Why do Italian-Americans hate the Olive Garden?

Boy, you really like stirring the pot, don't you OP?

Because they drain their pasta.

The same reason non- Italian Americans hate it --- the food is dreck.

Not all hate it.

The 'Tour of Italy' is the bomb.

No I am not posting from the 80's, but it is.

This is worse than typing FAT, OP.

Olive Garden is awful regardless of ethnicity! If I wanted frozen food with my wine I'd get it from the frozen food aisle.

If a date took me to the Olive Garden I’d give him full access to my mussy.

What ever you do, don't take an actual Italian there.

OP, it's just not very good -- especially if you've had the real stuff. Most national chain restaurants of that size rarely are any good.

That said, I do admit to occasionally appreciating Panda Express every once in awhile! So it's not like I can't appreciate non-authentic, Americanized chain food.

Why don’t Italian Americans know any Italian history? Or Italian-American history?

I went to the Olive Garden once, the food was mediocre (at best), with poor service. Hell, McDonald's & Pizza Hut serve better food than the Olive Garden.

R10, Panda Express is awful.

R13, I know it is crap food compared to real Chinese, but I sometimes like the orange chicken -- so sue me.

Panda seems like a filthy establishment. At least in my neck of the woods.

R14, I can’t fault you. I’m an Olive Garden defender!

R14 was gonna say that their egg rolls and orange chicken are pretty good.

most towns on the East coast have little local Italian restaurants that are pretty damned good Italian-American food. Same for Chinese, no?

DL hates all popular chain restaurants, but I still wonder if there are any that their refined palates enjoy.

R18, yes, most mom and pop joints are better than Olive Garden.

R19, I love Texas Roadhouse.

None of my friends live in my town, in recent years. I would put up with mediocre food if I had someone to go out to eat with 1x a week without much fuss and expense.

The food is crap!

I love Olive Garden but probably only eat there no more than once a year. I get the hate but its filling and the ones where I live have good service and the food is always piping hot.

Actually, I know many Italians who enjoy Olive Garden. They say it tastes just like grandma's pussy.

They send their chefs to Italy to learn authentic cooking. Their TV ads said so.

R25, how dare you!

And it's nonna - get it right

I like their fettucine alfredo.

Why are Italian-Americans generally unattractive?

[quote]What ever you do, don't take an actual Italian there.

Uh, why? Those videos show actual Italians love it. Just like they showed how actual Chinese loved Panda Express. It’s only the posers in the US who turn their nose up at these things.

My parents love it....and they've got people hooked on the salad, specifically the dressing, drenching the cheap iceberg lettuce. This chain would never exist in other countries. But the formula really works in the beige suburbs when you don't have another Italian option. It's terribly expensive for what it is.

I would rather take my chances stopping at any decent looking local pizzeria and getting a meatball parm.

R30 You didn't understand the video. The only women who liked the food were two Italian Americans. Olive Garden does not serve Italian food. It serves Italian American food.

Marcella Hazan visits Olive Garden:

SARASOTA, Fla. — What’s wrong with Italian cooking in America? Too much garlic, too little salt and much of what’s on the menu at Olive Garden, says Marcella Hazan.

This is her first trip to an Olive Garden, but she has visited the company’s Web site and found cause for alarm in a pasta recipe. “It says six cloves of garlic. Six! And they say to put garlic and onions together while you brown the onions. If you do that, the garlic will be burned.”

As she turns to the menu, her face clouds with concern. “Manicotti doesn’t exist in Italy,” she says, running a skeptical eye over the entrees. “Spaghetti with meatballs doesn’t exist in Italy. And this is the first time I ever see fettuccine Alfredo with garlic.”

The food arrives.

Soup: Zuppa Toscana. Creamy broth of sausage, potatoes and greens.

“Not bad,” Marcella says. But not Tuscan, either. Real Tuscan soups, she says, contain bread, mashed beans and olive oil, all of which are absent from this broth. “For a mass-market restaurant, this is an admirable dish,” Victor says as he sips. “We just don’t recognize it as Italian.”

First course: Penne Romana. Green beans, tomatoes and olive oil tossed with penne noodles and white wine herb sauce.

Marcella looks sad. The problem? The sauce is bland. The beans are undercooked and should have been cut so they could be eaten without the use of a knife. Undercooked beans “have the taste of grass,” Marcella explains, shaking her head. “I don’t know why they do it. It’s all wrong.”

Second course: Tortelloni di Fizzano. Pasta stuffed with ricotta cheese and spinach, served in a beef and pork Bolognese sauce.

“This is bad. This is really bad,” Marcella says. She stares into the bowl. “This is Bolognese sauce?” She reaches for a menu in disbelief. Bolognese it is. “Poor Bologna,” she sighs. Her complaints: The pasta is “gummy” and the Bolognese has no subtlety or flavor. Tortelloni requires a lighter sauce of tomato or butter, she says.

Victor finds the cheese and spinach filling to be “heavy-handed.” Marcella nods in agreement. Everyone looks glum. “I must console myself,” Marcella says. She orders a Jack Daniel’s.

Third course: Lobster Spaghetti. Lobster and spinach sautéed with olive oil in a creamy broth and served over spaghetti.

Marcella renders judgment in a word. “No,” she says, pushing her bowl away.

The criticism pours forth. These are pre-cooked noodles, soft, soggy and underdone, she says. The sauce is not properly reduced, and there is too much of it. The lobster meat tastes boiled, not sautéed.

Fourth course: Pork Filettino. Grilled pork tenderloin marinated in olive oil and rosemary, served with roasted potatoes.

Marcella looks distraught, unable to go on. Reluctantly, she turns to the pork. She takes a bite and suddenly brightens. “This is not bad. The meat is very tender. The potatoes are sautéed, so they catch the flavor.” She stops to weigh the importance of what she is about to say. “This is a winner.”

The Hazans say the food that they have tasted bears little resemblance to authentic Italian cuisine. “But if they can come close with a dish like the pork, with the taste and presentation and the potatoes, why can’t they do it with all the dishes?” Victor asks. “There is potential.” He also commends Olive Garden for its decision to serve better wines. He notes that Rocca delle Macie’s Chianti Classico Riserva, which costs $24, “has improved quite a bit” in recent years. Bertani’s $110 bottle of Amarone della Valpolicella “is very good, respectable wine.”

But Marcella has questions. “There are 60,000 recipes in Italy. Why do they have to invent new ones like Lobster Spaghetti?”

If I go its for the soup salad and breadsticks with a side of Alfredo sauce mmmmm

How does DL feel about Maggiano's? They're definitely a step up from Olive Garden but still a chain.

I loved Buca di Beppo. Generous portions that could last for three days.

Olive Garden is to Italian cuisine like the TV show "Alice" is to the Academy Award winning film "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore".

The worst meal I ever had (that I didn't cook) was at Olive Garden.

The pasta was so under cooked it was chewy like a gummy bear.

The lettuce in the salad had already wilted and was starting to turn brown but that wasn't the worst part.

The waitress brought the salad to me with the balsamic dressing already poured in the salad. The salad was swimming in the dressing. It was like a bowl of cereal with milk

It's fat bitch food

It sounds fucking awful, yet I can remember a time 25 years ago (or more) that it was actually pretty good. It was still chain restaurant food & wasn't going to win any awards, but the selection was broad, tasty and satisfying.

I like Olive Garden, lol.