Wally (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to Appleseed :
We went to Olive Garden last year, it was more than the fancy place up the road.
I think it was you who referred to an entree at Olive garden as Bologna parmesan. I still laugh at that and use it every chance I get.
IMO most of those chains have priced themselves out of the market. I don't think people realize it though.
Sorry, it was too funny not to use
I wrote a term paper on Thomas Paine in college. I titled it "America's Forgotten Hero"
Oooohhh, I get to post my Olive Garden rant again!
Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Applebees, etc., they have their place. Their place is a random town in the middle of nowhere; you've stopped for the night at a hotel and you see that there is one of the above walking distance from said hotel. You go there, get a plate of hot brown - it doesn't matter if its pasta, or meat, sandwich or soup, all it is is salty, hot, and varying shades of brown. How it got hot is irrelevant (deep fryer or microwave), why there are no plants outside of wheat, corn, and potatoes is even less relevant. It is hot, brown, and in front of you.
You know exactly what you're getting. Hot Brown. You leave satisfied in that it was exactly what you were expecting: slightly overpriced, mildly disappointing, Hot Brown food. For the time you were there, you din't know if you were in St. Cloud, MN, Panama City, FL, or Logan, UT. You were just in America, eating American food. When you get the bill, you'll either be happy that you're charging it to the company card, or else you'll be slowly coming to the realization that you could have had a better steak at Waffle House or better Italian food at Taco Bell.
Don't take your wife there. Don't take anyone there, except in the situation described above. Why would you do that? You have access to Yelp, right? If it is where you live... Well, you know the local restaurants, right?
Why these places are always packed on Friday through Sunday nights by locals confuses the hell out of me, but not my problem. As long as no one wants to take me there, I won't begrudge them. But I will judge you.
There is one other reason to go to these types of restaurants: They often have very strict food allergy protocols. If you're with someone with a severe allergy, the chains typically have it down.
I am a fan of the soup and salad and it is an easy button for picky children. It is also a great place that you can always please a Vegetarian friend/guest for the above mentioned reasons. No I am not a super fan but it has it's place.
In reply to mtn :
I used to travel a lot. You are spot on.
Once I told my wife I ate at Old Country Buffet. Why, she said?
I'm in rural Indiana and it was that, McDonald's, or Wendy's.
They salt the f-ing salad at Olive Garden.
Screw those guys.
In reply to mtn :
My wife loves Applebee's. I'll take her there whenever she wants. I guess we will just have to be uneducated cretins that enjoy something others don't.
WEEEeeeeeeeee......
I'm generally pretty OK with Olive Garden, as long as the local management keeps the lettuce fresh.
I'm also a low born gutter slut.
mtn said:Oooohhh, I get to post my Olive Garden rant again!
Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Applebees, etc., they have their place. Their place is a random town in the middle of nowhere; you've stopped for the night at a hotel and you see that there is one of the above walking distance from said hotel. You go there, get a plate of hot brown - it doesn't matter if its pasta, or meat, sandwich or soup, all it is is salty, hot, and varying shades of brown. How it got hot is irrelevant (deep fryer or microwave), why there are no plants outside of wheat, corn, and potatoes is even less relevant. It is hot, brown, and in front of you.
You know exactly what you're getting. Hot Brown. You leave satisfied in that it was exactly what you were expecting: slightly overpriced, mildly disappointing, Hot Brown food. For the time you were there, you din't know if you were in St. Cloud, MN, Panama City, FL, or Logan, UT. You were just in America, eating American food. When you get the bill, you'll either be happy that you're charging it to the company card, or else you'll be slowly coming to the realization that you could have had a better steak at Waffle House or better Italian food at Taco Bell.
Don't take your wife there. Don't take anyone there, except in the situation described above. Why would you do that? You have access to Yelp, right? If it is where you live... Well, you know the local restaurants, right?
Why these places are always packed on Friday through Sunday nights by locals confuses the hell out of me, but not my problem. As long as no one wants to take me there, I won't begrudge them. But I will judge you.
There is one other reason to go to these types of restaurants: They often have very strict food allergy protocols. If you're with someone with a severe allergy, the chains typically have it down.
Yes. This. All of this.
My grandmother, a native of Hialeah Fl, passed away. Entire family went down there for the funeral, Dad's portion of the family, Aunt D's portion, and Uncle Al's portion. Afterwards we're trying to decide where to go, Aunt D's portion outweighs both Dad and Uncle Al's portion by two or three people. Pretty much all of Dad's side was lobbying for some authentic Cuban food, Uncle Al's people were abstaining, then Aunt D pipes up and she suggests Olive Garden and all of her side immediately falls in line.
We went to berkeleying Olive Garden. Another in a long line of reasons I detest that woman.
My wife used to travel for work. She hasn't stepped foot in a Chilis since. It's fun to suggest it just to see the visceral reaction.
(Applebees is never an option, we'd have to drive across town to get to one and that's too much effort for a place you don't go to, you end up at)
Wait.
Real Cuban food vs cafeteria slop, plated up to appear edible and they chose slop?
In reply to ShawnG :
Yup. Bad end to a bad day. Dad is one of those super-tasters as well, I don't think he really ate anything.
Wife loves the place for the soup and breadsticks, I let her go alone.
It boggles my mind how busy the local Cheesecake Factory is. All. The. Time.
It's a half step up from Applebee's, but more expensive, and you're going to have to wait. This is in a fancy 'destination' mall with 6 better restaurants on the same half-block with no wait.
I live not that far outside of South Philly and Olive Garden is better than most of the local Italian places I'm supposed to be frequenting because the Olive Garden Industrial Complex is evil and they torture puppies out back or something. Certainly at the same price point, Olive Garden is better.
Of course there are objectively better Italian places around, but I'm not always interested in spending 90+ minutes and $30+ a plate for dinner.
I don't get the hate. And they don't salt the salad, because salt draws moisture out of things and the vegetables would wither if they did. Is the food low sodium? Certainly not. But NO restaurant food is, no matter how much you pay for it, unless you go to a place with a specifically-restricted menu. If you saw how much fat and salt goes into a 4- or 5-star meal, you wouldn't believe it.
Years ago, Applebee's had one thing going for it. They were one of the first big casual dining chains to ban smoking in the entire restaurant. Now that most restaurants are nonsmoking, I haven't been to one for years.
About a whole page of Olive Garden/sit-down fast food rants. 
Let's see what else I can start (scrolls through photos).
This might do it...
In reply to Duke :
I agree. I don't frequent Olive Garden regularly, but of all the various national chains, they're near the least despicable, IMO. In fact, I'd go so far as to say I've probably enjoyed most of my meals there.
I'm well aware that fat and salt are what makes restaurant food taste good.
Salt is there to bring out flavours but the key is to not use so much salt that it brings out the flavour of salt.
Sorry, I'm very biased on this but when you get food poisoning from the same location twice, you start having issues.
I live in a town where incredible food of all kinds is withing a 1/2hr drive in any direction and the cost is about the same. I've been duped into going to Olive Garden three times. The food didn't taste good all three times and made me sick two of the three times.
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