Olive Garden pins hopes on new logo, menu

[kleenex]

Olive Garden pins hopes on new logo, menu

I prefer the old logo, but it does not look that bad at night when it is all lighted up.

http://investor.darden.com/files/doc_presentations/2014/Strategic Action Plan to Enhance.pdf

page 28 of pdf for look at new logo as well.

 

[Janet H]

Interesting. I see they are concerned about declining sales. I don't think a new logo will do it. I avoid Olive Garden because it's too noisy and the same holds true for several other chains. They are building them to turn tables quickly and pack lots of people into a small space. Just like the cafeteria in my old high school..... no thanks.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

I look for both quality and value when I go out to eat. Pasta is cheap (Barilla is 89 cents at my local market this week) and Olive Garden's sauces are, for the most part, not memorable. Most anyone can boil water and take a jar of (insert name of favorite jar sauce here) and doctor it up to taste just as good.

 

[bakechef]

Well I for one don't go out for food that I would make at home, like pasta with marinara. I'll go out for a dish that isn't the norm in my kitchen, and OG has many choices on the menu besides marinara.

It's also nice to go out when we both want something different. I would say that they have some interesting specials but their core menu has been stagnant for quite some time. Trouble with their specials is that by the time you go to try them, they are gone and something else is in its place.

I say keep the core best sellers and add permanent items that are more modern and more interesting.

 

[Rocket_J_Dawg]

Interesting. I see they are concerned about declining sales. I don't think a new logo will do it. I avoid Olive Garden because it's too noisy and the same holds true for several other chains. They are building them to turn tables quickly and pack lots of people into a small space. Just like the cafeteria in my old high school..... no thanks.

I look for both quality and value when I go out to eat. Pasta is cheap (Barilla is 89 cents at my local market this week) and Olive Garden's sauces are, for the most part, not memorable. Most anyone can boil water and take a jar of (insert name of favorite jar sauce here) and doctor it up to taste just as good.

I have to agree with both of you. I can't remember a memorable meal that I have had at a chain restaurant. Every one of them here in town are noisy with parents that can't be bothered attending to their kids and staff that couldn't care less. The food is mediocre at best and I just can't be bothered.

I don't think Olive Garden's new logo is going to help. There is a reason why they mostly all closed here in Ontario.

We regularly visit a few privately owned restaurants that cost a bit more than the chains, but they are quiet, the service is fantastic and the food is always made with fresh ingredients. And they are mostly family owned so it's nice to give back to the community.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Well I for one don't go out for food that I would make at home, like pasta with marinara....

OK, I guess the pasta-and-sauce example was lame. But you see, while you are a baker extraordinaire, I really enjoy making entrees. I'll tackle something I've liked at a restaurant and end up making it in a way we like better than what we bought at the restaurant. My Chicken Marsala can run circles around OG's or your local Italian bistro's. Being basically cheap I'd rather save the money and make dinners at home. But I don't even blink when I know dessert and coffee for two will run us over $20 when we go to Pastiche.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

..We regularly visit a few privately owned restaurants that cost a bit more than the chains, but they are quiet, the service is fantastic and the food is always made with fresh ingredients. And they are mostly family owned so it's nice to give back to the community.

+1 We have two up here we'll miss dearly when we move back home. Then again, I know where we'll take SIL and her hubby out when we come to visit them and stay at their home!

 

[bakechef]

OK, I guess the pasta-and-sauce example was lame. But you see, while you are a baker extraordinaire, I really enjoy making entrees. I'll tackle something I've liked at a restaurant and end up making it in a way we like better than what we bought at the restaurant. My Chicken Marsala can run circles around OG's or your local Italian bistro's. Being basically cheap I'd rather save the money and make dinners at home. But I don't even blink when I know dessert and coffee for two will run us over $20 when we go to Pastiche.

I love going to bakeries and such, but often realize that I can do better, so I totally see your point. I go to places that people just rave about and usually leave a bit disappointed. There is a dessert cafe in the next city over that people seem to love, but I have yet to get a good dessert there, maybe I'm a bit too critical, but any place that calls themselves a dessert cafe should be able to fully blind bake a pie crust before making a coconut cream pie out of it!

I'm a good cook, but it isn't my thing like baking is, so maybe that's why I enjoy eating out. We don't often get dessert though.

 

[bakechef]

We regularly visit a few privately owned restaurants that cost a bit more than the chains, but they are quiet, the service is fantastic and the food is always made with fresh ingredients. And they are mostly family owned so it's nice to give back to the community.

I wish that we had some good privately own Italian restaurants here, but we haven't found one yet, they tend to be inconsistent and expensive.

 

[MrsLMB]

A new logo will not help. The new logo Arby's took on did not help and in fact they reverted back to the old one.

That aside ... I do not understand why people keep on saying that Olive Garden is NOT Italian food.

Neither is Pizza but you find it on Italian restaurant menus!

I would like to know just exactly how many people have actually been to Italy and eaten true Italian food.

Now ... those of you who keep putting down that restaurant because it does not fit your ideal of Italian might want to consider all the people who do frequent that place.

Yes it is always crowded and I understand the earlier statement of it reminding one of a cafeteria with all the people.

But it is crowded because people like eating there.

Anyone can make a burger at home but how many go out for burgers .. millions every day.

Anyone can make breakfast at home but how many go out for breakfast every day .. millions.

So why can't people who make spaghetti and lasagna etc at home go enjoy having someone else do the cooking and cleaning?

Olive Garden is a good place to eat for those who enjoy it. For those who don't .. fine .. go elsewhere but stop belittling those who consider it Italian food.

And one more thing, it is not always food that makes for the memorable times.

 

[GB]

It is not the logo that makes their food suck.

 

[CarolPa]

I grew up loving pasta, but it was what my mother made at the end of the month when money was getting short. A big pot of spaghetti and we were all full. So I associate it with cheap food, and like someone already said, you can make a pasta meal at home with a $1 box of pasta and a $2 jar of sauce. So I don't want to go to a restaurant and pay $15 for the same thing. Having said that, our local OG always had a long line and a long wait period to be seated. So not everyone feels the same way about it. When I eat out I usually order fish or seafood because that is something I rarely prepare at home.

 

[bakechef]

A new logo will not help. The new logo Arby's took on did not help and in fact they reverted back to the old one.

That aside ... I do not understand why people keep on saying that Olive Garden is NOT Italian food.

Neither is Pizza but you find it on Italian restaurant menus!

I would like to know just exactly how many people have actually been to Italy and eaten true Italian food.

Now ... those of you who keep putting down that restaurant because it does not fit your ideal of Italian might want to consider all the people who do frequent that place.

Yes it is always crowded and I understand the earlier statement of it reminding one of a cafeteria with all the people.

But it is crowded because people like eating there.

Anyone can make a burger at home but how many go out for burgers .. millions every day.

Anyone can make breakfast at home but how many go out for breakfast every day .. millions.

So why can't people who make spaghetti and lasagna etc at home go enjoy having someone else do the cooking and cleaning?

Olive Garden is a good place to eat for those who enjoy it. For those who don't .. fine .. go elsewhere but stop belittling those who consider it Italian food.

And one more thing, it is not always food that makes for the memorable times.

Well said!

Many love to hop on the olive garden bashing bandwagon, I'm not sure why that particular chain is always singled out. If the food was truly awful nobody would go there. Taste is subjective, and just because you don't like something doesn't mean that you should tell people that do enjoy something that they are wrong for doing so. I'll never understand that mentality.

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[Aunt Bea]

For me Olive Garden is a "coupon" restaurant.

The kind of place you go for lunch or the early bird special when you are flying around town running errands with friends. Someone says "how about Olive Garden" and someone else says "I've got a coupon", so you swing in for a cheap and flashy meal.

It's more about the company than the food!

 

[jennyema]

It is not the logo that makes their food suck.

Exactly.

They should be pinning their hopes of success on improving their food.

 

[kleenex]

For me Olive Garden is a "coupon" restaurant.

The kind of place you go for lunch or the early bird special when you are flying around town running errands with friends. Someone says "how about Olive Garden" and someone else says "I've got a coupon", so you swing in for a cheap and flashy meal.

It's more about the company than the food!

I do not mind the use of any coupon at any restaurant..

 

[GotGarlic]

I do not mind the use of any coupon at any restaurant..

Same here. Groupon or LivingSocial, anyone?

I used to like OG better, but the pastas seem to be too much pasta and not enough other stuff; we also used to get salad/bread sticks and a couple of appetizers to share, but they've discontinued our favorites or prepare them differently

But I love the soup/salad/bread sticks deal and I always order a dish of marinara for dipping the bread.

 

[MrsLMB]

Ditto on the Soup Salad Breadstick deal. It's nice to be able to have different soups with that salad and breadsticks and seriously, you can't beat the price.

We are planning a trip over there (it's 24 miles ) to check out the new additions to their menu sometime this month.

 

[Roll_Bones]

I have eaten in Olive House twice. Once for lunch and once for dinner.
I doubt I would go back as i went to dinner with my wife and she was not impressed.
When I went for lunch, someone else paid for it, so I was not about to say anything negative.

Its okay, is the best I can come up with.

 

[Mad Cook]

Same here. Groupon or LivingSocial, anyone?

I used to like OG better, but the pastas seem to be too much pasta and not enough other stuff; we also used to get salad/bread sticks and a couple of appetizers to share, but they've discontinued our favorites or prepare them differently

But I love the soup/salad/bread sticks deal and I always order a dish of marinara for dipping the bread.

The thing that hacks me off about restaurant coupons is that they are always for two people. All these places ignore the power of the single woman. If she gets good food and good service when she goes alone, she'll take her friends next time and recommend it to others.

I go to a small privately owned restaurant near home for lunch two or three times a month. I don't get shoved at the table behind the giant pot plant on the way to the toilets because I'm alone and therefore embarrassing (to whom?), the staff have never been either falsely sycophantic or sneering and the owner treats me like a long lost friend. If I chose something that they don't think I'll like they say so and if I ask what they recommend today I get an honest answer (which is not always the most expensive dish on the menu unlike some places). That restaurant is the top of my list of recommendations.