• Top 5 Reasons the Olive Garden is Better Than Any Restaurant in Italy

  

  Written by Zeromage 23 Comments
  Last Updated:: September 14, 2008

  In this article we will go through the reasons why The Olive Garden dominates restaurants in Italy. The Old-Wizard crew have been voyagers for the past five years and we have visited places as far off as New Zealand and Amsterdam. Of course, Rome and Milan are on our map of places that we have visited. Something peculiar happened to us when we visited the famous restaurants in the great cities of Italy though. We realized how much better the American Italian Olive Garden experience was over all these restaurants. How could this be? We heard from every Italian under the sun how the food in Italy is so much better than any of the bad excuses for Italian food in America. In this list, we unfortunately have to smash those dreams by seeing how Olive Garden dominated these restaurants.

  5. More comfortable chairs

  The chairs in the Italian restaurants we ate at were hard as a rock. My ass felt like it was literally sitting on stones on a beach after some of the visits to these restaurants. Olive Garden though has comfortable chairs that made us feel like we wanted to be served good food. You could relax back in these chairs and feel the comfort of your surroundings. This argument goes without saying. Having your ass feel like its sitting on rocks VS having your ass feel like its sitting on smooth leather is a no brainier. Give me the more comfortable chair any day.

  4. Larger portions

  Call us luxurious fat Americans, but when we have a meal, we like to feel full and know that we actually had something to eat. I can’t elaborate on how bad my time was in Rome when going to a famed restaurant downtown and ordering some pasta dish that was about the size of my fingernail. For about $30 American dollars, I was confused. Surely there must be some dish to eat before hand or desert that comes with it afterwards. Nope, none of this happened. We were stunned as our bellies were growling for a real dinner after this sorry excuse for a pasta dish that cost us $30 dollars each.

  3. Better Chicken Parmesan

  What about the food after all? The Italian food from Italy was supposed to melt in your mouth and last for days according to those who told us to eat in Rome. At one of the restaurants I decided to have a face off between Olive Garden’s chicken parmesan and this restaurant’s. The clear winner was Olive Garden. Olive Garden’s chicken is tender and crispy and surrounded by succulent, fully heated pasta. This restaurant in Italy’s chicken was cooked well, but did not embody the tenderness of the Olive Garden brand. We have no idea why this is, as we are sure the Olive Garden food is probably mass produced to a certain extent. We know what tasted better though.

  2. Better Service

  The service in the Italy’s restaurants was borderline poor. They would throw dishes at you after you asked for a dish politely, and they had careless manners when addressing their customers. Was this just part of the whole experience we were to just accept? Olive Garden was a completely different experience. We are always greeted with a comfortable smile and a want to establish a rapport with us when we sat down. Our waiters and waitresses would strike up conversations about life, food, and even sometimes mathematical thought (no joke!). The reader may think that this was simply because we shared the same language, but when traveling Europe, I went with someone who spoke perfect Italian. Still, no fun conversations or polite manners when dealing with our servers.

  1. Endless Salad, Breadsticks AND SOUP!

  Olive Garden has endless Salad and Breadsticks. Anyone who has ever tasted the salad and breadsticks at Olive Garden know how good they are. You can spend an entire dinner just eating the salad, breadsticks and soup. You will realize how quickly you get full from just eating these delightful treats. The restaurants in Italy though, never give you an endless amount of anything. Your small dish is done, and you’re on to your next course (which is always beyond expensive, thanks to the Euro currency). The prospect of being able to eat these three for an endless amount of time surely puts Olive Garden above any Italian restaurant.

23 Comments

1. #1 Mike Williams, formerly of FirstPenguin.net says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 6:36 pm

   LoL, I’ve always wanted to go to Olive Garden and still haven’t gotten around to it. This article makes me want to go right now.
2. #2 LinLock says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 8:14 pm

   Do yourself a favor and go. Amazing food
3. #3 Ben says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 9:02 pm

   Stick to video games and comic books, guys.
4. #4 George says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 1:16 am

   Nice. If you want the absolute best Italian food though, you have to make it yourself. Brouscheta (garlic toast) is both simple and delicious, and you can get about four times as much for the price. Pizza needs to have its dough slowly risen to produce a lot of flavor, and has been ruined by being made a speed food. But Olive Garden is nice, the only bad part is it always seems to be crowded due to it’s awesomeness. It only takes a few tricks to cook Italian food yourself, but if your not in the mood, Olive Garden will do juuuust fine.
5. #5 The Mountain says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 4:05 am

   Right on George. It’s always crowded for a reason
6. #6 Vin says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 3:26 pm

   Apparently you don’t know Italian food if you had to write such an article. Your ass must be fat if the chairs in Italy hurt you. Italians eat proper portions because they are healthier than fat ass Americans!
7. #7 liftsp says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 4:28 pm

   amazing as always
8. #8 no mail says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 7:16 pm

   Olive Garden is not even the best italian restaurant in america let alone italy…..
9. #9 Mark says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 2:20 am

   Olive Garden is tied with Macaroni Grill in my book
10. #10 John Manning says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 2:00 am

    Honestly…you must have gone to some awful tourist trap restaurants…The traditional food in Italy is some of the best I have ever eaten… Olive garden can’t even begin to compare.
11. #11 your boobz says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 2:21 am

    this is the dumbest article I’ve ever read. you deserve to have your taste buds burnt out of your fat tasteless mouth. you ham-n-egger.
12. #12 Rob says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 1:47 am

    Guess I never have to go to Italy then. Which is fine by me since the longest flight I can stand is from Detroit to Las Vegas. I don’t even like flying really, I only do it to go to Vegas.
13. #13 YUDO.com says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 5:48 am

    Wonderful list. It’s just like a Philosopher to have knowledge in life, theory, history, etc. and have no significant experience in cuisine. The author is apparently too immersed in writing to have the time or desire to (1) Frequent an establishment with divine culinary staples passed down by each generation (2) Sample and learn about life’s simplest pleasure and its great variety.

    With that said, you need to try Pizza Huts’ pasta, it’s soooooo much better.
14. #14 Uncle Al says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 4:55 pm

    Yeah olive Garden doesn’t even have PESTO!!!! ask a waiter if they have pesto, they don’t even know what it is!!!

    It’s like if a chinese guy goes to an american restaurant and they dont sell hot dogs.

    Olive Garden sucks.
15. #15 TrixRabbi says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 3:36 am

    Olive Garden is frozen crap. Go to a real Italian restaurant. Not some over-hyped chain.
16. #16 Joshregal says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 1:21 pm

    THEY SUCK, PERIOD.

    this is the Mc Donalds of Italian Food.
    and just because its popular doesnt make it good or right.
17. #17 andrewb says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 1:19 am

    Olive Garden is great IMO, I always leave there happy and full tour of italy ftw
18. #18 else3573 says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 4:00 am

    You need to go to some good Italian restaurants in New Jersey or NYC. Olive Garden is a joke to people that grew up around GOOD Italian food. When Olive Garden makes good Penne in Vodka sauce, Linguini with Clam sauce, Osso Buco, Mussels Mariana, Eggplant Parmesan, Tonno alla Palermitana, Gnocchi, even Tiramisu, I’ll take back my words.
19. #19 Earl says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 3:14 pm

    You guys are retarded.
20. #20 cody floyd says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 2:18 am

    vin you are a cock-sucking communist go to hell,i hope you get raped by germans.USA,USA,USA!!!!!!
21. #21 Anton says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 6:33 am

    This is by far the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever read. Congrats.
22. #22 The AI says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 12:12 am

    Olive Garden does have good food, but homemade Italian food is always better.