A $25 gift card brought us to Olive Garden last night. When OG was a new chain, I went a couple of times a year, but this is literally the first time I've been to an Olive Garden since the night I moved here in February 2004. I did have fond memories of a pretty decent unlimited salad and yummy breadsticks. They are unchanged and still pretty darn good. I also had the Apricot Citrus Chicken dinner which was tasty and one of the healthiest options on the menu. Because I've been tracking my food intake for the last few months, when I got home to record it all on my Daily Plate on Livestrong, I was shocked to find that the breadsticks are 150 calories EACH! (Glad I only had 1/2 of one!). We also shared an appetizer of Fritta Lasagna....which turned out to be 1200 calories! Yowza! 1200 calories for an Appetizer?
The place was packed at 8pm. Floor was dirty, but service was fairly good. Everyone was friendly, but it just felt icky. I guess that's the way the big box restaurant chains are these days.
So, 3 stars for the fond memories and tasty food and decent service. But the huge calorie count/unhealthy food really makes me keep it at no higher than that. Plus it's a big ole nasty corporate chain.... sigh.