So, when it comes to dishes that are a mishmash, rehash of the same basic ingredients (pick sauce, cheese and "soft" pasta), it's a diner or chef question. Are the fat and sugar cravings of Olive Garden's diners really driving the future of chain food? Or are the Friday night diners not being given enough credit because of the (potentially insulting but quite possibly true) assumption by corporate chefs and marketers that eaters aren't ready for dramatic changes?
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Figuring out the appeal of Olive Garden is like a Chinese finger prison. Just back away. From what I've gathered over the years, people will eat shitty food if it's familiar and exactly the same from location to location. Huge portions and/or all you can eat options coupled with moderate prices are the drivers. Any changes to the formula better filter in SLOWLY.
I've totally stopped recommending restaurants to acquaintances and co-workers whose default dining choices are OG, Outback, etc. When they venture beyond the familiar, the critique of a new place is ALWAYS how it fell short of being the same as OG or Outback. I'm all about some terrible food....if I don't get my yearly Red Lobster fix, things get ugly. And I don't need super-authentic all the damn time....the Italian Nachos at Cascone's remain in my top ten dishes on the planet decade after decade. If Olive Garden makes people happy, that's cool. I personally think that their vast selection of layered seafood and sausage dishes smothered with a cheese sauce is offensive, but I also recoil at the thought of eating a fetal duck egg...and there are a bajillion people who go wild for THOSE. So there you go. Olive Garden is our version of the fetal duck egg.
Congratulatons Dillo!
I second Cascones. Another fine, independently owned, Italian ristorante.
Give me Anthony's or Cascone's any old time. The only time I go to OG is for a work function that I can't get out of. (And since I'm retiring tomorrow, I won't have to go through that ordeal again!)
After eating at V's, how can you stomach the wretched slop OG calls dinner?
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