Originally Posted by Fraser

This thread was quite entertaining, I think I spent about 30mins reading it half way through...

I think my most amusing Olive Garden story was when I was living in Richmond, Virginia. My (now ex) wife had a friend who lived in the boonies that we'd see periodically. We'd always see her parents and other family members whenever we caught up with them. My travels were always of great fascination and intrigue to the friend's family members and I saw them once the week after I'd got back from a few days in Rome. When the father of my wife's friend found out he was so excited. "I love Italian food...have you had the <whatever dish> from the Olive Garden?...you know we drive all the way to Roanoke (about 2hrs drive!) to get me some Olive Garden...if you like Italian food you should definitely check it out". That was in 2009 and I've still never been to an Olive Garden.

Even in Richmond which was hardly a hotbed of Italian American culture still managed to provide a decent selection of pretty authentic Italian-American restaurants. I moved to NYC (well the LI/NYC border) four years ago, having been in Richmond for 9yrs before that, and I can't even fathom how Olive Gardens are still in business here in NYC/LI. I can see why it works in the tourist areas but suburban Long Island just confuses me. You find yourself tripping over Italian restaurants that leave that manufactured Darden food in the dust, there's just no reason to go an OG.

...and yes, to respond to comments from about 12yrs ago ( ), a neighbourhood Italian restaurant isn't "snobby", they're cheap and prevalent, and fresh and taste good. The one thing that confused me about the premise of an Olive Garden is that a Italian food is driven by fresh and tasty ingredients that taste "bright", yet Olive Garden and other chain restaurants by definition are not that. Stodgy offsite manufactured food is the complete opposite of what Italian food stands for.