Speaking of chain restaurants…

[twotone60]

FWIW, most Olive Garden meals come in a sealed package from a central distributor. They are heated in a microwave and delivered to your table. Very little is cooked in the kitchen except maybe the bread. That comes from a source who worked in the kitchen there.

True, and I learned this the hard way by biting down on a piece of the plastic package in which a chicken entree was heated. Same thing occurred at Chili’s. And no, neither experience was my choice.

A client of mine adored Olive Garden. The salad was pretty good, although I stuck to oil and vinegar as I did not trust the other dressings. The bread, completely empty calories, was always dripping in whatever faux butter they used on it and I wouldn’t touch it.

The country folk in the Charlottesville area have been pining for an Olive Garden here for years and years. Which is typical but still hilarious as we have a plethora of good local restaurants at all price points here.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

We had a discussion about some food chains last week here . My daughter loves the Olive Garden, I have no idea why…So I thought I would treat her tonight . After finally being seated ,We sat there for 35 min . Nobody even looked at us .other people dining in our area even said to us”you guys gotta say something” my wife wanted to leave , so we just got up and walked out. That’s a first for me . It’s usually very quick there , it’s almost fast food .I mean how long does it take to cook a plate of spaghetti .Maybe I dodged a bullet ? Im just saying, the food service industry in my area is at an all time low . It’s frustrating

Most restaurants are slow now, and a lot of them have shorter hours because not enough people want to work at them anymore.

And Olive Garden and the other Darden restaurants are notoriously rotten to their staffs.

You have the steering wheel. Take your kid someplace where she can find out what good food tastes like.

 

[brindlepicker]

We got it to go last weekend. My daughter likes it too,and I didn’t want to buy her a dessert to go along for $7. Do give big salads for what that’s worth and the entree gave me 2 meals. I ate restaurant food so much working on the road. Eating out is overrated and overpriced.

No wonder we rarely did it when I was a kid

 

[Knows3Chords]

Seven pages of this thread and no one has mention the Golden Corral? I think they have some kind of Italian Clam Bake buffet or something.

 

[1293]

Legal Seafoods is the only chain I'll go to.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

FWIW, most Olive Garden meals come in a sealed package from a central distributor. They are heated in a microwave and delivered to your table. Very little is cooked in the kitchen except maybe the bread. . . .

. . . and the noodles.

I once had to lay out a boring investment prospectus for an Italian restaurant chain not named in the text.

The big selling point for investors was that pasta is so cheap it's almost free, which means the markup per pile of spaghetti with a handful of veggies and meat thrown on top can be ungodly huge (not their words).

 

[archetype]

Never? I don't know what that means. You never went? You'd never go? It's never healthy?

I've had CFA that someone else bought. It was better food than the other fast places made, but nothing that made me want more.

The only time I've been in a Chic-fil-A was back in Indiana, out shopping, and I needed to get indoors immediately to shelter from a tornado.

Never.

 

[Greggorios]

I've had CFA that someone else bought. It was better food than the other fast places made, but nothing that made me want more.

The only time I've been in a Chic-fil-A was back in Indiana, out shopping, and I needed to get indoors immediately to shelter from a tornado.

Never.

Yes, I'd agree with that, too. I'll eat fast food when on the road, in a hurry, etc. but given the time there's usually interesting local mom and pop places that I'd rather explore.

 

[BigDaddyLH]

We were in a small airport, waiting to be seated at the only sit-down place past security. I can understand the servers being busy but they kept walking past us with this "eyes-forward" stare to avoid any eye contact. How about stopping for a second and telling us how long the wait will be? Had gummy bears for lunch, instead.

 

[BigDaddyLH]

Olive Garden gives you cheese. All you can eat. You have to say when. They won’t stop grating it onto your plate until you say “when”. Parmesan. You could get 5 lbs of cheese and ask for a take home box.

That sounds like a retirement plan!

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Seven pages of this thread and no one has mention the Golden Corral? I think they have some kind of Italian Clam Bake buffet or something.

Is it an OK corral?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Olive Garden gives you cheese. All you can eat. You have to say when. They won’t stop grating it onto your plate until you say “when”. Parmesan. You could get 5 lbs of cheese and ask for a take home box.

To be fair, most good Italian restaurants will grind cheese and pepper until you say when.

And, apparently, some bad ones, too!

 

[NoTeleBob]

We were in a small airport, waiting to be seated at the only sit-down place past security. I can understand the servers being busy but they kept walking past us with this "eyes-forward" stare to avoid any eye contact. How about stopping for a second and telling us how long the wait will be? Had gummy bears for lunch, instead.

Because it's usually over an hour in that situation and they know it's hopeless. They get tired of dealing with the kickback that's better targeted at store or airport management.

 

[Refugee]

I have never been to an Olive Garden, or TGIF's, Golden Corral, Chilis. I went to a Chipotle once. You have to out of your way to make Mexican food taste bland. Used to love going to Sizzler steak house. My favorite entre was Malibu Chicken. Fried chicken breast patty with sliced ham, topped with Swiss cheese. Got my food and went to slice off a bite, and started having difficulty. I was sawing that cheese with a serrated steak knife and it would not penetrate! I wave the waiter over, and give him a quick display. Then, he tries it, as he himself was in disbelief, and neither of us could cut this cheese! I asked him for another made fresh, and it was quite good. However, that was the last time I ever went there.

Now hearing about the Olive Garden entres likened to frozen Marie Callendar, I am pretty sure I'll never go there.

 

[Chester P Squier]

My wife and I were in Branson MO last July. We went to a restaurant and waited half and hour for someone to even give us number. We walked a drove over to Olive Garden. Olive Garden was well staffed at that place and time and we got good service and good food.

 

[BigDaddyLH]

Because it's usually over an hour in that situation and they know it's hopeless. They get tired of dealing with the kickback that's better targeted at store or airport management.

Airport restaurants are that necessary evil the lubes the slide into Hell.

At least I know how easy it is to take the sky train from Vancouver airport into Richmond, the biggest Chinese area of the city. Upgrade!

 

[ravindave_3600]

How can an overpriced but terrible knock-off of a European Cafe be so popular in Europen cities where the real thing is right there across the street?

There are Taco Bells in Tucson, the home of America's greatest Mexican food. It's incomprehensible from a flavor standpoint, understandable from an "I like what I like and ain't interested in anything else" standpoint.

 

[Dostradamas]

Recent events have caused an exodus from all customer service positions.

Early 2020 the industry as a whole was struck down.

Those that are still in business struggle without experienced staff and an empty pool of workers.

When tips are good, you get your hours, and the customers are not all Karens food service isn't bad.

Crappy tips
Maybe you get your hours or schedule??
Karen after Karen for customers...

Even a teenager can figure a better way to make a buck.

 

[Refugee]

Airport restaurants are that necessary evil the lubes the slide into Hell.

At least I know how easy it is to take the sky train from Vancouver airport into Richmond, the biggest Chinese area of the city. Upgrade!

Ugh, had a layover in Vegas. Gate area was packed. Every decent place was totally filled. Ended up at Burger King, and received the worst $9.00 Whopper ever made! Cold, cheese not melted, bun stale, veggies yuck. The most appetizing part was the mayonnaise. But, clock is ticking to get to your gate for a connecting flight. Haven't eaten all day and it's like 5:30.

 

[bgmacaw]

Recent events have caused an exodus from all customer service positions.

Early 2020 the industry as a whole was struck down.

Those that are still in business struggle without experienced staff and an empty pool of workers.

When tips are good, you get your hours, and the customers are not all Karens food service isn't bad.

Crappy tips
Maybe you get your hours or schedule??
Karen after Karen for customers...

Even a teenager can figure a better way to make a buck.

Customer tries to use McDonald’s AI to order in the drive-thru. It’s a fail

"In a video with over 271,000 views, Dal shows an order he placed using one of the AI machines for two ice cream cones. The video shows the “intelligence” opted to add bacon to his cones, which he did not request."