If you were starving and had to eat at one or the other, you'd pick

[Orrex]

Poll question: If you were starving and had to eat at one or the other, you'd pick

[JTG of the PRB]

1. I um... I actually like the Olive Garden...

:hide:

[Orrex]

2. I'm not commenting one way or the other

Its inclusion in this poll is a result of the near-universal condemnation it receives from The Lounge.

[DarkTirade]

3. I had to vote Olive Garden.

I'm starving and they have free breadsticks while you're waiting for your food. It's a no-brainer. :shrug:

[OmahaBlueDog]

4. Why all of the Olive Garden hate?

Nice food, cheap wine, addictive breadsticks -- what's wrong with that?

[Orrex]

5. Why do you hate America?

I mean really.

[OmahaBlueDog]

7. I hate America because there are not more Maggiano's

..however, I live across the street from Olive Garden.

[Pierre.Suave]

6. Olive Garden

and I would take pictures just so I could post them in the lounge and piss off those of you that still like me...

:P

[ThomCat]

8. Olive Garden. I can actually get some vegan food there.

I think I'd starve at TGIFridays. x(

[Orrex]

9. Starving at TGIFridays is better than eating there

I have suspicions about the condition of the straws when they arrive at my table.

[ThomCat]

11. Ewww.

:(

You mean they aren't individually wrapped?

I didn't think you could still get unwrapped straws.

[Orrex]

12. The ones we got were unwrapped except for an inch or so of paper at the top

The straws were already in the drinks, and the lingering paper was, I suppose, intended to suggest the establishment's scrupulous standards of hygiene and sanitation.

Au contraire!

[ThomCat]

13. I have left a restaurant if they've brougth me anything unsanitary.

:(

I really hope you did the same. :hug:

[Orrex]

15. Well, we seriously abbreviated our dining, that's for sure

And Mr. Pink leaves bigger tips than we left.

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

20. ditto.

man when i was a vegan, my dad always wanted to go to Applebee's. I'd wind up getting french fries or salads. It sucked.

[Cabcere]

10. Olive Garden for me

I actually enjoy a lot of their stuff (yes, I know it's not authentic, etc., etc., but it's still decent IMO, especially if you're really hungry), and besides I got kind of sick after eating at TGI Friday's once. x(

[Common Sense Party]

17. Olive Garden is tasty, and "authentic" Italian isn't all that great.

We spent $80 for two in D.C. at an "authentic" Italian place this month. It was horrible.

I'd rather spend $40 and have a nice, tasty, filling meal.

[khashka]

14. Olive Garden

Only place in Texas I can get decent calamari,

And this boy loves him his squid.

Khash.

[LeftyMom]

16. Fridays has real liquor, Olive Garden just has bad wine.

If I have to eat chain food, I'm gonna get too drunk to remember it.

[Lil Missy]

18. None of the above. If I were starving, I couldn't afford to eat at either place.

I'd be standing at a soup line, or eating bread and beans. Or perhaps, begging off relatives for a sandwich.

[Orrex]

19. You're one of those "Star Wars sucks because there's no sound in space" types, aren't you?

Suppose that you were starving in the middle of nowhere---a desert or something---and you had either to choose one of the aforementioned eateries or else feed yourself to the vultures.

Which would it be, you poll-defier?!?

[Lil Missy]

21. Star Wars? Wait... what?

I got too serious about starving there, for a moment. No offense intended. ;)

Honestly, I like them both. If I were starving, I'd pick the closest one.

[Orrex]

23. LOL! None taken!

:hug:

But given the silliness of the poll, I had to bust on you...

[Lil Missy]

25. That's fine. You can consider me duly and severely chastised now.

:P

:hug:

[begin_within]

22. I've only been to Olive Garden once, and that was as a guest of someone else, but

I liked the breadsticks. And how authentic do breadsticks really have to be, to be good? Do they have to be made from organic flour from wheat grown only with rainwater, raised only with cruelty-free yeast, kneaded by 87-year-old grandmothers in forgotten corners of NYC, and baked only over manzanita logs flown in daily from Italy, and then served right from the oven via a chute into your mouth, without being allowed to cool, and must they be prayed over by uncle Guido and decorated with fresh, organically grown herbs picked just seconds earlier, in festive yet geometrically complex designs, before they are considered "authentic" and thus edible by DUers?

[OmahaBlueDog]

24. I'd only add that I believe they've put a secret addictive substance in the breadsticks

Whether the addictive substances were grown organically, or are even Italian in origin -- I cannot say. All I know is that I can't stop eating the damn things.

[yellowdogintexas]

34. truly. my daughter has a list of foods that she is certain contain crack

or some other highly addictive substance!

examples:

OG breadsticks & salad
Starbucks
the sour cream sauce served @ the local Mexican eatery 1/2 mile from my house.
tiramisu, no matter who makes it
Popeye's fried chicken extra hot


this is almost a new poll, isn't it?

[TZ]

26. Huh

Must be your area. Only been to one Olive Garden in Ohio so I don't know how they are here.
However, there is a TGIF near where I used to work and we went there for lunch from time to time and it never struck me as unsanitary. I rather liked it actually. So did my coworkers
Oh and this was when I was working for NIH so you can take that into account...

[Orrex]

32. So you're a shill for Big Pharma AND Big Fridays?

You wear many hats, that's for sure!

[old mark]

27. could not vote-no choice for Burger King....

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

28. I voted Olive Garden, but only because

Hooters was not on the ballot!

These unfair ballots just seem to plague me here in MI!

:rofl:

[TZ]

30. I thought Hooters had great wings...

Or at least thats what a guy I know always said (and yes, we went there with him but I don't remember much about the food truth be told)

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

31. Great wings? Now I'm envious.

I love spicy wings. But spicy food does not agree with me, I pay later.

I haven't had the pleasure of a Hooters meal yet. TGIF is edible, but the few times I've been there, it's been loud, and slow service. Olive Garden is tolerable, but there are better (and cheaper) Italian places. I don't think I've actually seen Olive Garden patrons smoke at the table, use their cellphone while eating, or breastfeed their kids. I need to get out more.

:hi:

[ScreamingMeemie]

29. I would not have to be starving to eat at either.

I like them. :hi:

[MorningGlow]

33. Alas, Olive Garden

Because I frequently used to get food poisoning at TGIFriday's. I haven't been there in ages after the last time I dared to trust them.