Olive Garden Accused Lying About Tuscan-trained Chefs

[bijou]

It should come as a shock to very few that Italian restaurant chain Olive Garden does not employ chefs trained in the hills of Tuscany, but that is exactly why the American franchise is facing criticism.

A new marketing ploy advertised that the restaurant sent cooks to Italy to learn how to prepare authentic dishes. Now, a former employee is cooking up trouble by claiming that Olive Garden’s Tuscan cooking school in Chianti is merely a ploy to sell more breadsticks. ...

http://www.italymag.co.uk/italy/olive-garden/olive-garden-accused-lying-about-tuscan-trained-chefs

Chain restaurant does not employ Cordon Bleu chefs, amazing.

[thundley4]

It was just a typo in the ad copy.  It was meant to say that the chefs were sent to Tucson to learn proper microwaving techniques. 

[Mike220]

Holy shit! Say it ain't so!

[Eupher]

It was just a typo in the ad copy.  It was meant to say that the chefs were sent to Tucson to learn proper microwaving techniques. 

Bingo! h5!

I ate once in an Olive Garden. Raunchy experience. Never again. Overpriced, overdone, and outta here. If I want Italian cooking from a chain, I'll go to Macaroni Grill.

[DLR Pyro]

http://www.italymag.co.uk/italy/olive-garden/olive-garden-accused-lying-about-tuscan-trained-chefs

Chain restaurant does not employ Cordon Bleu chefs, amazing.

Hell, most chain restaurants in California do not employ legal US citizens as chefs.  I was in a Panda Express a few weeks ago and found it disheartening for the manager to call back to the cooking area for "fried rice, por favor,  Brocolli beef, por favor" and "gracias" when a new dish was delivered to the steam tables by a hispanic "chef". 

[Chris_]

My world is falling apart.

I have never been to an Olive Garden.

[Ralph Wiggum]

My world is falling apart.

I have never been to an Olive Garden.

You're not missing anything.  The real Italian places are local joints.  I try to avoid the chains like the plague.  Except for beer. 

[Chris_]

I used to work for the company that owned OG, but the restaurant I was at had real chefs (not Tuscan).  We got a lot of pre-packaged spices and sauces from OG restaurants.

[DumbAss Tanker]

You're not missing anything.  The real Italian places are local joints.  I try to avoid the chains like the plague.  Except for beer. 

What he said.  Olive Garden is just OK at best...on food quality, that is, before you factor in their prices.  I've only eaten at them a couple of times and in different cities, but I would have to give the service mixed reviews ranging from satisfactory generally to an instance of apparently-overstaffed-but-incredibly-unresponsive.

[NHSparky]

My world is falling apart.

I have never been to an Olive Garden.

Consider yourself lucky.  And frankly, if you're going to stoop to chain Italian, at least it's nice to know Carrabba's isn't horrible, but if you're going to a chain in the North End of Boston, you need to be shot.  You can throw a dead cat and hit a dozen places many times better than any chain, and that includes Macaroni Grill, Buca di Beppo, any of them.

[Eupher]

Consider yourself lucky.  And frankly, if you're going to stoop to chain Italian, at least it's nice to know Carrabba's isn't horrible, but if you're going to a chain in the North End of Boston, you need to be shot.  You can throw a dead cat and hit a dozen places many times better than any chain, and that includes Macaroni Grill, Buca di Beppo, any of them.

Is Polcari's in the North End still around? They were the rage in the mid-Seventies. Extremely expensive, but outtasight good.

[NHSparky]

Is Polcari's in the North End still around? They were the rage in the mid-Seventies. Extremely expensive, but outtasight good.

Indeed they are--Route 1, Saugus.  They've got a few of them.  My favorite in that area is actually Donatello's.

http://www.donatello-restaurant.com/

[Thor]

While my daughter & soon to be EX was in town, my daughter told me that they had enough Mexican or Tex-Mex food for a while. I took them to a quiet Italian place out in Pottsboro, TX called Napoli's. My daughter appreciated that I didn't take them to Olive Garden. The food was quite good and reasonable prices. The worst experience about the entire meal was going in because some asshole biker pulled up with open pipes, revving his engine and damned near deafening us. The exhaust noise was well above 120 dB.

[AllosaursRus]

A new marketing ploy advertised that the restaurant sent cooks to Italy to learn how to prepare authentic dishes. Now, a former employee is cooking up trouble by claiming that Olive Garden’s Tuscan cooking school in Chianti is merely a ploy to sell more breadsticks. ...

Don't tell me, the ones complaining were O'bummer voters. right?

Good grief! Ya mean to tell me they might get sued for this shit? Time to put a bounty on lawyers! WE's don't need no stinkin' "Tort" reform!

How can anyone take advertising serious? Next thing ya know, they're gonna sue Betty White, or that disgusting Rosanne Bar!

Sheesh, this shit is unbelievable! We really have sunk to new levels, haven't we?

[Karin]

Incredibly, they just opened one here.  I say incredibly because we have such a large Italian several-generations-old population here.  Lots of old school mom&pop Italian restaurants.  It just wouldn't be right.  Won't be going. 

[NHSparky]

Karin--you want WRONG?  Times Square has an Olive Garden.  Literally a few minutes walk away are some of the best Italian restaurants in the United States, if not the world.

And yet there it is, and the idiot tourists flock to it.

[Eupher]

Karin--you want WRONG?  Times Square has an Olive Garden.  Literally a few minutes walk away are some of the best Italian restaurants in the United States, if not the world.

And yet there it is, and the idiot tourists flock to it.

You wanna know what WRONG is?

Go to a German/American Volksfest sometime (the few that there are anymore). The damned Germans will run over each other getting to ICE-COLD Budweiser or Miller or Blatz or MGD or some shit IN THE CAN.

Sorry bastards are curious to the point of lunacy.

[Chris_]

I remember visiting Germany.  I couldn't imagine any of them asking for Budweiser.  Hell, even I won't drink it.

[NHSparky]

You wanna know what WRONG is?

Go to a German/American Volksfest sometime (the few that there are anymore). The damned Germans will run over each other getting to ICE-COLD Budweiser or Miller or Blatz or MGD or some shit IN THE CAN.

Sorry bastards are curious to the point of lunacy.

Dude, I can totally imagine some German taking a nice fat swig, spitting it out, staring at the can, then screaming:

"VE ****ING LOST TO PEOPLE WHO MADE ZEEEES PISS???"

[Eupher]

Dude, I can totally imagine some German taking a nice fat swig, spitting it out, staring at the can, then screaming:

"VE ****ING LOST TO PEOPLE WHO MADE ZEEEES PISS???"

That's the wrong part, Sparky.

They ****ing LOVE that horse piss. I shit you not. They think it's the best thing since the autobahn.

[Thor]

There's a German Festival at the end of the month in Muenster, TX.

[Wineslob]

Bingo! h5!

I ate once in an Olive Garden. Raunchy experience. Never again. Overpriced, overdone, and outta here. If I want Italian cooking from a chain, I'll go to Macaroni Grill.

Sorry Euph but Macaroni Grill (putrid "table wine"), though better than Olive Oil Garbage, is not good Italian.

[Eupher]

Sorry Euph but Macaroni Grill (putrid "table wine"), though better than Olive Oil Garbage, is not good Italian.

You'll note, WS, that I qualified my statement by saying "If I want Italian cooking from a chain...."

I've had great Italian in Italy. And I've had it elsewhere.

But sometimes I just don't want to plunk down $30 for a plate of really good veal scalloppini and would rather just get a decent hunk of peasant bread out of the oven, plunk it in the olive oil, and chow down on a harmless plate of roasted veggies or hell, even s'ghetti.

Of the chains, Macaroni Grill has been most consistent. I've rarely been disappointed, especially for the buck.

ETA: I don't drink wine, so the putrid table wine thing is beyond me.

[Karin]

Well, did you give him a bitchslap for that?   

I think our O Garden opened because there's a Red Lobster right next door, and it's owned by the same corporation.  There can be huge freight savings and other advantages on the purchasing end.  We've got Fort Drum, too, so I imagine there's a market.  No offense to our fine men in uniform. 

I'll still go to the Mom&Pops instead. 

Budweiser--yech, won't drink it.  Hangover in a can. 

One of my husband's golf buddies just adores PBR.  For our outdoor wedding, we laid in quite a bit of it.  Well he didn't drink as much of it as his reputation suggested, so we were stuck with it.  It hung around in our fridge for ages.  That shit was vile. 

[Eupher]

Well, did you give him a bitchslap for that?   

I think our O Garden opened because there's a Red Lobster right next door, and it's owned by the same corporation.  There can be huge freight savings and other advantages on the purchasing end.  We've got Fort Drum, too, so I imagine there's a market.  No offense to our fine men in uniform. 

I'll still go to the Mom&Pops instead. 

Budweiser--yech, won't drink it.  Hangover in a can. 

One of my husband's golf buddies just adores PBR.  For our outdoor wedding, we laid in quite a bit of it.  Well he didn't drink as much of it as his reputation suggested, so we were stuck with it.  It hung around in our fridge for ages.  That shit was vile. 

Naw, I figured leave well enough alone.