched" with added vitamins. The vitamins may be corn-derived, or corn-derivatives may be used in the binding (if solid) or suspension (if liquid) of the vitamin compound.

Xanthan Gum - a food additive that is used as a thickening agent. It is found in sauces, spices, and commonly in Gluten Free foods. Xanthan Gum is most often grown on corn, or corn sugars. If an item includes Xanthan Gum and states it is corn-free, call the manufacturing company and inquire as to the source of Xanthan Gum to be sure.
Xylitol - You will find Xylitol in Sugar Free items such as candy, chewing gum, cosmetics, mouth wash, and toothpaste

Zein – used in time-release medications, derived from Maize
Sorry the list is so long but this is actually just the top products made from corn.