Is Olive Garden considered good, okay, or bad?

35 comments

1. Middling-poor. Flavor okay but low-grade ingredients and very unhealthy.

2. The okayest that there is. The definition of ‘alright.’ I do like soup, salad and breadsticks.

3. It’s a middle of the road chain….. not great for you. But if you want to go out for ‘generic’ Italian and have nice breadsticks. Then go for it!

4. This might vary depending on where you are; not every location has access to really good or “authentic” Italian food.

   I don’t want to judge people who like Olive Garden but where I grew up – a place with a huge Italian American population and fabulous Italian food in every town – it was basically considered an abomination. It’s hard for me to shake that.

5. Fair. They’re just okay but consistent like most chain restaurants. Not the best quality of ingredients and tends to lean on the heavy, greasy side. If you’re in a town that doesn’t have access to Italian food anywhere else, it does fairly well.

   The salad and breadsticks are a guilty pleasure of mine though.

6. Well, when I was a kid I lived in a rural area and all we had was a Burger King. It was super popular with kids and lots of my Kindergarten classmates would have their birthday parties there. Then we got a McDonalds and it was a real special treat to get to go there for breakfast when my grandparents would watch me during summer break.

   Now fast forward to my kids, with us living in a medium sized city. My kids think it’s a treat when I take them to Olive Garden. They think it’s fun and fancy and they like the food and ask me to take them there for their birthday.

7. I think it’s okay. I’ll destroy some of their Pasta e fagioli and breadsticks, and their chicken parm is pretty darn good for the price, but I’m under no illusions that it’s authentic Italian food.

8. It’s the Denny’s of “Italian American” food. Cheap low quality food, packed with salt, that’s not particularly inexpensive.

9. Idk I’m Italian from NY and eat authentic Italian all the time. Olive Garden isn’t that. That doesn’t mean I don’t like the breadsticks, soup, and salad lunch. It’s a good deal and definitely tasty! Not healthy but I’m not going to a chain restaurant for healthy.

10. Good just basic. You won’t be amazed but if you’re in the mood for Italian food it’ll hit the spot just fine. Same for throwing some noodles in a pot at home.

11. It’s pretty middle tier in the “casual chain restaurant” game. It’s one of those places where you take a large group because everyone can find something on the menu that they like. You’re not going to have the best meal of your life there but it’s rare you’ll have a bad one.

12. Meh

13. Very low quality but very high quantity.

14. bad

15. It’s food! If anything it is usually fairly consistent no matter what store you go to. A friend liked going there for the drink specials and the amount of food you get for the money was pretty good

16. We went through that phase where all of the elitists were shitting on OG because it was a middle-America thing and not “authentic Italian” that you get in NYC.

    The truth is OG is fine. It’s a chain restaurant. It’s loaded with sodium, but so are most “authentic Italian” restaurants.

    And almost every restaurant is going to cut costs on ingredients, even the high-end ones. No matter what they say.

    You want quality Italian? Make it at home.

17. When you’re known for your salads and bread sticks and not your main items, I think you know the answer

18. Depends on where you are and how much money you make

    In an urban area with large collection of choices – it’s bad

    In a rural area that can only support a handful of restaurants – it’s good

    In a suburban area that can support a large variety of chain restaurants and a handful of good independent restaurants – it’s ok

    As far as chain restaurants go, they tend to be on the lower end of Italian chain restaurants but with lower prices.

19. Bad. It was goodish in the 90s and the quality has dropped off significantly. I’ve family in parts of Minnesota where it’s very very VERY exciting when they get an Olive Garden and it’s just so not good now. I honestly don’t know what happened.

20. Aggressively okay.

21. The running joke is it’s Middle Class Fancy for most of rural America.

22. I wouldn’t eat there. There are so many other local options that I would not bother with a place like Olive Garden. It’s just a step up from fast food.

23. Poor.

    Their salad is revolting.

    For anyone who joneses for their breadsticks, they’re just hot dog buns slathered in butter and garlic and toasted.

24. Too me it’s amazing

25. It’s basically trash. Olive Garden is basically to Italian food what Taco Bell is to Mexican food, but far more overpriced.

26. Used to be good, now bad.

27. Bad, but mostly edible. It’s an insult to italian culture.

28. Mileage may vary really but as far as its bad rap goes, its mostly unwarranted. Its certainly passable food.

    The knock it gets is because its food items are cheap but they are priced like they arent. And yet simultaneously, it’s known as a cheap date. Its also not “authentic” italian, most epople dont care.

29. People shit on Olive Garden, but they are literally the only place I’ve found that has chicken parm that’s *actually* perfectly crispy. And this is NJ where there is no dearth of authentic Italian restaurants. OG’s chicken parm is the best chicken parm you can get in the country.

30. It’s food.

    I had a client in a small town that required my being there a few nights every month. and the Olive Garden was about the only place in town that wasn’t a bbq joint or some such.

    It’s a notch above Chili’s and Applebees. Trust me. You never want to get caught in an Applebees.

31. Bad chain restaurant food.

32. It’s not considered authentic Italian food by anyone anywhere near a big city, but it is really a kind of comfort food for a lot of people. It’s a fairly affordable “nice” meal, in a similar class as Red Lobster or Outback Steakhouse. A lot of people really enjoy it. My wife is a chef, and she has dined at some very fine establishments, but one of her favorite ways of treating herself is a glass of wine and a bottomless salad at Olive Garden.

    Adorable side note, this happened: https://www.eater.com/2013/8/19/6385655/heres-anthony-bourdains-foreword-to-marilyn-hagertys-book-grand-forks

33. fake go to real Italian restaurant thats like going to taco bell for mexican

34. When you grew up poor, it’s always considered good, even when you’re no longer poor (or maybe that’s just me).

35. Sometimes you have to pick up your baby momma in your supped up Honda to take her out for her birthday dinner at Olive Garden