Darden reviews

3.8

68% would recommend to a friend

(2,845 total reviews)

Rick Cardenas

72% approve of CEO

68% positive business outlook

Darden has an employee rating of 3.8 out of 5 stars, based on 2,845 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
5.0
Oct 26, 2025

Good

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good structure, had a well developed system

Cons

It is still a restaurant job

4.0
Oct 26, 2025

Great place

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Its very team oriented, the benefits are good, good work environment, great at rewarding their employees, good life work balance.

Cons

Some of the people there can be really toxic.

2.0
Oct 24, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Individual restaurants with good general managers can be good, temporary cultural enclaves. If you are not in the lgbtq+ community, and dont mind practices illegal in many states, the are great benefits and pay.

Cons

Management will use whatever tactic neccessary weeding out openly lgbtq+ individuals, favoritism reigns supreme, none of the values corporate claims are actually put in practice om the restaurant level. Internal emails from upper management demanding intentional over staffing, and intentionally scheduling team members to come in only to tell them to go home when they get there without paying, many managers weaponizing this against minorites. Harsh gender discrimination rampant, with transgender and queer people facing broad discrimination. During my very first interview was told i must not wear things other team members wore becuase it didnt fit my gender role despite being explicitly allowed in the dress code, but told that it was all for show and the company doesnt actually believe what it says. Many team members lost their jobs for dying hair when it was explicity allowed in the posted dress code, upper management claiming "if they dye their hair, what other poor decisions are they making?" Was told to my face by upper managent and my boss that i cannot be visually gay, queer, or trans in anyway, or i will never be promoted, and while they technically cant fire me for it, they can find other ways to do so. I was cussed out and harrassed by my NRO lead at a restaurant opening, and every time i had any of these issues it was swept under the rug and employee relations did nothing, was always told that what actually happens doesnt matter, only what they say does, hence never using cameras in buildings.

Viewing 55 - 57 of 2,845 Reviews

Glassdoor has 2,908 Darden reviews submitted anonymously by Darden employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Darden is right for you.