I met a friend at Olive Garden for lunch today. There was supposed to be a little bit of a wait- about 20 to 25 minutes, but my superpowers kicked in and we were able to get seated in the bar...there's a sub-story about that. If you've ever been to the Olive Garden near Great Northern, you've probably seen the bar area...there are 5 or 6 "four tops" (tables that seat four) and a couple of booths. After about 5 minutes of waiting, the hostess came over and asked us if we minded sitting in the bar area. Neither of us seemed to care, so we started over and another couple said they wouldn't mind going in there too. The hostess said that there was only one server, so they would have to wait for an available table in the main dining room.
Kim and I were the only two in the bar area.
Not sure what the hostess was up to, but she and I ended up at a secluded table with absolutely no one around us.
Anyhow.
We both got the All-You-Can-Eat Soup, Salad and Breadsticks and split an appetizer trio. The appetizer trio consisted of calamari, stuffed mushrooms and fried ravioli. My soups were the Spicy Sausage, Minestrone, and the Creamy Chicken.
The calamari was exceptionally tender and had a slight crunch from the breading. I think any crunchiness related benefit which would have realized from added frying, would have been offset by the added chewiness in the squid department.
The stuffed mushrooms were good, as always, but were nothing extraordinary...there's not a lot that you can do with these, but someday, I will find the perfect stuffed mushroom.
The fried ravioli were good, but a little chewy. This is not entirely their fault- take a dough covered product, add breading and fry it and it will be chewy. It was still pretty good, though.
The soups? By and large, the soups were pretty good. From least best to best-
Creamy chicken gnocchi - smooth, creamy and slight cheese undertones. Not a sharp flavor, but a mild taste. It was tough to place, but somewhere near a mild cheddar and Parmesan maybe? the gnocchi didn't have much flavor and served more as a contrast to the texture of the broth than anything else.
Minestrone. This was actually fairy impressive. The veggies had a slight crispness to them and the broth was a rich tomato. Yes, this is normally how minestrone is supposed to be prepared/served, but there was something to it I couldn't quite place. I think they may make their own soups- this being the case, it would have been fresher. Which would account for the fresher taste than normal.
Spicy Sausage. AWESOMENESS!! This was a nice cream based soup with a slight kick to it. This was brought on by the use of hot sausage with a small amount of red pepper. Not so much as to be overpowering (and by no means enough for a person who likes super spicy food), but enough to take the edge off of a cold day. The sausage was fairly plentiful and the potatoes were a welcome addition to change things up- both texture-wise and to bring a little mildness to the party.
There were only three breadsticks, which was a disappointment, but we had enough other food to make up for it. Still, the breadsticks are usually good enough to want as many as you can possibly eat. I can see the reason for not having more in the basket and the food came fast enough that we didn't really need them....but c'mon Olive Garden! The breadsticks are half the reason people go to you!
I think the only downside was the salad. It was a standard Olive Garden salad, but the salad bowls were warm. Salad bowls should NOT be warm. They either get stored in the fridge, or are cycled through the freezer. You want the salad to stay cold, not get warmed up. That's basic dining 101. Get with it, yo!
Our waitress was attentive, but not irritatingly so- she didn't hover and waited till my mouth wasn't full of food to come over and ask how everything was going. While not somewhere I would go every week, it was a nice change from the "how are you still alive?!" food I normally eat. Overall? I most assuredly come back...but in all honesty, I would use it more as a "safe space" rather than a "something new" space.
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