Olive Garden

LOL there is a lot of cheese in the olive garden commercials...and its not the mozzarella on the plates!!!

Ew, I hate that guy.

If someone tried that with me, I'd bite their arms off.

You know, if it wasn't Olive Garden food they wanted to take from me... xD

I used to like Olive Garden but it seems that the more popular they have gotten (crowded) at least in this area, the crappier the food is.  Wow, hows that for a run on sentence.  The last time I ordered the fettucinni alfredo (how adventurous) the butter had seperated from the sauce already and was pretty much flavorless.  I believe Fazolis (sp?) tasted better.

Jimmy wrote: Olive Garden is the McDonalds of Italian restaurants. I feel bad for areas in our country who don't have access to great, authentic Italian cuisine.

There was a member of the old site, Vinnie, that owned an Italian restaurant here in my town.  It was pure 'old Italian", and was our favorite Friday night date.

He closed it and moved to California.  We have nothing since to compare.

I actually like the Olive Garden, but yes I hate the commercials.

"We're celebrating"

"Oh, special ocassion? Anniversary, Birthday?"

"Nope, just...Tuesday!"

or the one where the girlfriends talk about their tradition of going out every thursday and having the never ending pasta, salad and breadsticks. 'Chery'll passes the salad, I pass around the breadsticks..." Who the hell cares what lame order you have to take in your "tradition">

Unfortunately, Jimmy, there is no such thing as a Giuseppe's in California.  California prefers chains.  I think people here trust them more. 

the spaghetti factory is ok...they have one in philadelphia too...but i would never try to pass it off as true authentic italian you know?

Thor wrote: Jimmy wrote: Y'know, I just don't understand this. There are Italian Americans everywhere in our nation, so why aren't there more of those charming diners and cafe's and restaurants dotted across the country?   At this point, Jimmy, I think there are more Italian last names than there are Italians in this country.  Generations after the Itals came over here, generations of inter-marriage...and now you're starting to see blonde-haired, steak and potato Midwesterners with last names like my own.  Even I'm only half-Italian in ancestry.   I think this has many good points, but the dearth of authentic Italian food is not one of them.

Bloody shame!

That whole steak and potato crap is so over done.

Italian cuisine is so diverse. From the sumptuous white sauces in the Northern region, to the tangy and tasty tomato and pesto sauces in the Southern region.
Then the lovely, cheesy masterpieces from Sicily.
The Italians use every type of meat in their dishes. Beef, pork, lamb, veal, chicken, then there are the wonderful things they do with seafood.

God, do I love Italian food!

These truly are the cheesiest non-satire commercials currently playing.  I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I have the displeasure of working at an advertising agency, and yes, people really do get paid big bucks to come up with this crap.

Aside from the lame father-daughter "passing plates tradition" one, there's also the grandson-grandpa "I'm paying for dinner" one.  Still, the lame pseudo-yuppie couple "nope...just Tuesday!" one takes the pre-freezed $4.89 dessert cake. 

*additionally, the canned laughter seems to be left over from some equally-cheesy sixties sitcom.

Thank God for pasta roni and the mute button.

kat wrote: I HATE that commercial because as a real Italian, the food offends me. My people do NOT fry our ravioli. If a guy ever tries to take me out there, I'll oblige because I have dignity and I'm nice, but I'll be very discontented within myself.

FaithSF wrote: I miss East Coast (NY/NJ) Italian food.  I ate twice at an Olive Garden back there (ironic, huh?), and it was okayyyyyy, but not GOOD.  I'm afraid to try it out here.  I want lasagna that doesn't have bechamel in it.  Just good ol' sauce, cheese and noodles.

Thor wrote: kat wrote: I HATE that commercial because as a real Italian, the food offends me. My people do NOT fry our ravioli. If a guy ever tries to take me out there, I'll oblige because I have dignity and I'm nice, but I'll be very discontented within myself.   Fried ravioli seems to have become very trendy at hip, expensive restaurants these days.  Of course, to make it "cuisine", they often fill it with mushrooms or artichoke.

I make lobster ravioli, hand made from a recipe I learned from an elderly Italian lady named Jenny Taglianetti.

She lived in Brooklyn and sadly passed on in 2005.

She brought her recipe from Sicily from her Papa. They only used to make it for weddings, as lobsters are so bloody expensive.

I serve it exactly as Mama Jenny used to, lovingly prepared with a white sauce, Caesar salad, and freshly baked Italian bread.

That's what I call Italian cuisine at it's finest.

and it's $25.00 on our menu....and very popular!