Olive Garden ripped by potential purchaser

[GotGarlic]

I'm lmao reading this article: Olive Garden And Its Flavorless Pasta Get Ripped Apart In 294-Page Report

The report is a PowerPoint slideshow. If you want to read how corporate America tries to be a food critic, read this. OMG.

 

[Andy M.]

Olive Garden isn't a regular stop for us. There are better choices.

 

[GotGarlic]

It isn't for me, either. I just thought the article was funny.

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

Olive Garden food it made at a central location and shipped to the individual restaurants in plastic bags to be reheated. You might as well go to the groshree store and buy a boil-in-bag meal!

 

[Steve Kroll]

I can't believe I'm actually going to defend a chain restaurant. While I agree OG isn't the greatest, I'll also say I've had far worse.

Last year when I was hobbling around on crutches with a broken ankle, I needed to find sit-down lunch options close to my office that were reasonably priced and easy to get in/out of (i.e. not crowded, and with good handicapped access). This limited me to an Olive Garden, Macaroni Grill, Big Bowl, and a few fast food chains with a drive-thru.

I couldn't stomach the fast food (literally), so I would trade off between the other three. I learned there are some things at Olive Garden that are better than others. As mentioned, the pasta, for the most part, was fairly bland and overcooked. The sauces were a mixed bag. I did find the ravioli to be one of the better options. Maybe only because it had filling to detract from the blandness.

Overall, I also thought their lunch pizzas were pretty good. The crust had good flavor and texture, although there was one time I had one come out undercooked.

That article is pretty funny, though. The whole debate over breadsticks, for example.

 

[GotGarlic]

Seriously! Breadsticks wasted? Everyone takes them home, don't they? I do like the soup/salad /breadsticks special. I've made a copycat recipe of the chicken and gnocchi soup, which is really good.

 

[Dawgluver]

I enjoyed the article. And OG is pretty decent here. Nearest one is about 45 minutes away. I don't care much for pasta, so usually have the soup, salad and breadsticks too. I like their Pasta e Fagioli soup, and make a really good knock-off of it. (And, I just realized, without the pasta!)

 

[Addie]

The closest Olive Garden to me is out in the suburbs. I have too many authentic Italian restaurants available to me to waste my money and travel time on OG. There is a reason why they never tried to enter the market in this area.

 

[Dawgluver]

The closest Olive Garden to me is out in the suburbs. I have too many authentic Italian restaurants available to me to waste my money and travel time on OG. There is a reason why they never tried to enter the market in this area.

Indeed, authentic Italian would trump OG anytime. Sadly, we don't always have that luxury here.

 

[GotGarlic]

The closest Olive Garden to me is out in the suburbs. I have too many authentic Italian restaurants available to me to waste my money and travel time on OG. There is a reason why they never tried to enter the market in this area.

And of course you can just save your money since you hate going out to any restaurant. We know...

 

[bakechef]

Good gracious another Olive Garden thread!

Confession, I eat there on occasion AND I even enjoy it, imagine that! Maybe my taste buds are broken...

Do I consider it REAL Italian food? Not really, but the one near me is consistent and tasty. They do a great Alfredo, even if it does come out of a bag, far better than most place's attempts. I enjoy their soups. Their pizza isn't half bad, with a good chewy crust, with a bit of char. I enjoy their chicken parmesan if they don't cremate the chicken breasts.

I envy those of you who live in an area with a lot of authentic Italian mom and pop places, but even in a city the size of mine, we don't really have that. Most places that I've tried have been pretty inconsistent, and more expensive than OG. There is this one place that we went and I was pretty excited, they served the best Italian bread, baked fresh in house, I just knew that this would be our new spot. Since this is a mom and pop place I ordered the lasagna, I don't know how old it was but it was an inedible blob under a flood of under seasoned marinara. I hope this was a fluke. I've never gotten inedible food at OG, mediocre yeah, but not inedible.

 

[Addie]

And of course you can just save your money since you hate going out to any restaurant. We know...

True. But then we don't get any real Southern Comfort restaurants in this market either. KFC just doesn't cut it for me. Too salty. But I do love a good plate of Fried Chicken w/Grits.

 

[GotGarlic]

True. But then we don't get any real Southern Comfort restaurants in this market either. KFC just doesn't cut it for me. Too salty. But I do love a good plate of Fried Chicken w/Grits.

What? No idea what the connection is there. KFC is not an example of a southern restaurant.

 

[roadfix]

It's parent company stock was down 1.5% today, but overall they've been doing a ok for the most part. I don't care for their food either.

 

[Kayelle]

That's pretty funny GG.

We have no family run Italian restaurants in these parts that I know about, and as it is, both Macaroni Grill and Olive Garden are 10-15 miles from us so it tastes pretty darn good to me when I want Italian out.

Now if we're talking Mexican food, I don't know how nasty Taco Bell does any business here at all because every single ethnic restaurant is Mexican. Beats me.

 

[Dawgluver]

That's pretty funny GG.

We have no family run Italian restaurants in these parts that I know about, and as it is, both Macaroni Grill and Olive Garden are 10-15 miles from us so it tastes pretty darn good to me when I want Italian out.

Now if we're talking Mexican food, I don't know how nasty Taco Bell does any business here at all because every single ethnic restaurant is Mexican. Beats me.

We can't go wrong with our Mexican food here either, we have a large Hispanic population. It's plentiful, and excellent. We have a few Italian places, run by a few Italians, but they're not consistant. Mostly it's related families who run opposing restaurants who are mad at each other, and a lot of it is pizza. Some days the lasagna is fantastic, other days my homemade leftovers taste better.

Haven't eaten at Taco Bell for awhile, but when we did, it wasn't too bad either!

 

[Addie]

That's pretty funny GG.

We have no family run Italian restaurants in these parts that I know about, and as it is, both Macaroni Grill and Olive Garden are 10-15 miles from us so it tastes pretty darn good to me when I want Italian out.

Now if we're talking Mexican food, I don't know how nasty Taco Bell does any business here at all because every single ethnic restaurant is Mexican. Beats me.

If I wanted authentic Mexican food, I too would head to California and Arizona. And maybe southern Texas or over by El Paso. And I would be very disappointed if they spoke English.

 

[buckytom]

olive garden is to italian food what red lobster is to seafood, imo.

you can easily do better, but sometimes you forget.

 

[purple.alien.giraffe]

I enjoyed the article. And OG is pretty decent here. Nearest one is about 45 minutes away. I don't care much for pasta, so usually have the soup, salad and breadsticks too. I like their Pasta e Fagioli soup, and make a really good knock-off of it. (And, I just realized, without the pasta!)

My husband really likes their Pasta e Fagioli. Would you be willing to post your knock-off recipe?

 

[Dawgluver]

My husband really likes their Pasta e Fagioli. Would you be willing to post your knock-off recipe?

Sure! Let me dig around.

Ah, found it: http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/524/Olive_Garden_Pasta_E_Fagioli35471.shtml

I use whatever spaghetti sauce, jarred or homemade, that I have on hand, and any beans will do. I add corn sometimes. I also have left out the pasta. It freezes really well. And I scale it WAY down.