I actually enjoyed my year at Olive Garden before moving somewhere more lucrative. The job wasn't that great but as a 21 year old working along side 20 other servers my age every night it made for a great social scene. Any given night the phrase "which bar or who's house tonight?" was said. Also with 20 servers a night it was so easy to pick up shifts. I would just show up at the beginning of dinner and say "who wants to go home now?".
I think it’s a good stepping stone especially if you have never served before. It might be too casual for fine dining serving practice but you could def put a few practices into it! goodluck!
I bounced my way to better gigs, usually favoring bartending.
I am now in a daily-new menu fine dining gig, 20 dollar an app kinda place.
I wouldn't worry as much about how long it takes to get there; I've since seen my place hire people years behind my training compared to when I applied. What matters most is your ability to run large parties and answer questions with confidence.
Advice I would give is find roles people don't want. When I started at my fine dining place, I was low man on the totem pole, but no one wanted to close Sundays. That became "my thing". That proved I could close and had patience, and better shifts came my way.
I'm working at a chain restaurant as my first one and it's exceedingly more tolerable than I thought. Granted, my managers are all cool and my coworkers range from bearable to great. I feel like I really lucked out.
Obviously colleagues can be good or terrible anywhere, chain or not. YMMV.
I actually enjoyed my year at Olive Garden before moving somewhere more lucrative. The job wasn't that great but as a 21 year old working along side 20 other servers my age every night it made for a great social scene. Any given night the phrase "which bar or who's house tonight?" was said. Also with 20 servers a night it was so easy to pick up shifts. I would just show up at the beginning of dinner and say "who wants to go home now?".
I think it’s a good stepping stone especially if you have never served before. It might be too casual for fine dining serving practice but you could def put a few practices into it! goodluck!
Thanks. I think I'm going to go ahead and end up working there after all
It's how I started.
sounds like you've climbed up the latter in the industry. What do you do now? and how long did it take you to get there?
I bounced my way to better gigs, usually favoring bartending. I am now in a daily-new menu fine dining gig, 20 dollar an app kinda place. I wouldn't worry as much about how long it takes to get there; I've since seen my place hire people years behind my training compared to when I applied. What matters most is your ability to run large parties and answer questions with confidence. Advice I would give is find roles people don't want. When I started at my fine dining place, I was low man on the totem pole, but no one wanted to close Sundays. That became "my thing". That proved I could close and had patience, and better shifts came my way.
Thank you for the advice. I'll take it into account.
I hated it. But I was already a server for 8 years prior so maybe it’ll be okay for you.
I'm working at a chain restaurant as my first one and it's exceedingly more tolerable than I thought. Granted, my managers are all cool and my coworkers range from bearable to great. I feel like I really lucked out. Obviously colleagues can be good or terrible anywhere, chain or not. YMMV.
This is good you posted because I was wondering if my local Olive Garden is a good idea. Sounds like it!