POLL: Johnny Carino's vs Olive Garden

[dderidex]

SO...moved to Central Oregon from Ohio a couple years back. For the most part, digging the local restaurants (LOTS of local restaurants - tourist town and all), but every now and then get a craving for some odd "chain restaurant" food from back wher I came from.

Doesn't look like town is getting an 'Olive Garden', though (one of the places in mind - don't ask), but they are almost done building a Johnny Carino's...which I HEAR is basically the same thing. (But they sure don't look like they have any of Olive Garden's kickass soups from their online menu!)

Anyway - to ATOTers who've been to each chain...which is better? Or are they really the same (enough)?

 

[pyonir]

Olive garden is crap.

 

[SVT Cobra]

I dont know who johny corinos is

but the olive garden is awesome! good food, okay prices, lots of food, awesome atmosphere!

 

[BrokenVisage]

Originally posted by: Son of a N00b
I dont know who johny corinos is

but the olive garden is awesome! good food, okay prices, lots of food, awesome atmosphere!

QFT, who is this Johny Corino you speak of?

 

[SynthDude2001]

:heart: Johnny Carino's (although Olive Garden is pretty decent too)

 

[FreshPrince]

JC is definately better than OG.

 

[dderidex]

Originally posted by: pyonir
Olive garden is crap.

Now that's just crazy talk, there!

Seriously, their soups are AWESOME. Lots and lots and lots of places to eat in town - great sushi, great Thai, terrific brewpubs (we have FOUR freaking brewpubs IN TOWN!), etc....

But nobody in town can make a decent soup to save their lives! Quite distressing! OG definitely has that going on for them.

But it doesn't look like JC even has soups on their MENU as regular items - just the run-of-the-mill "soup of the day" crap that EVERYBODY pulls when their cheffs are too lazy to learn how to cook the same soup twice in a row.

 

[HappyPuppy]

Originally posted by: pyonir
Olive garden is crap.

Blasphemy! Wash your mouth out with concentrated acid! Liar!!!

Crap is a gourmet delicacy compared to what the Olive Garden tries to pass off as food fit for human consumption. I wouldn't feed my starving dogs the boiled dung that black hole serves. I have seen more appetizing morsels floating in my toilet bowl after eating a one pound burrito from Taco Hell! :evil:

 

[Anubis]

never heard of Johnny Carino's

so i voted for olive garden

 

[Whisper]

Olive Garden all the way. OG is about the best italian food you can get for the money, unless you happen to luck out and find a small, privately-owned/non-chain restaraunt near you. Johnny Carino's is ok, but overpriced (much like Maggiano's) for the quality of the food.

 

[jammur21]

WTF is Johnny Carino?

 

[Mojoed]

I love The Olive Garden! 'Tour of Italy' is my favorite dish. I also like the bottomless salad.

 

[jadinolf]

Originally posted by: pyonir
Olive garden is crap.

 

[dderidex]

Originally posted by: jammur21
WTF is Johnny Carino?

AFAIK, it's the California/Texas equivelant to Olive Garden (which started in the NE). Both have spread throughout the US, although Olive Gardens outnumber Johnny Carino's about 5:1.

 

[Whisper]

Originally posted by: dderidex

Originally posted by: jammur21
WTF is Johnny Carino?

AFAIK, it's the California/Texas equivelant to Olive Garden (which started in the NE).

It's also down in Georgia, and (I think) here in Louisiana, too.

 

[Eli]

Never heard of Johnny Carino's, and I'm not an italian food fan so I've never been to Olive Garden.

 

[Taggart]

JC is way better than OG. I refer to OG affectionately as Microwave Gardens

The quality of the food is higher at JC.

 

[Aztech]

I've been to Olive Garden a bunch, but recently went to Johnny Carino's in Houston when I evacuated from the storms. It was better than Olive Garden. It was very very similar to Carraba's in Houston, which is also very good.

 

[Hacp]

Olive garden def... BUt i've never been to the other place so I wouildn't know

 

[Raincity]

If I was going to eat chain Italian I would rather go here Carrabba's

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Originally posted by: pyonir
Olive garden is crap.

QFT - Overpriced crap at that.

Best chain Italian goes to Macaroni Grill

 

[Dr. Detroit]

DP

 

[Wallydraigle]

Open a can of ravioli and that's better than Olive Garden more often than not. Never been to the other place.

 

[dderidex]

Originally posted by: Fmr12B

Originally posted by: pyonir
Olive garden is crap.

QFT - Overpriced crap at that.

Best chain Italian goes to Macaroni Grill

Ah, well, yeah, THEY are quite good, indeed! However, really haven't propogated much across the country yet.

Originally posted by: Aztech
I've been to Olive Garden a bunch, but recently went to Johnny Carino's in Houston when I evacuated from the storms. It was better than Olive Garden. It was very very similar to Carraba's in Houston, which is also very good.

Hmmm...well, we'll have one soon enough, so we shall see.

Still, lacking regular soups on the menu has me skeptical.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

Originally posted by: Raincity
If I was going to eat chain Italian I would rather go here Carrabba's

Word. A Carino's just opened up nearby (about 500 feet down the road from Olive Garden, haha), so I've tried them out twice. It was better than Olive Garden, but most restaurants are a lot better in their first month or so of opening than they will be down the line. Carrabba's is definitely better than both.