The Truth Behind Olive Garden's "Tuscan" Cooking School

4-15-2011 @4:58PM Rexbor said... Get over it people. I agree w/ afoodlover. Most of you people wouldn't know al dente if it was served on a plate in front of you. That's right, go get the dictionary. You'll find the word under A. I work in this industry a run a 4 Diamond restaurant. I have 3 degrees from college. Most of you don't have a clue on running your own kitchen at home and feeding your family. Just because a few ex-employees who probably were fired to begin with have a bone to pick, you losers jump on the ban wagon to complain when really your sitting at home eating tv dinners and food served in cans and boxes. Have you ever looked at the ingredients? Your telling me thats more healthy. It's easy to complain when you are disgruntled. Olive Garden does a great job in my eyes. The hospitality industry in a very challenging business to be in. I salute each and every worker in this industry. And it's people like you that go out, don't tip, cry and complain than want everything for free that makes and hard job even harder. So if you think you man enough or women enough, get off the couch and find a job as a server, bartender, cook, hostess. Don't try for a management position cause you wouldn't be qualified.
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4-15-2011 @5:38PM Rich said... When I first saw the ads I started laughing. Anyone who has gone to Olive Garden knows it is not on par to any Italian Restauant. Being from San Francisco we have many like North Beach Rest, Original Joes, Cesars, etc they all make the micro waveing ( just like Burger King) Olive Garden look like eating at Burger King. And those fresh sauces they get in pouches probably come from a central commissary just like all fast food. Also those gourmet chefs are all minumum wage imigrants.
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4-15-2011 @6:01PM vavet said... OK, I get it. Everyone is an expert on fine Italian food. I love great Italian but have to be prepared to pay for it. Recently received a tab, for four, in the range of $380. Well worth it. For the struggling family, however, Olive Gardens provides a reasonably priced fare which beats hell out fast food dives. Chill out people. You are letting your up town wannabe slip to show. I find them to be pleasant, palatable, and easy on the budget.
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4-15-2011 @6:48PM Bob said... Olive Garden, the McDonalds of Italian food!
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4-15-2011 @6:53PM CC said... Five of us ate at an Olive Garden a few years ago and four of us got sick after eating our meal. Needless to say, we've never been back. If you want great, fresh, prepared where you can see it Italian food, then eat at a Carrabbas Italian Grill. Food is fantastic!
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4-16-2011 @3:28PM K said... All of you are freaking haters!!! If you know so much about Italian food or gourmet food, why don't you make it better and prove once and for all that whatever you can make will be better, tastier, good priced. In the mean time we are all losers because whatever you are saying can not be backed up. Practice what you preach!! I love Olive Garden's food!

Maybe if some one comes up with a good recipe, can become a great chef and will be able to make a lot of money. Until then shut up!!
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4-17-2011 @12:28AM Steven Di Ciucci said... American processed food has reduced flavor down to 3 things, grease, sugar and salt. These 3 flavors can easily be reproduced 24/7 anywhere, whether it's a speedy-mart, carnival booth or pull-top can. Why bother with a poppy seed bagel, go straight to the heroin. Italy is still traditional enough (although it's quickly becoming more Americanized this same way) about it's food to appreciate local flavors, regional specialties, farmstead products and homemade favorites. It hasn't been that long since hometown foods were loved while similar foods from foreign towns 25 miles away were considered strange, made with too much basil, onion or tomato. If you love Olive Garden, go, fine. Just realize that it's Italian food as if made by 5th generation Italian-Americans who spent 4 generations in the Leavenworth Federal Prison.
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4-22-2011 @8:41PM yayfood!! 99 said... im itallian,i have one of those big happy itallian grandmothers that bascially lives off of pasta and tomato sause. i am 100% itallian and olive garden's food isnt itallian at all!! i espcially love the fake itallian sounding names the make up. and why the hell is evrything served with sausage or chicken? itallians eat much more then that. and its all creamy alfrado or meat sause a big f on taste and an a for effory of the fake names
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4-19-2011 @1:53PM Billy Walters said... darden is a fake company, there are no chefs in the kitchens of there restaurants. I worked at Red lobster for 12 yrs. they have prep cooks. its like wendys or mcDonalds. there are no Chefs in the kitchens of darden restaurants. nothing is made to order it all prefab heat and serve. the soup in from a bag. cut the top off and heat it. there is no skilled cooks for a cooking school. they are warm just warm bodies. it is any john due off the street that is willing to work for 7.25 hr.
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4-20-2011 @11:19PM Comrade X said... PT Barnum was right! Theres a sucker born every minute. If you actually believe this pile of crap, I can sell you a good bridge in Brooklyn,NY for cheap!
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4-21-2011 @11:46AM Larry said... So the guy gets a free trip to Italy, plenty of drinking and socializing and he complains! Typical whiney American!!!!
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5-02-2011 @10:04PM wenona said... I work as a server for Olive Garden. I don't know what goes on when our managers go to Italy but I do know that 99% of these posts are a load of crap. Our soups and sauces ARE made fresh everyday, YES they are stored in plastic bags for rapid cool down so as to abide by federal food safety procedures and for use later in the day -we average about 10 to 20,000 dollars in sales everyday, you cannot possibly expect ANY restaurant to serve that amount of people and make every order, fresh to order - there has to be some amount of food pre-prepped. Whatever soups or sauces that are not used that day are thrown out and the process starts again the next day. The ONLY thing our TWO microwaves are used for is to melt the mozzarella on the tops of some dishes. Our lasagna is also made in house as well as some of our other dishes. Yes some things are frozen like our kids chicken fingers, etc. But because we are a very high volume restaurant some things HAVE to be. I have guests everyday who complain when their food takes longer than 20 minutes to hit the table-could you imagine what it would be like if every entree', appetizer, etc. was truly made fresh to order from scratch? I have worked in lots if restaurants where NOTHING was made fresh and was truly surprised at how much was REALLY done fresh at OG as well truly impressed with the cleanliness and levels of sanitation in the kitchen-I have never worked for a restaurant so adamant about these truly important factors. I don't agree that Americans don't know what GOOD food taste like, but most do not know what any AUTHENTIC foreign food taste like...none of what we are accustomed to eating whether it be Chinese,Thai,Greek,Mexican,Italian,whatever tastes anything like the real deal because it has been Americanized if that's what you want to call it to fit our palette. Olive Garden is good for what it was meant to be-a comfortable atmosphere with good(my opinion), hot food, at affordable prices-served in a timely manner for those who don't want to wait 2 hours to eat...So for those of you who are looking for this type of dining experience come on in where our focus is to "treat you like family,"... if not, don't knock us for what we do in a very tough, competitive industry. And last but not least, don't take what a bunch of probably disgruntled former employees say as the gospel truth - some days I love my job, some days I hate it- but I'm not going to LIE about it!
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5-19-2011 @10:40AM Vince Guerrero said... PR is amazing! If my employer wants to send me away to drink and site see, I'm down!
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