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| - I can not remember the last time that I have been to an Olive Garden ~ probably 2004 or so ~ definitely before I was married..
Driving home from the grocery store, we decided to swing on in and have dinner at the old Olive Garden.
Parking was packed. And, we were about 8 couples behind on the wait list. After waiting for about 30 minutes, we were finally seated. I love the way the O-Garden is laid out - very spacious, wall colors are calm, and lighting is perfect.
Our waiter - despite being really busy, spent the necessary time with us. Took our drink, appetizers, and meal orders promptly.
Once he brought us our drinks, he also brought our yummy garlic bread sticks and chilled salad. Now, I love the Bread Sticks here. They seemed to be soaked in Garlic (yum yum yum) and are warm. By the way, because of the "heavy" garlic, you might experience some uncomfortable gas feeling at night... lol... pop in some GAS X before you head to bed. Your partner would appreciate it... hee hee. back to dinner... I must say the O-Garden have the bread delivery right. I hate restaurants where the bread are HARD and difficult to bite into... Soft warm bread is the way to go. As for the salad, it was perfect. Dressing was light and ideal.
We ordered the Mussels as an appetizers. Since we were hungry, the mussels were consumed within minutes. Very good. By the way, we took our Breadsticks and dipped it in the mussel butter sauce. All I can say is "Ummm Ummmm Ummm!!" Honestly, if we had to do it over again, we probably cut back on the bread... we kinda finished two basket full before our meal. So, we were about 70% full before our entrees were even served. Note to self, save some bread to take home (by the way, our waiter still got us some extra bread for our drive home too! yeh yeh yeh!)
For our entrees, my wife ordered the Seafood Mari (can't remember the exact name) and I ordered the Chianti Braise Ribs. Both dishes were truly good. Her Mari was perfectly seasoned and had the right mixture of seafood. And, the red orange sauce was not too tangy and did not overpower the dish.
As for my meal, my ribs were very tender. I could cut it with a spoon. My pet peeve with the meat was that the Chianti was a bit too strong and sweet. They should have used a less potent Ruby Port wine or Chianti. I did not really like the "wet" brown rice that they served with string beans on top. It looked kinda dirty and unorganized. It looked like it was "slopped" on. I would prefer instead a clean pasta center piece with a mixture of color veggies (bell peppers, string beans, potatoes, etc..). Needless to say, I did not care too much for the rice.
For two, drinks, with one appetizer, two entrees, salad, and "complimentary" break sticks, the bill comes to about $55 bucks. Not bad. Add in the 20% tip, and it runs up to $65 or so for two people.
Overall, it was a pleasant experience. It is a nice change-up from all the Asian restaurants that my wife always want to go to.
Cheers and enjoy.
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