Decline of Olive Garden
 

Olive Garden appears to be as busy as ever this season but their food has been disappointing in my opinion. I'll concede that the cost of eating there is less than Red Lobster, Bonefish, or Carrabbas, but it's a shame to watch one of TV's popular restaurants decline. You wonder if the larger chain restaurants have any quality control in place or do they simply wait until business falls off significantly before looking for the problem. Of course, the consensus here may be that OG is as good as it ever was. Just curious if anyone else has observed a similar decline for Olive Garden?

Have you taken the opportunity to discuss this with the restaurant's General Manager about your issue? We have always found her willing to meet with and speak to customers and to remedy any problem brought to her attention.

We went last week to the OG in our southern residence and the salad and breadsticks were very disappointing. Maybe changed to save money. We enjoy OG most of the time both here at the Villages.

My comment was more an observation than a specific complaint about mediocre food. Our recent meals there have not been memorable. How do you complain about acceptable but mediocre food? If our meals were inedible or the service unacceptable, we would have asked to speak with the manager. I'm also willing to concede that since OG is still pretty busy that most people still find the food acceptable, and that it's us.

It is difficult to express an opinion unless you can compare. Specifically what meal did you have and what is it that you didn't like? The pasta too pastey sauce had no taste meat too rubbery, etc.

Mediocre food like pornography--is difficult to describe but you know it when you taste it. How analytical do you need to be if you describe the food as just OK, nothing special. Maybe from watching the Food Network our standards are too high. Or maybe my wife is just an excellent cook and I expect similar food from a restaurant. I don't want to beat this thread to death. I really only wanted to know whether anyone else had similar recent experience with OG?

Odd comparisen
 

I find it odd that you are comparing food to pornography. Would never have crossed my mind to think like that. It's a little unnerving. JMHO

Olive Garden is our favorite chain restaurant and we eat there pretty often....with a wait, of course.

Just a "little unnerving"? I couldn't come up with a mediocre food analogy like that if my life depended on it....and it might have if I said it to my wife :)

Different people have different expectations. If yours are not being met, suggest you talk to the manager or go somewhere else. I have not noticed any change to the lunch menue other than the soup bowl seems to be getting smaller.

Please forgive my pornography analogy. Rubicon had asked me to define what I meant by "mediocre" food at Olive Garden and I chose to borrow the famous quote from US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart who described his test for pornography, "I know it when I see it." Since then the analogy has been used to refer to someone's subjective judgement in the absence of clearly defined parameters. Perhaps I should have simply replied to Rubicon with the commonly accepted definition of mediocre, "average."

Rubicon, If you don't know mediocre food when you eat it, I can't help you, and yes taste is always subjective. And yes I vote for restaurants with my feet. If I don't care for the food, I don't go back. Not every situation requires that you involve restaurant management.

Not to worry gryoung, I immediately recognized and understood your �I know it when I see it� reference. And yes folks....the term �I know it when I see it� IS a very well known historical quote about pornography.

Anyway, I agree that we can perceive a decline in quality and/or service without having a specific example to state or complain about. Unfortunately, those kinds of general observations don�t seem to go over well here, not when it comes to restaraunts anyway.

Olive Garden
 

Hi all....I love olive garden! Sorry but always have...can't help eating those bottomless salad bowls

My complaint about Olive Garden is them NOT offering their Garden Fare menu to the general public along with their regular menu. Garden Fare is a menu of healthier choices, however, Olive Garden does not offer it to the customers with the regular menu. If you don't know about it, you have to ask for it because they keep the Garden Fare menu next to the check in desk near the front door where you enter. In this day and age when many of us are looking for healthier meal choices and most restaurants are providing nutritional values on their menus, Olive Garden is in my Hall of Shame for not providing their Garden Fare menu for health conscious customers without having to ask for it.