It’s not so much that Olive Garden sucks by its very nature, since they apparently try to make changes on the menu incorporating actual Italian dishes, but the people who eat there don’t want anything other than overcooked pasta with cheese sauce dumped on top:
At Olive Garden, pasta is served soft, not al dente or slightly firm, the traditional Italian method. Meat is often served on top of pasta, and cheese is mixed with seafood, two preparations rare in authentic Italian cuisine. The reason: Adding a protein to a dish makes it seem like a better value. Also, Americans have a strong preference for meat and cheese.“We don’t use the word authentic,” to describe the Olive Garden experience, Mr. Caron says. The chain prefers “Italian inspired.”
Chefs at Olive Garden headquarters reverse-engineer menu items from real Italian dishes. A current seasonal dish, baked pasta romana—a mix of lasagna pasta, rich cheese sauce, spinach and either a beef or chicken topping—started as a fresh-torn pasta dish with olive oil, garlic and herbs eaten by company chefs on a trip to Northern Italy.
Chefs found the dish “really rustic, but still kind of normal,” the magic formula Olive Garden chefs often look for, says Marie Grimm, director of culinary development for Olive Garden. In restaurant tests, the company tried a chicken version with roasted tomato sauce, but diners didn’t find it “cravable,” says Ms. Grimm. The restaurant switched to a cheese sauce.
This article appears in Dec 22-28, 2011.
I would rather dine on my own vomit than any bastardization at OG.
My Grandfather was from Italy. He used to put cheese on seafood because he liked it that way. Lots of Italians do not do it because they say it interferes with the taste of the seafood. It comes down to a matter of personal taste. I myself always put cheese on shrimp scampi because I like it that way.
I read the WSJ article a little differently. It seems that Olive Garden, TGIFridays, and Applebees are offering new dishes to appeal to less cheesey palates. Here are 2 other paragraphs from the WSJ article:
“We always have to be careful to not always offer cheesy, chickeny things and pastay things,” because such dishes might push away customers with more advanced palates, says John Caron, president of Olive Garden, known for its unlimited salad and breadsticks.
On the menu, dishes like a mix of seafood in a white wine and marinara-saffron broth served with toasted ciabatta bread are aimed at “a group that knows food,” says Mr. Caron. Overall preference for the dish is “relatively low,” says Mr. Caron, but its flavor and $16.25 price point attract a crucial clientele.
Like commenter RCW said “it’s a matter of personal taste.”
The terms: “marinara-saffron broth” and “aimed at ‘a group that knows food'” should never be in the same (run-on) sentence.
I just finished taking my folks out to dinner. $76 after tip. $18 Salmon was over cooked and over spiced. Salad was Iceberg drenched in oil, breadsticks didn’t taste fresh at all. What a sh*tty restaurant, but my folks like it so I continue to take them.
Never going bk. I could’ve had frozen and been more satisfied.
IOW, the reflection and tendency of this chain is: Americans like garbage food, ask for garbage food, so we serve garbage food. BUT, for others that know food, there are (or in the vernacular” “there’s a couple of items on the menu for that small number of customers. After all, people pay for garbage food and we make a profit. No wonder obesity rates are so high in the US!!