I think Olive Garden is soooo overrated and pricey for microwaved heated food. I believe, at one time, they were better before they started to enhance their menus. The salad doesn't seem to be as good as I remember it from the beginning. I also thought they had feta cheese in the salad yrs. ago and the dressing was "bread stick mop-up good". The taste isn't there with the dressing tasting sugary, and salad vegetables lacking amidst the bagged lettuce mix. The restaurants are well decorated with nice atmosphere. Wines, by the glass, are reasonable. However, when your order arrives & the waiter tells you the plate is very hot, you know you're eating something equivalent to what you can buy in the frozen food section of your grocery store. Nothing tastes more nasty than microwaved pasta w cream & butter sauces. Also, the meal is not totally heated through! The menu contains selections that actually aren't bad if you were to cook them fresh at home. They just don't do well prepped ahead of time and reheated. Olive Garden, go back to the basics! Avoid the microwave, especially in trying to heat the pasta dishes. Yuck!! The draw to Olive Garden can only be explained by its passed reputation of being an affordable family restaurant with palatable Italian food, and the marketing of its commercials & print-ads. The quality of its food is just not there anymore!
Terri F./Sterling, VA
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