We were very disappointed with the new Olive Garden. My wife and I looked forward to trying the new OG in Ottawa. We have fond memories of frequently visiting the OG when it was on Montreal road back in the 90"s. Here the atmosphere was very cozy with Italian murals and decor throughout the restaurant. So we decided to celebrate our 56th wedding anniversary on Kirkwood. We thought there may be a lineup so we arrived at about 5:30 PM. There was a lineup and it took us a half hour to get to the door. Here we were put on an electronic waiting list and told our table would be ready in one hour and we would be texted. We walked around for an hour and checked the waiting list, there were 36 ppl ahead of us. So we waited in our car along with many others in the parking lot. After waiting 2 hours we got to 3rd place and went to the door and checked in.
We were squeezed into a table for two in a large room that was very noisy. We asked the waitress for two glasses of water, a glass of wine and a cocktail. The wine arrived but we had to call her back over for the water and cocktail. We ordered our meal when she came back, ten minutes later the large salad bowl and bread sticks arrived. We had barely finished eating a scoop of salad when the main order arrived. We felt rushed but the food was hot but not appetizing. I had ordered the Lasagna which was to die for at the previous location. This serving consisted of layers of noodles loaded with cheese and a coating of meat sauce over the top. Not what I expected. My wife's meal was The Tour of Italy (Chicken Parmigiana, alfredo, lasagna) all very bland and salty. Another disappointment. We felt very rushed. One of the managers would walk around dressed like a construction worker looking for eye contact then waving at us which was weird. The overall experience was not very pleasant as the room was very loud and was like a huge cafeteria rather than a comfortable place to eat. Our overall scores would be Atmosphere: 3/10; Service 4/10; Food 4/10. We would not recommend this place to others. read more