Are you saying McDonalds is inauthentic? :eek:

And Darden also owns Bahama Breeze, which I like, weirdly. I went to the one in Austin a couple of times and didn't know it was a chain.

Personally I would never wait that long at any restaurant, unless it was some kind of emergency (i.e. no other food available :eek:), but waiting 1:45h to eat at the Olive Garden (or any other chain restaurant) is just plain unbelievable, even more so considering the better alternative across the parking lot.

This thread is a hoot. I am convinced that Olive Garden purposefully makes people wait longer to get seated than necessary. I say this because on several occasions (at various times of the day and week) they have made me wait 10-20 minutes before being seated, but when they take my party into the dining room it is practically empty and wait staff are standing about. I believe they think that by forcing the customer to wait, even for a few minutes, it helps to psychologically heighten their experience at the restaurant.

There's another chain down here called O'Charley's, which is basically a lunch place. Our local O'C does the same thing. I can look into the dining area and see lots of empty tables and they still make us wait a few minutes. Every time it happens I send a nasty email to corporate and every time they send me a $25 cert. Lot of free lunches...that I have to wait 5 minutes for. :rolleyes:

O' Charley's is famous for doing this.

I've given up on the local O'Charley's. It does a big dinner and lunch - it's at the foot of the Interstate ramp. Service is poor, food is bland. I'd try one elsewhere if choices were severely limited.

Hmm...seems like I'll have to try this at an O'Charley's near me! :D

Darden also owns Seasons 52, which I adore.

What I've noticed, in Orlando, the quality of the food coming from Darden Restaurants tends to be better than what I've experienced in other cities. Maybe it has something to do with their corporate offices being located in Orlando.

As far as chain italian goes, I prefer Carabba's much more than OG

Probably. They were founded here, so they gotta keep up appearances. I wouldn't know, 'cause I'd never step foot in one.

Too often those chain restaurants are a training ground for new line cooks and have a >150% turnover rate, so you're constantly having to beat into a new cook's head what should be such elemantary concepts such as it is not okay to handle raw chicken with your bare hands just before you plate up some cooked food. That comes from years of experience in all aspects of many different chain rest's.

I don't mean to be churlish but where I come from there's a Fish and Chip shop and a Chinese takeaway and,er ...that's it.
Entertainment on a Saturday night is an all-night cigarette machine,competitive street vomiting and staring at the changing traffic lights.
On the other hand we don't suffer from chronic obesity and chafing thighs !

So, you're getting an Olive Garden soon?

Definitely not.
The locals saw an episode of Will and Grace where they took the piss out of Olive Garden.
Even we know when something is unfashionable and we still wear wellington boots to the pub !

Olive Garden is really good. Their breadsticks are the best. They were very warm and smothered in garlic butter. Great!
At the Olive Garden we went to, we got seated straight away, and the waitress wasn't all that rude. She came over whenever we needed her, and she asked how our meal was. It was fresh, hot, and delicious.
I'd go there again.

Only people who spend as much time eating airline food as the people do here could possibly defend Olive Garden. This reminds me of a friend's girlfriend who tried to argue that the food at Acapulco's is better than the food in Mexico.

Yeah, right...