A bit of Italy in the USA (The Olive Garden (USA/Canada))

Member Name: kellylouj

Product:	The Olive Garden (USA/Canada)
Date:	02/07/06 (2305 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great food at great prices

Disadvantages: Desserts are a bit poor compared to the standard of other food items

The Olive Garden is one of the nicest restaurants that I have been to in the states as well as Claim Jumper which is just amazing but that is another review completely.

Whenever I go away I always look for reviews on great places to eat so hopefully this will benefit those who want a delicious meal at a reasonable cost.

~*~*~*~*Brief History *~*~*~*~
The Olive Garden is owned by Darden Restaurants one of the biggest chains in the USA and Canada and there are currently 566 restaurants located in Canada and the USA.
Olive Garden was originally developed by General Mills, Inc., but in June 1995, General Mills spun off its restaurant division into Darden Restaurants, Inc. Almost 25 years later, Olive Garden remains committed to its purpose of Hospitaliano! - providing 100% guest delight through the genuine Italian dining experience.

~*~*~*~*Reservations*~*~*~*~
Unfortunately it is not possible to make reservations you have to call in and wait, once your name is given to the host they provide you with a pager so that when your table is ready you will be notified by the pager.
The queues are never too big and the maximum wait time is normally 15-20 minutes but each time we went during our two week duration we were only waiting just over 10 minutes.

~*~*~*~*Your Server*~*~*~*~
When you are escorted to your table your server follows on offering you a free sample of wine, this is generally as they are trying to sell the house wine, we had a bottle of wine each time and it was not overly priced.
You can have a free sample of the house wine and if you are not too interested in that then you can have a sample of the wine you would like to try before you buy.
This is a great service, although I must say Mark can be relied on for choosing a good bottle!!
Our server was called Brad and he was really nice and polite.

~*~*~*~*The Menu*~*~*~*~
The Menu is vast and can take a while for you to decide on your choices but remember each meal comes with a salad to start and this is a started in its self. When we are on holiday we always treat ourselves to a nice 2 or 3 course meal but our server, Brad advised us against getting a starter as he said we would struggle to eat them.

There are so many appetizers,starters and main courses to choose from and you get two menus!!
Most restaurants now offer two menus as they have seasonal dishes along side the permanant menu features.

We decided just to opt for a main course and we decided on the Steak Gorgonzola Alfredo which I shall explain in more detail shortly.

~*~*~*~*Starters*~*~*~*~
As I stated before the food comes with a salad and bread as standard and this is delicious. The Garden Fresh Salad is crisp lettuce leaves, olives, red onion, tomato, croutons and drizzled in the Olive Garden dreamy italian dressing and is also served with warmed ciabatta bread drizzled with oil its pure luxury and like I said this comes as standard and you are not charged for the salad.

~*~*~*~*The Main Course*~*~*~*~
Mark and I both opted for the same dish as it looked gorgeous, Grilled beef medallions drizzled with balsamic glaze, served over fettuccine tossed with spinach and gorgonzola-alfredo sauce.

This cost $14.95 each and you get plenty and it is amazing, I am not very daring when it comes to food but this is served medium and it just melts in the mouth delicious, if you ever see this on the menu you just have to try it, yummy!!

The menu has plenty to offer with pasta, pizza, seafood and chicken and each restaurant has a slightly different menu to offer but this is by far my favourite restaurant in the states and I just wish they would open a chain of them here.

As we had not over indulged with starters we both decided to opt for a dessert and this is where the Olive Garden lets itself down, the cakes are stored in the fridge ready to be served so the plates are really cold and the deserts have the taste and texture that they have just come out of the freezer, after such wonderful food so far I do have to admit the deserts leave a bitter taste in the mouth.

I opted for the White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake which is $5.95 and Mark opted for his favourite Tiramisu $4.95 , his opinion was the same as mine that this let the meal down on a whole, however it would not stop me visiting again, I think I would just stick to a main course rather than opting for the desert.

A bottle of wine tends to be on average around $23.00 we opted for the Shiraz Black Swan which was $20.00 for a bottle and was a delicious red that complemented our meal.

Olive Garden is a great reasonably priced resturant with something for everyone and although a little disappointed with the desserts it is still one of the best priced resturants in Florida!!

The staff are very attentive and are constantly trying to enhance your visit in their resturant, it is a relaxing resturant that makes it easy to feel at home.

Summary: Great casual restaurant to fill your boots