Craving Olive Garden

[Anonymous]

NP. My birthday is next month and my coworkers want to take me out to dinner at Olive Garden. I really want to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I come from a very simple family with very simple tastes. And then my older brother went off to college. And he came home from a break and was like "Holy sh*tballs you guys, I found out about this AWESOME new restaurant with Italian food! We HAVE to go!" And so we went out to Olive Garden. And it was Very Exciting. We ate at this new, fancy Italian restaurant, and a great time was had by all. WE DRESSED UP for this dinner outing!

Ahh, I look back at those days and laugh at our naiveté.

Op here I miss when I thought normal chains were “fancy.” When we went to the mall as kids we never ate in the food court because our mom would take us instead to the Ruby Tuesday in the mall or O’Charleys right outside it. I believed we were ballers for this.

[Anonymous]

I had it a week ago while traveling. It’s gross. I remembered liking it in college. The only thing worth eating was the salad. Just make yourself some good Italian food.

[Anonymous]

I love OG. This was the only restaurant that my kids loved when they were little and would sit happily and dig into the food. We also do the full experience - drinks, appetizers, soup, salad, entrees and desserts. No OG trip is considered successful unless we are also carrying huge takeouts back home and that my kids eat for the next day too. We are not too crazy about the breadsticks but everything else is great. The nearest OG is a 45 minute drive away but throughout the pandemic we have gone for takeouts even with the very limited menu.

We are not ashamed about going to OG at all as we love the food.

[Anonymous]

Those breadsticks taste awful! I could never eat more than one, so unlimited was a total waste of money.

[Anonymous]

My problem with OG is that it's too expensive for what I get. Soup, salad, and breadsticks are around $10, but the quality of ingredients used to make all of those are so low that I could make the same for less, plus, it doesn't even take long to make any of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My problem with OG is that it's too expensive for what I get. Soup, salad, and breadsticks are around $10, but the quality of ingredients used to make all of those are so low that I could make the same for less, plus, it doesn't even take long to make any of it.

+1 This is the problem I have with all fast-casual restaurants post pandemic. I've learned how to make most of this stuff really fast at home, with better ingredients, for less money. Now I only want to go out to really fancy places, or places that cook foods that I can't make myself.

[Anonymous]

I like the fried eggplant parmigiana

[Anonymous]

As soon as I read the title, I immediately wanted salad and breadsticks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As soon as I read the title, I immediately wanted salad and breadsticks

Yes my friend

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As soon as I read the title, I immediately wanted salad and breadsticks

Yes my friend

Double yes my friends. Love Olive Garden and I refuse to be shamed for it. Unlike the PP who said the breadsticks are gross. FIE! SHAME ON YOU!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love OG. This was the only restaurant that my kids loved when they were little and would sit happily and dig into the food. We also do the full experience - drinks, appetizers, soup, salad, entrees and desserts. No OG trip is considered successful unless we are also carrying huge takeouts back home and that my kids eat for the next day too. We are not too crazy about the breadsticks but everything else is great. The nearest OG is a 45 minute drive away but throughout the pandemic we have gone for takeouts even with the very limited menu.

We are not ashamed about going to OG at all as we love the food.

I love that you called yourself OG, OP!!

I too love OG. Omg would have that salad and bread sticks for dinner right now.

[Anonymous]

I'm also unashamed to indulge an OG craving once or twice a year. Growing up, it was also our "fancy" chain restaurant down by the mall -- occasionally for lunch after church, or for a birthday. I could really go for a salad and breadsticks right now, perhaps even a glass of house Merlot, chilled.

Several years ago a restaurant reviewer in Grand Forks, ND, wrote a completely unironic, positive review of the new OG in that town, and it's lovely to drop the pretense and just accept it for what it is for a few minutes. https://www.grandforksherald.com/lifestyle/1186933-THE-EATBEAT-Long-awaited-Olive-Garden-receives-warm-welcome

[Anonymous]

Damn, I love OG. I haven't been in probably 3 or so years. I probably go every year and a half.

[Anonymous]

I love the salad (minus olives, fat-free dressing) and breadsticks! And no, not pregnant. OG and other chain restaurants have teams of professionals and focus groups and the like developing their menus so they'll be popular to a wide swath of people--not surprising at all that OP and I and lots of others like it!