# Did you know this Olive Garden cliche? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 30, 2020, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-olive-garden-cliche/854712 "2020-05-30T03:44:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-olive-garden-cliche/854712/61 "2020-06-01T13:12:43Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Perfect place for a break-up is Mad Mex on Valentine’s Day. They do an anti-Valentine thing where couples are assumed to be breaking up. They play music about breaking up, serve lots of booze with the meal, and automatically bring seperate checks. We’ve done it and it’s hilarious. Along with the check they should bring you an empty “to-go” cardboard box for all your shit. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-olive-garden-cliche/854712/62 "2020-06-01T13:43:14Z")
Ew. I don’t consider a public place to be a good place to break up with someone. Maybe if you’re afraid for your safety. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-olive-garden-cliche/854712/63 "2020-06-01T15:51:31Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > That’s where I meet my organized crime contacts when I want to publicly execute them with a gun I keep behind the toliet. > > If by “perfectly fine” you mean “pasta reheated in a microwave and liberally drowned in off-brand jars marinara” then I’d agree. If I wanted a good meal that consists of more than copious amounts of breadsticks and salad, however, I would go elsewhere. Pretty much anywhere else, actually. > > Stranger Only in Joliet. 😃 Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-olive-garden-cliche/854712/64 "2020-06-01T16:02:03Z")
If I was breaking up with my SO, I think the perfect place to say goodbye would have to be Ruby Tuesday’s. ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-olive-garden-cliche/854712/65 "2020-06-01T17:56:24Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > But that’s, like, half of the point of the cliché, right? If you’re going to break up with someone face to face, and you do it in a public place — say, a restaurant where folks are enjoying salad and breadsticks — you reduce the odds of an alarm clock getting hurled at your head. (I mean, where would they even _get_ an alarm clock?) Except the thrown alarm clock wasn’t after I told her I was breaking with her, it was “the camel that broke my straw back” leading to the break up. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-olive-garden-cliche/854712/66 "2020-06-02T17:30:09Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > About 15 years ago my wife and I got take out from an Olive Garden, and I swear they where fresh made noodles. Not the dried stuff, but made on site. They where frankly fantastic. Surprised the hell out of me. It might not have been at every location, but at one time Olive Gardens were known for making the pasta fresh on premises. At the location where I worked, there was a pasta-making booth right in the lobby. People waiting for their tables could watch the pasta-making live. I worked there a little over four years. Roughly halfway through those four years, they switched from fresh-made pasta to dried pasta. It’s been a good 25 years since the pasta changeover at the particular location where I worked (which is still open to this day). Other locations may have been able to keep their pasta-making going on for longer. ---
**Author:** ![CGHJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@CGHJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CGHJ)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-olive-garden-cliche/854712/67 "2020-06-02T19:08:48Z")
I have heard of the cliché, but not enough for it to be a cliché. That is to say, I’ve heard of what OP was asking before, but only once in passing. That having been said, I do know someone who took a date to Olive Garden to dump them. The dude was rich, normally he would never eat in an OG. But since he was dumping they guy, he might as well save money. But not so much money that he would be seen in a Burger King, or even Denny’s. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-olive-garden-cliche/854712/68 "2020-06-02T20:25:49Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > If I was breaking up with my SO, I think the perfect place to say goodbye would have to be Ruby Tuesday’s. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-olive-garden-cliche/854712/69 "2020-06-02T20:55:42Z")
I for one actually have heard the cliché, though it was at least twenty years ago and I don’t remember the context though. I do remember it as being more of a joke than a cliché though - a mild dig against Olive Garden rather than actual advice. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-olive-garden-cliche/854712/70 "2020-06-02T23:05:20Z")
Never heard this about Olive Garden, either. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2020, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-olive-garden-cliche/854712/71 "2020-06-06T21:01:17Z")
And don’t forget to be the half of the couple who gets livid first. Throw your fork onto your salad bowl for maximum volume (throwing alarm clock is optional) and storm out. Because the last one at the table gets the check. (Now, if that were me left at the table, I’d immediately order a fruity cocktail and have a nice quiet dessert) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-olive-garden-cliche/854712/72 "2020-06-07T07:05:28Z")
Never heard of it. Personally, Hooters is my favorite break-up joint. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-olive-garden-cliche/854712/73 "2020-06-07T11:38:11Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > And holy shit, what a deck that is! I sit through way more presentations each week than any human should be allowed, and I can say that I’ve never seen one so brutally eviscerate its target. Given that Olive Garden’s own deck says their food is shit, I’m prepared to accept **Stranger’s** statement as verified objective fact. > > What an entertaining read. However. The creators of that presentation did succeed in getting their slate of directors installed on the board of Olive Garden’s parent company, Darden Restaurants, Inc. That was in 2014, and Darden’s stock did turn around, greatly outperforming the S&P 500 — until COVID-19 hit. But, if Olive Garden’s food sucks, the blame can now only be placed on the new regime (the creators of the presentation). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-olive-garden-cliche/854712.md?page=3)