A+ for Olive Garden

[rezinn]

I've had a similar experience at Olive Garden. Their food isn't much better than spaghettios (besides the breadsticks) but at least they care what their customers think.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: rh71

Originally posted by: Mwilding
Too bad their food is inedible.

what kind of gourmet meals do you usually have? Inedible is ridiculously stretching it.

Elmer's Glue = their Alfredo sauce? Wow, did some manager there spit in your eye and smack your kid? Outlandish exaggerations.

Do you actually like any chains or are you just one of those people?

That's one thing I've noticed on ATOT - *all* chain restaurants get bashed into oblivion. Maybe the quality of food varies significantly from one particular location to the next, or maybe it's just because a disproportionate number of posters on here live in places like NYC that have a huge selection of expensive/non-chain restaurants.

I guess if your average dinner is a $100 meal at some fancy restaurant, then places like Olive Garden probably do seem pretty bad by comparison.

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: davestar
in for the first "olive garden sucks/isn't authentic/heats up pre-prepared frozen food" post!

It's the McDonald's of Italian food?

:thumbsup: to the manager though

 

[SAWYER]

It the popular thing to due on AT

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: nerp

Some parts of this country just have chains on a strip and that's it. If that's where you live, I'm sorry. If not, look beyond the bright neon signs and try some of the smaller local places. Finding good restaurants can be hit or miss. Try a different place regularly and if it's good, go back. You should always have a shortlist of 5-10 places that you can count on for a good meal.

This is the problem... if we're perfectly happy with a chain restaurant, why would we pay good money to have a 50% chance of having a good meal at an unknown? Sure it can be better but the odds are against it if we're trying so many mom & pop's. I'm sorry, but I'm going to eat what is consistently good. I know exactly what I'm getting and I had my appetite set out for it. I'm not trying to be cultured and artsy with food here - I'm just f'ing hungry and I'll be pissed if I get disappointed again. The mom & pop's I've tried are bland, all the time. It's really not that hard to make better food at your own home than these unknowns.

You know what's a good lesser-known Italian restaurant around here? Vincent's. And guess what? They are a chain because they have another one out in Manhattan. They get to be chains for a reason.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: rh71

Originally posted by: nerp

Some parts of this country just have chains on a strip and that's it. If that's where you live, I'm sorry. If not, look beyond the bright neon signs and try some of the smaller local places. Finding good restaurants can be hit or miss. Try a different place regularly and if it's good, go back. You should always have a shortlist of 5-10 places that you can count on for a good meal.

This is the problem... if we're perfectly happy with a chain restaurant, why would we pay good money to have a 50% chance of having a good meal? Sure it can be better but the odds are against it if we're trying so many mom & pop's. I'm sorry, but I'm going to eat what is consistently good. The mom & pop's I've tried are bland, all the time. It's really not that hard to make better food at your own home than these unknowns.

Wow. I've found mom & pop places that make Olive Garden taste like dog food. And when you find a place like that, you don't have to keep on trying new places. Though, I love trying out new places. Doing the same old thing gets so boring.

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: Sawyer
Carino's>OG

Poo > both though

Johnny Carino's is an overpriced Olive Garden.

Macaroni Grill and Maggiani's are tolerable for chain Italian, but that's about it.

 

[Homerboy]

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: davestar
in for the first "olive garden sucks/isn't authentic/heats up pre-prepared frozen food" post!

It's the McDonald's of Italian food?

:thumbsup: to the manager though

Agreed 100%
Though I like McD's so I'll just say OG sucks rocks as do 99% of chain restaurants of the same type (Chili's, TGIF etc etc.)

 

[Scarpozzi]

That's cool of the manager. I'm not a fan of the OG. They always have slow service and questionable food in my area. I'm a bigger fan of Macoroni Grill than anything....it's been somewhat consistant.

 

[ponyo]

That's a good manager. Saved a customer.

Wife and I went to the CheeseCake Factory once for lunch. The place was crowded and pretty much everyone's food at the restaurant was running late. The manager came out, apologized, and comped the lunch for the entire restaurant. First time I've seen anything like it. That had to be thousands of dollars of food.

 

[Wreckem]

Originally posted by: davestar
in for the first "olive garden sucks/isn't authentic/heats up pre-prepared frozen food" post!

Unless you go to a non chain resturant hole in the ground or an overpriced upscale resturant you will get food that was prepped off site and shipped to that location.

 

[Schfifty Five]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: rh71

Originally posted by: nerp

Some parts of this country just have chains on a strip and that's it. If that's where you live, I'm sorry. If not, look beyond the bright neon signs and try some of the smaller local places. Finding good restaurants can be hit or miss. Try a different place regularly and if it's good, go back. You should always have a shortlist of 5-10 places that you can count on for a good meal.

This is the problem... if we're perfectly happy with a chain restaurant, why would we pay good money to have a 50% chance of having a good meal? Sure it can be better but the odds are against it if we're trying so many mom & pop's. I'm sorry, but I'm going to eat what is consistently good. The mom & pop's I've tried are bland, all the time. It's really not that hard to make better food at your own home than these unknowns.

Wow. I've found mom & pop places that make Olive Garden taste like dog food. And when you find a place like that, you don't have to keep on trying new places. Though, I love trying out new places. Doing the same old thing gets so boring.

So you know what dog food tastes like?

 

[Schfifty Five]

Originally posted by: Naustica
That's a good manager. Saved a customer.

Wife and I went to the CheeseCake Factory once for lunch. The place was crowded and pretty much everyone's food at the restaurant was running late. The manager came out, apologized, and comped the lunch for the entire restaurant. First time I've seen anything like it. That had to be thousands of dollars of food.

Ugh, no wonder my CAKE stock is losing so much money everyday ><

lol.

 

[miketheidiot]

Originally posted by: Sawyer
Carino's>OG

/thread

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Be glad your food was free cus the food at Olive Garden aint worth paying for.

Absolute worst food from a casual-dining chain hands down.

 

[ultimatebob]

Say what you like about Olive Garden... their $8 never ending pasta and salad bowl special is one of the best damn values in restaurant history if you're REALLY hungry!

I'll bet that the professional eating champs use that special for cross-training

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Great service.

But the only thing I like is the never ending pasta bowl.

Macaroni Grill has better food.

 

[sygyzy]

Originally posted by: rh71

Originally posted by: nerp

Some parts of this country just have chains on a strip and that's it. If that's where you live, I'm sorry. If not, look beyond the bright neon signs and try some of the smaller local places. Finding good restaurants can be hit or miss. Try a different place regularly and if it's good, go back. You should always have a shortlist of 5-10 places that you can count on for a good meal.

This is the problem... if we're perfectly happy with a chain restaurant, why would we pay good money to have a 50% chance of having a good meal at an unknown? Sure it can be better but the odds are against it if we're trying so many mom & pop's. I'm sorry, but I'm going to eat what is consistently good. I know exactly what I'm getting and I had my appetite set out for it. I'm not trying to be cultured and artsy with food here - I'm just f'ing hungry and I'll be pissed if I get disappointed again. The mom & pop's I've tried are bland, all the time. It's really not that hard to make better food at your own home than these unknowns.

You know what's a good lesser-known Italian restaurant around here? Vincent's. And guess what? They are a chain because they have another one out in Manhattan. They get to be chains for a reason.

You are so smug.

 

[LikeLinus]

while out of town for work. I ordered a medium Honey Rosemary Filet Mignon and had a beer with my wait. Well the steak came out and it was way over cooked- burned well done. The manager came out and said he was sorry and took the steak to the back. About 15 minutes later he came back with a steak and said "sorry about that, go ahead and cut into this and let me know if it looks good". I proceed to cut into the steak and it's freaking RAW. Charred on the outside with a nice pulse on the inside. He then says ?I was worried about that, it?s a bigger cut of steak and it wasn?t cooked long enough?.

WTF. What kind of dumbass manager knows that a steak is under cooked and still serves it? Not to mention that I?m going on my third freaking steak and I?ve been there over an hour.

He comes back and the next steak was perfect. Probably spit it, but cooked good.

So the waitress comes and brings me my bill. $36 for the steak and a beer. They didn?t even comp the steak. I told the waitress, ?I?m really surprised they didn?t give me something off the steak for it being wrong 3 times. Heck, I?m surprised it wasn?t comp?. She had to go talk to the manager and brought me back a new bill for $4 for the single beer I had.

What a bunch of idiots. I?ll never eat at another one again.

 

[ultimatebob]

Originally posted by: LikeLinus
while out of town for work. I ordered a medium Honey Rosemary Filet Mignon and had a beer with my wait. Well the steak came out and it was way over cooked- burned well done. The manager came out and said he was sorry and took the steak to the back. About 15 minutes later he came back with a steak and said "sorry about that, go ahead and cut into this and let me know if it looks good". I proceed to cut into the steak and it's freaking RAW. Charred on the outside with a nice pulse on the inside. He then says ?I was worried about that, it?s a bigger cut of steak and it wasn?t cooked long enough?.

WTF. What kind of dumbass manager knows that a steak is under cooked and still serves it? Not to mention that I?m going on my third freaking steak and I?ve been there over an hour.

He comes back and the next steak was perfect. Probably spit it, but cooked good.

So the waitress comes and brings me my bill. $36 for the steak and a beer. They didn?t even comp the steak. I told the waitress, ?I?m really surprised they didn?t give me something off the steak for it being wrong 3 times. Heck, I?m surprised it wasn?t comp?. She had to go talk to the manager and brought me back a new bill for $4 for the single beer I had.

What a bunch of idiots. I?ll never eat at another one again.

You ate a STEAK at the Olive Garden? Man... that must be like going to Longhorn's for pasta

 

[Cruisin1]

Originally posted by: DocHolliday
Last night me and my gf went to Olive Garden. We sat at our booth for 10 minutes without even a glance from a server. So we went to the bar and asked if we could order food there since nobody was serving us in the back. The bartender said that we could order food and he would get the manager. We said that it was no big deal and to not bother, the bartender leaves, and we sat there chatted and sipped on our drinks and thought nothing more of it.

About 10 minutes later the manager shows up and says that he sincerely apologizes for the wait at our booth but we arrived at a shift change and there was a miscommunication about who was supposed to be serving our table and that Olive Garden would pick up our dinner for their mistake. So they paid the tab and we left a grande tip! Now that's how restaurants are supposed to be run!

oh.. I thought hell froze over cause I thought you were actually going to say the food was good there...

 

[chuckywang]

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: Sawyer
Carino's>OG

Poo > both though

Johnny Carino's is an overpriced Olive Garden.

Macaroni Grill and Maggiani's are tolerable for chain Italian, but that's about it.

First of all, it's Maggiano's. And I've had both. Macaroni Grill is decent, but Maggiano's fucking sucks. I would take Olive Garden over Maggiano's anyday and I would get a better meal at 30% less price.

Olive Garden's unlimited soup or salad and breadsticks with any entree is amazing. I usually get two bowls of Pasta Fagioli and eat like 4 breadsticks before my entree is served. I then eat like maybe 30% of the entree and I'll be stuffed. I'll have to take the rest home, so it's really like two meals for the price of one.

 

[mb]

Originally posted by: TecHNooB
Olive Garden is one of those places where the location has a big impact on food quality. Some kickass and some are downright terrible.

QFT!

I went to an OG on a trip in Charlotte, NC. Sucked.
Went to an OG by wokr for a co-workers bday. Sucked.
Been to the OG several times near my home. WONDERFULLY FANTASTIC OMG SOO GOOD!

 

[GiggleGirl]

Originally posted by: darkxshade
How about providing the location of your Olive Garden and the approx time of shift change? And move this to hot deals.

hahahah
good one



anyways, what did you order?

Chicken Scampi FTultimateW

 

[xSauronx]

nice manager, shame the service was shit.

also, the food is lousy.