Darden reviews

3.7

67% would recommend to a friend

(2,846 total reviews)

Rick Cardenas

72% approve of CEO

68% positive business outlook

Darden has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 2,846 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Darden employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Restaurants & Food Service industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

3K reviews
2.0
Jun 27, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

A great place to start out in the service industry, they will hire servers without experience and the training is extensive. The company does offer some great benefits compared to other restaurant industry leaders. You'll always find strong camaraderie amongst the staff.

Cons

The company is massive and therefore the smallest percentage gain leads to significant increases in the bottom line. Thus, some very stringent policies are enforced upon the staff that makes for a very, very rough serving experience. The money is terrible for serving with a limit of 3 tables which is enforced due to the strain of refillable soup, salad, and breadsticks - it kills servers and it kills efficiency. If you are starting out, get some experience here and move on to a better opportunities.

1.0
Apr 26, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

flexible hours, ability to make quick money

Cons

very poor management whose incompetence was problematic to day to day operations, corporate culture that embraced cost-saving measures that directly impacted employee wages, (e.g. cutting busser and bartenders' hourly pay and compensating by implementing a mandatory, sales (not tip) based "tip-share", and value-based promotions that often involved much more labor on the part of hourly employees without adding to their compensation (e.g. AYCE shrimp and four-course meals)

4.0
Apr 23, 2014

Times, they are a changing....

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great benefits, quality food, great menu

Cons

As a manager, work/life balance is better suited for people who do not have families. You are expected to work all but two holidays (restaurant is closed for two holidays). You are sometimes scheduled to close and then turn around and open the restaurant. People are developed while they're team members and as as managers, but after that, from what I can tell, there's not much development opportunities.

Viewing 160 - 162 of 2,846 Reviews

Glassdoor has 2,909 Darden reviews submitted anonymously by Darden employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Darden is right for you.