I would ask to see the manager, hostess and waitress together and explain to them why there will be no tip and why you will never return. The manager won't know there were problems with your meal and comfort until you tell him.
Olive Garden table unclean, asked the hostess 3 times chair for my leg. She kept saying ok. No chair. My waiter didn't listen to my salad order, it came wrong, no salad plate, no silverware. He brought me unasked for not wanted 20 banana peppers 😱omg? Waiter dripped water on my bad leg. Its still there. I ask for 2 breadsticks he brought 4. I asked for a couple napkins he brought 6. TIP? Update@ 8:46pm. (I'm back after about 7 hours my arthritis was really hurting today) I didn't put everything in this question because that would have made the question super long. Next, time (hopefully no next time) I will make question super long and add every bitty details.
Here's a tip. Don't go there again. :)
(And don't leave a tip, either).
I haven't gone to an Olive Garden restaurant in years because of things like that. Won't go near the place ! Might take my ex-wife there though ! I wouldn't tip a nickle for their lousy service and lousy food.
Okay ... I get most of your complaint, but - the waiter bringing you MORE breadsticks and napkins than you asked for? That is not a reasonable complaint. That is good service.
Tip should reflect the service you received that was WITHIN the waiter's Waitresses control.
Should start at an optimistic 20% and can work it's way down to 10% maybe even 5% if they are really NOT doing their job.
Understand what can and cannot be communicated, and then take a look past just your table . . . Were they over-sat and not given help to offset this?
That situation went way beyond what you could have effectively solved with the waiter.
Normally, when that happens, I ask to speak to the manager and when he or she comes over, I say---always with a smile on my face--- "Hi there. My dining experience this evening has turned to s**t."
I know a little bit about the restaurant business and that's like telling the manager the place is on fire---it will get addressed immediately.
Anybody can have a bad day, but twice in my life I have left a two cent time and then returned the next day and asked for that waiter by name. (That works well if everything was the waiter's fault and not that of the restaurant itself.)
Sometimes I am just hungry when I go out to eat and I have a broad tolerance for what may happen.
At other times I seek out and reasonably demand a high end dining experience.
It's not my primary obligation to make it a good experience for the restaurant and the waiter at my expense.
I am not sure what to say here-I might have a different perspective since I was a waitress from 18-30 through college and as extra work as a teacher. Yes, incompetence, but I blame that more on Olive Garden and their decline in their hiring practice service all over their chain.
I do know it's Sunday, and they are very crowded all day on Sundays at all their chains (the reason for the dirty table ? Maybe...but busboys clean those. Manager not hire enough? Or they called in sick? Didn't show up?)
I have spilled a whole tray (15 designer cocktail drinks) all over someone on his expensive suit at The Penn Building in OKC which you know has the top businessmen's offices there, and he was soaking wet and I mean soaking set with sticky drinks the whole time there- he still tipped me. He refused my offer to have it dry cleaned. He never called manager on me. He was with a lot of important people too. That's just one of the times I have accidentally spilled something on someone out of probably 100,000 times I DIDNT spill drinks- but to the customer, that time is their time, so yes, it is important to them. I was a good waitress- I made a lot of money at that job -two times as much as a teacher made per year, so anyone can spill something on someone.
Breadsticks there are set out in groups of fours to be served. What's wrong with two more? Napkins , does it have to be "just two?". As a waitress, I always thought I was giving better service if I surprised them with extra. If someone said "I said two and only two napkins! ", I probably would have begun to cry -lol, but it's true-because I was trying to please them by giving more -same with breadsticks. The unwanted side dish? An honest mistake most would have loved, or just send it back ....
Lesson...don't go when there when they're busy? I don't know. The solution maybe ... Because I don't go there anymore anyway for years since they changed their menu.
But because I know what it's like to not be tipped for other's incompetence (manager and Olive Garden not hiring and keeping quality staff) and also, people never know the personal story of the person working as a waiter or waitress in these chains... And most times it's not good... I would have still tipped. I would have still called the manager, but I would have tipped. Just my opinion -
Sorry it's not the answer most are looking for, but I think it's good for us to always see another side.
Jan, about halfway through this experience, I would have either asked my waiter/waitress to have the manager come to me or would have gone up to the hostess station - with all the people standing there waiting to be seated - and asked, probably not quietly - to see the manager immediately.
If my waiter/waitress would have asked me if there was a problem, after asking to see the manager, I would have said - oh yes, there certainly is a problem. Please have the manager come to see me ASAP.
I don't have the patience any longer for poor service, etc. In a restaurant. I will try to be as polite as I can while letting them know how deeply disappointed I am about their service / food / etc.
Once this poor service goes on and on, there's nothing that ticks me off more than apathy. If you don't want to work in food service, then DON'T, but don't take your pissy attitude out on me by providing sub-standard service.
