The Weaver Family

When we go out to eat as a family, we expect good food and good service, at the very least.  It’s not that much to ask when you go to a restaurant to spend your hard earned money to expect these two very simple ingredients to have a nice dining out experience.  But lately, trying to find that dining out experience has become a challenge.

We went out to eat at The Olive Garden in Rome, GA.  Our history with this place as far as quality of food and service has varied.  The first time we went there, right after they opened the restaurant, the food was top-notch and the service was exceptional.  That was the last time we had that experience.  Every time there after has been a miss on the overall pleasurable dining experience.  The problem has been, that it hasn’t been so exceptionally awful to quit going back.  We’ve been trying to give them a fair shake.  The Olive Garden, truly isn’t an authentic Italian experience when it comes to the menu, but it has good food, at semi-reasonable prices.

But this last time, was the breaking point.  The food was decent.  It wasn’t outstanding, it wasn’t horrific either.  It was passable.  Good flavor, and hot enough.  The drinks were on the watered-down side.  Enough said.  But the service.  I’ve had drill instructors that didn’t push me that hard.  Our waitress was very pushy from the time we sat down, until the time we left, except for when we were looking for the bill.

Our main courses had barely been put on the table, before she came around to check on the meal.  She could see we obviously hadn’t taken a bite, but she kept on with the question “How is everything?”  Let us take a bite to find out.  And from that point on it was every two to three minutes of being interrupted.  We couldn’t carry on a decent conversation if our lives depended on it.  Then when we did want to order dessert, while we could see our waitress, we couldn’t get her attention.  Finally, ten minutes later, we ordered dessert, she laid the bill on the table, and five minutes later our dessert came out.   We ate our dessert and left.   And this time, we won’t be going back.

The next day, we went to a minor league Rome Braves baseball game.  We got tickets at the club level, so we could eat at the Three Rivers Club.    Food was great, our service was better.  The waiter wasn’t pushy at all, but our glasses were never empty.  We sat out at our table, on the patio, even after we were done our meal and had paid, our waiter continued to make sure we had drinks in front of us.  Best service I’ve had in a long time, in any restaraunt.  I was astounded.   All I can say is Three Rivers Club, great job.   The Rome Braves didn’t fare so well, but it was still a great game, and an enjoyable afternoon and dining experience.

Just goes to show that bad service can wreck a meal.  Good service can make a decent meal outstanding.  It’s a lesson Olive Garden could stand to learn, and they could learn it at Three Rivers Club.  Game on.

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