Why is the Olive Garden so successful?

[Ringel05]

Generally speaking, Americans wouldn't know good food if it came up and introduced itself. Want really good food.... go to france.

Yup, not to mention Americans propensity for heavily sugared foods. If you have a typical American sweet tooth you will not like real Vienna pastries and their other confections.

 

[Nosmo King]

The last time my wife and I ate at an Olive Garden was over a year ago and about 6 or 8 months prior to that. They had cut their portions, raised the prices, lowered the quality of the food (exponentially) and the service sucked. The only part that was relatively good was the salad and even then is wasn't quite "fresh".
We will never go back, like others have said already there are far to many real Italian or Italian style restaurants here in the DC area too bother with Olive Garden.

I suggested Olive Garden to my boss when a bunch of us were on a road trip, He said I HATE Olive Garden but we ended up going anyway. The next time, we went to an authentic Italian restaurant at his suggestion and I really hated it.

The "real" Italian food is too spicy and pungent for me. I try to eat it but it doesn't sit well.

I find spicy and pungent in general American taste to be anything but which is probably why it's too intense for you. Having grown up and traveled all over the world I, long ago, developed a taste for true ethnic flavorings, i.e. what Wendys, Taco Hell and Poopeyes call xtra spicy I call mild, what most here call garlic bread I call Wonder. (I wonder where the garlic is).
Most "Italian" restaurants in this country are not really Italian, they're an American hybrid just like most "Chinese" restaurants. Also not all real Italian restaurants serve spicy foods only, matter of fact some can be relatively bland by comparison, it all depends on what you order and which region of Italy they are serving.

I had a project that took me to Naples Italy back in 1994 or so. I remember thinking that Americans just would not like the authentic Italian pizza! I found it delicious. It was baked in a wood oven and topped with Buffalo mozzarella (which does not melt like our Americanized cheese). Toppings were sparse and usually featured anchovies (Naples is a seaside city)

So, you're right. American Italian and Italian Italian are not the same things by a long shot!

 

[keee keee]

Because most American don't know what really good food is. It is sad when so many people consider fast food restaurants as good food. Learn to cook and stay home and eat good, learning to cook is easy with all the good cook books and the internet, anyone can learn to become a good cook on their own. Jaq Pippen has a book La Techniques will teach you the basics and get you going to become a great cook.

 

[Sarah G]

The last time my wife and I ate at an Olive Garden was over a year ago and about 6 or 8 months prior to that. They had cut their portions, raised the prices, lowered the quality of the food (exponentially) and the service sucked. The only part that was relatively good was the salad and even then is wasn't quite "fresh".
We will never go back, like others have said already there are far to many real Italian or Italian style restaurants here in the DC area too bother with Olive Garden.

I suggested Olive Garden to my boss when a bunch of us were on a road trip, He said I HATE Olive Garden but we ended up going anyway. The next time, we went to an authentic Italian restaurant at his suggestion and I really hated it.

The "real" Italian food is too spicy and pungent for me. I try to eat it but it doesn't sit well.

I find spicy and pungent in general American taste to be anything but which is probably why it's too intense for you. Having grown up and traveled all over the world I, long ago, developed a taste for true ethnic flavorings, i.e. what Wendys, Taco Hell and Poopeyes call xtra spicy I call mild, what most here call garlic bread I call Wonder. (I wonder where the garlic is).
Most "Italian" restaurants in this country are not really Italian, they're an American hybrid just like most "Chinese" restaurants. Also not all real Italian restaurants serve spicy foods only, matter of fact some can be relatively bland by comparison, it all depends on what you order and which region of Italy they are serving.

It's not only very spicy and smells disgusting, they give you a ton of it. I don't know about you but I don't eat a lot of food all at once. Throughout the day, I eat small meals.

I've had all kinds of ethnic foods. The people I work with are from all over the world and they love to bring food for everyone to try. I like Asian food, Mexican, my hometown is big on Hungarian food.

I don't care for Italian, Greek, Indian, but that's just my taste.

 

[xsited1]

Seriously? Their food blows. I could take a list of all the other Italian restaurants in town and throw a dart at it 20 times and come up with better places to eat every time.

Why do Americans prefer bland crappy food? Really?


And I'm not speaking out of ignorance. I ate there once. It was horrible.

How do crappy chain restaurants like that stay in business while the mom & pop down the street has food twice as good at the same cost and half the wait time?

Is it because Americans are ignorant? Is it because we're dumb? Or is it because we have no taste?

"I ate there once."

Troll post rating: 8

 

[Ringel05]

I suggested Olive Garden to my boss when a bunch of us were on a road trip, He said I HATE Olive Garden but we ended up going anyway. The next time, we went to an authentic Italian restaurant at his suggestion and I really hated it.

The "real" Italian food is too spicy and pungent for me. I try to eat it but it doesn't sit well.

I find spicy and pungent in general American taste to be anything but which is probably why it's too intense for you. Having grown up and traveled all over the world I, long ago, developed a taste for true ethnic flavorings, i.e. what Wendys, Taco Hell and Poopeyes call xtra spicy I call mild, what most here call garlic bread I call Wonder. (I wonder where the garlic is).
Most "Italian" restaurants in this country are not really Italian, they're an American hybrid just like most "Chinese" restaurants. Also not all real Italian restaurants serve spicy foods only, matter of fact some can be relatively bland by comparison, it all depends on what you order and which region of Italy they are serving.

It's not only very spicy and smells disgusting, they give you a ton of it. I don't know about you but I don't eat a lot of food all at once. Throughout the day, I eat small meals.

I've had all kinds of ethnic foods. The people I work with are from all over the world and they love to bring food for everyone to try. I like Asian food, Mexican, my hometown is big on Hungarian food.

I don't care for Italian, Greek, Indian, but that's just my taste.

Okay, that's cool. Just indicating there is more than one regional style of Italian, Mexican, Greek, German, etc. food.

 

[California Girl]

Generally speaking, Americans wouldn't know good food if it came up and introduced itself. Want really good food.... go to france.

Yup, not to mention Americans propensity for heavily sugared foods. If you have a typical American sweet tooth you will not like real Vienna pastries and their other confections.

That's for sure. French women never put on weight, yet they don't diet.... they just don't eat crap like we do. The French don't eat convenience food like we do. I could happily live in France.... such a beautiful country and such nice people.... except for Parisians - no one likes Parisians. LOL.

 

[SpidermanTuba]

They sell good food, bonding with friends and family, atmosphere.. They deliver on these promises too.

How does a restaurant sell bonding with friends and family?

 

[uscitizen]

They sell good food, bonding with friends and family, atmosphere.. They deliver on these promises too.

How does a restaurant sell bonding with friends and family?

Commercials.
aka programming.

 

[SpidermanTuba]

I agree it is bad today, when it started it was much better but most food is prepackaged and only heated in many of the chains.

This is the story of almost every chain in the U.S. They start out getting business because they have good food and wind up with crappy food and a huge advertising bill.

Service always goes down, too.
I remember working for Papa John's when it was relatively new. The 5 or so stores in the city were all owned by one guy. If you're store was blown up with business, the manager could page the owner with the store number and "911", and he'd be there in less than 30 minutes and would walk in and immediately start throwing dough, taking orders, tending the oven - whatever task needed help. He had no problem getting his hands dirty working alongside his lowest paid employees, and he always made it a point to try and learn all the employees names and would talk to us like normal people.

Then he sold the stores to a corporation. By the time I left that place the regional manager they had couldn't even make a pizza.

Even Domino's pizza sucks today. But it is quick and cheap if you want only soup or salad, and most Americans are used to lousy food anyway.

I think its that they choose lousy food. Rather than take the risk that the mom&pop next door they've never heard of will be the worst food - they settle for eating the 2nd to worse food.

 

[SpidermanTuba]

Because most American don't know what really good food is. It is sad when so many people consider fast food restaurants as good food. Learn to cook and stay home and eat good, learning to cook is easy with all the good cook books and the internet, anyone can learn to become a good cook on their own. Jaq Pippen has a book La Techniques will teach you the basics and get you going to become a great cook.

I remember when my wife and I moved into our apartment, the oven didn't work. The previous residents told us it hadn't worked at all since they moved in, but they didn't use it, so there didn't bother to get it fixed.

I'm like WTF? I know not everyone bakes, but how do you live in a place 2 years and not have the occasion to use an oven?





Disclosure: I do live in New Orleans, where, to my knowledge at least, there just isn't any local mom&pop food that is bad. (lots of horrible service, but that's part of the culture here. You get your food when you get it, in the meantime have a few drinks)

 

[American Horse]

Seriously? Their food blows. I could take a list of all the other Italian restaurants in town and throw a dart at it 20 times and come up with better places to eat every time.

Why do Americans prefer bland crappy food? Really?


And I'm not speaking out of ignorance. I ate there once. It was horrible.

How do crappy chain restaurants like that stay in business while the mom & pop down the street has food twice as good at the same cost and half the wait time?

Is it because Americans are ignorant? Is it because we're dumb? Or is it because we have no taste?

I was having this same discussion with the wife a week back. She said it was because it is trendy and stylishly sophisticated to eat there.

 

[SpidermanTuba]

I was having this same discussion with the wife a week back. She said it was because it is trendy and stylishly sophisticated to eat there.

People actually think its "sophisticated" to eat at an Olive Garden?



I'll buy quick, easy, convenient, not-so-bad (though I disagree on that point) -

but "sophisticated" ?




This reminds me when McDonald's had some commercial where they claimed their chicken sandwich was as good as any you'd get in a 5 start restaurant. (what 5 star restaurant has chicken sandwichs anyway?)

 

[uscitizen]

I was having this same discussion with the wife a week back. She said it was because it is trendy and stylishly sophisticated to eat there.

People actually think its "sophisticated" to eat at an Olive Garden?



I'll buy quick, easy, convenient, not-so-bad (though I disagree on that point) -

but "sophisticated" ?




This reminds me when McDonald's had some commercial where they claimed their chicken sandwich was as good as any you'd get in a 5 start restaurant. (what 5 star restaurant has chicken sandwichs anyway?)

which makes their ad deceptive but not an outright lie. That is the line all advertisers like to walk.

 

[Mr Natural]

You get out in the middle of Nowheresville, USA where it's hard to find real Italian food and Olive Garden starts looking pretty good.

 

[American Horse]

I was having this same discussion with the wife a week back. She said it was because it is trendy and stylishly sophisticated to eat there.

People actually think its "sophisticated" to eat at an Olive Garden?



I'll buy quick, easy, convenient, not-so-bad (though I disagree on that point) -

but "sophisticated" ?

Our town has one, and it is the seat of Indiana University. Lots of IU people go there because they are vegetarians, and that hints at the level of their sophistication. The night of our conversation we were in Terre Haute, the home of the University of Indiana.

The Olive Garden was still in busines there while a national franchise steak house had gone out of business next door and had been replaced by a "Cheeseburger in Paradise"

 

[blu]

people who find olive garden to be good food depress me. people really need to spend the extra $10-15 a plate and get real food

 

[Shadow]

Seriously? Their food blows. I could take a list of all the other Italian restaurants in town and throw a dart at it 20 times and come up with better places to eat every time.

Why do Americans prefer bland crappy food? Really?


And I'm not speaking out of ignorance. I ate there once. It was horrible.

How do crappy chain restaurants like that stay in business while the mom & pop down the street has food twice as good at the same cost and half the wait time?

Is it because Americans are ignorant? Is it because we're dumb? Or is it because we have no taste?

Mom & Pop just can't make that alfredo sauce that goes with their breadsticks. One can make an entire meal out of that.

I agree. We started going to OG on New Year's Eve when 2 of my now young adults were still in high chairs. They loved the breadsticks then, still love them now. They also like the salad and soup. It's probably one of the best places to try or get a recommendation for new wines. Prices are reasonable and we've never had a bad server.

We have great regional Italian restaurants within 30 minutes or less drive. Yes, we go to them once in awhile, but when we want to 'do family time' out of home, Olive Garden is one of the top choices.

We don't go there very often but it's a top request for one of my kids (along with a place called Mario's). And you are right the soup,salad and bread sticks are a main reason. They have a lunch special for S & S that is cheaper than most fast food places in town,and the service is always good when we go...for a family lunch or dinner it's nice.

 

[RodISHI]

Seriously? Their food blows. I could take a list of all the other Italian restaurants in town and throw a dart at it 20 times and come up with better places to eat every time.

Why do Americans prefer bland crappy food? Really?


And I'm not speaking out of ignorance. I ate there once. It was horrible.

How do crappy chain restaurants like that stay in business while the mom & pop down the street has food twice as good at the same cost and half the wait time?

Is it because Americans are ignorant? Is it because we're dumb? Or is it because we have no taste?

We ate at one once. I thought the food was awful. First was last, won't eat there again.

 

[Samson]

Generally speaking, Americans wouldn't know good food if it came up and introduced itself. Want really good food.... go to france.

Agreed: While Americans' standards aren't as low as the British, they seem to value:

1. Fast
2. Quantity
3. Price

No necessarily in this order, but certainly these are the top three. I haven't gone to Olive Garden in quite a while, but I gave one of the slaves a gift card, and he was delighted with the experience because he claimed OG will NOT allow you to go away hungery.

My own dining experience must include very high qualty fresh food served in an atmosphere of impeccably good service. Ususally Sushi Bars are my first choice.