Poor service at Olive Garden, does it constitute a 10% gratuity and a complaint to the manager? You decide!?

Question

Waited 35 minutes to seat.

I informed the waitress that we wanted to share an entree because the portions are too large.

Ordered wine and beer and asked for ice waters.

Wine and Beer showed up, water did not.

I sat at the table watching the waitress goof off and totally forget about the water.

The salad shows up with bread sticks.

She asks if we want dipping sauce. I say "sure" unknowingly to me that costs an extra 3 dollards.

Entree shows up.

Waitress never comes back to see how the food is.

She never comes back to ever bring me the water.

We are not finished with the entree, and she comes back to the table and asks us if we want dessert. Big no no, for me.

Finally, I ask her to please give me some water. And it doesnt cross her mind that we already asked her once.

At the end of the night, she charges us an extra $3 for sauce and $3 for an additional salad.

She never told us about these extra charges.

10% tip and a complaint to the manager.

Justified?

Answer 1

no tip

Answer 2

Skip the tip but don't complain to the manager.

Answer 3

i will refuse to tip if the service is HORRIBLE and uncalled for & it has to be pretty darn bad. this would qualify as a no tip.

she was goofing off

she was not paying attention

she did not inform you of extra fees for dip sauce

salad at the olive garden is unlimited

she barges in on your meal to ask about desert before you are done (not paying attention)

slow with requests

i would ask for a refund. i would not tip & i would complain to the manager. i feel bad for all of the servers that have to work harder because "she" did a bang up job of making it look like an easy job.

best wishes.

Answer 4

I would have spoken to her directly,with respect,still gave her the tip, and put something  on her mind for the next visit.I would have made a second trip just to see if she learned anything from the previous visit, if not than speak with the manager,giving him or her all the details of the previous visit.You never know what a person is going through that cause the poor service.

Answer 5

Don't leave a tip but explain to the waitress why . You don't want her to get fired , do you?

Answer 6

My boyfriend and I go out to eat about four times a week and feel that you were completely justified in the way you handled it.  We don't have the heart to leave a $0 tip even though it's almost deserved so we leave a small tip.  She should have told you about the dipping sauce and salad being extra. The manager needs to know how you were treated so that it hopefully doesn't happen again.  If he's a good manager, he'll comp a portion or all of the ticket.

Answer 7

There really is no excuse for the way she behaved...and goofed off in plain view to her customers? What a shame...You were right to tip 10%...no reason for her to slack like that--if she does not want to work for her money she should not be there.  When I take orders and things like extra sauce or an extra salad cost more, I always make sure that the customer is aware of it--common curtosey.

Answer 8

Well depending on how brutal your complaint was? By you giving her a 10% tip im thinking that it wasnt a very bad complaint beacuse you still tipped. So I would say it was Justified unless your complaint to the manager was very brutal and you barried the waitress. But like I said above I dont think it was because you still tipped and a decent tip esspically with a complaint to the manager. But I wouldnt hold the 35 minutes to seat on her. Olive Gardens are always busy or at least the ones ive been to.

Answer 9

I would suggest no tip at all, speak with the manager & send an email comment to Olive Garden.  Everyone will be notified of this wait person's poor experience and satisfaction will be justified.

Times are really hard now with the economy.  Restaurants & retail businesses really need to keep on their toes and watch to keep patrons happy & coming back.  If they don't, it's a matter of time and they can't afford to have unprofessional help to support their businesses.

Answer 10

I would not have left any tip and would have asked for a manager as soon as I saw the waitress was not busy, just goofing off.  If there's no manager that can be found, I write a big zero in the tip line and write a note right on receipt explaining.  Yes, I know they have to run a duplicate, etc. etc. but if I goofed off at my job, I wouldn't get paid at all, let alone just be out a tip.  A TIP is not OWED- EVER.  A tip is something you give for service over and above the basics.  Great waitresses love me as I'll leave a $15 tip for a $15 meal if they do something extra or are simply fantastic.  Bad waitresses hate me as  I have left zero for a $100 meal with awful service.  I prefer to save my equally hard earned money for those large tips to the waitresses that really deserve a large one.  

Our Olive Garden went out of business as the service and food was so bad.