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Olive Garden promises Cheaper Food, More options.
NBC News ^ | 28 Feb 2013 | by Isolde Raftery

Posted on 03/01/2013 7:11:20 AM PST by US Navy Vet

Fret not, Olive Garden lovers: The “endless” breadsticks aren’t going away.

But new management has big changes in store for the casual dining chain, which touts family-style Italian food and has struggled with declining sales.

The chain's president, Dave George told investors on Tuesday the changes include creating a new logo and toning down its the “Old World Style," the Tuscan-style stonework and wooden archways that have been a signature part of Olive Garden restaurants since 2000.

"You're not going to see stainless steel showing up tomorrow in a Tuscan Farmhouse," George said, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: darden; obama; olivegarden
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Yet ANOTHER Reason NOT to Patronize "Olive Garden".
1 posted on 03/01/2013 7:11:28 AM PST by US Navy Vet
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To: US Navy Vet

Haven’t gone there since Her Royal Large Hind Ass Moochelle fiddled with their menu.


2 posted on 03/01/2013 7:14:35 AM PST by laweeks
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To: US Navy Vet

More options? Like squiggly pasta instead of flat?............


3 posted on 03/01/2013 7:15:51 AM PST by Red Badger (Lincoln freed the slaves. Obama just got them ALL back......................)
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To: US Navy Vet
It's funny... my wife loves Olive Garden, but having been there and having eaten what they serve, I find that I could have as good a meal at home at a tenth of the cost... or as good a meal at another restaurant at half the cost. I'm just not impressed by bread, salad, pasta, and vin ordinaire at the prices they charge.

Now Macaroni Grill I can like.

4 posted on 03/01/2013 7:16:19 AM PST by Oberon (Big Brutha Be Watchin'.)
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To: laweeks
The “endless” breadsticks aren’t going away.

And neither are the endless chest pains from too much cholesterol.............

5 posted on 03/01/2013 7:17:33 AM PST by Red Badger (Lincoln freed the slaves. Obama just got them ALL back......................)
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To: US Navy Vet

There are better Italian restaurants. I have a Mom and Pop Italian restaurant a block from my house that serves real Italian food at a good price. Why would I want to go to some phoney corporate restaurant?


6 posted on 03/01/2013 7:18:32 AM PST by fatnotlazy
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To: US Navy Vet

Cheaper? It was already one of the cheaper ‘sit down dining’ options out there. Any cheaper and you are getting into IHOP territory. Not exactly a high-end place.


7 posted on 03/01/2013 7:18:59 AM PST by mnehring
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To: Oberon

Their food couldn’t get much cheaper...........OH!, you mean THE PRICE!...................


8 posted on 03/01/2013 7:19:09 AM PST by Red Badger (Lincoln freed the slaves. Obama just got them ALL back......................)
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To: US Navy Vet

Maybe they will follow JC Penny’s lead.


9 posted on 03/01/2013 7:19:32 AM PST by SengirV
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To: fatnotlazy

Scenes From An Italian Restaurant Lyrics
Artist: Billy Joel
Album: Turnstiles

A bottle of white, a bottle of red
Perhaps a bottle of rose instead
We’ll get a table near the street
In our old familiar place
You and I,face to face

A bottle of red, a bottle of white
It all depends upon your appetite
I’ll meet you any time you want
In our Italian Restaurant.

Things are okay with me these days
Got a good job, got a good office
Got a new wife, got a new life
And the family’s fine
We lost touch long ago
You lost weight I did not know
You could ever look so good after
So much time.

I remember those days hanging out
At the village green
Engineer boots, leather jackets
And tight blue jeans
Drop a dime in the box play the
Song about New Orleans
Cold beer, hot lights
My sweet romantic teenage nights

Brenda and Eddie were the
Popular steadys
And the king and the queen
Of the prom
Riding around with the car top
Down and the radio on.
Nobody looked any finer
Or was more of a hit at the
Parkway Diner
We never knew we could want more
Than that out of life
Surely Brenda and Eddie would
Always know how to survive.

Brenda and Eddy were still going
Steady in the summer of ‘75
when they decided the marriage would
Be at the end of July
Everyone said they were crazy
“Brenda you know you’re much too lazy
Eddie could never afford to live that
Kind of life.”
But there we were wavin’ Brenda and
Eddie goodbye.

They got an apartment with deep
Pile carpet
And a couple of paintings from Sears
A big waterbed that they bought
With the bread
They had saved for a couple
Of years
They started to fight when the
Money got tight
And they just didn’t count on
The tears.

They lived for a while in a
Very nice style
But it’s always the same in the end
They got a divorce as a matter
Of course
And they parted the closest
Of friends
Then the king and the queen went
Back to the green
But you can never go back
There again.

Brenda and Eddie had had it
Already by the summer of ‘75
Fromhe high to the low to
The end of the show
For the rest of their lives
They couldn’t go back to
The greasers
The best they could do was
Pick up the pieces
We always knew they would both
Find a way to get by
That’s all I heard about
Brenda nd Eddie
Can’t tell you more than I
Told you already
And here we are wavin’ Brenda
And Eddie goodbye.

A bottle of red, aa bottle of white
Whatever kind of mood you’re in tonight
I’ll meet you anytime you want
In our Italian Restaurant.


10 posted on 03/01/2013 7:21:15 AM PST by Red Badger (Lincoln freed the slaves. Obama just got them ALL back......................)
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To: Oberon
Let me say a kind word about OG. I have gotten many ideas for yummy meals, including some luscious crepes as a kind of pasta, from OG. Tried making their short ribs...would love their recipe. Went home and cooked it. One meal is really two-- I take home half in a box for lunch the next day.

If I were OG I'd start some cooking schools out of their restaurants!

11 posted on 03/01/2013 7:24:19 AM PST by Mamzelle
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To: US Navy Vet

I ate at O.G. once, that was it for me. I argued with the waitress that she had brought me a child’s portion.


12 posted on 03/01/2013 7:26:16 AM PST by Graybeard58 (_.. ._. .. _. _._ __ ___ ._. . ___ ..._ ._ ._.. _ .. _. .)
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To: US Navy Vet

Maybe Olive Garden can serve up some of that jumped shark?


13 posted on 03/01/2013 7:26:16 AM PST by GBA (Here in the Matrix, life is but a dream.)
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To: US Navy Vet

I like the bread sticks and salds at Olive Garden but their menu is abaout as authenticly Italian as my Aunt Bridget O’Rourke. Their food’s just bland to my taste. Bust I don’t see how they can make their menu less expensive. I don’t think they have a single entree over $20.00. But all that being said...unless I have a gift card or some other very compelling reason, when I want Italian I make it myself or go to one of my favorite mom and pop Italian restaurants.


14 posted on 03/01/2013 7:26:33 AM PST by pgkdan ( "Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not." ~Thomas Jefferson)
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To: US Navy Vet

I’ve never eaten at an Olive Garden. No real desire to see what I’m missing.


15 posted on 03/01/2013 7:27:25 AM PST by fattigermaster (Train for life in prison because they are stacking the bricks and setting the bars around you.)
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To: US Navy Vet

Yuck! Any Italian who eats there should turn in his Pisano card.


16 posted on 03/01/2013 7:27:25 AM PST by LibWhacker
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To: US Navy Vet

The Omaha, Lincoln, Des Moines area has The Pegetti Works(spagworks.com/) MUCH better food and each is family owned and operated(We like the Ralston, NE location best(no Omaha Food tax))!


17 posted on 03/01/2013 7:30:54 AM PST by US Navy Vet (Go Packers! Go Rockies! Go Boston Bruins! See, I'm "Diverse"!)
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To: US Navy Vet

I haven’t been THERE for YEARS.

It is incredible the amount of salt they put in EVERYTHING!

They could use half as much and it would still be TOO salty!


18 posted on 03/01/2013 7:30:54 AM PST by SMARTY ("The man who has no inner-life is a slave to his surroundings. "Henri Frederic Amiel)
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To: US Navy Vet
If you want GREAT Italian food, find a Carrabbas!

It's always good, it's affordable, and I believe the owners are conservatives.

19 posted on 03/01/2013 7:33:13 AM PST by Slump Tester (What if I'm pregnant Teddy? Errr-ahh -Calm down Mary Jo, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it)
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To: US Navy Vet

I MEAN SPEGETTI WORK(damn fingers).


20 posted on 03/01/2013 7:33:36 AM PST by US Navy Vet (Go Packers! Go Rockies! Go Boston Bruins! See, I'm "Diverse"!)
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