Anonymous
10/10/2022 18:53
Subject: Question about Olive Garden
It has nothing to do with authentic Italian food from any region.
Anonymous
10/10/2022 18:37
Subject: Question about Olive Garden
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Not really Italian-American. Definitely not Italian.
How is it not really Italian American?
Most Italian-Americans don’t do all the cream sauces and “Alfredo.” The sauces are spicier, and we usually have some actual vegetables.
Anonymous
10/10/2022 14:45
Subject: Question about Olive Garden
Anonymous wrote:Not really Italian-American. Definitely not Italian.
How is it not really Italian American?
Anonymous
10/10/2022 14:34
Subject: Question about Olive Garden
Not really Italian-American. Definitely not Italian.
Anonymous
10/10/2022 14:25
Subject: Question about Olive Garden
OG food is terribly fatty and salty.
Anonymous
10/10/2022 14:25
Subject: Re:Question about Olive Garden
Anonymous wrote:I love their endless bread, soup and salad for cheap.
I have fond memories of this back in the early 90s in CA, so we took our kids a few years ago, and ick. I don't know if the quality has gone down or my taste buds have improved.
It was awful.
I love Italy; honeymooned there. OG is not authentic Italian. It is Americanized Italian food for the masses, kind of like Panda Express for Chinese food, but with nicer tables and wait staff.
Anonymous
10/10/2022 14:12
Subject: Re:Question about Olive Garden
I love their endless bread, soup and salad for cheap.
Anonymous
10/10/2022 14:07
Subject: Question about Olive Garden
If you like it, eat it. It’s mediocre Italian-American food. The one thing that was unforgivable to me was the “breadsticks”. They felt and tasted like hot dog buns. It’s honestly not hard to do bread well - good bread will hide a multitude of sins, but bad bread is all I can really remember about that place. I’m sure my meal apart from that was fine.
Anonymous
10/10/2022 13:59
Subject: Question about Olive Garden
Anonymous wrote:Italian family here and I truly can't believe these responses. Terribly inauthentic. If you enjoy it, no problem. But could not be farther from authentic Italian food. Personally I can only do the soup, salad, bread sticks
Did you actually read the responses? No one suggested it was staight-off-the-boat Italian food. It's OK to like something even if it isn't what grandma might have made in Naples.
Anonymous
10/10/2022 13:55
Subject: Re:Question about Olive Garden
Anonymous wrote:DH and i are pretty food snobby, but OG is our dirty secret. Not really a secret though, because we go so often and everyone knows. I ran into my ever-cool hair stylist there a few months ago and i was mortified, and DH was like "he's here too."
Italian food is italian food. Lots of midrange restaurants in Rome are going to serve things pretty similar to OG food. OG uses way too much salt, but hey, it makes it taste good.
One entertaining story: my mom and i both love the egg parm at OG and had a hilarious convo with the waiter a few years back where he was trying to claim that they make it fresh daily from fresh eggplants. He was describing this elaborate scene where the kitchen is filled top to bottom with salted eggplant slices every day - whereever they have a free countertop. My mom and I, one glass into the cheap house wine, were telling this guy he was full of it, that of course they use frozen pre-breaded cutlets like you buy in the frozen food section at the grocery store. He was insistent though, that they're doing this in house. Yeah right.
Anyhow, i have since had multiple other waiters there incredulously insisting that the eggplant parm is cut, salted, and breaded daily in house. Who would have guessed?? Mom and i were put to shame.
But yeah, we like the OG in our household!
Their eggplant parmesan really is delicious. If I am shopping near one, I will sometimes pick up a to-go with angel hair pasta. OG also really has their to-go game down, and things are generally ready right about when you schedule them for pick-up.
Anonymous
10/10/2022 13:55
Subject: Question about Olive Garden
Anonymous wrote:Italian family here and I truly can't believe these responses. Terribly inauthentic. If you enjoy it, no problem. But could not be farther from authentic Italian food. Personally I can only do the soup, salad, bread sticks
What can’t you believe? Not one person I saw said it was authentic.
Anonymous
10/10/2022 13:41
Subject: Question about Olive Garden
Italian family here and I truly can't believe these responses. Terribly inauthentic. If you enjoy it, no problem. But could not be farther from authentic Italian food. Personally I can only do the soup, salad, bread sticks
Anonymous
10/10/2022 13:41
Subject: Question about Olive Garden
Cheap spaghetti and at a chain restaurant. Better than fast food when you are on a road trip. I am not a snob. It is good for what it does.
Anonymous
10/10/2022 13:33
Subject: Question about Olive Garden
Anonymous wrote:Is the food their authentic???
Authentic American Italian.
No, not really authentic Italian.
Anonymous
10/10/2022 13:32
Subject: Question about Olive Garden
Anonymous wrote:I loved their spicy arrabbiata sauce, but last time I was there I was told they no longer carry it.
If you have one near you, Bertucci's Rigatoni Abruzzi is a pretty good mild-to-medium spicy sauce.