No More Olive Garden
I am never eating at The Olive Garden again. Ever. For the rest of my life. Mark it down, January 10, 2006, the day that Andrew Teman officially denounced the Olive Garden and vowed never to walk through those faux Italian doors ever again. Now you might be asking yourself “Why? Why no Olive Garden? How can you resist the never ending pasta bowl? When you are there, you are FAMILY! What did The Olive Garden do to hurt you?”. All fair questions, and the short answer is that I can very easily resist never ending pasta, and no the Olive Garden never did anything specifically to hurt me. Unlike Cingular, who crammed the bad service stick up my backside and pushed me across the street to T-Mobile, The Olive Garden ban came about slowly and with far less of a dramatic back-story.
I think it all started when I last ate at The Olive Garden in Natick some 2 years ago. We were waiting for a table, which we were told would take about 2 hours (reason number one that I hate the Olive Garden. You cannot get a table there, regardless of time or day, in less than an hour. Ever.), and I began to think about what I was waiting for. I was waiting for pasta. For two hours. This infuriated me. Those who know me well, know that I rarely order pasta when out to dinner, unless the restaurant and the dish, are just top notch. I guess I just have a hard time ordering something that a four year old could make, and that costs roughly 89 cents at the grocery store.
From there it just sort of meat balled (get it…meatballed) and I just became increasingly irritated with all of the fucking hullabaloo that people made over The Olive Garden. They began to spring up on every street corner, and within 5 minutes of opening, there was a 400 person line out the door. People would sit around, gabbing over never ending pasta bowls, and sucking down crappy table wine out of salad dressing containers, and be loving every second of it. I just didn’t get it. I don’t get it. But I know I don’t like it, and therefore I am done with The Olive Garden.
This might be tough. I mean, clearly people like this place, so it is certainly possible that at some point during the remaining course of my life, that I may be part of a large and hungry group that insists on going to The Olive Garden.
They will say things like “I love The Olive Garden” and “Man, do I really enjoy The Olive Garden” , and I will cringe.
It will be a test of my mettle, but I am up for the challenge.
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I’ve had the unfortunate experience of working at the Olive Garden for the past two years now while in college. I say unfortunate not because of the job itself, rather because of the people that I’ve had to wait on in that time period. People that go to the Olive Garden (they say because a “friend” wanted to go when really they just wanted the most food they could get for their money) are given a quote time (wait time) of 45 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, wait that period of time, eat their food in a foul mood, treat the server like it’s his or her fault that
they had to wait, then go home and blog about that wait! Are you kidding me!? There are other restaurants you know? But oh, wait, those restaurants don’t offer unlimited soup or salad and those gotta have breadsticks with every meal! Side note: Personally, I love when people come in order a DIET coke, then proceed to eat 3-4 bowls of soup or salad plus a meal (it’s even worse during unlimited pasta bowl time)! HA, that’s laughable. Then there’s the people that have all these special requests for their meals, while the OG does a good job at catering to these requests, we are not Burgerking, you can’t always have it your way. Do you realize the volume of people that eat there everyday!? It is simply not possible to make every meal from scratch as it is ordered. Prep cooks are there some days at 4 am portioning out the veggies for that shrimp primavera someone above complained about, because doing this as the orders come in is just not feasible for such a high volume restaurant. Of course you wouldn’t know this because
you’ve probably never worked at a restaurant, nor taken the time to think about what goes into serving you in a timely fashion on a busy Friday night (look around, this may come as a shock, but you are not the only person eating in the restaurant). And to those of you who act like you are so much better than you server, in the restaurant and on here, GET OVER YOURSELVES! So many of the people in the restaurant business are far more educated that you, or on their way to becoming so. I can’t stand when people treat servers like they are of some lower class or like just because they are servers they must be idiots. Ummm hello? We are not the ones waiting 2 hours for a $12 plate of spaghetti.
I worked at the Olive Garden for three years as a server while I was working my way through school. And much like you, my dismay over the OG slowly crept up on me, slowly chipping away my soul.
I often times wondered who’d wait over an hour for a bowl of Fettucine Alfredo, and after waiting on those people, realized why they’re waiting for so long. The people I waited on were so reprehensible, either complete white trash (I once waited on a guy who wore a clip-on tie) or fabulously ghetto (I was once asked if we accepted food stamps). Of course, there were plenty of middle class people there as well, thinking that their night out at the OG exposed them to another culture.
I try to avoid the OG for the long lines, the slow service, and the mediocre food, but every once in a while a friend or my girlfriend feels the urge to be tortured for two hours, and I reluctantly oblige. Then cry myself to sleep when I get home. After going to the bathroom for a half an hour, that is.
You would have to beat me untill I no longer had a mind to make me eat that CRAP, Much less actually wait for it. Were you nuts?
Plus, the Olive Garden is a Holocaust denier…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO_gwiMaRxY
The Pasta Fagiole at Olive Garden tastes like Spaghetti O’s, but is it a wonder? NEWS FLASH: They are both owned by General Mills!
I am amazed by the ignorance on here. Opinions are opinions, and everybody is entitled to one. However, facts are facts, and there are so many facts misrepresented on here it is not even funny. Even statements from Olive Garden employees are inaccurate. Here is a rundown:
-Olive Garden makes all of its sauces in house. Yes… ALL of its sauces. There are some components to these recipes that are not 100% “from scratch.” This is what every restaurant with even 10% of the locations that Olive Garden has does. This is to increase consistency and decrease cost.
-Someone said something about the cheese stuffed Mezzaluna being “pre-packaged?” Well, if by pre-packaged, you mean “Not made in house” you would be corrected. Olive Garden used to make their pastas fresh in house but they stopped. Fresh pasta isn’t better than dried pasta. That’s why they stopped.
-Someone mocked Olive Garden’s frozen steaks. Yes, the steaks are frozen. It’s not a steak house. Any single chain restaurant that is not a Steak House uses frozen steaks. Even some steak houses use frozen steaks.
-Someone said something about the lasagna being frozen. The lasagna is made in house. Not sure where they got their information
-Crappy table wine? Olive Garden has an award-winning wine list. If you’re drinking “crappy table wine” it is because you ordered the cheapest wine on the list.
-Salad pre-packaged? Yes, the salad is pre-packaged. So what? Is salad better if it was cut by someone in the restaurant as opposed to somebody at the distributor.
-Salad dressing not made from scratch… Yes, the salad dressing comes in pre-made. If you had 800 restaurants, and you could save a ton of money by having a company make your salad dressing without losing any quality… you’d be STUPID not to. People love the dressing. Complaining about the fact that it is not made in-house is absurd.
As I stated earlier, everybody is entitled to their own opinion. I just wanted to get some of the actual facts on the table.
Another fact I’d like to state is that no, Olive Garden is not owned by General Mills.. It is owned by a company called Darden Restaurants (they also own Red Lobster, Long horn, Bahama Breeze, and Seasons 52)
It’s almost everything is made (nearly) from scratch in house every morning, the only thing that is not is the deserts, salad dressing, and the breadsticks (which come pre-made but raw and we do bake them in house)
That being said, I completely agree with everyone saying how absurd it is to wait 1 or 2 hours in a crowded lobby for a bowl of pasta.. Speaking of which, if you have ever ordered a second bowl during the pasta bowl special, you may proudly consider yourself guilty gluttony, nobody needs to eat that much food unless you plan on being stranded on a desert island for a while with nothing to eat, in which case you should probably consider eating something a little more nutritious.
Also please do remember when you come into the olive garden (or any restaurant for that matter) and there is a wait time, remember it is not your server’s fault, not the host’s fault, not the busser’s, cooks, or even the managers… That is what happens when you go to a popular restaurant at a busy time of day, don’t come in and take it out on the staff, we are busy, hard working people and are more than happy to serve you but we don’t have time to put up with those of you who will complain at every whim, or over exaggerate a problem (i.e. “I have been sitting at this table waiting for service for 20 minutes now!!!!” when in reality it has been closer to 2 or 3 minutes.)
Actually, as a current OG employee, almost everything is frozen and prepackaged. You can buy a frozen dinner and get something that tastes better. Even the managers refer to it as “fast food quality.” Most meals have around 1000 calories, and sorry, but it isn’t good food. Chain restauraunts in general are like this. If you want good food, support your local businesses.
Oh, as for the breadsticks, they aren’t “raw.” This would mean they are still dough. They’re just not toasted. They’re thrown in the oven for approximately two minutes, then brushed with butter and sprinkled with garlic salt.
My wife and I love Olive Garden. We have been eating at them ever since they opened. The food is consistent at all the locations. The staff has always been great. I treat the servers like they were my son or daughter. The have made a ton of money by providing great food and service. ( That is why they have long lines) If you want to eat fast and cheap go to fazoli’s.
Olive garden just needs a drive thru and you could call it McGarden- its fast food in a shiney package. Wine selling is the servers main job- they are trained to say the stupidest opening act at the table, all centered around selling wine. Management works like dogs all day correcting the multitude of problems that occure every single day. I dont get the facination.
try working at one…unless you are willing to become a brainless zombie that lives and breaths Darden, they will, slowly eliminate you one way or the other. I watched three fel,low servers get hacked by some sort of ‘compatability’ issue that management cooked up.
You have been warned. voice not your opinions or be it certain unemployment.
Let’s just be honest, it’s not real Italian food. The sauces are made there the risotto may be made there, but it tastes nothing like authentic Italian food. And pasta made by hand is always better than the pre-bought stuff. Local italian restaurant owned by an italian is always better.
Let’s get something straight. Olive Garden is NOT HOMEMADE. I knew an assistant manager of Arby’s who got the Olive Garden shipment by mistake, and it was a bunch of jars and cans….not quality, true “homemade” food. I go to a local Italian place owned by a man from Milan, and his pizza and pasta is made totally different, and the taste is out of this world.
Went to Olive Garden last night with fiance because we were leaving the gym and it was nearby. We split mushroom ravioli and a salad along with a couple breadsticks. According to the nutrition facts it was still about 900 calories for each of us. About half our daily intakes. We were stuffed. I can’t believe that people will split an 800 calorie appetizer, get a salad and eat an entire 1440 calorie entree (chicken alfredo) only to finish it off with a 900 calorie slice of cheesecake. I noticed the parking spaces are double lined to give people more room to exit larger cars and all the seats are enormous and wheeled. They certainly cater to people of certain dimensions. It’s a fine place to eat once in a while if you know how to eat right. For everyone else, olive garden is just a predatory enabler for the obese.
Had the unfortunate experience of working there for two miserable years during college. I would like to correct a few things.
No sauces are made in house they come in small bags and then the prep cooks add oil to them
Everything sits in a freezer and can be held for up to three days.
The lasagna is not made in house it is delivered frozen in the pan. the cooks then cut it and pour meat sauce on it.
I’ve never tasted a crappier table wine than the Principato wines(OG’s house wines)
The salad is kept in plastic bins that sit on the floor in the back they are not even refrigerated
Honestly…who cares?? Everyone has different tastes. I peronally like some of the food at Olive Garden, some of it I don’t. Not everyone lives in a place where they can get “real” italian food, so it’s close enough. And the wait time depends on where you are, because we only have to wait maybe 15-20 minutes. The food tastes the way that it tastes, if you dont like it dont eat there!
I’m sure that everyone knows that any kind of food that is slathered in cheese is going to be fattening. It isn’t only Olive Garden that has fattening food, everyone does, and the food that you buy in the store is extremely unhealthy also, so why does it matter? If you have any kind of self control you can keep from eating the dessert, only have one bowl of soup, and save half your dinner for tomorrow!!
Also, as far as it being comparable to fast food…yeah right!! This is gourmet compared to the roadkill that’s prepared at McDonalds. Olive Garden has great food, and any BK or Taco Bell doesn’t even begin to compare. And does it really matter that some of their stuff might be prepackaged? Everything at Subway is prepackaged with a few exceptions, so how come no one’s complaining that they’re not really “eating fresh”. Come on!
Everyone does have their own opinions, I have mine, you have yours. The thing that people need to realize is that you can’t force someone else to believe what you believe.
ive worked at the olive garden for unfortunately for the last 2 years and i can say that it has been the worst experience of my life!!! i hate that place!!!!!!
My town is set to get a combo Olive Garden and Red Lobster. I’ve eaten at Red Lobster once because I received a gift card. I hadn’t eaten at an Olive Garden in over 10 years.
The town is abuzz over bread sticks and salad. Really? Really. Nine out of ten people say that’s what they love. They don’t say they love an entree.
Even though my grandmother is from Italy, and all of my great grandparents are, I’m open-minded when it comes to food. I don’t care what you call it. If it’s good, it’s good. I don’t care if it’s “authentic” or not.
I recently had a catered lunch from Olive Garden. They had spaghetti, bread sticks, and salad. The salad was iceberg lettuce with red onions. Iceberg lettuce? Not even Romaine? The dressing tasted like anything you can buy in the store. The bread sticks weren’t anything to write home about. Give me a loaf of Italian bread, olive oil, and seasonings like Carrabba’s. And the spaghetti was overcooked and not tasty at all.