Also, while I’m white knighting a national franchise that doesn’t give a shit about me and I haven’t been to in a few years, I’m always shocked by people who proclaim stuff like ‘this is the worst’.
I’ve had the worst. I’ve cooked the worst. I’ve even paid more money for worse food than Olive Garden. I grew up eating food my stepdad cooked that was significantly worse than OG, and these days I’ve made food that’s a ton better as well, and I still would not even bat an eye if someone I knew said ‘hey want to go to Olive Garden?’ and I’d just happily tag along. It’s perfectly fine. Maybe a little expensive. You can definitely get better pasta at a real Italian place for a similar price. None of it is worth making a huge fuss.
It’s possible that I’m living in bizarroland or something, but the last few times I’ve ended up at a Dennys, it’s been quite bad, like on the level of barely edible. Lukewarm, greasy, etc.
There are lots of places where something like Olive Garden really, truly is the best you can get. And almost everywhere else in the US I’ve been, the variability among non-chains is so high (and individual tastes so variable as to make reviews and ratings almost useless) that unless you’re a local, choosing a place is a complete crapshoot. Sometimes I prefer the predictably mediocre chain. Yes, mediocre. I’ve had vastly worse food than OG serves at well-rated local joints in my Boston suburb, multiple times. And I have high standards for good Italian food - I grew up on Long Island in NY and my dad and uncle are wholesalers supplying pizzerias and Italian restaurants.
That said - when I first ate at OG in the 90s (I was maybe 8 at the time), I thought it was vile (I was kinda snobby about good food as a kid). I think OG, like most other chains, has gotten significantly less bad over the past 20 years.
Yeah… for me, Denny’s is like dwarf bread from Discworld. To paraphrase: A traveler can go for miles, just knowing there’s a Denny’s they could stop at. A traveler can think of just about anything to eat rather than Denny’s. Their own feet, for example.
The thing I feel is that price has to be involved in the discussion. If Olive Garden were priced like fast food, I don’t think anyone would complain. You don’t hear of Panda Express being such a lightning rod, because they don’t have pretensions and are priced accordingly. I did used to think Denny’s was great, back when you could get a large amount of edible food for $3 in their grand slams. But their prices have gone up, a lot, so I find it bleak and depressing same as Olive Garden; it’s not the absolute quality of the food so much as the “I paid how much for… this?” I don’t think it’s being snobby about the food to point out what a disappointing value it is. If it were possible to go to Olive Garden and grab a bowl of average pasta with a small side salad for $7 or $8 they wouldn’t be such a punchline of a restaurant.
For many years I dated a woman from Sydney (we’re still friendly), and one year in late January we were headed up to Tahoe from San Francisco. We passed the one Outback on that route and she said “We should go - it’s Australia Day!”
So we did. Ate at the bar. They had no idea it was Australia Day but they gave her a free beer and she told them how the Bloomin’ Onion was considered a delicacy in Perth. Win-win.
She strongly implies she frequents the same Oliver Garden for each date. Then she says all the wines taste the same to her but she gets unlimited free wine samples if she doesn’t tell the server that. I theorize that they are long since on to her, and are just really happy someone returns to Oliver Garden.
Also, the article was hilarious, whatever one’s opinion of her strategy.
Once my family and another had been out in the cold rain of early spring Tennessee all day. Driving home, we passed the only restaurant in sight, an Olive Garden. We had a lot of wine, warm breadsticks, and adequate pasta. It was one of the most enjoyable meals I can remember, not because the place is good, but because of the entirety of the day. Sometimes circumstances converge in just the right way.
If nothing has changed since a few years have passed, then this is what it’s like in Wichita. Many places have cropped up that look really sleek and nice, but they’re still chain restaurants that are kind of meh.
One major thing I miss about Chicago was the ability to find almost anything you want, from great Italian-American (I miss Club Lucky so) to dim-sum to Venezuelan-style pork chops (the diner under the Red Line Argyle stop, if the Tex-Mex guys are still there), or even French peasant food.
Great regional food can be found most places, but it’s not everywhere you can find quality foreign-influenced food.
If you ever consider relocating to SoCal – please know that after 30 years here, I’ve so far found only one place that nails NY-style pizza (Lamonica’s NY Pizza). As far as Italian restaurants, it’s a sad story. There was Mama Palermo’s (not a chain) that was old school and amazing, but it folded after the transplanted NYer owner (an irascible yet hilarious senior) passed away. I’m sure there are other greats out here, but who can spend time checking them out for themselves. Good thing I’m a respectable home cook. Note that my benchmark for Italian restaurants is Frost Restaurant in Williamsburg, B’klyn (which I try to breakaway for and visit whenever we travel back east).
