restaurant manager

line cook

dishwasher

sous chef

host/hostess

Darden Restaurants

What is the best part of working at the company?
I have found this to be the most rewarding job I have ever had.  We as a crew really pull together, when you are here your family and it is truely a family.  Work pace is fast, hands down, but we all work great together and have each others back including our management team.  Great team, great management and great food for a great price, what more could you ask for, oh and the best bread sticks around.  

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The most stressful is a friday and Saturday night when everyone in town comes. That means everything has to be ready and available at all times, and we go threw a lot of alfredo sauce.  It's made every time we turn around its can get overwhelming  but the staff we have runs like a well oiled machine and they know there stuff.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It's like working with all your friends and family, it can get hectic, but with our staff, someone is always jumping in to help even our managers.  We all have our own responsibilities, but we will jump in and get the job done if one of our departments get buried.  That's what makes a business run good, having the right people in the right position and our General Manager and managers really have a good sence of direction when it comes to hiring.  We sing and we listen to good music and we make our guest have the best experience we possibly can.  Not saying the work is easy but it sure can be fun when you have the right peoole around you working.  It may take a few weeks to fit in but with our staff, you can be assured you will feel like one of the family.  The servers are the best always giving it their all and smiling as they do it.  Do they have hard days they sure do and someone is always there to put that smile back on your face.  I have been with Darden Corporation almost 23 years and I have never seen a restraunt this busy and be able to serve the public like we do.  So if your up to working in a fast pace environment then this is the place for you.  Know that you will never feel like your on your own because everyone will help.  As for culture, its Italian all the way.  And who doesnt like Italian, there may be some, that's why we do serve some other options.  

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
All depends on what job your doing.  Production starts right off with making all the food preparation, which can be a crucial timing issue.  If I'm making bread for the day that can be none stop and most days for lunch and evening it can get overwhelming.  Multi-tasking is a must because I'm always doing 3 things at once.  When the days over clean up begins and we do clean everything from scrubbing floors to cooling down sauces to cleaning up all stations you worked on and some you havent.  This is a typical day, Friday and Saturday are our busiest day and it is a none stop from 9am to 9 pm.  You get your full days workout.
All in all it really is a fun place to work.

Working for Darden restaurants got me through college and was a fun work experience. Everyone was like a family and we all helped each other out and built strong relationships that I still have and value today. The management was great and kept us positive. I worked for Red Lobster in Tallahassee and then transferred to Seasons 52 when I moved to south Florida. These were two very different work environments but both were great in different ways. I was sad when I left but I was ready for a day job with a steady schedule and paycheck. My favorite part of Red Lobster was my co workers. Best group of people I think I have ever worked with. My least favorite part of working at Red Lobster was closing. Being a closer was never fun because the kitchen was ready to go, the crowd that came in late usually tended to be on the rude side and as your co workers were getting off you were left at times on a scavenger hunt trying to find what your customer was requesting but you push through it. At Seasons 52, closing was completely different. The clientele in general was completely different and the kitchen was ready to keep going until the doors were locked. Seasons 52 was much more organized and less scavenger hunts took place. My favorite part of working at Seasons 52 was the atmosphere of the restaurant and when we switched menu's we had meetings to go over it and everyone got to sample the dishes. My least favorite part of Seasons 52 was working nights and weekends and not having a set schedule. Overall, working in both these restaurants I learned so much about working as a team, speaking up when you need help, multi tasking to the extreme, how to handle situations when the customer is extremely unsatisfied with something, how to be humble and admit to a mistake, how to manage timing between table orders and keeping up with the kitchen and maintaining service for my tables while being able to check on other tables as well, keeping an appealing appearance of not only yourself but the restaurant even when things get hectic.

Hired as an MIT in the York Red Lobster and was rated highly successful in the 3 positions of management for almost 6 years.  Promoted to General Manager of the King of Prussia Red Lobster in May 2004.  Lead the culture and environment to help in the performing to the first year ever of increased sales and guest count in my third year there. Was rated the best in the company in crew satisfaction and achieved the highest in guest satisfaction in the Big East prior to moving back to the York Red Lobster.  Rebuilt their culture and environment to where it is today in almost making a record Million dollars in earnings last year.

Achievements: Helped lead the York Red Lobster to Diamond club performance.  Achieved the highest level of crew satisfaction in the company for multiple years.  Cultured an environment to bring the guest satisfaction level to being the best in the Division.  Consistent to Quality Assurance

General Manager Activities:  
•	Lead a team of 4 managers, Culinary, Service, Beverage and Hospitality and Staffing.  Demonstrated leadership and expertise in all of these areas. Built systems by design to build awareness for teams, whether it is for ordering, scheduling, staffing, finance control, crew review systems, opening or closing procedures, weekly development, forecasting, daily statistical tracking and crew meetings. Five million dollar operation, 115 crew member team,  1860 guest count day  maximum. Mentoring program with York College. Charitable causes with Boys and Girls Club of Harrisburg and York’s Helping Hand.
Manager activities
•	All aspects of Culinary, Service and Beverage and Hospitality. Writing of schedules, ordering, interviewing, reviews, total quality operations, coaching and developing, guest relations, problem solving, maintenance and repairs.  Ensured all operations up to Red Lobster standards and Department of Agriculture standards.  Maintained great competitive staffing levels to ensure great guest loyalty and branding of our image.


A typical workweek included 10 scheduled workdays with an average shift of 5 hours, alternating between opening and closing shifts.
I was often called in on my days off because of last-minute schedule changes I had not been advised about. Further, the workplace is crippled by wholly ineffective management strategies, the most idiotic of which involved a 30 minute "tip in" (which was essentially a pre-shift meeting with a manager so that he could reiterate your daily goals). These took place before every shift, regardless of how desperately staff were needed on the floor. 

Another failure point was the training process. I did not receive the approved training, and was instead trained by the person I was replacing. This resulted in much confusion and upset from myself and the managers when I did not know something because I had not been taught, and in fact I was doing full work while only being given trainee pay for the first two weeks. 

Perhaps even more distressing was the culture of mistrust and deception among the staff and perpetrated by the 6 managers at the location. It seemed at every point that there was someone watching and waiting to correct you at every turn, even performing above and beyond the requirements of my position (assisting buss staff to clear tables, opening doors for guests) was met with anger from the management and coworkers, who were content to see hand prints on windows and customers on a 45 minute wait to be seated. Often, I felt more like a sheepdog herding cattle through the trough than an individual concerned with customer service and comfort.

There was not a single point during my time at the Olive Garden when I was not on the verge of an anxiety attack.

At a typical day at work, I worked behind the bar where my main responsibility was to prepare cocktails for the servers from chits that printed. I also served the any guests at the bar top and tables in the bar area. In addition, I answered the phone to take orders for carry out, kept a balanced drawer, fixed server checks, cashed out servers at the end of their shift, communicated with managers about guest complaints or server errors. Before or after rush, I washed all the bar glasses, stocked the mixers, beer and wine, cleaned the bar area and took inventory the last Sunday of the month. The most enjoyable part of my job was getting to meet wonderful people that would come in and make positive guest connections that promoted repeat business. The bond between co-workers is another one of my favorite parts of the job. The comradery generated with the massive amount of teamwork this job entails spreads throughout work. Some of my very best friends were made at work! The hardest part of the job was, of course, dealing with guest complaints. I always strive to have everyone leave completely satisfied and anything less is a disappointment that I try to avoid. I always got a manager and attempted to remedy the situation as quickly as possible. The management team at all of the Darden restaurants have been very well trained at talking to the guests, but some of them fall short with employee relations. For example, I had a general manager throw ramekins at the dishwashers that were not clean, until two walked out, and that is not exactly appropriate. I have learned technical skills such as how to take inventory and make a marketing email list and well as interpersonal skills of how to interact with people.

I was a host at Olive Garden. I eagerly greeted & seated guests as they arrived. When it got busy, we would pass out appetizers to the guests as they waited to be seated. Buzzers were handed out so they may walk about freely without losing their place in line. It was also up to me to maintain the cleanliness of the store, each morning & night & stock each servers section. I learned how to deal with difficult people, as people would get irritable when they've waited awhile and are hungry. I've learned to hide maintain a positive attitude when it got busy, such as multiple large parties arriving at once and how to keep a cool head when things don't go as planned. I couldn't ask for better managers, they were always willing to help out their staff when needed. They had excellent listening skills and were empathetic when their employees had to deal with additional stress in their life. Their positive recognition made it fun to go to work each day. The hardest part of my job there would have to have been working a split shift. I was commuting to work and with a three hour break in the middle of the day it made for very long hours. The most enjoyable part of my job was the constant interactions I had with the guests. They brightened my day when they would leave satisfied and return a week later and acknowledge me. I like making people happy as it comes naturally to me. Their happiness made me happy. I also liked that if a guest had a bad experience there, I was the last one they spoke with and often times I could amend the situation before they left. It made my job all that more rewarding.

This review is for hopefuls looking for an opinion working for Olive Garden:
1.5 out of 4 managers listen to you. They don't retain information and will schedule you out of your availability, no matter how much you tell them you can't work. It's best to request off or write a message so that they can see it and go back to it. They inconveniently schedule you and wear you out. Hosts pick and choose who they want to seat if you are a server. Unless it is busy, your section will not get filled up because the hosts overlook some servers. (Which is normal in this type of field) The type of patrons that visit are low income families and they unfortunately leave unfair tips no matter how hard you work to make them happy.  The bad clientele outweighs the good. Bussers are expected to do everything for servers and while expecting them to bus all of the tables, wear them out exponentially. Hosts are hourly, however there aren't enough hours to go around so if you are a student it's good to work here. And if you are a teenager, this is perfect for you. But as an adult, you will need more than one job working here. As a bartender, you shouldn't waste your time. Unless it is for the experience. They make cocktails that are not up-to-par. But there is room for promotion. The only downside, they'll lead you to the water but some are still unable to drinketh. Being transparent with this kind of restaurant is most successful if you want to start or continue to work here. If you do not have boundaries: like anywhere, they will take advantage if you do not t say anything. FOH positions at Olive Garden or any restaurant are impertinent to the restaurant. However, they are not fully supportive of or considerate of all of FOH employees. Overall, staff are great. 

I imagine that the experience differs widely from restaurant to restaurant, but from my time spent with three branches of the Olive Garden division, I felt respected as a professional in a positive environment.

A typical day of work for me:
1- communicating with managers and fellow server staff before shift start... aka, a "pep talk".
2- making suggestions from previous knowledge of menu based off of guest preference, balancing priorities of guest requests, processing payments and tips, collaborating with "service partner" (assigned server to work closely alongside for each shift), and communicating with kitchen staff about special orders.
3- cleaning assigned section of tables after "phasing" out of shift, and being talked out of position by manager to assess how the shift went.

There is a lot of lingo with the company to efficiently express certain priorities (eg, "in the weeds", "Hot Food Go").  Co-workers are not difficult to cooperate with, so as long as you strive to do your best and help others when they're struggling.  Management is generally knowledgable, and managers are great resources for dealing with conflict on many different levels.

The hardest part of the job: although there is accountability, it is up to YOU to delight your guests.  You are given the opportunity to ad-lib at every table, and although this can be a fun experience with easy-going guests, it can be a difficult task with guests who may not agree with your attitude or approach, and it is your job to figure this out as soon as possible and adjust to the guest preference.

I loved the culture. It is one that welcomes people to be social. The main drawback to it is that you often get pulled aside outside of standard protocols to do things. This is normally not a problem for younger employees as they haven't established long-lasting relationships, but I have known the mid-career folks mentioning this. Perhaps another drawback is that you need to take the initiative to be more social, but I suppose that won't be any different from any other company.

It's easy to know your purpose in the company and to know what is acceptable behavior. Innovation is encouraged though from my perspective didn't see any official programs in place to encourage it other than the employee recognition programs (which is good!).

Something that I noticed is they loved using contractors. This isn't just the standard contracting janitorial staff (they are contractors), they hire various roles through staffing and consultation services, including project managers and programmers. So it gets difficult to get in. 

Once you're in, people tend to stay. Unfortunately the drawback here is that unless a new project/department/team is created, you may be waiting a long time for a promotion. It's not so much competition as its like in the government - some people stick around until old age to leave.

I look at glass half empty, so don't take this as a bad review. 5/5 stars

I enjoyed working at Red Lobster because I could be myself and I love conversation with all guest. Meeting people and different personalities kept my place of work fun at all times. Meanwhile this position took your body a few months to adjust to the long hours (8+) on your feet. No breaks even with double shifts, we all ate on the go. Working there took a toll on the body such as carrying heavy trays of food and beverage( includes wrist, shoulder, neck, and back pain); walking and standing on your feet for long periods caused severe pain in the knees and feet. However, this position also helped me get acclimated in dealing with new customers on a daily basis. I also learned to listen more closely to the guests needs, I acknowledged them and explored possible solutions to resolve the issues the best way possible. Some guest became my "Red Lobster Family". This family made it a point to dine in on days I was scheduled to work, I felt fortunate to be their only server each visit. Furthermore, working in the city I was located in offered very minimal room for advancement. I am in pursuit to lead and advance from this point. Besides that,We had plenty of teamwork, hardworking and honest employees. Working different job codes also kept my interest. I believe doing so really helped me learn the restaurant as a whole. Red Lobster is fantastic place to work and network if you ask me. I would recommend a position like this to young adults fresh out of high school, college or perhaps the retired.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Restaurant manager 203 salaries reported	$62,377 per year
Line cook 95 salaries reported	$17.98 per hour
Dishwasher 94 salaries reported	$17.22 per hour
Sous chef 23 salaries reported	$69,413 per year
Host/hostess 42 salaries reported	$11.33 per hour

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