Restaurant Review - Olive Garden

     Today I went out with my mother. We did some shopping, got me some new work clothes, and after a day of fun she was kind enough to treat me to dinner. Olive Garden used to be one of our go to mother daughter kind of places. My dad didn't care too much for it, so it was a special thing for us. Today we decided to check it out and after not going for a while here is my current opinion on the place.

     What is Olive Garden? Well you might be asking this right now, so how about a little background. They used to be a fairly classy restaurant that specialized in "Italian" food, much like how Panda Express is Chinese. They stretch across the United States and possibly elsewhere but location is not my cup of tea. (That's for sure peppermint.) The one I want to talk about is the one that is in Northwest Indiana. It is right off the highway and right in the middle of tons of shopping. It was a Monday at around 8 pm and while the parking lot was very small, there were plenty of space and a very short wait time. While there is no real dress code, it seemed like just about anything went. Including a child in just a diaper and overalls.

     The atmosphere was decent, it was fairly slow so it wasn't too busy. All of the staff was very friendly. The decoration around the place looked like an outdated Greek local joint that wouldn't actually be Greek food.

      The menu was very lack luster for me. They had one that had the current promotion on it (buy one take one) and then a second promotion one stuffed inside the menu. Most of their choices were various forms of pasta, meat, and sauce. Their dessert menu had more variety! I didn't really see anything for diets or vegans, I also really didn't look too hard, so maybe call a head of time to see. They also had an impressive wine menu.

     I will say this to begin with, I was personally not happy with the food. The soup (chicken dumpling) came out room temperature at best. The main meal itself was just bland. My mother got Alfredo and I got ravioli. Neither were memorable.

     Now I am going to take just a moment to talk about the staff. They were very kind, but very slow as well. For our order our soup got to the table before our drinks were even there. My mom throughout the meal asked for a few refills and it took quite some time for our waitress to get around to it. Now I can understand if the place is busy, but there were 7 tables in our section and only 4 were filled. Like I said, super nice and friendly, but slow.

     Now for the real thing on everyone's mind. Well how much is this going to cost? Well we went there for the buy one take one special. Buy one meal there, get a second to head home with you. Each came with soup or salad. The final total was about $35 total, for two people and 4 full meals. So not bad at all. If the special wasn't running, most plates run about $12-$15 each. Add drink, and tip. Normally we don't walk out of there without spending at least $50 for two people.

My overall opinion for this visit was indifferent. For the price and the deal it was worth it, even though the food didn't sit very well with me personally. For any other day, I don't think I would be going back any time soon. Not at the fault of the staff either. Just poor food quality. I don't mind spending money, but I at least want it well spent.

Rating:

Staff: 5/5 Super friendly!
Food and Presentation: 2/5 (we didn't die from it)
Ambiance and Decor: 3/5
Quality of Service: 4/5
Favorite menu item: Chicken Dumpling soup
Kid Friendly: They had coloring books and crayons.
Vegetarian Friendly: Yes.
Overall Rating: 3/5