Olive Garden Opens In Joliet: 'Food Has Looked And Tasted Amazing'

JOLIET, IL — April 10, 2023, is a date that will be remembered by Joliet residents for many years to come, especially for the 1,100 to 1,300 people expected to patronize the new Joliet Olive Garden that officially opened Monday.

Plainfield High School 1998 graduate Jon Linneman is the new general manager for the Joliet Olive Garden located near the Costco at Interstate 55 and Plainfield Road. He said there were about 40 people lined up in the parking lot on Monday morning in anticipation of the 11 a.m. opening.

"There were two guys here since 7 a.m. that sat on chairs,"Linneman told Joliet Patch's editor.

The two men became the first customers for the new Olive Garden. Linneman had them autograph one of the menus to mark the special occasion.

"It's going to be busy this week," Linneman assured Patch. "I recommend calling up and asking (about a possible wait). Hopefully, it's not too bad.

"Guests are super excited for us being there," he said. "It's a great location. We had our soft opening on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for friends and family and everybody said it was great food, great atmosphere, and they said it does not look like any other Olive Garden that they visited. This is a new model."

Linneman said he has at least 175 new employees for the Joliet Olive Garden and does not have any immediate openings.

"We're good right now," he said.

The two most popular items on the menu have been the Italian margarita and the Tour of Italy entrée. A photo of the Tour of Italy is at the top of this article.

Linneman said he has lived in Joliet since the 1990s. He graduated from Plainfield High School in 1998. He worked at the Bolingbrook Olive Garden the previous nine years, including the past six as its general manager.

He said the two Will County Olive Gardens will draw their own customer base.

The Weber Road location will continue to draw primarily from Bolingbrook and Romeoville, while the new Joliet location will draw from Joliet, Plainfield and all the communities south along Interstate 55, Linneman said.

At Monday's grand opening, Linneman said he met people who came from Channahon, Shorewood, Braidwood and Wilmington.

"It is a beautiful building," Linneman said. "It looks awesome at night. It's completely lit up all the way around the building. There's a lot of natural light here, which is great."

Joliet Patch asked if Linneman anticipates the new Olive Garden will become one of Joliet's most popular restaurants from Day One.

"The plan is for us to be very popular," he said. "It's one of the most anticipated openings in the last 15 years; that's quoted by guests."

What kind of comments was Linneman hearing from his first-time guests?

"Super clean, super friendly, food has looked and tasted amazing," he remarked.

Linneman said he was proud of how well the staff was handling Monday's constantly busy grand opening. There were only a few empty spaces in the large Olive Garden parking lot as of 2:30 p.m.

Open seven days a week, the Joliet Olive Garden will be open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. There is a separate area of the Olive Garden property reserved for to-go food orders.

Working closely with Linneman is Lupe Correa, the culinary manager. "My team is doing awesome and they're loving it," she said.

Guests will be order to receive unlimited soup, salad and breadsticks.

As for the breadsticks, "they're coming out nice and hot," Correa said.