Olive Garden Italian Restaurant

What I like to refer to as the Perkins of Italian restaurants but in a good way.  I feel this is a "safe" play for some large affordable dishes.    I have eaten here dozens of times but nothing is really bold in my opinion.    Large portions and great service.

After getting denied entrace at Oak City my group of 13 needed a place to go get some food and booze at 10:15 saturday night.  Olive Garden was open till 11.  We went in, basically hoping they would be able to serve us before kicking us out.  Instead they delivered decent food, and top knotch service without ever making us feel like the imposition we were, even though we didn't leave until a hour after closing.  Our servers were excellent.  It's not often that I am moved by service enough to give a tip on top of the auto-grat, this time I made sure the whole table did.

Good Job Olive Garden.

Well, you know... It's Olive Garden. Pedestrian, boring, but great if you don't want to have to think too hard about your dinner.

I've always liked the Zuppa Toscana (soup with spicy sausage, potatoes, and greens), though it used to be much better. But last week I tried a new dish of theirs: Capellini di Mare. It's clams, mussels, and shrimp in white wine and marinara, tossed with angel hair. Actually pretty delicious, and not super-heavy as so many of the OG's entrees tend to be.

They were featuring some new wine-based cocktails; I tried the Roscato Berry Splash. It's red wine with strawberry, lime and mint: kind of a cross between sangria and a mojito. Delicious, but I felt it was a bit overpriced at more than $6. (I'm a happy hour kind of gal.)

Overall, we'll probably go back because, you know, it's Olive Garden.