Another big generic crappy restaurant isn't coming to your town? Have a party. Go spend some money at a real restaurant. The only letter you should be writing should be happy that your little stretch of franchiseland is not going to be getting an OG.

Hehehe, I just reread this and got a chuckle. No need for pictures, there's a mirror here and there on the walls.

Update: OG is almost finished and will probably open within a month or so. We have also acquired a Longhorn, although we already seem to have plenty of chain steak restaurants. There is also a Maggie Moos. I'm sure I'll stop by when the weather warms back up. The biggest victims of this retail expansion are sure to be the locally owned stores. The big winner will be the cardio floor at the regional medical center.

BamaVol,

Wow! You guys are getting seriously mainstream. We've had a bunch of franchises open up in Spanish Fort, just up the road. OG, Logan's, Fire Mountain (I hear that one is especially awful).

We don't need them to support our regional cardio center. We've got Lambert's!!!

PS: WTH is a Maggie Moos???

Here in Tulsa it is the same way. Everyone flocks to the new restaurants and leaves the locals behind, even though the authentic ones are so much better. People are weird...

Maggie Moos is an ice cream parlor. It's funny, when I got here almost 5 years ago, the Dairy Queen had just shut down. An Edy's franchise opened in the mall and was gone in under a year. There's a Baskin Robins that was closed before I even got here. There are 2 TCBY's that have outlived them and no other frozen confection in a cup or cone option in town. Don't rednecks like ice cream?

I guess most people don't want to eat outside the box.

A new restaurant opened, called Paco Wong's, you can tell the Chinese Mexican heritage in the name

And it is pretty good, a little pricey, but going to a restaurant with white linens, well dressed waiters and good service does have it's price

How much did you know about it before you went? A ChinaMex name on a restaurant would concern me. I'd be expecting fast food, not white linen, since most chinese and mexican restaurants in my experience are not fancy, good food in many, but not fancy.

I'll go to Olive Garden if I have to as a last resort. For the most part the food is passable. I have had better Italian including at another but smaller chain: Bertucci's. Service is good (the one in Jersey City Newport is very good and rarely crowded) and I like the seasonal specials.

I have also had great Italian at little restaurants around the world including Astoria Queens, Simply Pasta in Manhattan, NYC and in London (one was a small hole in the wall place I can't remember... the other was this local chain which had great garlic butter spagetti... can't think of the name.)

There's also the Old Spagetti Factory... where a few years ago a number of Flyertalkers had a great opening weekend dinner in Toronto.

The service at Olive Garden would sour tomato sauce. My WORST experience was at the Oliver Garden in Times Square about ten years ago.

Went there and after being seated waited 20 minutes for service. The waiter gave no smile or greeting and just said "Ready to order?"

I placed my order which included a COke (ok, the place doesn't serve Pepsi and I was working so no alcohol.) I got a water with no ice. Waited another 20 mintues for the food which was served cold with the salad and the breadsticks which were stale.

I never got my Coke. I asked THREE Times and ended up being charged for it.

When the bill came we argued over the Coke and I refused to pay until it was taken off. The waiter said he would bring the Coke then. I said i was done and didn't want it. Fifteen minutes later it was taken off and the waiter threw the bill cover on the table and walked off. Signing the bill I rounded out the amount to an even number so the tip ended up being seven cents (yes, 7 cents.) I gave the guy something for basically showing up.

As I walked out the waiter came running after me screaming "You insult me with seven cents! I have three children and my wife is pregnant and I work hard."

I said "next time when someone orders a Coke bring a COke." He cursed me in a foreign language and called me selfish.

I wrote to Olive Garden corporate and got a free gift certificate (remember no gift cards 10 years ago.) I used it at an Olive Garden in Secaucus which was a little better than NYC.

Bertucci's is ok, I might wind up at one once a year. It's not gourmet, it's not authentic, but as food it's passable. As the Checker's TV commercial says, "Ya Gotta Eat!" (and, strictly speaking, what they serve qualifies as food so it satisfies the bare minimum requirements... )

Olive Garden is the worst dining I have experienced.... About 3 years ago I went to one, terrible service and terrible decor and terrible food - a Zagat trifecta of lousy. I didn't like Olive Garden in high school (when I shouldn't even have known better!) and I won't go near one today.

Sure, I'm a food snob at times (my wife is a chef and we travel to some of the best restaurants in the world) but we do eat at chains and really actually enjoy it much of the time... Maggiano's isn't fine dining but we like it I rather dig the buffalo meatloaf at Ted Turner's chain... Once in awhile we might pop into an AppleRubyBenniTGI's. And I like a Bloomin' Onion as much as the next guy.

But Olive Garden? Fuggetaboutit.

Funny this post got bumped right now. Last night The Adorable Francisco wanted to try Olive Garden since they are advertising on TV non-stop. Off we went about 8:30, parking lot full, huge throng of people standing around outside. They told me it would be an hour and forty-five minutes for a table. Meanwhile there was an independent Italian place not 50 yards away across the parking lot that was nearly empty. We went there instead and had a marvelous meal.

I just don't understand people sometimes.

I can sympathize with BV. I moved seven months ago from an area just like he described but to the northwest of Atlanta (think north of Kennesaw, but south of Calhoun... Usher was just in the county court for his speeding ticket). Population is booming in the area because it's becoming an outer ex-urb of Atlanta. Fortunately, there are local Italian places there and it wasn't too bad. Unfortunately, they're mostly deserted. For some reason, natives of the area don't want to figure out what the dish is (even if described in front of them). They want to eat what they hear about in the media (especially since OG is relentless in advertising).

I'm going to a Maggiano's for the first time next weekend for a birthday dinner, and I do hope it's better than Olive Garden! Of course they don't have ads on TV 24/7 like Olive Garden, which I consider a good sign.

And I like the Ted Turner chain restaurant. Amazing onion rings and mashed potatoes (oh, and bison ).

It is!

Okay - a little OG/Red Lobster background info.

They are owned by the same entity, Darden.

My first restaurant gig was for Red Lobster. An Olive Garden was right next door. We often shared products when one was running low. It's all the same stuff.

And just where does this food come from, you ask? Well, they share a foodservice distributor (Martin-Brauer) with the world's most favorite fast food chain, McDonald's. If that's not a sign of quality, I don't know what is!!