Olive Garden used to be the go-to chain for the middle class?

[Slew Foot]

America is full of fat stupid white people, so those places will always be packed

 

[techie81]

Olive Garden is just ok and Red Lobster plain out sucks now days. Back in the days though, RL was the shit!

 

[foghorn67]

There are so many great non-chain restaurants around here, why on earth would I EVER go to Olive Garden or Red Lobster?

But you still go to PF Chang's? Not knocking on PF, but you do you realize that's a chain?

 

[ViperXX]

I just wanna ask. WTF is a bad Olive garden experience? Every time I showed up I got my salad , my bread sticks and my meal. No bad experience found.

 

[RU482]

Don't go away Olive Garden....then who will reheat my Stovers Lasagna and charge me 4x for it?
/I can wreck some free salad and breadstix though

 

[RU482]

America is full of fat stupid white people, so those places will always be packed

I've never seen a vacant Texas Roadhouse. what they do to steak is criminal...

 

[K1052]

Declining quality along with declining disposable income and the rise of more fast casual dining options.

So happy that I live in a place where chains are the exception rather than the norm for most food options.

 

[slayer202]

America is full of fat stupid white people, so those places will always be packed

hey hey hey, fat stupid people of ALL races love those shitty chain restaurants. Except asians maybe, they are smarter

 

[Golgatha]

Olive garden and Red Lobster are losing customers because their quality was kicked off of the cliff by Darden, not because of the economy.

Seconded.

 

[SamQuint]

It always happens. Take a good restaurant idea with quality food, simple menu, and good service and watch it run into the ground after it becomes a big chain or is bought up by some larger corporate food chain.

Once it becomes a large chain then it all comes down to profits. They lower the portion size, cut standards on ingredients, stop paying their staff well and rehire cheap labor. Then they have a staff of people that just don't care any more.

Then they think it is the concept that is the problem. They often try to reinvent the "brand" and try new things. It always fails. Olive Garden thinks that a bunch of commercials touting their "authentic" italian chefs will make a difference. We know it is just a way for them to charge more for a simple dish to get as much profit out of it as possible. All marketing BS.

Same with El Torito, throw a green sauce on some enchiladas, give it some fancy "authentic" mexican name and then charge $16 bucks for it. It is just cheese in a tortilla with sauce on it for crying out loud!


Lot's of chains have gone to hell,
El Torito
Marie Calendars
Olive Garden
Outback Steakhouse
Black Angus
Red Lobster
California Pizza Kitchen

 

[JulesMaximus]

But you still go to PF Chang's? Not knocking on PF, but you do you realize that's a chain?

Maybe once a year. I haven't been to an Olive Garden in probably 10 years or more.

We tried Tommy V's Saturday night, it was good. We like Gregorios in Carlsbad, Tratoria Truli in Encinitas, 333 Pacific is good, Vigilucci's is good. Tons of great restaurants and you can make reservations so you aren't sitting around for 45 minutes with a multicolored vibrator in your hand. Olive Garden is shit in comparison.

 

[Nintendesert]

Threads like these do a good job reminding me just how big a group of pretentious douchebags this community we belong to is.

 

[Saint Nick]

Lol I know what you mean "This place has okay food but ya know... it tastes like sysco food. I guess the stuff bolted on the walls is cool."

My dad used to own a sub shop. So I can always taste the sysco :awe:

Everything tastes like Sysco when you eat out. It's all the same crap on the plate, with different crap bolted to the wall. Not bad, but not especially good either, and it's boring.

I had a nice laugh about this just now.

I used to work in a kitchen at an apple orchard (we mostly served pastries and sweets, but occasionally made sandwiches and other things). All of our food we sold was Sysco products. And they were all pretty terrible, I might add. I ate a crap load of their mozzerella sticks back in the day... that was about it. Now, when I'm eating out, I can always tell who is supplied by Sysco. It's pretty obvious, hahahaha.

 

[SaurusX]

Threads like these do a good job reminding me just how big a group of pretentious douchebags this community we belong to is.

I was trying to think of a way to say this, but you sum it up quite nicely.

 

[blinblue]

I agree at home is typically the best value always, but sometimes not cleaning up and/or cooking is nice.

I just think of it this way: a box of pasta is $1 and a jar of sauce is $2. Toss in some sausage if you want for about $2 more.

Where is there $13.99? Sure wasn't the service.

Our waitress had a poor attitude and she shouldn't be a waitress honestly. We had to ask her for refills repeatedly, had to ask her to take empty dishes away repeatedly and she forgot our bread sticks multiple times.

Now let's mention the way they pack people in there. All of the tables were so closely packed that damn near everyone's chairs were touching back to back. They seem to like cramming 6 people at a 4 person table so there is little room to eat.

Overall, the "experience" has gone so far down hill then coupled with the pricing and menu, I think people are opting for eating at home more.

That's exactly my problem with OG. Pasta is so cheap and easy to make at home, so why am I paying so much for it at a restaurant? It makes sense to eat out for items that are difficult or annoying to make at home. But when 75% of the menu could be made at home with little effort and few ingredients (pasta, chicken, sauce, spices), why bother eat out?
Also, with the wait time, even with dishes that take a while to prep and cook (say lasagna), I could have almost made it in that same amount of time at home. Not to mention it would be just how I like it and taste like something more than salt.

Oh, and their breadsticks really aren't that great. Their salad and dressing are tasty in my opinion, but that hardly justifies the cost.

I go out to restaurant frequently enough, but only to places that offer items I can't make at home, or at least offer a pretty good value for the food I am getting.

 

[Jimzz]

Threads like these do a good job reminding me just how big a group of pretentious douchebags this community we belong to is.

Or maybe some have taste buds and don't go out to eat to stuff our faces like a pig at a trough.

Olive garden is awful and overpriced. So many REAL Italian restraunts there is no reason to go an OG.
Red Lobster I can stand but I like fried seafood. Its still overpriced though for just frying something that comes in a frozen bag.

 

[xeemzor]

I'm glad I live in a city with decent dining options so I don't have to go to these crappy chains.

 

[Nintendesert]

Or maybe some have taste buds and don't go out to eat to stuff our faces like a pig at a trough.

Olive garden is awful and overpriced. So many REAL Italian restraunts there is no reason to go an OG.
Red Lobster I can stand but I like fried seafood. Its still overpriced though for just frying something that comes in a frozen bag.

I make all my own food and do all my cooking on a cast iron pan. Thou art below me!

 

[Train]

Olive Garden was nice in early/mid 90's when they were new.

Hell, so was Chi-Chi's, are they even still around?

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I just wanna ask. WTF is a bad Olive garden experience? Every time I showed up I got my salad , my bread sticks and my meal. No bad experience found.

People pretend to be food experts on AT and want to complain about anything chain-related.

For my part, the one thing I have definitely noticed at OG is that they've reduced portions but not prices.

 

[xanis]

People pretend to be food experts on AT and want to complain about anything chain-related.

For my part, the one thing I have definitely noticed at OG is that they've reduced portions but not prices.

To be fair, I think that last part could be said about pretty much any chain restaurant these days. I've been to Olive Garden a few times and it's been fine. Nothing to write home about, but it wasn't bad, either. I'm currently a fan of Applebee's "2 for $20" for chain food.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Threads like these do a good job reminding me just how big a group of pretentious douchebags this community we belong to is.

Sorry, that I don't like the same things you do princess.

They don't even have Gnocchi at Olive Garden. Gregorios has an excellent Gnocchi in a vodka cream sauce and I can't even imagine how the steaks are at OG. I don't mind paying a little more for a nice meal. I'd rather eat out less often and spend more when I do to enjoy a good meal than go to Olive Garden and strap on the feed bag once a week or more.

 

[Gillbot]

That's exactly my problem with OG. Pasta is so cheap and easy to make at home, so why am I paying so much for it at a restaurant? It makes sense to eat out for items that are difficult or annoying to make at home. But when 75% of the menu could be made at home with little effort and few ingredients (pasta, chicken, sauce, spices), why bother eat out?
Also, with the wait time, even with dishes that take a while to prep and cook (say lasagna), I could have almost made it in that same amount of time at home. Not to mention it would be just how I like it and taste like something more than salt.

Oh, and their breadsticks really aren't that great. Their salad and dressing are tasty in my opinion, but that hardly justifies the cost.

I go out to restaurant frequently enough, but only to places that offer items I can't make at home, or at least offer a pretty good value for the food I am getting.

My favorite dish there is the endless soup/salad.

People pretend to be food experts on AT and want to complain about anything chain-related.

For my part, the one thing I have definitely noticed at OG is that they've reduced portions but not prices.

I used to eat there often, it was my favorite place to go. Now, not so much mostly due to the cost increases. I'm not a food expert and OG was my favorite dine-out place but now with the extra cost, I just don't want to pay that much to eat there now.

 

[cronos]

Threads like these do a good job reminding me just how big a group of pretentious douchebags this community we belong to is.

Hey at least we tip 50%!

 

[ElFenix]

how can there always be a 45 minute wait but sales way down?