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Sorry to burst your bubble, Olive Garden fans, but that "cooking school" in Tuscany, the one where the chain's chefs supposedly go to learn the secrets of Italian cuisine from the source? It's pretty much a sham.
This according to a former Olive Garden manager, who's causing a flurry of discussion at Reddit (much of it oddly trading on obscene jokes about breadsticks-you've been warned). The manager, posting as FIDELIA079, claims that he scored a lucky, all-expense-paid (except souvenirs) trip to the chain's Tuscan "culinary institute" in 2007.
It seems the Olive Garden doesn't even own the place. They just book all the rooms at some hotel in the off-season, close the place to the public, and take over the restaurant. Sporadic "classes" lasted "maybe an hour here or there" where they would "talk about spices or fresh produce for a minute" before taking the group site-seeing for the day. Lots of drinking ensued.
If it sounds like just a ploy to allow the ubiquitous strip-mall-Italian chain to claim that its staff is trained in the Old Country-apparently, it is.
"The only time we saw the 'chef' was when she made a bolognese sauce while taking pictures with each of us to send to our local newspapers," the anonymous ex-manager says. "They sent pre-written articles to our local newspaper with fake quotes from me and a group photo. Also, every year when they would run the promotion I was supposed to wear a special 'chef' coat and make conversation with guests who ordered the promotional meals."
Does this come as much of a surprise? Seriously, if there's anyone out there who thinks then Olive Garden really serves authentic Italian cooking, then boy have we got a trash bag full of authentic Louis Vuitton purses to sell you.
Still, the insights of disgruntled ex-manager FIDELIA079, whoever he is, are pretty entertaining, especially when it comes to what happened to that coveted "special 'chef' coat":
"I sold it at a garage sale to someone who was going to be a Server-Zombie for Halloween. It had my name on it."
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4-15-2011 @10:12AM SoWhat said... Who cares where or if they trained? Everytime I drive by the place it is packed. People seems to love the food there so why all the buzz? Every restaurant who advertises on t.v. embellishes theirs product. When was the last time you went to any of the burger joints and had it look anything like the fresh and highly stacked burgers you see on the commercials? I say leave O.G. alone, no big deal!
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4-15-2011 @9:47AM Brendan said... I noticed this school shown in a commercial last night. I never believed this for a second.
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4-15-2011 @11:00AM kalpal said... I find it hard to eat anything other than the salad at The Olive Garden. The Italian main courses are largely flavorless.
In the late 1980's I spent some time in Italy and throughly enjoyed the overprices but memorable meals I ate in various expensive hotels and retaurants. (I once had a 12 course meal that required 2 hours at the table but it was very good.)
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4-15-2011 @10:55AM mil4bil said... If you have every eaten at Olive Garden you know there just can't possibly be a cook school. The food is just sooooooo bad, I'm sure it's mostly frozen.
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4-15-2011 @10:47AM Allen C. Dexterr said... Since I've never been to Italy and am not Italian by descent, I can't claim to know what authentic Italian food tastes like. When we lived in Phoenix, we frequented Olive Garden because we loved their soup and salad, all you can eat special. Now that we live in Cottonwood, AZ, we seldom get to enjoy our favorite lunch except on those occasions when we are back in Phoenix or visit Prescott. We've found a local Italian restaurant, called Nic's, which serves a similar special and frequent it.
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4-15-2011 @12:14PM Obesity said... No amount of faux-foodie marketing can change the fact that Olive Garden banks on quantity over quality. Yes, you can get massive servings of unevenly-thawed spongy lasagna, wilted iceberg salad, and salty bread sticks, but why would you want that? I've been dragged there a few times by my in-laws, whose feelings I don't want to hurt. Sadly, they resemble so many of the morbidly obese people I see at Olive Garden -- drawn to the volume of food, not by a high-quality dining experience.
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4-15-2011 @2:23PM John said... Wow... hard hitting news; Chain resteraunt doesn't use Tuscan Chefs, rather employs pimply faced teens to warm up meat. Way to dig down for the real story, AOL. What's next? Toothfairy May Not Be Real?
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4-15-2011 @2:28PM ROLLANDO said... How long has this been going on before you guys exposed them of the sham? Call 60 Minutes! Call Consumer's Report! Call the Better Business Bureau!! So, what is gonna happen next?
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4-15-2011 @7:55PM Jim said... So many times I read people bashing the tastes of Americans. We like food that is processed and not authentic. I hear so much crap about how other countries do things by hand and they are so original. If these countries are so great and they do things in such an authentic manner, then why are people STILL coming here and not there. I have had authentic Italian food, and trust me it aint all that. Give me the American version any day! GO USA, you rock!!!!
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4-22-2011 @3:56PM Pancreas said... Wow, FoodLover is the Squidward to your Mr Krabs in this conversation.
4-15-2011 @2:52PM Eugene Guerra said... Having eaten REAL Italian food all my life, I can tell you that I ate at the Olive Garden Once and that was one time too many.
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4-15-2011 @2:58PM Joey said... ummm...Olive Garden food tastes like someone sprinkled parmesan cheese on a piece of dog shi*!!! If you actually enjoy this food you must REALLY like the taste of dog shi*!!!!
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4-15-2011 @3:41PM TeeCee said... I worked on a water damage job at an Olive Garden several years ago. The kitchen was very spare--- no grill, no flat top, no deep fryers,and a small prep area. LOTS of microwaves, though!
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4-19-2011 @7:30PM Anonymous said... That is completely inaccurate for OG. They have a grill for the steaks and have 2 fryers that I know of for sure. I can only remember 2 microwaves in the entire line. I work as a server and see the kitchen almost daily. Also, there are 3 rows in the actual kitchen. The front is the service line, the second is the line for the cooks, and the third is where all the prep is done. Also, the walk-in holds the prepped food.
Trust me I hate my job, but I will tell it like it is there.
4-15-2011 @3:59PM David Siegel said... Actually, I heard that the Olive Garden Cooking School is just down the street from the Ponds Institute.
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4-15-2011 @3:55PM Joe 95 said... I worked for Darden for years. Darden is the company that owns Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, etc. As a manager at Red Lobster I would say about 80 % of our food came in frozen. Most things are pre-made, there are a few things that are actually prepped, but most are just warmed up. Food is put through a conveyor oven, think pizza oven at a Pizza Hut. Some are grilled and most are fried. Red Lobster actually used to hand bread shrimp, de-vein shrimp, and actually cut fresh fish. Times have changed, business is booming, and everything has to be streamlined in order to keep costs down. If you want fresh food cook it your self. Save yourself the trip at these fast-casual places and eat at home.
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4-15-2011 @4:17PM GLN said... As someone who worked at Olive Garden for about 7 years, and as someone who attended one of the first trips to Italy it was amazing. I do not know if the present trip is the same, but mine was very productive and we cooked everyday for people staying at an 11th Century Tuscan Villa. I had my own room with antique furniture. We shopped for ingredients at the local open market and served huge family style meals for hotel guests. I feel I did learn alot on that trip. As for the Olive Garden as a company it was a decent stepping stone to better things as long as you can stomach their double standards and blatent hypocracy for a time when it comes to the way they opperate. The food handling is the safest and most sanitary in the business. At least it was 10 or so years ago.
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4-15-2011 @4:13PM NotAFan said... I agree with some of the posters - I got to go on a tour of an OG and was surprised when I saw them using frozen bags of sauce & pasta. No "chefs" as portrayed in their advertisements. I mean if you are implying that all is fresh and being prepared right there onsite by trained chefs and then you turn around and serve frozen baggies of food - I'm offended.
If it's just a fast food joint - then say it's a fast food joint - don't try to imply that OG is as close to a 5 star restaurant as one can be!
By the way - the food is no better than your generic frozen food entrees you buy your local supermarket. Frankly, some of the store-bought entrees are better tasting.
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4-15-2011 @4:30PM Jovilito said... Who cares how and where they are taught pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
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4-15-2011 @4:45PM lin said... maybe it is a fake, but the meals are delicious! I enjoy the Olive Garden everytime we go and the waiters are very helpful.
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