Reply #17: I saw a comic once

[alcibiades_mystery]

He was making fun of the Olive Garden commercials that had the Italian relatives visiting, and the American family takes the old Italians to the Olive Garden. The comic's line was great. It was something like "What happened? Did they run out of fucking Chef Boy-ardee at your local supermarket?" That's about the speed of it. Oh, wait for it. If you insult the Olive Garden on these boards, you are immediately labelled an elitist (I was once called a Republican because I know what everyone with a lick of exposure to Italian food and culture knows: that the Olive Garden is utter shite, and not worth a third of the price). Now, if you live in some bumfuck suburb where the only "Italian" place is the Olive Garden, you can be marginally forgiven, although in that case I'd suggest a good Italian cookbook or two, and you can make food 100 times as good for a third of the cost. But to eat at the Olive Garden in New York City is the height of philistinism, yes, I said it, rube fucking central. You can get a much better Italian place at half the cost within five minutes travel in any direction. It should say "FOOD FOR SUCKERS" on the door.