Actually, this is not such a bad idea…
One common mistake (I have done myself) is to try to impress someone on a first date by going to an expensive restaurant, without knowing whether your date likes the food or not. I have been in a situation where my date struggled to choose something from the menu, feeling the pressure seeing the prices and not being confident enough to say anything.
Italian is a much safer bet (everybody likes pasta and pizza), and although I am not familiar with olive garden myself, I am sure most Americans are and they can find something nice to eat.
And if the date doesn’t go well, at least the expense is not going to be huge.
In general I think that a meal for a first date is too risky, I prefer either a coffee or a drink in the pub and take it from there, sometimes it goes from there to dinner and beyond, but again, something quick to break the ice is much better. I learnt to hedge the risks of bad dates by not enforcing a 3 hour ritual on somebody you don’t know that well.
And honestly, all the claims that “is not authentic” are a bit misguided. We KNOW is not authentic, even in Italy you have to know the place to avoid falling into a tourist trap…
