Make sure you read the updates below to get the whole picture. It balances out the first review!!!
Not a great experience. Upon arrival there were 6 people working the host(ess) podium and only 3 people in front of us. The people working seemed unorganized and confused. When a table finally was suggested it was in the bar. The restaurant was half empty and there was no one in the bar. We ended up taking the table in the bar because no effort was made by the host to seat us elsewhere in the restaurant after we said we didn't want to sit in the bar. We ordered two sodas, I had the bruschetta and my partner the lasagne. The food was mediocre, but nothing new there.
When the bill came we paid, the waiter came out and told us when he tried to run our card he got a message to call the bank. He didn't know what to do so gave us the card back and walked away from the table. OK then.
I called the bank and they told me that there was no record of the restaurant even attempting to run a transaction on the card. She mentioned their payment processor was having an issue and cards had to be run by being entered manually. Since the staff didn't seem to have a clue, we paid via cash and left.
We went to this restaurant to honor the memory of a dear friend we lost who liked to go there, and we had the meal we last had with her at the place. It will have to remain a nice memory, because we're not in a hurry to go back to this, or any other Olive Garden.
UPDATE (3/31): Chris with their guest relations department followed up apologizing for our bad experience, which we appreciate. We will give the restaurant another try and update our review after that experience. Follow-up by guest relations is a 5-STAR experience. Thank you Chris!
Update (4/22): So we revisited the restaurant last night and our experience was the polar opposite of our previous visit. The host was courteous and seated us at a great table. Our waiter (Chris if I recall right) was new. Only had been on the job for three days. He did a good job, he'll be excellent in a few days! The food was good and we left the place in a great mood. What a different experience this was. So glad we tried again. Thank you Chris with guest relations for your follow up, and thanks for a great meal to the staff! We'll be back!