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| - Alright, here is the review that I have been vowing to do but kept putting off. I am bound to offend some of you "Chain restaurant" haters but here goes...
Olive Garden has become the brunt of many jokes over the years and even had a clever and hilarious skit done on Mad TV years ago. The main complaint I have heard time and time again is that the food is not "authentic." No comments about the food being bad or bland, just that its not "authentic." Ok I will agree that the food may not be "authentic" from my perspective of what Italian food should be. My grandfather was 100% Italian and I ate much of his Italian food growing up. That is what I consider "authentic" Italian food to be. Here's the thing though... I have never been to Italy and I am sure that most of the people complaining about OG's authenticity havn't been either. So who are we to know that its not authentic in some area of Italy? I am fairly sure its not and you can bet that when I do visit Italy inside and out (which will hopefully be in the next year), I will be yelping another review on the OG just to say if it is indeed "authentic."
One thing I can vouch for with Olive Garden is that most of the items I have tried there are delicious and their bread-sticks are like crack! Sure sure, laugh and knock me as much as you want but I know that everyone that has had OG likes at least one thing. You can slam OG but you have either liked their bread-sticks, soup, salad, or some kind of entree. Anyways, to address the point I am trying to make: a good restaurant (chain or not) should have good food and I can say that Olive Garden does have good food. Their soups are delicious (try the chicken gnocchi or the zuppa Tuscana), the bread-sticks are light, airy and buttery with the right amount of garlic flavor, and although the salad is nothing special vegi wise, the dressing is one of the better Italian dressings out there and is very refreshing. For entrees, they make the one of the best eggplant Parmesans and fettuccine Alfredos I have ever had, the stuffed chicken Marsala is unique but delicious, and their seafood portifino is rich and creamy with a generous amount of perfectly cooked seafood. The desserts are equally as delicious, my favs being the apple crostada and the black tie mousse cake.
The service has always been decent although you may get an occasional slow waiter. However, I can say that most times I walk away satisfied with the overall experience. The price and value is terrific too. Come on, how many other "Italian" places you know of where you can get bread, salad/ soup, and big bowl of pasta for less then 15.00? Not very many, that's for sure!
My only complaints: Too family friendly and sometimes there are screaming kids, however, with a few bowls of delicious soup and pasta, I can sometimes manage to drown it out. Also, years ago, I ordered nothing but their cannelloni al forno (pasta tubes filled with meat and topped with cheese, Alfredo and marinara sauce). My precious dish was taken away from me and replaced with "three meat ravioli" which was close so I kept getting that. Then that was removed from the menu. I started getting "classics" after that that I was sure would not be removed from the menu like eggplant parm. But for dessert, I fell in love with their chocolate molten cake with vanilla cream and strawberries. Guess what happened? Yep, it was taken away from me :( I have also heard numerous complaints about how a special one month will be terrific but a month later, its no longer available and is never to be seen again. I wish the OG would stop replacing good meal items and also bring back some of the popular past specials so people can enjoy them again. I also wish that one of those specials will be the cannalloni al forno. If that was the case, I would go there for a month straight and order it. OG, stop changing out good menu items. After all, if it aint broke, don't fix it!
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