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| - Yes, I went to the Olive Garden. Had I not had a $25 gift card (one year old), this would not be my dining spot of choice. We went on a Saturday afternoon around two and the place was packed like a proverbial can of sardines. The wait ended up only about 15 minutes.
Our waiter plain and simply had charisma, energy and a good sense of humor. Nowadays, there are tablet computers at every table which can be used to do everything from Playing games, viewing a menu, calling for your server or paying a bill. Pretty neat technology. My kids kept themselves fully occupied the entire time. What wasn't neat was the $1.99 game fee they tack on your bill at the end. Was there a screen that alerted us to the fee? A click YES screen? Maybe, I don't know - but it would be a nice touch for someone to point this out when you are dining with kids (especially smart, tech savvy ones who like to purchase things when their father isn't watching).
The deep fried artichoke heart appetizer was probably the best thing I ate here all day; really nice dish served with a lemony aioli. Entrees come with your choice of unlimited breadsticks and soup or salad. I am a salad lover, so even though it was a fairly generic bowl of salad and dressing I could appreciate it. The kids enjoyed their meals (ate everything) and I like that it included the drink (no one likes a separate drink cost). The flatbread was okay but my chicken parmesan (you probably even tell in the picture) looked like that old lady on the beach who has been tanning so much she looks like a leather handbag. It was way overdone. Had I been given the opportunity, I would have told someone it was overcooked. "Oh well" I thought, "I probably won't be coming back here anyway". I know they serve /cook a lot of meals here in a day, but this chicken should not have left the kitchen. I think this is probably a decent place to come during the week for a quick lunch but for more of a sit down situation, I prefer Romano's Macaroni Grill, Carrabba's or Maggiano's - the quality is like night and day. Even with the gift card, we owed an additional $30 - a pretty pricey lunch for a chain.
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