Why all the hate for Olive Garden?

I mean, if you're in suburbia, it may be the best Italian you'll find. Trust me, Dublin California doesn't get much better than that when it comes to Italian food.

True, if you've got a week in Chicago or NYC, why go there...

But if you're in Pasadena Texas, Dublin California or Beaverton Oregon - why bother with anything else?

...in fact, they've got some great food there. But I liked them a little better when they used to offer cannoli.

If you want good and authentic Italian food in Dallas, there's MoMo, Cremona, and Angelo's. Probably others, too, but that's all I can think of at the moment.

But what about a Dallas suburb - say near business parks and tract housing?

Never tried any of those, but my bank account keeps me from even considering being too adventurous in the goin out to eat department.

Angelo's - No problem

Cremona - A little pricier

MoMo - The most expensive, but they do give you ample portions; prepare to ask for a "To-Go" bag

I'm making a note about Angelo's!

Thanks!

I don't do it very often, but you know, after a long day of work, sometimes it's nice not to have to cook and it is kid friendly too (flame suit on). My daughter, BTW, is extremely well behaved in restaurants. There is no food throwing.

We need kid friendly restaraunts.

When I was childless wifey and I would go to this amazing rest in Oakland called 'Spettros.' With kids, I wouldn't dream of going there.

pricey, exclusive restaurants, and like I said, she is well behaved, but you know kids like spagetti and meatballs!

:rofl:

Italian cooking or the great Italian restaurants that I've been to. I just can't get over the pretentious fast-foodiness of the place when I can spend the same if not less at an actual authentic Italian restaurant or cook it myself.

Say you're on a business trip. Time is of the essence. Your choices are room service, Olive Garden, McDonalds or Pizza Hut...

Honestly, if I had a "taste" for something Italian, then I'd go to Olive Garden. But under normal circumstances, HELL NO.

NOT "Italian" food...

if you can spend less... *that*, I'd be interested in.

have been much better quality and surprisingly much cheaper than Olive Garden. Not to mention if you do some proper grocery shopping, you can really make some great things at home. The whole key to Italian cooking is simplicity, you'd be surprised how simple most of it is and how tasty it can be when it isn't covered up in ladles of icky "plastic" sauces. Blech.

when I used to have money I knew of a few great places, but they were pricey. Now that I have kids and hardly ever go out to eat, I've pretty much stopped even looking for a reasonably priced good place... looks like I might have found one by happenstance right here on this thread, though. :)

Come to think of it, I don't think I've eaten at the OG in over 10 years... my, how time flies...

OG is shockingly expensive, imo.

Some garlic, olive oil and parmesan cheese? A great plate of pasta. Some good tomatoes, garlic, basil, maybe some kalamata olives? A good raw tomato sauce. Or, cook it up real quick and throw in a little carrot or sugar.

Heck, even an Alfredo sauce is easy to make.

Grill some tuna or chicken and make a quick and dirty tapanade... just a choppy whirl in the food processor.

Italian food is so easy to make! Giada DeLaurentiis' cookbooks are excellent for quick, (usually) easy, and tasty Italian food.

Crocker. It's called "The Silver Spoon". I picked it up at Border's and I've been trying a recipe here and there out of it, it's really great stuff and fairly simple to make. I picked up the most in the vegetables and dessert section of the book.

Recognizing quality is NOT elitist. Mediocrity is not democratic.

Olive Garden is bland and I'm always still hungry after I've eaten there.

That said, I don't HATE Olive Garden, and I will go if everyone else in the group wants to.

Food is relative, of course. If I've been starving in the Gobi dessert for 3 months, I would LOVE some Olive Garden.

Don't they offer AYCE salad/soup and bread?

All the free breadsticks?

It's overrated.

And nobody treated me like close family either. I wanted them to. I should sue their tv advert for gross misadvertising.

me a rotten SOB and someone else hits me in the back of the head. I feel right at home. Ahhhhhh.....:-)

:rofl:

Shame that has to happen, but I had to laugh anyway. :(

:)

It seems as though it became incredibly trendy to hate on Olive Garden about 5 or 6 years ago. (Was it dissed on Family Guy or The Simpsons or something?)

While it's certainly not the best Italian food you can find, I've never had a meal there that I would consider inedible or bad.

I haven't been there in years as I'm a pretty good cook myself, and I live in NYC where *great* Italian restaurants are plentiful. That said, if I were a tourist with no local guide, I might stop into an Olive Garden. The simple fact is: for every great Italian restaurant here, there are two that are horrid. (I'm looking at you, Little Italy...) Without some sort of guide, Italian restaurants can be really spotty. Just cause you or your ancestors were born in Italy, it doesn't mean that you know how to cook.

I live in an area that has many high quality Italian restaurants despite it being suburbia (God bless NJ!) so it's not often that the conversation about where to eat will revolve around Olive Garden. If I was with someone who wanted to go there, I would go, eat my bread sticks, a plate of chicken parm and go home. I wouldn't write a letter to the newspaper proclaiming how good it was but sometimes a meal is just a meal...nothing fancy.

can't find any at the stores...

Must take anger out of something else...

Half or those "traditional favorites" are ones they make up. Their sauces are out of a can and they love to fill you up on salad and breadsticks so the small portions wont piss you off.
Sorry but I'm Boston Sicilian and an Italian food snob.
You never see real Italians eating there. Its corporate, packaged cuisine. And it tastes bad.
You asked!

I would seek out the real stuff

But I'll bet you'd find real Italians eating at the Vallejo California one!

Fewer Italians and a way smaller population in my area than yours, and there's several very, very good local Italian places, and many pretty good ones.

Also: go to a Greek restaurant. They often serve some really good Italian food.

A lot can be said against Olive Garden -- it's designed for mass appeal, it's bland, etc.

But small portions? How wide are the doorways in the restaurants you visit? Because it is designed for mass appeal, Olive Garden has the same type of supersized portions as other American fast food/chain places.

When it's not, and it's not very good, and the sauces ARE "canned," and way too salty... and I agree: half of their menu is made up...

I'm a NJ Sicilian, who hasn't lived in NJ since 1982, but has always still had great local Italian food.... even if the great pizza has been few and far between...

My complaint about Olive Garden is that they pretend to be busy even when they aren't.

We have been made to wait for a table, even when the place is half-empty.

BTW--I don't think ANY restaurant is worth more than a five minute wait--such places tend to think they are special, and generally treat customers poorly.

worth more than a five minute wait. Here in SF there's an Italian-American place called Little Joe's that has really great food -- it's motto is "Rain or shine -- there's always a line" - and it's almost true. I will stand in line there because I know what I am getting is fresh -- I can watch the chefs make it if I want to -- it's gonna be big, tasty, and a value for the money.

I consider Olive Garden to be the Taco Bell of Italian food -- "gringo" Italian. Do I hate it? I'll just say I don't salivate at the thought of it, like I do for the food at Little Joe's, that's for sure. :shrug: What I DO hate is being handed a little black disc and being told to wait for such mediocre food. Now that get's my crank going. :mad: I was at OG just last week (my Mom made me) and we were handed the black disc. I swear it went off literally just 30 seconds later! There wasn't a damn good reason to do the disc thing except to create an impression in the diners' minds: busy=good food. Nice try, OG, but I don't think so. :eyes:

This is America after all.

Next time someone bitches about the Olive Garden, think about what passes for "Italian Food" here in Japan:

"Pasta dishes"




"pizza"







(corn, potatoes and mayonnaise are considered indispensable pizza toppings here.) :puke:

There is no such thing as "low carb" in Japan. It is ALL CARBS, ALL THE TIME. TONS of Pasta or rice, and a tiny bit of veggies and a tiny bit of meat. :(

And what are the little orange things -- carrots? Maybe peppers ... let's hope.

P.S. So many carbs -- and yet the vast majority of Japanese are trim folks. What gives? Do they eat lots of veggies at home but not at restaurants?

Cakes come in smaller pieces and are very elegant, refined, and are about half as sweet and rich as ours.


People here would NEVER eat something like a "Cinnabon". It looks repulsively oversweet "amatarashii" to a Japanese.



(816 calories)


I tend to agree.

People also tend to drink unsweetened tea a lot more than soft drinks...

instead of HFCS

Anymore than I'd call McDonalds Irish food.

People on both sides of this issue need to get out and see how the other half lives.

I do a lot of business travel. When I fly into Chicago, I go to the *real* Italian restaraunts, as well as Old Warsaw for Polish, and the real steakhouses for Steak.

But when I go to RTP, I eat good BBQ for a few meals, but have to eat chain food for everything else.

And, the best barbecue is Greensboro and west of tehre...!

This was just before Christmas 1998 and I have not stepped foot in an Olive Garden since that time.

Link: http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/12-98/12-27-98/a05wn016.htm


The single mother of five was having a conversation with someone that Canady overheard. He complained to the manager and she was summarily fired. After it had made the papers they said they just "sent her home to cool off" but that was not so. She brought her kids to the OG Christmas party and was refused entry because she had been terminated. Canady was not reelected the next time he ran for office. Because he was out of work Jeb gave him a job as his "Special Counsel". Jeb later appointed Canady as an Appeals Court judge (no doubt because he admired how he got a single mother of five fired from a shit job just before Christmas) .....

“Charles has all the qualities of a great judge: humility, sound judgment and an excellent legal mind,” said Governor Bush. “Charles has excelled as a legislator, as my general counsel and as an attorney in private practice, and we Floridians are blessed to be served by a person of his caliber. I have no doubt that Charles will quickly become one of the finest judges in our state.”


Link: http://sun6.dms.state.fl.us/eog_new/eog/library/releases/2002/september/court-09-20-02.html

It's consistent.
It's kid-friendly.
Its food is nonthreatening for those group lunches with co-workers.

Why not to go to Olive Garden:
It's bland chain Italian food.
The rooms are often cavernous and the activity level hectic.

As for your limited choices in Dublin CA, I'd rather go over to Strings than go to the Olive Garden, but that's me.

Chanta for Thai in San Ramon (Crow Canyon area)
Imperial Delight in San Ramon (Marketplace area)

And of course we have El Balazo for rocking Mexican

But Italian is hard to find, outside of Downtown Pleasanton.

Pretty close to the Olympic Club, so after a round you can stop by and get your grub on.

"Frisco"? Ick!

Settling for OG in San Francisco is a SIN. This town has a hundred neighborhood Italian/Italian-American food joints 100x better than OG. If you're at the Olympic Club, Original Joe's is just down the block at Westlake. Not oly is it old school Italian-American food but it has major kitsch factor factor as well -- I go there just to admire the lobby lighting fixtures. :) All the local old-timer Italians go there -- the parking lot on a Sunday looks like something out of "Good Fellas".

I'm from San Jose and have eaten at the Original Joes here. Also old-school Italian with a high kitsch factor. Don't know if there is any connection to the SF one.

http://www.jatbar.com/detail.asp?num=200

So saying the "Frisco" or any other OG is especially good is silly. Its all mass produced, prepackaged frozen food reheated in the stores.

Even little towns often do. If not, it's soooo easy to cook decent Italian food. Seriously, 15-minute easy marina and rotini are way better.

My Dad's family is from Sicily, so Olive Garden makes my hair stand on end (although I like the salad and soup). It's also WAY too expensive for the quality of the food. For chain Italian, Maggiano's or Macaroni Grill are way, way better, especially Maggiano's.

Don't even get me started on their tirimasu. OMG.

My SO finally understood my Olive Garden loathing when she went to Ohio, and foolishly ordered biscuits and gravy (she's NC born-and -bred). It's also how I felt the first time I ordered a Philly cheesesteak outside of the Philly/Southern NJ (I grew up in NJ).

Its your own fault for living in sprawling suckage. Crappy food chains are part of your punishment.

:spray:

I wouldn't make love to a clone, either.

I'm not a foodie... I don't eat for pleasure I eat for nutrition, so I don't really get all that hyped up over super duper special extra delicious cuisine.

And I love their salads. :9

Money that is spent at locally-owned businesses is better for the local economy because a greater percentage of each dollar spent remains local, whereas each dollar spent at a corporate business actually drains money from the local economy.

It's an investment in community.

First, a disclaimer: My family (both sides) is from Sicily--all four grandparents off the boat at Ellis Island.

But even if that weren't the case, Mr. MorningGlow and I desperately try to avoid the high-sodium, prepackaged, bland, cold (but "Careful--the plate is really hot"--yet somehow not the food--it's an ongoing mystery to us), uninspired, and devoid of any true-spirit-of-cooking-a-good-meal kind of "food" that is served up at ANY chain restaurant. (And we have a toddler--so while we avoid the fancy independent restaurants, we're fine with taking him to more casual ones--and he's very well behaved as long as he's well rested and has a handful of his toy cars to play with.)

Also, a story from another, very similar chain--I ordered grilled chicken breast. The chicken was spoiled--could tell from the first bite, which squeaked between my teeth. Ick--I'd experienced it before (but purchased from a supermarket and cooked at home) so I knew whereof I spoke. Complained to the rather dim, Spicoli-kind of waiter. His response: "Uhhh...I don't know. See, they cook it up at corporate and we finish it off here."

And THAT, my friends, is the reason we avoid chain restaurants like the plague. It's one step up from airplane food.

On edit: As for small towns, I of course can't speak for every suburb and small town and the like, but my college town (population around 30,000) had two excellent independent Italian restaurants, not to mention quite a few non-Dominos/Pizza Hut pizzerias. Don't know if all the great Italian food is still there, or if an Olive Garden has arrived to give them some competition, and if it has, if the students and their visiting parents now go to OG just because it's familiar or what. Hope not.

All the refined simple carbohydrates you can eat!

Yum!

-MR

My kids like it....bland it may be but I have tasted much worse. I always made fun of their so called "Italian test kitchen" in Tuscany but I found out it really does exist so I can't poke fun at that any more. If people want to boycott something boycott McDonalds, KFC and their kind.

BTW....in Beaverton Oregon there is a restaurant called Nona Amilia's that is authentic Italian, and very good!

</sarcasm>

:hi:

But given that here in Mid Mo, we've got a few local choices for Italian/Meditaranian cuisine, I would prefer to go to the localy owned restraunt. Not only am I contributing to the local economy, but the food is much tastier and healthier for you. Frankly I've always found Olive Garden's food to be rather bland and lifeless. Just my personal opinion:shrug: