Where have all the Olive Gardens gone?

[Taverner]

They used to be as ubiquitous as Starbucks and McDonalds - now they are as hard to find as family owned restaurants in suburbia!

Did they hit hard times or something?

[jxnmsdemguy65]

1. Didn't realize they had disappeared, but if so, good riddance!

[raccoon]

2. Long time passing.... nt

[dembotoz]

14. lol you beat me to it

[surrealAmerican]

17. Nice post, Malvina Reynolds.

[Jokerman]

3. They ran all the independents out of business, then closed.

At least that's what happened around here. I could name five small Italian restaurants and deli's that were here 15 years ago. The chains came along, the independents closed and now the chains have left us with nothing.

[Taverner]

4. So where the heck am I supposed to get Eggplant Parmesan???

[Midlodemocrat]

12. I'll PM you some.

[Taverner]

13. Please do. The stuff at the local Spaghetti Dive sucks.

[MorningGlow]

5. Not around here

Still got all the fake-Italian warts we've always had, and there are always lines out the door. And this area has a huge Italian-American population, who should know better! :banghead:

[Taverner]

6. OG isn't THAT bad

They're not as good as some of the mom and pop places I've eaten at in Chi town either...

[lost-in-nj]

7. just opened up a brandy dandy new one

in our mall.....

right next to TGIFridays and Bahama Breeze


lost

[MrsBrady]

8. seem to be plenty around here

[OmahaBlueDog]

9. Actually, the OG is doing OK

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/TOP%20STORY/2227338/

Olive Garden's third quarter sales grew 3% year-over-year to $827 million,supported by revenue from 36 net new restaurants and offset partially by a U.S. same-restaurant sales decrease of 1.4%. Red Lobster's third quarter sales were down 4.3% to $643 million and LongHorn Steakhouse's increased 1.4% to $227 million.

[skygazer]

10. They've gone the way of the Asian woodcarver

:cry:

[HopeHoops]

11. They all had heart attacks

It was the Narwhal alfredo that did them in.

FUCK YEAH!!!1

[no name no slogan]

15. I just went to one the weekend before last

They're still out there in suburbia.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

16. There's one in Bowie, MD

Mr GoG got a bunch of Olive Garden gift cards from his students one Christmas. We've never used them, which seems really wasteful to me. Maybe it's not the greatest food, but someone did spend money on the cards, and I'm sure they've reduced in value by now.