Did I read here at SD the accusation that Olive Garden merely thaws and rewarms frozen dishes? That someone bit into still-frozen food at Olive Garden?
+1000000
supervenusfreak is currently tweaking a recipe for those biscuits that he found online. The first iteration was a little too dense, but that’s fixable.
To me, all of the OG dishes taste pre-prepared and heated-from-frozen. They aren’t bad, but nothing tastes fresh and the herbs (which should be the “bam!” in the Italian flavor) taste muddled and washed out. Then I have to wave away the only fresh spice that they have, the “oversized pepper mill guy”, because I want my meals herby–not peppery!
Word.
Back in my younger days, a guy who was really into me asked me out on a date. He said he wanted to take me someplace really nice and that he knew a great place. Did I like Italian. Yes, very much. I asked where we were going. He said it was going to be a surprise. I got him to spill. It was The Olive Garden.
The Olive Garden? The guy thought that The Olive Garden was a really nice Italian place?
WE’RE IN THE MIDDLE OF NEW FUCKING JERSEY!!
We are not, shall we say, lacking in Italians or their wonderful wonderful restaurants.
I never went out with him again.
That said, the food is revolting. Soggy slimy bland tasteless overcooked overpriced blech. People don’t snark on the Olive Garden because it’s fashionable or because they just “hate chains.” They snark on it because the food truly sucks and they try to play like they’re serving fine food or something. It’s ridiculous, and it’s even more ridiculous that people believe it. Especially in the middle of New Jersey.
p.s. I agree with INRS. Carrabba’s is good. I’ve also had good meals at the Macaroni Grill, in spite of the stupid name. Chain restaurants, even Italian ones, don’t have to be bad.
My first work trip to Seattle my co-worker wanted some seafood. He insisted we go to Red Lobster. In Seattle.
You can pretty much throw a dart out a window and hit good seafood here. He would not be swayed though.
I don’t mind the bottomless soup & salad; I get that for lunch sometimes. But OG is not authentic Italian food, it’s mostly pretty bland and overpriced. I’d rather go to a local place or the aforementioned Maggiano’s or Carabba’s.
Oh, back on topic though (since I posted a non-related post). I agree that most times you end up getting inoffensive dishes thaere that are mediocre. But I just have a problem going out to a place when I can make better at home.
As others have said I can pick another chain (Maggianos) or at least 3 other local Italian places that are much better for the money.
Just to underline my point, have a look at the sodium content listed on the items on the Olive Garden website.
Holy shit, that’s absurd. FDA guidelines recommend less than 2300 mg of sodium a day.
I’m originally from New Jersey and I couldn’t understand why on earth Olive Garden survived there. It makes more sense here in Des Moines, but there really are way better Italian places even here. Even other Italian chains like Biaggi’s and Macaroni Grill are consistently superior.
The only time I eat at Olive Garden is on one particular road trip where the only other options on the route are Subway and Pizza Hut. But it’s overpriced for what it is – if a gas station had a good selection of frozen entrees and a microwave, I’d take that instead. That’s pretty much all you’re getting at Olive Garden anyway.
I think part of the reason those values (fat and calories, not just the sodium) are absurd is because Olive Garden’s portion sizes are absurd. I’m not a light eater by any definition but the last time I ordered lasagna I felt utterly miserable about 2/3 of the way in and could not finish it.
Of course that’s nothing unique to Olive Garden, but rather most chain restaurants nowadays. Seems people don’t think they’re getting their moneys worth unless their entree is a minimum of 1500 calories and could easily feed a family in a developing nation.
Well, Taco Bell survives in Southern California when there are tons of better hole-in-the-wall Mexican Restaurants.
I grew up in an Italian neighborhood and got my first job in a family owned Italian restaurant. I learned my basic cooking skills from an elderly lady who spoke almost no English. With a fairly large Italian population, our medium sized city has a pretty good number of places that serve good to spectacular Italian food.
Olive Garden’s food tastes overcooked and way too salty. It also is obviously frozen and rewarmed.
Anything’s possible in a country where they put ‘red sauce’ and ‘white sauce’ on it.
What is bothersome about large portions? I’m usually full of salad and breadsticks by the time the meal arrives. I enjoy a few bites and then trot home with a meal or two under my arm. Seems like if they’re going to charge $15 for, by all accounts, mediocre Italian food, I should at least get more than one meal out of the deal.
Wasn’t he the reason Brady Bunch jumped the shark?
Fine in principle. I always eat Chinese food leftovers, for instance, or the remnants from the Japanese steak house (kitchy inauthentic cuisine that I still like). Maggiano’s serves family style so there is tons left over - nobody complains. But if I took home leftovers from Olive Garden, they’d just get thrown away.
I don’t go to a restaurant to go grocery shopping.
The problem with that amount of cash for a meal is that pasta is a really cheap ingredient and doesn’t warrant such a high price unless you’re including seafood or something.
Also, I dislike them far more for trying to pass off their crappy wine list as authentic Italian boutique wines when they are mass-produced swill from the likes of Cavit.
They’re OK. I have a fond memory of my then one-year-old son gnoshing on anchovies and mussles with me there. Their food is servicable, but not in any way unique or daring. It’s comfort food.
I think you’re thinking of the Applebee’s thread. Same difference.
All the cool kids hate Olive Garden.
But I’ll start a new thread for that.