Sometimes when you want a delicious, potentially special meal, that’s where Olive Garden comes to play. There’s something very comforting about many of their dishes, and they can also help elevate a dining experience.
However, sometimes you don’t want to go out to eat. You may not want to cook, but you also don’t want to leave the house. Luckily for us, now Olive Garden is offering delivery as an option. You can head right to their website, and order your favorite meals to be delivered to your door.
And the price for your meal is going to be exactly what you expect, as if you were heading into the restaurant to dine. As you go through the process of placing your order, you’ll find that entrées come with their classic salad as an option (although you can choose something else as an accompaniment) as well as two breadsticks (per entree, unless you order extra for an additional charge). And if you enjoy ordering an extra meal to go in restaurant, that option is still available to you for delivery as well.
By the end of the process, the website will tell you approximately how long it will take for your meal to arrive (or at least that is what I believe that time frame estimate is all about). And they give us a very generous estimate. When I placed my order, I was told it would take between 50 and 60 minutes for my order.
A look at the new Olive Garden delivery service experience
However, I do have to note that the delivery service is through Uber Direct. So what ends up happening, is if the other driver has deliveries before yours, you are not going to get it in the same timeframe as perhaps the restaurant tells you. You are able to follow along with your delivery driver, because they send you a link after you place your order. So you can see as a driver heads to the restaurant to pick up your order, you can find out about when they pick up your order, and you can see if there are other deliveries before you. (You can also see when the delivery driver gets lost and turns down the wrong street and has to backtrack to your address.)
I have to note that my driver apparently had a number of deliveries to make before getting my food to me. So I placed my order at 1:30 PM, and the driver picked my order up by 2:30 PM (which was in line with the restaurant’s estimated time frame). I did not receive my food until about 3:15 PM, so that was something to take note of if you are ordering for delivery. Obviously, I have to point out that I was ordering on a Saturday during the day. So when you order and things like that could impact all of this. It may not take as long for your food to arrive to your door as it did for me.
Overall, I would say this was a very solid experience. I’m glad that I wasn’t starving when I placed my order, because I will say that it did take a while to get my food. It was close to two hours before I was able to eat. But when it came to the food, there is no denying that Olive Garden officially delivers in all ways. The food was delicious and the portions are about what I expect from takeout and delivery. It didn’t seem quite as full of a dish as when you order it in restaurant, but I wasn’t expecting it to be. I have to say that the way they send the salad is amazing. It’s literally set up for you to take that salad for lunch the next day if you want.
I have to say that if you enjoy Olive Garden, but you’re not looking to head to the restaurant, delivery is a great option. And I love the fact that you order directly through the restaurant. Yes, there is a delivery fee and they ask you to tip your driver and the to-go specialist, but you should be tipping them. We should all be tipping the people taking care of our food and bringing us our food. So for me that was just the cost of having food delivered.
I appreciate the fact that Olive Garden is now offering the service and it is definitely an option that I will take advantage of again in the future. Getting some of my favorite dishes delivered to my door was exactly what I wanted on a cold winter Saturday.
Editor's Note: Guilty Eats was supplied with a gift card to Olive Garden in order to experience their new delivery option for ourselves.