Posted on 10/13/2011 5:36:30 AM PDT by IbJensen
ANNISTON, Ala. -- Officials with the parent company of Olive Garden restaurants say they're sorry if a decision regarding an Alabama Kiwanis club's desire to display the American flag caused any concern.
The comments come after 80-year-old Marti Warren of Anniston said she wasn't allowed to bring an American flag into an Olive Garden for a planned Kiwanis Club banquet in the east Alabama town of Oxford.
Warren learned the night of the banquet that she wouldn't be allowed to display the flag or the Kiwanis banner in the restaurant, she said.
"I was so angry," she told WBRC-TV. "I felt like I had been slapped in the face."
Orlando-based parent firm Darden restaurants said in a statement that "like all Americans we have nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for the American flag and everything it symbolizes."
The Oxford Olive Garden lacks a private dining area, which led to the decision, company officials said.
"To be fair to everyone and avoid disrupting the dining experience for all other guests, they're unable to accommodate flags or banners of any type in the dining room," according to the statement.
Without a flag at the Kiwanis banquet, Warren said she asked club members to close their eyes and picture the flag waving in the wind as they said the pledge of allegiance.
Hold up there, Mcdonald’s is MILES above Olive Garden!
Yes
I know I do
Chants!
Where did that come from. I didn't read anything about chants.
I like the OG but not nuts about it. Longhorn is a favorite and usual familiy birthday dinner location. I will admit I am the guy who gets burgers at steak places and like their burgers a lot. The Crimson Crustecean is one I never liked for some reason and I like seafood.
Nonsense. It is a place to eat. Not a political statement. Family is going Saturday night and still going. I love the food especially the salas and breadsticks. We can never eat out or shop if we turn everything political. Forget it. I don’t believe half the stories out there anyway. Funny how we despise the MSM except when it suits us.
This is what we're here for, not to just sit around on our computer chairs and whine about these restaurants and their leftist, Obama-supporting CEOs.
I told them I vote with my wallet and I'm bidding their eateries "ciao".
It only takes a minute to click on and let them know how you feel. Do it now!
Leni
This headline sensationalizes what actually happened. OG didn’t want any banners at all — local manager’s discretion, apparently — and that’s not an unreasonable restriction when Kiwanis was sharing the restaurant with other customers. To present this as being anti-American or unpatriotic is absurd.
Chants!They were also going to (and did, IIRC) recite the Pledge of Allegiance.Where did that come from. I didn't read anything about chants.
I don't have any objection to them doing this, but not while the rest of the restaurant patrons are in the middle of their dinners.
I realize that many people on this site will have a knee-jerk reaction to any story involving an American flag and the Pledge of Allegiance, but there's a time an place for everything, and in the common dining room of a restaurant is not the time or place.
We quit going to Olive Garden the first time we visited Carrabba's.
To quote the cable guy...; “now that’s funny, I don’t care who you are!” Thanks for the chuckle!
https://www.facebook.com/OliveGarden
Quote: “We’ve had some questions about whether or not guests can bring the American flag into our restaurants. We are very sorry for any misunderstanding about this issue. We do not have a policy at Olive Garden concerning bringing the American flag into our restaurants. Some members of our team were misinformed about company policy by our corporate office. As a company we take responsibility for that and we regret it. We take pride in how we communicate to our restaurants and we are correcting this so it doesn’t happen again. Like all Americans we have nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for the American flag and everything it symbolizes, and we welcome anyone who wishes to bring the flag into our restaurants. In fact, we periodically provide American flag collar pins to our employees to wear while serving guests.”
So - the corporate PR machine is saying it was the local management... that by now has had their asses fed to them with alfredo sauce.
Marry it. I think it’s legal now.
I see a pattern. They all suck.
Where I live there is a plethora of really good, family-owned authentic Italian restaurants. Yet, OG is packed. I think it’s like McDonalds. It sucks, but it’s a suck you know - the product is painfully consistent wherever it is. People stick with the familiar rather than take a chance on something different.
Ping for later
OG food is so bad, the last time I was there, I felt like stringing up crime scene tape.
???
Also, our use of quotes around the word indicates the it came directly from the article.
I sent Heidi a love note yesterday. We had been going to a Darden property at least once a month, probably more. Not anymore.
Maybe they weren't Lebanese but they were middle eastern. Where I live, Lebanese restaurants are popping up all over the place.......
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