No doubt about it! Olive Garden is the McDonald's of Italian Cuisine. My Sister, her daughters and one beau, and myself had a wait of over an half hour before our Dinner... and as we left, there were MORE people waiting two hours later... and EVERY table in this Olive Garden was filled with a mass of people!
I really can't give a negative review to Olive Garden with so many people that are fans. Who am I to say that they're totally lacking in good taste? And while being a fan of Italian Cuisine... the Pasta that Olive Garden serves is not half-bad! If only a quarter of the people that had Dinner tonight ever got wind of Yelp, Olive Garden would be the most reviewed restaurant site on Yelp!
On the menu tonight...
Dinner Salad (^^) Their standard-fare Dinner Salad with Iceberg Lettuce. Not one positive thing I can say about this...
Bread Sticks (*****) One of the few positive things about Olive Garden. Soft and Plump, with a Buttery Coating. You don't really have to Butter this Bread! Always liked their Bread Sticks.
Service (^^) Our waitress seemed very robotic and lifeless. I can see why! If a typical wait-person has responsibility for ten tables at Olive Garden... he/she will be harried all night! The tactic at Olive Garden is to not monitor your drinks that much... that would require too much independent thinking... Just hand over to the customer another glass of Water or Soda or whatever they ordered to drink... no questions asked! Half the table had second drinks that were not touched at all! What a waste!
Never-Ending Pasta Bowl (*** 1/2 $9.95) First plate was Linguine with Aioli Garlic Alfredo Sauce.... Not that bad! Pasta cooked just right. Alfredo Sauce a little dry... but passable.
Raspberry Lemonade (****) Pretty refreshing, I would say!
Second Serving - Spaghetti with Meat Sauce (** 1/2) Very plain and lifeless Meat Sauce. Passable... that's about all I can say that's positive. When did Olive Garden decide to place the Pasta and Sauce in a small bowl on the second serving?
Only Olive Garden and some Casinos in Las Vegas can serve so many people in one evening! It is literally amazing the amount of traffic they can handle! I feel for their support staff, though. There is a definite lack of enthusiasm in such an environment.... Just an endless line of people wanting to be fed!