[Jack Hydrazine]

I’ve never patronized an Olive Garden so what’s the deal with it?

[Popman]

I’ve never patronized an Olive Garden so what’s the deal with it?

I only buy the the never ending salad, breadsticks and soup

Decent price and decent service...

[angry elephant]

I’ve never patronized an Olive Garden so what’s the deal with it?

______________________________________________________

I to Olive Garden for lunch sometimes for the soup and salad when I have a meeting nearby. But the twice I have gone to Red Lobster I tried to eat shrimp, but they are overbreaded and tasteless to me.

[Rebelbase]

“I’ve never patronized an Olive Garden so what’s the deal with it?”

Bread sticks and salad. Nothing to write home about.

[COBOL2Java]

I’ve never patronized an Olive Garden so what’s the deal with it?

Faux Italian food that's one step up from Chef Boyardee, yet marketed as the real deal.

[sarasmom]

Like every other franchise/chain restaurant, it depends on the local owner and staff.
I like Olive Garden! Decent, mid level prices and ambiance. My town has two Olive Gardens. I think we also have a Red Lobster, but it's not on my side of town, and not in a safe place to park a car.
The best Olive Garden is on the borderline to the bad part of town.
Service is always great, food is always good, and it's always packed.It's smaller, but does a better job of cooking and serving Americanised Italian food.
They have been in business there for many years.
The new and larger Olive Garden is iffy on both service and food quality.
It's well worth the traffic and wait time to go to the older, smaller restaurant, IMHO.

As far as Red Lobster...I live in Florida.

I don't care for any restaurant seafood other than really good scallops and crab legs. I know where to get the best of those locally, and refuse to share that information online!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Screaming children.
Caughing wait staff.

[gnarledmaw]

Really long waits for a decent service crew to bring large servings of bad noodles to the table. They only stay in business because men pay high margins on bad pasta because young women love pasta, don’t know any better and already filled up on bread. Its generally cheaper than a real Italian restaurant but this is a situation where you get what you paid for.