[stands2reason]

Call the Waahhh-mbulance!!

Seriously though, I've always thought those commercials were stupid.

[ivanhoe116]

Ilvagabondo 351 E. 62 NY,NY...downstairs, so sign, pipes exposed, for real.

[nutmeg]

ping!

Come and join the fun! This is one of the best Friday threads I've seen in awhile. Many of the comments are truly priceless! :-D

(Thanks, stands2reason)

[Desdemona]

From an All-American Mutt (Irish, Celtic Spanish, Breton & Norman French, probably a little Welsh, a tinge of Bavarian and a couple drops of Mimwac Indian):

Olive Garden sucks. For good Italian, here at home, there is a little restaurant on the Hill, a family run place, although, they're actually Sicilian. Really nice people, though. The menu hangs outside the door (just like Italy) and you can even get a bottle of the water with gas (just like Italy). There's tables on the sidewalks. They don't have a vine awning like the hilltowns, but you can't have everything. FABULOUS linguini con marinara. Really good Vitello, too. My mom loves the salmon. The Risotto...I had better in Venice. And the wine is the good stuff.

Seriously, though, the best Italian dish I've had was a pesto lasagna in the Cinque Terre. Now I just have to go back.

Sorry, never going back to Olive Garden.

[itzmygun]

My family came from Croatia. To avoid being offended, I know nothing about the country, its foods, or culture. So show stereotypical Croatian food commercials - I won't know to be offended.

I am American. I know we have our share of idiots here. So show all the stereotypical hamburger and hot dog commercials you want - I won't be offended.

I am a hillbilly. Yes, I know some of my friends worship the bug-zapper. So show all the stereotypical 'possum and government cheese commercials you want - I won't be offended.

Now, what was the problem?

[blam]

I have a question. If Marco Polo brought noodles back from China and the tomato came from the Americas, what did Italians eat before that?

[strela]

And for good reason. Matt Savare, an independent filmmaker in New Jersey, knows better: "When you're here, you're family? Oh, good. So you're gonna curse at me and yell and scream through my entire meal? Wonderful."

You don't have to be Italian to fight like tigers around the dinner table. I can still remember the "Great Mashed Potato Fight of 1965," where I thought my father was going to have a coronary from laughing so hard when I (6 years old) got mad at one of his jokes and came across the table with a serving spoon at him.

[strela]

Anybody who goes to the Olive Garden expecting great Italian food probably thinks that the sine qua non of Mexican cuisine can be had at Taco Bell.

[Polonius]

... whiny dagos (and for the record, I am part Italian).

[timydnuc]

When I was living in Indianapolis I found a gem. The name of the place was, simply "Gino's". The atmosphere was wonderful, small and intimate. The fireplace room had 6 or 7 tables (small) around the big fireplace. French doors led to a bigger room with booths in the walls and 12 or 15 tables closely packed into the center of the room. It had a bar to die for, just warm and compfy.

It was a family operation with Gino as it's commander. The food was to die for. I made it a point to eat there at least once a week (usually more than that). The pasta was made fresh, the sauces were wonderful, the food was served with pride, and rightfully so. There were no reservations and the family didn't hurry you through the meal, yet the place was always packed. Gino and his wife would come through the place regularly. If they recognized you they would stop and talk and you'd always get a free glass of wine. I was a regular, so I got to know the family well, and it was a pleasure to go there, if for nothing more than a drink. I took everybody there that I had contact with, and they fell in love with the place. I hope it's still in business. It used to be on the west side.

[uglybiker]

An Italian On Vacation One day ima gonna New York to bigga hotel. Ina morning I go to eat breakfast. I tella waitress I wanna two pissis toast. She brings me only one piss. I tella her I want to piss. She says go to the toilet. I say you no understand. I wanna to piss onna my plate. She say you better not piss onna plate, you sonna ma bitch. I don't even know the lady and she call me sonna ma bitch.

Later I go to eat at the bigga restaurant. The waitress brings me a spoon and a knife but no fock. I tella her I wanna fock. She tella me everyone wanna fock. I tella her you no understand. I wanna fock on the table. She say better not fock on the table, you sonna ma bitch. I don't know this lady either and she calla me sonna ma bitch.

So I go to my room inna hotel and there is no shits onna my bed. I calla the manager and tella him I wanna shit. He tella me to go to the toilet. I say you no understand. I wanna shit on my bed. He say you better not shit onna bed, you sonna ma bitch. I don't even know the man and he calla me a sonna ma bitch.

I go to the checkout and the man at the desk say: "Peace on you." I say piss on you too, you sonna ma bitch. I gonna back to Italy!

[fineright]

If I want real Italian food, I just cook it.

Of course I work at a good Italian restaurant).

"Olive Garden" has much more in common with "Applebee`s" than any good Italian restaurant.

[Mannaggia l'America]

Italians know Olive Garden isn't Italian - it's "medagon"!

I don't know if this is true of most Italian families, but in my family, the older Italians rarely even go to restaurants. I can't remember my grandmother and grandfather ever going to a restaurant of any kind. Eating was a family affair, to be done at home.

[jmax]

I don't care if they call it Italian, Morrocan, Mexican or Brazilian, their salad and bread sticks are F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C.

[Bella_Bru]

Olive Garden has some of the worst food. Anyone with half a brain knows that people who know what real Italian food should taste like wouldn't set foot in an Olive garden.

[rdb3]

Olive Garden? It's okay, I guess. But if I want real Italian food, at home I head on over to the Heights to a real mom-and-pop Italian eatery.

Yeah, baby!

IMHO, no cuisine is better than authentic Italian.

[TJFLSTRAT]

This is soooo true, my Grandparents were from Italy, and they showed us authentic Italian cusine, like a flat bread with tomato sauce {Real pizza}, and Tripe {lungs}. NOW THAT'S ITALIAN!!!! yum yum

[peteram]

I wonder how many people actually believed that "Hospitaliano" was a real Italian word!

PS - My Dad - a native from Sicily - would NEVER go near the place.

[Sir Gawain]

ping

[Republican Wildcat]

Well, they have great salads...

[Gabz]

The commercials are stupid....no doubt about that.

As for the food - I do like the soups - but this Irish kid from Brooklyn cooks better Italian than the Olive Garden, and for a whole lot cheaper.

To be honest, the only time I ever go there is if someone else is paying the bill. I may be in Dover, Delaware - but there are far better Italian restaurants than that in this town.