Olive garden: The Denny's of Italian food.

flintstone · « **Reply #20 on:** 27 Jul 2010, 04:07 pm »

Our local Olive Garden is very good, but the local Red Lobster sucks IMO. The only problem with our Olive garden is, it's located next to Outback steak house....(and my wife likes their prime rib a lot)

Dave

art · « **Reply #21 on:** 27 Jul 2010, 04:21 pm »

Quote from: Construct on 27 Jul 2010, 06:00 am

2. I don't think I have ever seen an Italian dine at Olive Garden...

Well, I'm not Italian Italian, so I may not count. Was forced to eat there.

Once.

No one understood why I thought it was dreck. (They also did not know the word "dreck". Feh.)

Pasta e fagioli.............that is what poor peasants ate. Which, is to say, I grew up on it. Now, they take stuff like that, and polenta, and try to turn it into haute cuisine. Give me a break.

I also ate at Romano's..............once. Food tasted fine. It just wasn't what we served at our house. Or any of the ones around us. Most of the guys I ate with that night were "Mexican". They weren't impressed, either. All the gringos were.

Peasants.............what are you going to do with us?

Pat

Construct · « **Reply #22 on:** 27 Jul 2010, 04:22 pm »

I will say that OG and RL locations vary. I did stop by the grand opening of our RL...it was ok, not great. Some OG in the Seattle area aren't as bad as I remembered my local OG to be. Either way, I'd rather go to outback for a rockhampton ribeye.

Construct · « **Reply #23 on:** 27 Jul 2010, 04:30 pm »

Quote from: art on 27 Jul 2010, 04:21 pm

Well, I'm not Italian Italian, so I may not count. Was forced to eat there.

Once.

No one understood why I thought it was dreck. (They also did not know the word "dreck". Feh.)

Pasta e fagioli.............that is what poor peasants ate. Which, is to say, I grew up on it. Now, they take stuff like that, and polenta, and try to turn it into haute cuisine. Give me a break.

I also ate at Romano's..............once. Food tasted fine. It just wasn't what we served at our house. Or any of the ones around us. Most of the guys I ate with that night were "Mexican". They weren't impressed, either. All the gringos were.

Peasants.............what are you going to do with us?

Pat

Ratatouille, pasta e fagioli, polenta (Italian for GRITS!

), scotch eggs, and even macaroni and cheese. Definitely poverty food elevated for the American masses. It still cracks me up to think about the Penn & Teller showtime episode "B.S.! : The high end" where they dupe everyone (except one real foodie) into thinking hose water is high end, and TV dinner food was great.
Me? I'd rather support mom and pop. I know of a place about 10 miles from me. Once you eat there, there is no way you'd step foot in an OG. OG has a nice atmosphere, but it's all a hollow facade. That last meal I had was insultingly bad. Like I said: a Boston Market frozen dinner was better.

turkey · « **Reply #24 on:** 27 Jul 2010, 04:44 pm »

Quote from: craig223 on 27 Jul 2010, 02:35 pm

Olive Garden and Red Lobster are both part of Darden Restaurants. They claim to be the world's largest full service restaurant company. They also are Longhorn Steak and several other chains. Bigger is not always better in the restaurant business.

On the other hand, their Bahama Breeze restaurants have pretty good food.

Olive Garden used to be ok, and it was very inexpensive. I found it to be a safe place to go when traveling if you didn't know what the local restaurants were like and just needed a filling, non-scary meal.

Now it seems that their quality has slipped and their prices have gone up. I'd choose them over McDonald's, but that's about it.

As for Denny's, I would never, ever, ever eat at one again. I just shudder whenever I think of the last time I was at one. (One of the forks at our table had what looked like a pubic hair wrapped in its tines.) Denny's was always kind of a 3rd or 4th-rate place compared to Bob Evan's, Perkin's, some local places, or even IHOP, but I wouldn't go into a Denny's now if you paid me $10K to eat there.

I'm not overly thrilled with Macaroni Grill, but it's ok. Maggiano's Little Italy is slightly better. Carraba's is worse than either, and as for Buca di Beppo, I'd rather go to Olive Garden.

Of the chain Italian restaurants, I think I like Bravo Cucina Italiana the best, although the decor is kind of goofy. Brio is about the same thing for more money.

I'm lucky in that there are loads of good local Italian restaurants, so I don't have to go to a chain one very often.

srb · « **Reply #25 on:** 27 Jul 2010, 04:50 pm »

Quote from: turkey on 27 Jul 2010, 04:44 pm

.... but I wouldn't go into a Denny's now if you paid me $10K to eat there.

I'm not a fan at all of Denny's, but I would do it for only $500 without thinking twice.

Steve

sts9fan · « **Reply #26 on:** 27 Jul 2010, 04:54 pm »

I would eat there for $10

turkey · « **Reply #27 on:** 27 Jul 2010, 05:01 pm »

Either you two have much better Denny's, or you value your health much less than I do mine.

srb · « **Reply #28 on:** 27 Jul 2010, 05:22 pm »

Quote from: turkey on 27 Jul 2010, 05:01 pm

Either you two have much better Denny's, or you value your health much less than I do mine.

I doubt it, it's just that I will do things that aren't too dangerous for money. I would have the fruit and cottage cheese plate. And I would check my fork.

Steve

Kinger · « **Reply #29 on:** 27 Jul 2010, 05:26 pm »

Given the choice, I'd take a Mom and Pop establishment 9 out of 10 times over a chain. Normally mom and pop places dont' last very long if the food or service is poor unlike national chains that hang on due to changes in management. We've got a local Texas Roadhouse by us that seems to go in swings. For a year food and service are great......then for a few months it goes the opposite way.....then magically it is fixed again.

The problem is, the mom and pop type places are becoming harder and harder to find or you have to hear about them somehow in the first place in order to know to go there.

PhilNYC · « **Reply #30 on:** 27 Jul 2010, 05:44 pm »

Quote from: turkey on 27 Jul 2010, 05:01 pm

Either you two have much better Denny's, or you value your health much less than I do mine.

The Denny's in Japantown San Francisco is awesome....!

ctviggen · « **Reply #31 on:** 27 Jul 2010, 05:46 pm »

Quote from: turkey on 27 Jul 2010, 05:01 pm

Either you two have much better Denny's, or you value your health much less than I do mine.

Doesn't Denny's have eggs, sausage, and bacon? Nice, healthy, high saturated fat fare. Sounds good to me.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #32 on:** 27 Jul 2010, 06:40 pm »

Olive Garden exemplifies all that's wrong with chain restaurants. Dismal ingredients, comical portions sizes and the most indifferent service I've ever had the misfortune to experience. I only ate there once (GF wanted to try it

), but that was enough. I ordered the "lasagna", and what I got was a 1" x 3" sliver of what tasted like Stouffer's frozen, covered with at least a cup of red sauce with some bland white cheese melted on top. On McDonalds burger would have been a better meal at tenth the price.

JLM · « **Reply #33 on:** 27 Jul 2010, 07:05 pm »

Dave, that OG on Miller Road is the one that I found to be decent.

Not that I'm a big fan of Denny's, but for what it proports to be it's far better than OG.

Where we live now (rural town population 30,000), nearly all the chain joints really suck, and it's the mom and pops that are OK or better (depending if you're careful what you order).

flintstone · « **Reply #34 on:** 27 Jul 2010, 07:18 pm »

Quote from: JLM on 27 Jul 2010, 07:05 pm

Dave, that OG on Miller Road is the one that I found to be decent.

Not that I'm a big fan of Denny's, but for what it proports to be it's far better than OG.

Where we live now (rural town population 30,000), nearly all the chain joints really suck, and it's the mom and pops that are OK or better (depending if you're careful what you order).

Ya, thats the OG we go to, but like I said.....Outback is almost across the street so they usually win as a choice with my wife, and I usually let her pick

.........and I like the cold beer at outback anyway

Dave

Housteau · « **Reply #35 on:** 27 Jul 2010, 07:19 pm »

I like my local Olive Garden and the others I have been to. I have never had any issues with the food, or the service. However, unlike audio I am not drawn to the top high end of eating out. Once and a while I enjoy going to what you might consider the finer restaurants, but that doesn't take away from my enjoying Olive Garden when I get the chance.

BobM · « **Reply #36 on:** 27 Jul 2010, 08:24 pm »

I've had very mixed experiences at Denny's. We don't have any locally (Long Island) but I've been to them on vacations. Some were OK, but most were not, therefore we tend to avoid them if there is another choice available to us, including Waffle House (the kings of lard), I.H.O.P, or better yet any local establishment.

a1p1 · « **Reply #37 on:** 27 Jul 2010, 08:37 pm »

Olive Garden is wretched. The food is all frozen, boil-in-bag crap. You're better off getting a frozen dinner from the grocery store. The only thing fresh there is the salad, and that's slogged down in dressing. Skip Outback, Chili's, Red Lobster, TGIF's, and the rest. I'd rather eat a double fat burger at McDonald's. At least there, there is no illusion that it's quality. Find a local joint where the people cooking actually care about food. If you eat there, they may just stick around. Or, hell, buy quality ingredients at your farmer's market and learn to cook 3 dishes well.

konut · « **Reply #38 on:** 27 Jul 2010, 11:44 pm »

Funny that this topic should come up. This past week the resort I work at had the top 225 executives of Darden in for their annual get together. They had no trouble paying top dollar for the most extravagant menus and amenities. Having worked in the food business for 30+ years, I've learned to steer clear of national chains and have never eaten in an Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Outback, etc. Either attributed to H.L. Mencken or P.T. Barnum, "No one even went broke underestimating the taste of the American people".

CSI · « **Reply #39 on:** 28 Jul 2010, 01:27 am »

Some of these chains can be OK (we've had some luck with Macaroni Grille) but why bother? With a little effort you can find a good, family owned Italian restaurant nearly anywhere. In my town (San Marcos, CA pop. 84,000) there are 3 or 4 good ones and one of them, Carmella Cucina, is outstanding. As a West Coaster I love visiting New York where, at least in Little Italy, it is difficult to find a bad Italian meal.

Recently we received a promo from Bucca Di Beppo. I'd had a decent meal in their Indianapolis location so we tried it. The waiter was not only a trainee he was apparently stoned. He messed up our simple order twice then screwed up the bill as well. The food was just OK. When the waiter finally brought our change, it was short $8. He disappeared into the back room for another 10 minutes then finally came back and dropped a wad of bills on our table stating, "It's right now". It looked correct so I scooped up the money and stuffed it into my shirt pocket as we exited in disgust. Back on the highway, I handed the bills to my wife to put in her purse. She carefully counted the change and announced that we had made a $20 profit! Normally I would have gone back and returned the money and had a few words with the manager but I didn't. We are waiting for the next promo. The food is mediocre but at least they will pay you to eat it.