Blog Post #2: Olive Garden

My family does not eat out much. My mother will cook often, so between her and two grandmothers within a few miles (one being next door), we have a lot of home-cooked meals. But as long as I can remember, my family has frequently visited Olive Garden. Conveniently located near a major mall about 20 miles from my home town near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, we often found ourselves in that area.

One thing I really like about Olive Garden is the atmosphere of the restaurant. Many of the newer restaurants, like ours, are styled after a farmhouse in Tuscany, Italy, and have features such as stone walls. Combined with the soft Italian music played in the background, it does a great job of setting the mood of an old-fashioned, Italian restaurant.

Every time I walk into an Olive Garden I am always pleasantly surprised by the friendliness of the staff. I have been to many restaurants where the staff is unfriendly or rude, but this is never the case at Olive Garden. We approach the hostess and are greeted and asked for our name. We are told it will be a fifteen minute wait, so we wait outside where it is almost sixty degrees, which would classify this as a "nice" Pittsburgh day.

Before long we are led to our table near the center of the restaurant. As soon as we are seated our waitress arrives with menus and takes our orders for drinks, which arrive a minute later. The speediness of the service up to this point is a hint at the quality of service that we will receive throughout our meal.

After we order, our waitress brings out the fresh-baked bread sticks, which come with every meal. Some people make a big deal over them, but I think they are a bit of a disappointment. The menu describes them as garlic bread sticks, but they taste very plain to me.

The salad arrives next. Unlike most restaurants, Olive Garden serves its salad in a large bowl for everyone at the table to share. And unlike most restaurants, Olive Garden does not serve an average garden salad. What sets this restaurant's salad apart from the rest is the dressing, which has much more flavor than the average Italian dressing. Too much dressing can easily overpower and ruin the salad, but tonight the salad has just the right amount to balance the dressing and the salad.

Almost as soon as our salad bowls were cleared our entrées arrived. My father and I both ordered the mixed grill – skewers of juicy steak, tender chicken, green peppers, and onions – which turned out to be an excellent choice. The steak was cooked perfectly, with a warm, pink center, and the chicken was complemented perfectly by the rosemary demi-glace.

Mixed Grill

On the other hand, the sides left something to be desired. The grilled vegetables were very plain. Adding some salt made the edible, but they really could have used some sort of seasoning. The Tuscan potatoes are something I normally look forward to; I have had them at Olive Garden before, with other dishes, and they have always been excellent. But during this visit they were over-cooked and over-seasoned to the point where I could not eat them.

My mother and sister both decided to go with seafood on this visit. My mother ordered the grilled shrimp caprese, which is grilled shrimp over angel hair pasta in a butter sauce. This too was a bit of a disappointment. My sister ordered shrimp primavera with alfredo sauce instead of the usual arrabbiata sauce. She loved it, but she also tends to enjoy anything in alfredo sauce so I take her recommendation with a grain of salt.

We left the restaurant very satisfied. The food was acceptable but there is definitely room for improvement, especially with the sides served with the mixed grill. But while the food fell short of our expectations, the service repeatedly exceeded them.

Olive Garden
★★★