I would tend to agree but they've improved quite a bit over the years. 10-15 years ago they were kind of blah and boring but they've cleaned up their act IMO.

We're the first to admit that we're food snobs and gravitate toward higher end restaurants. I'm not really concerned about menu prices as long as the experience and the food are outstanding.

Several years ago we were traveling and spent the night in a small-ish town. And Olive Garden was the high-end restaurant in that town. We decided to eat there, weren't expecting much and were pleasantly surprised. We've since returned to our local one for lunch on several occasions and have been pleased.

We don't live in NYC or BOS where Luigi's or Dominic's mother cooks at a restaurant on every other block. Our choices are pretty much limited to chain-type Italian food like Spaghetti Factory, Johnny Carino's, Olive Garden and the like. And we find Olive Garden to be fine. Not great but fine.