Who likes Olive Garden?

[imref]

Solid point. However, I will say that I  can't remember the last time I saw an OG that didn't have a ton of people in the evening. There is something about it that people like and continue to flock to.

Personally, i've never been a big fan.  Having grown up in NY I know what real Italian food is supposed to look and taste like, and Olive Garden doesn't cut it.  That being said, my wife and kids have always loved it.  Give my kids a plate of breadsticks and a bowl of the Pasta Fagioli and they are happy campers.  My wife loves the sausage soup.  I'm usually struggling to find something to order.  The Cioppino is passable.  The short ribs are decent.  Other than, there's not much else that I can say that "enjoy."   Nowadays if we want our fix of cheap, quick Italian food we go to Tony's (several locations in Manassas).

[houston-nat]

I liked Olive Garden okay as a kid, because in the Midwest it was/is viewed as a fancy meal for special occasions, and when I was a kid, hey, my parents are paying for me to eat something that costs $12!

Now, after a couple years of cooking experience, if I want spaghetti I'll make it; if I want puttanesca I'll make it; if I want a big salad I'll make it. And even though Olive Garden seems a lot cheaper now, it's not cheaper than making a better version of the same thing yourself.

[HalfSmokes]

I liked Olive Garden okay as a kid, because in the Midwest it was/is viewed as a fancy meal for special occasions, and when I was a kid, hey, my parents are paying for me to eat something that costs $12!

Now, after a couple years of cooking experience, if I want spaghetti I'll make it; if I want puttanesca I'll make it; if I want a big salad I'll make it. And even though Olive Garden seems a lot cheaper now, it's not cheaper than making a better version of the same thing yourself.

wait until kids- I used to have the same view, then speed started mattering

[blue911]

Personally, i've never been a big fan.  Having grown up in NY I know what real Italian food is supposed to look and taste like, and Olive Garden doesn't cut it.  That being said, my wife and kids have always loved it.  Give my kids a plate of breadsticks and a bowl of the Pasta Fagioli and they are happy campers.  My wife loves the sausage soup.  I'm usually struggling to find something to order.  The Cioppino is passable.  The short ribs are decent.  Other than, there's not much else that I can say that "enjoy."   Nowadays if we want our fix of cheap, quick Italian food we go to Tony's (several locations in Manassas).

Cioppino isn't even Italian. Which isn't to say that it isn't the best thing they offer

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Next you're going to say that stroganoff isn't Filipino 

Cioppino isn't even Italian. Which isn't to say that it isn't the best thing they offer

[blue911]

Next you're going to say that stroganoff isn't Filipino

It isn't although New England Clam Chowder is. 

[tomterp]

Still making money. They're not going to fix the food. People want it for whatever reason. Otherwise it wouldn't be packed on a Friday night.

Probably the unit is underperforming or a large investor (8.8%) wouldn't bother to craft a 300    page critique about the management of the asset.

[imref]

Cioppino isn't even Italian. Which isn't to say that it isn't the best thing they offer

yeah, i've always considered it "san franciscan." 

[Nathan]

Making it yourself takes time and skill plus finding a recipe that works.  At least it should be consistently mediocre

That's how Pizza Hut became so big.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

That, and they never carded

Making it yourself takes time and skill plus finding a recipe that works.  At least it should be consistently mediocre

That's how Pizza Hut became so big.

[tomterp]

That, and they never carded

Was an excellent post-softball venue back in the day, when not able to make it over to the Princess Garden Inn in Lanham.   

Pizza Hut actually had decent pizzas for a chain, lots more seasoning than most of the rest of them. Always liked the "meat lovers" one, though probably the worst possible thing for health purposes.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Was an excellent post-softball venue back in the day, when not able to make it over to the Princess Garden Inn in Lanham.   

Pizza Hut actually had decent pizzas for a chain, lots more seasoning than most of the rest of them. Always liked the "meat lovers" one, though probably the worst possible thing for health purposes.

My view of Pizza Hut was that it was always acceptable when you did not have access to real pizza.  I liked it better than many bad mom and pop places, including the various "house of pizzas" up in the Boston area that made a Greek-style pizza.  When I worked near the Waterfront, the old pizza hut in Waterside Mall was a power center for elite officials that did not dare to go to Jenny's sort of chinese buffet (Jenny's motto - "no one shot here so far this year" - they had to take down down the motto several times).  I had a friend who used to say about the buffet lunch at Pizza Hut, "remember, all you can eat means eat all you can."

[skippy1999]

My view of Pizza Hut was that it was always acceptable when you did not have access to real pizza.  I liked it better than many bad mom and pop places, including the various "house of pizzas" up in the Boston area that made a Greek-style pizza. 

Um, you crazy JCA   I still make my sister take me to Boston House of Pizza on Huntington Avenue every single time I go home, nothing I've ever gotten from Pizza Hut has ever been close to that, even "bad" mom and pop places in the Northeast have it all over Pizza Hut, Papa John's etc. IMO

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

You gotta soak up all the pitchers ya drank at Father's

[houston-nat]

Making it yourself takes time and skill plus finding a recipe that works.  At least it should be consistently mediocre

SKILLFUL RECIPE FOR PASTA THAT WORKS
1. Chop up an onion and a crap ton of garlic. (Optional: bell peppers, mushrooms, really finely diced carrots.)
2. Chop up a link or two of some kind of badass sausage or chorizo.
3. Get a pot of water boiling and add a crap ton of garlic salt.
4. Put pasta in it.
5. In a pan, drop the onion and cook til clear. Then add the garlic. 1 minute later, add sausage/chorizo. (Then bell peppers, mushrooms, etc.)
6. Finish the pan sauce with a can of diced tomatoes, then add whatever spices you want. At least oregano and cayenne and garlic salt.
7. When the pasta is ready, drain it, put the pot on a trivet or one of the ranges you did not heat, and then put the pasta back in the pot.
8. Mix pasta and sauce.
9. Parmesan.
10. Stuff your face.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Punter's Pub for me.

Eh, the Greek stuff was Ok initially, but I grew tired of it by about 1975.  And the house of pizza stuff (Boston, Newton highlands, Newton Centre, etc...) had too thick, bready crust. Usually, crunchy, but not what I look for in a pizza crust.  Not very good tomato sauce, either. Any pizza from a pan starts with a few strikes against it.  I'm not saying pizza hut crust isn't an abomination, but it had more of the feel of pizza dough, and I had lower expectations for pizza hut's americanized ingredients.  I agree almost any pizza stand that sells italian thin crust in New England is better than the Hut, but the house of pizza stuff is, as a I said, nothing to brag about.

Oh, and I had a slice of Papa John's at Nats Park the other day.  Nearly tossed it after two bites.  Awful.

[skippy1999]

Punter's Pub for me.

My dorm was 2 blocks from Punter's maybe it's the nostalgia for freshman year that makes BHOP so special to me but I flippin' love that place

[JCA-CrystalCity]

My dorm was 2 blocks from Punter's maybe it's the nostalgia for freshman year that makes BHOP so special to me but I flippin' love that place

Yes, for me it was Bulldog Pizza, which was absolute crud but I loved it at the time.  Spiro used to cut his slices square (in a round pan) instead of like pie slices.  Burned cheese with bad tomato sauce and thick crust.  Everything I hate in a pizza, but Spiro was terrific and I was usually sobering up after a Rudy's run. 

In 1980, he supported John Anderson's candidacy because Anderson's wife was Greek (Kiki Machakos Anderson).   I think she did a stop by at Bulldog when campaigning.

Bulldog used to deliver to the Old Campus.  My roomate's sister was a bit wild, and swiped a pizza from the car during a delivery.  My 3d roomate (B) was a genius in languages and learned Amharic to apologize to the guy in his native language.   A couple of years later, Fordham had a couple of Ethipian forwards, and a friend of ours was center for Yale.  B had our center greet the kid in Amharic before the tip-off.  B later went on to work on Operation Moses because he was one of the few people back then who could speak Amharic and Hebrew.

[skippy1999]

Yes, for me it was Bulldog Pizza, which was absolute crud but I loved it at the time.  Spiro used to cut his slices square (in a round pan) instead of like pie slices.  Burned cheese with bad tomato sauce and thick crust.  Everything I hate in a pizza, but Spiro was terrific and I was usually sobering up after a Rudy's run. 

In 1980, he supported John Anderson's candidacy because Anderson's wife was Greek (Kiki Machakos Anderson).   I think she did a stop by at Bulldog when campaigning.

Bulldog used to deliver to the Old Campus.  My roomate's sister was a bit wild, and swiped a pizza from the car during a delivery.  My 3d roomate (B) was a genius in languages and learned Amharic to apologize to the guy in his native language.   A couple of years later, Fordham had a couple of Ethipian forwards, and a friend of ours was center for Yale.  B had our center greet the kid in Amharic before the tip-off.  B later went on to work on Operation Moses because he was one of the few people back then who could speak Amharic and Hebrew.

that's funny, Bulldog was open later than Hamden pizza places so every now and then when we were desperate we'd ride downtown, get a pizza and drive home to eat it, we must have thought New Haven was too scary to stay and eat pizza that late at night  

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Yeah, some Skull and Bones guys might sing a cappella to you 

[JCA-CrystalCity]

that's funny, Bulldog was open later than Hamden pizza places so every now and then when we were desperate we'd ride downtown, get a pizza and drive home to eat it, we must have thought New Haven was too scary to stay and eat pizza that late at night  

so do we both agree that Spiro was a great guy but his pizza was not quite up to the local standards?

[skippy1999]

so do we both agree that Spiro was a great guy but his pizza was not quite up to the local standards?

Haha, I used to send my friend Kevin in to get the pizza so I'm not sure about Spiro but yea, it wasn't exactly good but at 3:00 a.m. I was happy for ANY pizza

[Frau Mau]

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the-people-in-an-olive-garden-commercial-share-their-existential-pain

[Slateman]

http://whnt.com/2014/11/04/nc-man-has-eaten-95-meals-at-olive-garden-in-6-weeks-using-100-pasta-pass/

95 meals in 6 weeks