slo’s FRIDAY 8/5 poll - Olive Garden

[slo]

What is your opinion of Olive Garden restaurant?



For Me…..It‘s just ok
Around here the Olive Garden restaurants are always jammed with huge wait times (it’s always been that way). We always say that they could build an Olive Garden next to an Olive Garden and the wait times would still be ridiculously long.
I know I’m going to be in the minority here, but I honestly don’t get it - I don’t think the food is good enough to wait 45min to an hour or more to have. There are other Italian restaurants that I like a lot more (one being my own kitchen - LOL!). The last time I was in an Olive Garden was January 2019 in Florida and I just haven’t felt the need to go back (we have three around our area). It‘s not cheap to go out to eat in 2022, so if I’m not blown away with the food, then we’re probably not going to return.

 

[kanerf]

I do love the salad and the breadsticks. I think some lighter menu items would be better. When you look at the calorie counts for most of their entrees it is scary.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I like the soup and salad. Sometimes we go just for that. There’s a waitress we really like, too.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

Not a fan. We went one time on vacation. The kids loved it. I don't need to go back though.

 

[WDWEPCOT]

Used to like it YEARS ago - now no I would not eat there with free gift card - which I had as gift and passed along - we have real Italian here in STL - I’d rather eat there if I wanted Italian

 

[scbruno]

Not a fan. We have good and authentic Italian restaurants here on Long Island.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I like the one nearest us now. It's someplace DS and I occasionally go to get our carb fix when DH (now on a low-carb diet) is away for work. We love the breadsticks!!

But the one DH and I went to a couple of times many years ago (different town) was awful. We had really rude service and I avoided the chain for a long time after that.

So I definitely think it depends on location.

 

[fla4fun]

It’s ok. There are worse places to eat, and there are better ones as well. I haven’t been to one for a while though, probably more than ten years.

 

[Kitty 34]

I've never been to one.

 

[Moliphino]

I don't really like American Italian food, especially not generic chain restaurant Italian food.

 

[mjkacmom]

No one I know would admit to eating at Olive Garden, never mind liking it. We have SO many non chain Italian restaurants here.

 

[RUDisney]

I live in an area where family owned, AH-MAZING Italian restaurants abound. Why would I go to an Olive Garden when I can have homemade recipes?

There is one restaurant to which I took vendors a few years ago. I go there so often that when I arrived at the bar and started talking to the folks already there, one said to me, let's get you a drink while we talk. I told him that Alyssa knows what I like and she's already pouring it for me. He looked over at her and she lifted the glass to show him.

We've known the family for years and I always tell them that their sauce is better than my MIL's sauce, but they better not tell her that. She makes an amazing sauce, too. Theirs is like a true Sunday Sauce.

And even with like-priced family restaurants, there is always a line at OG. I don't get it.

ETA: When my BFF from HS moved to a state with little Italian heritage, I used to send her Italian items that I could buy locally and in Philadelphia for her. She would roll her eyes when she'd tell me that the locals thought that the Spaghetti Factory had wonderful Italian food.

 

[NAB]

We don’t have one here so when in the U.S. we go. It used to be better I think but haven’t gone in a long time.

 

[Meriweather]

I haven't been in years. Too many carbs for me.
I do like the salad, but not going just for that.
We would go as a family once in a while (I think 2 times in the 12 years we've lived here), but the kids don't like Italian pasta or sauces. DD can't eat most of the things on their menu.
We don't go out for any Italian food anymore.
I don't remember there being waits of more than 10 minutes

 

[luvnwdwgal]

I like it. Granted we rarely go out to eat so anytime I don’t have to cook and wash dishes I don’t complain. Love their potato soup and shrimp scampi.

 

[soccerdad72]

Can't remember last time I was there. It's ok, nothing special - certainly not worth waiting for a table like at some of the locations around us used to be.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Other: metaphorically, I would characterize Olive Garden as Spaghetti McNuggets. And if there were literally such a thing, I'd expect to find it at Olive Garden.

I love Italian food. I'm not a fan of Olive Garden. How would you like a meal with 3290 mg Sodium and 104g fat, 54 of them saturated? They have it at Olive Garden. Genuine Italian food is light and simple and fresh. The ingredients do the talking. Yet chain Italian is somehow the opposite, heavy, and the subtlety of the various flavors are lost.

 

[ronandannette]

It’s OK, but not worth driving across town for, which is what we’d have to do. We live in a huge city but for some reason there’s only one Olive Garden location and it’s a good 10 miles from us, through traffic.

 

[Smugpugmug]

I haven't eaten there since I was a teenager and I remember liking it for what it is. There isn't a location near me and it wouldn't be the restaurant I would decide to go to if given the choice. In general I don't really go to Italian restaurants. I usually go to one of the amazing locally owned Korean and Chinese restaurants in my area.

 

[Skywalker3]

It's DS"s favorite restaurant, and one of DD's favorites. i like it fine, and it's good when the family is meeting up, everyone can find something they like. I do love all their soup. DS LOVES the chicken/gnocchi soup, and every couple months, we do a to-go order of a gallon of it....he eats on it for days .It's his go-to birthday place.