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.
Exactly. In any urban/suburban location where there's an Olive Garden, you will also find several mom & pop Italian restaurants that serve authentic Italian cuisine that is made from family recipes that have been handed down through the generations, for the same price if not less expensive than Olive Garden. I can't understand why anyone would choose a chain restaurant, where the menu and recipes are created by corporate chefs and bean-counters a thousand miles away and then assembled by local cooks from processed, pre-measured, pre-packaged ingredients, when you can go to local place that uses fresh ingredients to make recipes that originate from the chef's ancestors in Italy.