These people are from Rome or Lazio region (around Rome). They are born comedians, and they are so funny in general. The joke about Nonna teaching Italian cooking to Olive Garden having Alzheimer's or wasting a match to burn a real Italian restaurant serving this garbage is pure improvisation gold.
@@travelcdv anyway besides the criticism about the music I love your channel, thank you for your contribution to sharing Italian culture with the world.
I spent eight (8) years in Italy and visited many cities. Indeed, this video is quite accurate. I have eaten at OG a few times after my tour in Italy, and.......................well..................
Yep I've had real authentic Mexican food my daughter is married to a man from Ensenada. And my daughter learned how to cook real authentic Mexican food and when I go to Mexican restaurants that are run by actual Mexicans from mexico. Taco Bell is more of a Tex-Mex
Americanized Mexican food is a sin no matter who makes it. Go to the Mexican neighborhoods to eat Mexican food. Taco Bell is abysmal !!! Makes me throw up and have diarrhea.
What Nonna said about being able to taste everything that is in a dish is so true. On those couple of occasions when I've been to Italy, everything tasted so clean and fresh.
“Maybe if the Nonna has Alzheimer’s.” I almost fell out of my chair when she said that. I used to love the Olive Garden, or I did until I started to deal with Italian electrical contractors on a daily basis. They introduced me to real Italian food, and once you’ve had the real deal, you can’t go back to your old ways.
My family used to love going to OG when I was a kid (my mom still loves it) but after my Italian professors and friends cooked for me in college I started making my own Italian food and never went to OG again.
I worked at the Olive garden 2001-2003. At that time they were working closely with the culinary institute in Italy and were trying to come up with more authentic dishes. The result were very good. The problem was that the customers were not interested at all, so they went with what would sell (Alfredo everything!)
Hi Thomas, I don't doubt that Olive Garden management told you this, but actually, that was the company line that they told everyone. What they actually did was a contract with a hotel and restaurant in the town of Castellina in Chianti that is located on a vineyard. The contract was such that each year Olive Garden would send 10 managers as an employee incentive on a trip to Italy in the off-season, when the hotel/restaurant was otherwise closed. During this trip, they would get some brief tips here and there about Italian food, but not actual cooking. The biggest thing was that at some poiint each of them was to pose for some pictures with the "chef" to use in press releases when they got home. These managers were also supposed to dress up in a Chef coat at their local restaurants during promotions after returning and shring their press releases (depending on which dish Olive Garden was promoting as the new recipe from the nonna), but none of those "specials" were actually even eaten while in Italy, let alone taught or served. Additionally, Olive Garden was allowed to use the imagery of the property (and a little temporary sign with their logo) for marketing, menu graphics, etc. The "nonna" in the commercials was not real. There is no "culinary institute" there, and there was no attempt to come up with new dishes. A great examnple is the commercial clip in the video that says she taught them her secrets on how to make "Chicken Marsala." That is NOT an Italian dish, and the closest thing to it would not come from a Nonna in Tuscany, but from Sicily. Chicken Marsala is a loose American interpretation of a Sicilian dish. The whole campaign was simply one part corporate incentive trip, and one part VERY sketchy marketing. I guarantee you will not find a single dish that even closely resembles the dishes in the "Culinary Institute" commercials at the restaurant there. I can say this with enough authority that I live fairly close to the place, and have many friends that know them, and this agreement was the source of many laughs among the locals in the area. It was a great source of humor for us, because our company ACTUALLY does what they advertised.
I’m Italian and I’ve been living in USA for 13 years, I have to admit that at first I thought that the American people simply didn’t know how to eat well and that they couldn’t appreciate good food. Then when I started to have American friends over for dinner I had to change my mind. American people can recognize when the food is fresh, well cooked and the best ingredients are picked. They can appreciate the real Italian food over Italian American food, and after they have a taste of it it’s difficult for them to go back. I think that a restaurant that serves real Italian food would be much appreciated from the American public, I really don’t buy the story that Olive Garden is selling that the public didn’t like the real recipes, maybe they were cooking them wrong or possibly they simply decided to save money on the ingredients and or to simplify and speed up the job of their cooks.
Your Sicilian other half will laugh his rear off when he sees the clip with the commercial showing the Tuscan "nonna" teaching people to make "Chicken Marsala" !!!! :-)
The food in Italy is so incredibly delicious, if you stay away from the tourist places. Even a focaccia from a cart was one of the most memorable bites I ever had.
These people were sooo funny. My grandparents were from Naples but I was definitely not raised Italian - we spoke English and ate a lot of fast food. I kinda resent that. I feel cheated out of having a great cultural background.
Let me fill you in My entire family is from Italy. I grew up in an Italin neighborhood and didn't speak English or eat any American food until I was 6 years old. My grandmother would get up at 4 in the morning to cook. On holidays, it was two days to prepare for Christmas dinner with friends and food being served nonstop for a day and a half. I tried to replicate it as an adult but it was like a Roman bacchanalia. Too much food!
I love this couple. I can speak Italian and understand the lingo perfectly. This lady started off saying off saying they had tried a lot of other cuisines but finding an Italian restaurant, finally was wonderful. Does Olive Garden realize that Alfredo doesn't exist in Italy? I like Olive Garden but authentic Italian it isn't!
Yeah, when they visited we took them for Chinese, Thai, Greek, etc. We did warn them advance about Olive Garden, and this was all about having some fun. Trust me, at home we COOKED good Italian :-)
I love Italian food. Unfortunately it is very very difficult to find true authentic Italian cuisine in America. It is very sad too because if you can find true Blue authentic Italian cuisine you will never I mean never eat American Italian cuisine again. Hands down.
It’s hard to find it in italy too. All italians say that they have “the best family recipe handed down over generations.” Literally these grandparents are just that. Grandparents that think their recipe is the best.
You are correct. Italian-American cuisine is different. When I lived in Sacramento, Ca there was one authentic place. Unfortunately it was hard to get a table and expensive on my income. Not true in Italy.
I'm from a very itailian area so it's so easy to find authentic Itailan spots. There's a few markets with cooks inside them and the price destroys OG as well as taste and authenticity.
Years ago me and the kid decided to make a real Italian lasagna. A Dutch oven, $80 of top shelf ingredients and 3 hours later we had a 8x11 pan. My gosh that was good. Olive Garden isn’t gonna do that. Time and good ingredients are the secret.
So happy to watch this. I've visited The Olive Garden only twice in the mid 1990s. Looks this couple, i couldn't believe how completely bland the food tasted, and i we've been a second time thinking i had missed something on the first. Nope. So sad that 30 years later they haven't improved. What a disgrace, and yet they remain a successful business.
I visited Italy many years ago. The food was fabulous! When I got back people offered to take me to the Olive Garden. I just gave a icy stare and explained to them how the Olive Garden is not real Italian food.
@@nhf7170 I recently ordered a bunch of dishes to once and for all decide how good Olive Garden is for myself. Here are my thoughts: Bread sticks, very good. Salad, not extraordinary but good, with very good Italian dressing in a packet. Spaghetti, bland and limp. Tomato sauce, bland. Meatballs, mediocre, can get better at Denny's. Chicken parmisan, quite good. 5 cheese pasta sold cold for reheating later, very good. So it's hit and miss. Far from being as bad as this video says.
It’s mostly about tradition. Protein such as chicken, meat, and fish have always been a luxury in a sense to other countries, so it’s not something that is used to being seen in a pasta dish. In Italy basic ingredients are used, which allows them to focus on the quality and authenticity of those ingredients instead of the quantity used. As before, they have lived on emphasizing the flavors on a dish instead of creating new flavors by mixing a bunch of others, so when they try meals from Olive Garden, their description for them is mostly “inedible”, “tasteless” , or “indescribable”
It has its place this side of Roma...lol. The older I get the more I appreciate the always crispy fresh salad and soup. I go at least twice a year to be reminded that it still offers better Alfredo than any of the really so so Sicilian style glorified pizza and gravy (red sauced) Italian restaurants in Tucson, Arizona. The few higher end ones are frankly not even close enough to the diversity of real Italian cuisine so glad enough for the consistency of OG. Buon appetito!
Yes, this is exactly the point. They advertise in the USA that they bring these recipes from Italy. They even advertise that they send their chefs to learn recipes in Toscana. It is very sad.
I have been to Olive Garden once.I wasn’t impressed.I have never been to a real Italian restaurant.I do like cooking Italian food,and I try to make it like I see it made in Italy on TH-cam.
In Sicily that coffe would be defined as “acqua di polpo” that basically is the water where you boiled the octopus, any Sicilian would deep the teaspoon mimicking the search of one of the octopus leg. It’s a joke that we do when we are given a watery espresso.
My mom got a spaghetti sauce recipe from an Italian women that she worked with and it beats Olive Garden hands down. It should probably be called mariana sauce. We use it with spaghetti and in lasagna. With the spaghetti we cook some with mild Italian sausage and meatballs and some with hot Italian sausage. The only reason that I go to tiramisu, which is probably nothing like I could get in Italy, but since I have nothing to compare it to I like it.
@@travelcdv Thank you for helping me learn something new. I am always on the lookout for things that will educate me. I love trivia games and Questions. Usually 2-3 times a day, I get a trivia question, a history quiz, and a quiz related to travel. I am sure that if a question about marinara sauce I will be able to answer it. You see I had been miss informed by so many things in restaurants and in the store. I am never very happy when I find out that I've miss informed. I am not mad at the person who is educating me, but with the general public that lied to me and kept me from real knowledge. In a way it's my fault because I failed to go to Google and researched it. So once again thank you from the bottom of my heart I really appreciate you helping me to understand the difference.
OK, I just have to say, first of all my husband and myself spent 5 weeks traveling Italy. Most restaurants offer pasta as a first course, like we would eat a salad, not the main course. Secondly we found pizza very very bland. We ate a lot of pizza in various locations. It is almost always just crust and marianna sauce. The flavor of the pizza and weather or not you like it is totally dependent on the sauce. As far as the coffee goes, we could not find what Americans would consider a decent cup of coffee. If we ordered "Americano" it was just brown colored water. My point is that we didn't expect American food. We took in the experience of trying food in another country and did not expect to eat what we would eat in the U.S. That's part of the enjoyment of traveling.
If you're in Europe and you want a decent cup of coffee drink what the locals drink. In the morning it's pretty common to get a very large, very strong coffee with milk to go with your pastries. In the afternoon or after dinner you get a little espresso. If you're in England drink tea. Pizza, despite its origins in Naples, is really pretty American. In Italy my favorite lunch was a panini rustica which was basically capresi salad between two pieces of bread and cooked in a panini press. A basic plan is to eat off the day's set price menu. You'll get fresh, local, in season food which can also be more budget friendly as well. There's usually two or three choices of main, side and either appetizer or dessert. Pay a little extra to sit outside and people watch while you enjoy your lunch.
Question: why when they say "Parmigiano Reggiano" in the subtitles do you write "Parmesan"? Parmesan (USA) is a different cheese from Parmigiano Reggiano (Italy). They are two different products. Pay more attention in the videos.
Parmesan is a generic term in the US to refer to "Parmigiano," which in recent years has mostly narrowed to "Parmigiano Reggiano DOP" (as to differentiate from other similar cheese such as Grana. This difference in the US by those that know (most serious foodies) is differentiated in English simply be denoting "Reggiano" and "Grana" - but the generic cheese is still referred to as "Parmesan" in general, then narrowed down to various types. As such, using "Parmesan" jn this context was appropriate. Naturally, if we were doing a cooking video, we would say something to the effect of "make sure your Parmesan cheese is actually Parmigiano Reggiano".
Michael, Paola... I am the one to give you the first thumbs down... I had to... I was laughing so hard I not only spit my tea out on my monitor and keyboard, I pee'd my pants! My heavens.. Carla & Sergio, are so funny! What a pair! :-D I am going to forward this video to a couple of folks I work with. I tease them about the "Olive Garden". Okay, gave you a thumbs up! I hope you are back in Florida at the end of September, as I will be in Orlando for my daughter's "makeup" covid wedding at the Wedding Chapel at Epcot. But do know my thumbs down is really 10 thumbs up. I have seen your FB photos of your place in Soriano... It is an absolute slice of heaven!
Hey Richard :-). You can always make it a thumbs up :-). Turns out we will be in Italy end of September. Get back in mid October. Soooo sorry we will miss you :-(
As an American with zero Italian heritage, my first memory of Olive Garden was eating there with a friend's family. I shared fettuccine alfredo with my friend and I thought it was absolutely disgusting. I ate it anyway because we were poor and I was taught to eat anything. I felt sick while eating it, and after. I've eaten there a few times as an adult and I still think it's very bad. I think it's given fettuccine alfredo a bad reputation. I make fettuccine alfredo at home for my family and it's amazing! It's so rich that it's a "holiday food" for us, but it's so good. I know it's not "Italian," but I think it deserves a place as Italian American. I only use butter, flour, garlic, cream, and parmigiana reggiano. It tastes like heaven. The Olive Garden version tastes like plastic. When I have to eat at Olive Garden, I eat only the soup, salad, and breadsticks. Those aren't great, but I can eat them without feeling like they're not food.
I’m the same way I can only eat the 🥗 salad and bread 🥖 sticks. I’ve never been to Olive Garden by choice but my job places orders with them now and then. I couldn’t eat the food all I got was terrible heartburn of the small portions I ate only because I was going to working all day that day. Italian food is best cooked at home specially those favorite dishes the family enjoys.
@@ginger942 To get technical, what you are describing is "pasta in bianco" - It is a base dish usually eaten when your stomach is bothering you. Fettucine Alfredo came to be ages ago when some Amnerican actors were at a restaurant in Rome and saw a woman eating it. They asked the owner what she was eating, and he explained that she was his wife, was pregnant, and couldn;t hold anything else down. They tried it and loved it, then asked him for the "recipe" (For an Italian that is like asking for the receipe of buttered toast). Those same actors had it served at parties and hyped up the place in Rome where they had it. Before long, American tourists visiting Rome started frequenting that restaurant, and the owner (Alfredo) saw lots of dollar signs in his eyes. The only place in Italy you can get it is still at the same place, which exists exclusively for Americans. Youcan go there and pay $50 for a dish of pasta that most places ould feel bad charging you for. You just need to know in other places to ask for pasta in bianco, not "Alfredo"
@@travelcdv nope, the original fettuccine Alfredo made by Alfredo La Scrofa is pasta with burro and parmigiano. The original restaurant in Rome where the reciepe come from does like that. Became popular in America but not in Italy, I'm from there and I know what I'm talking about.
@@ginger942 Sorry to pop the bubble, but if I hop in my car right now, I can be there in 40 minutes, have been here for 38 years, and am literally in the business of knowing the history of all regional Italian food, as well as the Italian immigrant implementations of them. In Italy, pasta with burro and parmigiano is called pasta in bianco, and would NEVER be found on a menu in a restaurant, because it is the most basic of basic -- that is except the Alfrredo restaurant in Rome, which is there specifically for American tourists only. Every Italian grows up being served this by their mothers when their stomach is unsettled -- such that if I ask for pasta in bianco in a restaurant, they will ask me if I am not feeling well -- (similar to chicken soup for Americans). It is not a recipe that can be claimed by anyone -- the same that nobody can say they invented chicken soup or buttered toast. That said, you are talking about a restaiurant called "Alfredo alla Scrofa". The person you are refering to is Alfredo Di Lelio. Some Americans had it back in the 1920's at HIS place (as the story goes, his wife was having morning sickness and they saw her eating it... but it was not on the menu since it is just pasta in bianco), and it became known as such when they spread the word and more Americans came for it. He turned it into a marketing scheme for tourists, and good for him for creating a market, and obviously embellished on the story as part of the show for tourists. But truth is truth. The pasta there is made speficially for Americans, as that is who it is marketed to. The pasta is insanely overcooked by Italian standards, they put an insane amount of butter on the pasta in bianco, and you pay 22 Euro for a plate of their famous "dish" becauase of the fame in America. Walk down the road, and ask for pasta in bianco anywhere, and you will get better for 1/3 of the price The simple reality is that if you serve "Alfredo" to ANY Italian, and call it "Alfredo Sauce," they will either laugh or get very confused, and ask you why you are trying to pass pasta in bianco off as a "recipe".
As an italian american olive garden makesme sad. Please take these poor people to a good itaian restaurant in brooklyn or bring them to my house where i will cook them real italian food. Please people dont think olive garden hsd anything to do with real italian food. Its like taking these people to McDonald's and temming them its great steak😢
It was all in good fun. We took them because they had heard of it, since we do so many cooking classes in Italy, and she is one of the chef instructors. The reality is that to have what WE consider as decent Italian in the US, we need to cook at home, and that is mostly because in the US we don't have the same quality of ingredients (even in Brooklyn). That said, there were LOTS of other things they loved here :-)
fun fact, italians like mcdonald, i eat there 2 to 4 times a year. By the looks of these "dishes" mcdonald has not only a better taste, it's also healtier 😂
Well I tried once when they first opened and that was the last time. I’m from Newark nj. Ya got it? Lived I Italy 20 years. His ladies funny, love her.
We’ve already seen a ton of these videos where real Italians rate OG and it’s always the same type of reviews. We GET it. OG isn’t real Italian food but it still tastes good to me
@@jonathanswift2251 yes. But we already know that Olive Garden isn’t real Italian food. Have you had REAL Chinese food and not Panda Express ? We all know Panda Express isn’t real Chinese food nor is Taco Bell real Mexican food but it’s still taste good so we can always expect to have REAL Chinese people and REAL Mexican people saying it’s not authentic. WE ALREADY KNOW we don’t need them telling us all that
@@baepple i hate Taco Bell (but I pretty much hate ALL Mexican fast food Ugh) I have to admit I like Panda Express. It's just all sooo sweet sugary tasting...
All my Hispanic students here in Texas think Olive Garden is such a great authentic Italian restaurant and they keep telling me to go to eat it and I keep explaining to them that I have lived 4 years of my life in Italy and there's no way I'm going to go into that restaurant and touch that stuff
What I am learning about these cooking shows is that everybody thinks there’s is the best. I am glad I know how to appreciate food that taste good regardless to who or how it was made. I like Olive Garden and I have been blessed to eat in Italy. Like I said, I like good food period.
Exactly. America has been called the great melting pot, and when people come here, they need to expect that. That things will be a blended version of what was in the home country.
Absolutely. and if I go to a place that says they have Italian Fusion, I expect that. If I go to a place that says "Authentic Italian" I expect THAT. If I go to a place that says "Immigrant Italian" I would expect that. If Olive Garden called themselves an "Italian Inspired" restaurant, that would make sense. But when they say they are bringing their recipes directly from a Nonna in Tuscany, ummmm, no.
Olive Garden Italian food is like taking a rack of pork ribs at Chili’s and comparing them to some great ribs smoked in Texas or Tennessee… Olive Garden is there for women to gather for a nice luncheon and get soup, salad and breadsticks and think they ate a light meal, not realizing it was likely 1,250 calories.
I was taught how to make pasta from scratch when I was ten. My mom told me someday she's going to be too old to cook so I need to learn how. Was my pleasure when she became frail to cook for her. She did get cravings for KFC when she had dementia. We both gained weight would get it three times a week for her.
As a globetrotter, it's always a bad sign if you order on a computer. If there is a waiter, you can ask them questions about the food, how it's prepared, if they think you will like it. The computer is a way to save money on actual, professional waiters. I think tipping as a primary way of making money for wait staff is terrible, but at least it gets your experience personalized. Even Kua Aina Hawaiian sandwich shop in the Tokyo area, I go to the counter and can fairly customize my order, how I want it cooked, I can tell them I don't want lettuce for example, and that I want it well done, I want more of this topping or side and none of that one. If I go for sushi I can tell them I can't eat 'hikarimono' because it makes me gag rather than having to leave it on the plate and getting less than the full meal.
this is pretty much spot on. The only decent thing I've had here is the bottomless salad bowl but even that is mostly iceberg lettuce. Oh yes, the house wine is good too.
These two Italians make me laugh, my mother is from Calabria and my father is Sicilian, I traveled to Italy many times, I traveled to Florence, Rome, Naples, Palermo and the truth is that for example in Rome in many restaurants the pasta is undercooked, It's one thing to be al dente and another thing to be undercooked. Just like pizza, for example, I ate much tastier pizza in San Francisco than in Italy at Tony's Pizza, in Argentina a place called Guerrin was delicious. Olive Garden is Americanized Italian food but it's not that bad, let's say 6 points. Well greetings to all!
I'm a European and have never experienced one of these Olive Gardens - only heard people joke about them for decades. Now, watching this, I can understand why it's so notorious. This is an italian restaurant like a chinese restaurant in the west "totally" serves chinese food. They should add the Scottish deep-fried Mars bar.
Their first clue should have been the menu was all pictures lmaooo! I get a few photos but when the menu has photos as large as a serving, bells go off making me question why???
It wasn't actually invented. It was originally called "Pasta in bianco", which is the most basic of pastas. Some American tourists (actors) went to a place owned by a guy named Alfredo, and his wife was having a dish of this because she was pregnant and could't hold anything down -- This is a pasta one eats when their stomach is unsettled. They asked to try it, and then asked for the recipe. Later, word got around in Hollywood circles, and Alfredo had a bunch of tourists stopping in, asking for that pasta. He saw the opportunity, and put it on his menu as "Fettuccine Alfredo", and catered to tourists seeking this dish that had become famous in America. Even today, you will only see American tourists in the Alfredo restaurant in Rome. It is a tourist trap. No other place serves "Alfredo" sauce (or even knows what it is), because it is just pasta in bianco 🙂
I’m totally entranced by her and completely amused by her husband! When you have someone of her expertise, telling you everything that’s wrong with the food it’s best to listen. But it does make me wonder what have I been eating?
My mother was Italian. Her parents, godparents, and most of her aunts and uncles were from Italy. Subsequently, I grew up eating homemade everything - marinara sauce, pizza, pasta of all kinds, soups, etc. She never made Alfredo sauce - in her opinion this sauce was non-existent (that's how she was raised, and taught to cook). She never made bolognese sauce. She referred to it as, "dirty sauce." A reagional thing, I suspect. Nevertheless, she was an excellent cook. Everything was homemade. My brother and I would beg her to buy us Spagetti-O's - no way. She'd look at us and say, "Who eats spaghetti out of a can?" As an adult, I finally bought a can and heated then up. I took one mouthful and threw the rest in the garbage. Lol. I've never had a t.v. dinner. We begged for those, as well. The Olive Garden is awful. The couple in this video are hysterical, and their critiques of the food are on point. The food this restaurant tries to pass off as Italian cuisine is laughable. If you want Italian, Mexican, French, Greek, food, etc., go to a privately owned "mom and pop" restaurant and you'll most likely get a more authentic meal. If you want bland fast food, hit up a chain restaurant. I'm going to Italy, again, this September, I can't wait. To me, it's the most beautiful place in the world. I'd like to run into the couple in this video. They'd be a blast to hang out with. Lol.
Yep, she never heard of Alfredo sauce, because there is actually no such thing, except for a tourist trap for Americans in Rome. "Dirty sauce". Nice, I have never heard that, but it is super common for local areas to have their own ways of naming lots of common things. It always amazes me how many regional words there are for a simple loaf of bread :-). As for Spagetti-O's, we had an almost identical thing with our daughter. She wanted Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Ravili, so one day my wife made home-made ravioli for us, and served her Chef Boy-ar-dee. She had one bit and spit it out. Of course, we had some of the real stuff for her, but that ended it! If you happen to get to our area in September (about an hour north of Rome) when you are in Italy, send me a message! We'll have you over for dinner one night!
Did they serious walk into Olive Garden and expect real Italian food? It is good to see real Italians saying how horrible and watered-down American food is in reality. Also, they're hilarious!
Try to get American bbq or Tex Mex in Italy. You will die of starvation. Are they trying to prove a point? When dining while traveling, don’t look for what you eat at home!!
The problem with restaurants like the Olive Garden is the clientele. Their customers are cheap, they’re not willing to pay what you’d really have to pay to get quality ingredients. There’s a reason their cream sauces taste like that. Restaurants like Olive Garden, have to use flour to thicken up their sauces. It’s cheaper than adding the amount of cheese you need to get that consistency. Basically they have to use tricks like that with all their food. I make real soup every weekend. From scratch, broth and all the rest of it, and it ain’t cheap, but you can taste the difference. Places like the Olive Garden use water and throw in a few bullion cubes loaded with salt.
As soon as she said finally Italian i said," Boy, are they going to be disappointed 😂😂!!"
I thought she was joking...
La cucina di Olive Garden fa schifo 🤮🤮🤮🤮 NON È ITALY
"If you try this in Italy they will burn your place down"
"They would be wasting a match..."
Ded.
Amazing humor and video, saluti dall'Italia
"first they would decapitate you...then they would burn the place down"....these two are Hilarious
“Maybe the Nonna has Alzheimer’s.” Almost fell off my chair when she said that. Lol
That's hilarious 😂
That made me Horse Laugh..
LOL! "It tastes like nothing" Welcome to Olive Garden!!!🤣
they don't salt their pasta water to make the pots last longer
My favorite line: "This would be a hit in the hospital."
Just get the endless salad and soup for gods sake😂😂😂😂😂
These people are from Rome or Lazio region (around Rome). They are born comedians, and they are so funny in general. The joke about Nonna teaching Italian cooking to Olive Garden having Alzheimer's or wasting a match to burn a real Italian restaurant serving this garbage is pure improvisation gold.
Yes, Provincia di Viterbo :-)
@@travelcdv anyway besides the criticism about the music I love your channel, thank you for your contribution to sharing Italian culture with the world.
@@giovannisantostasi9615 Thanks 🙂
Don’t find it particularly amusing.
I don't find uppity people to be particularly funny.
I spent eight (8) years in Italy and visited many cities. Indeed, this video is quite accurate. I have eaten at OG a few times after my tour in Italy, and.......................well..................
I think it’s the same thing when we Mexicans go to Taco Bell 😂
Exactly!!! As an American that grew up in Los Angeles, even I feel the same way about Taco Bell :-)
Spot on!!!
Yep I've had real authentic Mexican food my daughter is married to a man from Ensenada. And my daughter learned how to cook real authentic Mexican food and when I go to Mexican restaurants that are run by actual Mexicans from mexico. Taco Bell is more of a Tex-Mex
Americanized Mexican food is a sin no matter who makes it. Go to the Mexican neighborhoods to eat Mexican food. Taco Bell is abysmal !!! Makes me throw up and have diarrhea.
Naw Taco Bell is used so you can go to bathroom. Olive Garden suppose to be kinda upscale rest. It’s missed it’s mark
What Nonna said about being able to taste everything that is in a dish is so true. On those couple of occasions when I've been to Italy, everything tasted so clean and fresh.
While she was complaining about it the husband was chowing down!!😂
I’m only 1/4 Italian, but if I worked at Olive Garden and an Italian family came in, I would warn them!
“Maybe if the Nonna has Alzheimer’s.” I almost fell out of my chair when she said that.
I used to love the Olive Garden, or I did until I started to deal with Italian electrical contractors on a daily basis. They introduced me to real Italian food, and once you’ve had the real deal, you can’t go back to your old ways.
Olive Garden is that what a drunk Chef does after he comes home from a nighout. I'd rather eat McDonalds at this point.
I agree! It’s just a cheaper alternative not good Italian food!
My family used to love going to OG when I was a kid (my mom still loves it) but after my Italian professors and friends cooked for me in college I started making my own Italian food and never went to OG again.
Teach us. Or please email recipes
@@CharlanaJo Italian food is not always better. For example... I'd much rather have butter on my bread than olive oil.
@@CharlanaJotry looking up Brooklyn Brothers cooking on u tube I'm chef Dom
Real Italians don't eat olive garden that food is horrible
@@dominicksimonetti6726
That’s not true! I enjoy authentic Italian, but I also like Olive Garden occasionally.
the old couple have my jaws hurting from laughing so hard😆🤣😅😂
these people are great, pure humanity, I wish more people were like that
I worked at the Olive garden 2001-2003. At that time they were working closely with the culinary institute in Italy and were trying to come up with more authentic dishes. The result were very good. The problem was that the customers were not interested at all, so they went with what would sell (Alfredo everything!)
Hi Thomas, I don't doubt that Olive Garden management told you this, but actually, that was the company line that they told everyone. What they actually did was a contract with a hotel and restaurant in the town of Castellina in Chianti that is located on a vineyard. The contract was such that each year Olive Garden would send 10 managers as an employee incentive on a trip to Italy in the off-season, when the hotel/restaurant was otherwise closed. During this trip, they would get some brief tips here and there about Italian food, but not actual cooking. The biggest thing was that at some poiint each of them was to pose for some pictures with the "chef" to use in press releases when they got home. These managers were also supposed to dress up in a Chef coat at their local restaurants during promotions after returning and shring their press releases (depending on which dish Olive Garden was promoting as the new recipe from the nonna), but none of those "specials" were actually even eaten while in Italy, let alone taught or served. Additionally, Olive Garden was allowed to use the imagery of the property (and a little temporary sign with their logo) for marketing, menu graphics, etc. The "nonna" in the commercials was not real. There is no "culinary institute" there, and there was no attempt to come up with new dishes. A great examnple is the commercial clip in the video that says she taught them her secrets on how to make "Chicken Marsala." That is NOT an Italian dish, and the closest thing to it would not come from a Nonna in Tuscany, but from Sicily. Chicken Marsala is a loose American interpretation of a Sicilian dish. The whole campaign was simply one part corporate incentive trip, and one part VERY sketchy marketing. I guarantee you will not find a single dish that even closely resembles the dishes in the "Culinary Institute" commercials at the restaurant there. I can say this with enough authority that I live fairly close to the place, and have many friends that know them, and this agreement was the source of many laughs among the locals in the area. It was a great source of humor for us, because our company ACTUALLY does what they advertised.
E allora...w alfredooooooo!!!!!!😂😂😂🤦
I’m Italian and I’ve been living in USA for 13 years, I have to admit that at first I thought that the American people simply didn’t know how to eat well and that they couldn’t appreciate good food. Then when I started to have American friends over for dinner I had to change my mind. American people can recognize when the food is fresh, well cooked and the best ingredients are picked. They can appreciate the real Italian food over Italian American food, and after they have a taste of it it’s difficult for them to go back. I think that a restaurant that serves real Italian food would be much appreciated from the American public, I really don’t buy the story that Olive Garden is selling that the public didn’t like the real recipes, maybe they were cooking them wrong or possibly they simply decided to save money on the ingredients and or to simplify and speed up the job of their cooks.
This has made my day and going to show it to my other half who is Sicilian and he will laugh falling off his chair tonight!! This couple are great 😊
Your Sicilian other half will laugh his rear off when he sees the clip with the commercial showing the Tuscan "nonna" teaching people to make "Chicken Marsala" !!!! :-)
The food in Italy is so incredibly delicious, if you stay away from the tourist places. Even a focaccia from a cart was one of the most memorable bites I ever had.
Yep! I always tell people that as they are walking around in Italy, if they see a menu on English outside a restaurant, keep walking 🙂
These people were sooo funny. My grandparents were from Naples but I was definitely not raised Italian - we spoke English and ate a lot of fast food. I kinda resent that. I feel cheated out of having a great cultural background.
Let me fill you in My entire family is from Italy. I grew up in an Italin neighborhood and didn't speak English or eat any American food until I was 6 years old. My grandmother would get up at 4 in the morning to cook. On holidays, it was two days to prepare for Christmas dinner with friends and food being served nonstop for a day and a half. I tried to replicate it as an adult but it was like a Roman bacchanalia. Too much food!
I love this couple. I can speak Italian and understand the lingo perfectly. This lady started off saying off saying they had tried a lot of other cuisines but finding an Italian restaurant, finally was wonderful. Does Olive Garden realize that Alfredo doesn't exist in Italy? I like Olive Garden but authentic Italian it isn't!
Yeah, when they visited we took them for Chinese, Thai, Greek, etc. We did warn them advance about Olive Garden, and this was all about having some fun. Trust me, at home we COOKED good Italian :-)
I knew this would interesting but didn't expect to laugh till I cried.
Totally agree with everything they said.
Italian food is simple but packed with amazing punches. So delicious! Unfortunately OG doesn’t even come near. Italians know the foods.
I love these people. Must be the Italian in me. I just don't understand how the guy isn't cracking up when she says I wouldn't feed this to my dog.
This made my night!...LOL
Everything in Olive Garden tastes like Americanized fast food.
Alfredo in Italy is just a name!!!😂😂😂
Thanks for posting it was very interesting.
I love Italian food. Unfortunately it is very very difficult to find true authentic Italian cuisine in America. It is very sad too because if you can find true Blue authentic Italian cuisine you will never I mean never eat American Italian cuisine again. Hands down.
You can find it on the North East coast or in Chicago if you're interested in trying authentic Italian(short of going to Italy).
It’s hard to find it in italy too. All italians say that they have “the best family recipe handed down over generations.” Literally these grandparents are just that. Grandparents that think their recipe is the best.
You are correct. Italian-American cuisine is different. When I lived in Sacramento, Ca there was one authentic place. Unfortunately it was hard to get a table and expensive on my income. Not true in Italy.
Get it from those New York Italians who think they are Italian but have never been there lol
I'm from a very itailian area so it's so easy to find authentic Itailan spots. There's a few markets with cooks inside them and the price destroys OG as well as taste and authenticity.
"Leave the gun.Take the cannoli."
I love me some authentic Italian food. (I lived in Sicily for a time!)
You guys nailed it....only people who know nothing about what real Italian food is...go there. I tried it twice and I've never gone back.
Honestly as an italian I'd be intrested in going to olive garden once if i ever go to the usa, just to taste how it is
Years ago me and the kid decided to make a real Italian lasagna. A Dutch oven, $80 of top shelf ingredients and 3 hours later we had a 8x11 pan. My gosh that was good. Olive Garden isn’t gonna do that. Time and good ingredients are the secret.
I suppose they could, but you'd pay 100$ for it. I never go to mid level family restaurant and expect 5 star home cooking.
I grew up in an Italian Family, watching Italian Films
to be honest they are very friendly these Italians :D
So happy to watch this.
I've visited The Olive Garden only twice in the mid 1990s. Looks this couple, i couldn't believe how completely bland the food tasted, and i we've been a second time thinking i had missed something on the first. Nope.
So sad that 30 years later they haven't improved. What a disgrace, and yet they remain a successful business.
I visited Italy many years ago. The food was fabulous! When I got back people offered to take me to the Olive Garden. I just gave a icy stare and explained to them how the Olive Garden is not real Italian food.
Olive Garden is as Italian as Swiss people are Spanish.
I hope it made you feel good to show them you were too good to eat at Olive Garden like a commoner.
@@moonbeamskies3346 Everybody is too good to eat at Olive Garden.
@@nhf7170 I recently ordered a bunch of dishes to once and for all decide how good Olive Garden is for myself. Here are my thoughts: Bread sticks, very good. Salad, not extraordinary but good, with very good Italian dressing in a packet. Spaghetti, bland and limp. Tomato sauce, bland. Meatballs, mediocre, can get better at Denny's. Chicken parmisan, quite good. 5 cheese pasta sold cold for reheating later, very good. So it's hit and miss. Far from being as bad as this video says.
I once had olive garden.... irredeemable. Have been to Italy. These folks are being too nice actually.
I under cook pasta and finish cooking it in whatever sauce i make.
Brutal. Imagine them trying some little Caesars pizza 🍕
I think even Americans recognize that as crap
@@davidebrownstl idk man that greasy crap in a box is mighty good is cheap.
She’s in for a very unpleasant surprise
"Maybe the Nonna has Alzheimers" - hahaha
That is why they refered to the German Doctor. Dr. Alzheimer :-)
This video is fantastic. Love the commentary on the food. I want to hang out with these two. I take my glasses off as well when things get serious.😂😂
Sergio is my hero - "we must all die from something"
This was so great. I really needed a good laugh today. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I ate authentic Italian food in both Rome and Vanice, and was nothing to brag about.
It’s mostly about tradition. Protein such as chicken, meat, and fish have always been a luxury in a sense to other countries, so it’s not something that is used to being seen in a pasta dish. In Italy basic ingredients are used, which allows them to focus on the quality and authenticity of those ingredients instead of the quantity used.
As before, they have lived on emphasizing the flavors on a dish instead of creating new flavors by mixing a bunch of others, so when they try meals from Olive Garden, their description for them is mostly “inedible”, “tasteless” , or “indescribable”
It has its place this side of Roma...lol. The older I get the more I appreciate the always crispy fresh salad and soup. I go at least twice a year to be reminded that it still offers better Alfredo than any of the really so so Sicilian style glorified pizza and gravy (red sauced) Italian restaurants in Tucson, Arizona. The few higher end ones are frankly not even close enough to the diversity of real Italian cuisine so glad enough for the consistency of OG. Buon appetito!
What Alfredo sauce is for you?
The Nona with Alzheimer's! HAHAHAHA! Hilarious, I spit out my drink with that one!
This is quality entertainment 😂
never saw these dishes in Italy, never! We donì' use cream and garllic in our kitchen (garlic only little in some dishes, but little!)
Yes, this is exactly the point. They advertise in the USA that they bring these recipes from Italy. They even advertise that they send their chefs to learn recipes in Toscana. It is very sad.
"Finalmente la cucina italiana! Che bello!"
*Migliori 10 momenti prima del disastro*
And I am going to the Olive Garden with my daughter tomorrow!…wish me luck!!
This made me LAAAAAAUGH!😂 So awesome!
It also made me miss my friends and time in Soriano!
I have been to Olive Garden once.I wasn’t impressed.I have never been to a real Italian restaurant.I do like cooking Italian food,and I try to make it like I see it made in Italy on TH-cam.
Awesome! That is a great way to do it... straight from the source!
Me too. Once was more than enough 🤯
In Sicily that coffe would be defined as “acqua di polpo” that basically is the water where you boiled the octopus, any Sicilian would deep the teaspoon mimicking the search of one of the octopus leg. It’s a joke that we do when we are given a watery espresso.
My mom got a spaghetti sauce recipe from an Italian women that she worked with and it beats Olive Garden hands down. It should probably be called mariana sauce. We use it with spaghetti and in lasagna. With the spaghetti we cook some with mild Italian sausage and meatballs and some with hot Italian sausage. The only reason that I go to tiramisu, which is probably nothing like I could get in Italy, but since I have nothing to compare it to I like it.
Actually "marinara" sauce typically includes seafood. Think about it: the root for "marinara" is "marine." Marinara means "of the sea"
@@travelcdv
Thank you for helping me learn something new. I am always on the lookout for things that will educate me. I love trivia games and Questions. Usually 2-3 times a day, I get a trivia question, a history quiz, and a quiz related to travel. I am sure that if a question about marinara sauce I will be able to answer it. You see I had been miss informed by so many things in restaurants and in the store. I am never very happy when I find out that I've miss informed. I am not mad at the person who is educating me, but with the general public that lied to me and kept me from real knowledge. In a way it's my fault because I failed to go to Google and researched it. So once again thank you from the bottom of my heart I really appreciate you helping me to understand the difference.
@@travelcdvhmmm interesting, pizza marinara doesn’t have seafood though
@@krdrums00, I think traditionally it would have some anchovy paste. It adds not so much a sea flavor but just incredible umami.
OK, I just have to say, first of all my husband and myself spent 5 weeks traveling Italy. Most restaurants offer pasta as a first course, like we would eat a salad, not the main course. Secondly we found pizza very very bland. We ate a lot of pizza in various locations. It is almost always just crust and marianna sauce. The flavor of the pizza and weather or not you like it is totally dependent on the sauce. As far as the coffee goes, we could not find what Americans would consider a decent cup of coffee. If we ordered "Americano" it was just brown colored water. My point is that we didn't expect American food. We took in the experience of trying food in another country and did not expect to eat what we would eat in the U.S. That's part of the enjoyment of traveling.
If you're in Europe and you want a decent cup of coffee drink what the locals drink. In the morning it's pretty common to get a very large, very strong coffee with milk to go with your pastries. In the afternoon or after dinner you get a little espresso. If you're in England drink tea. Pizza, despite its origins in Naples, is really pretty American. In Italy my favorite lunch was a panini rustica which was basically capresi salad between two pieces of bread and cooked in a panini press. A basic plan is to eat off the day's set price menu. You'll get fresh, local, in season food which can also be more budget friendly as well. There's usually two or three choices of main, side and either appetizer or dessert. Pay a little extra to sit outside and people watch while you enjoy your lunch.
Charming family.....loved this!!!
Hilarious!
Question: why when they say "Parmigiano Reggiano" in the subtitles do you write "Parmesan"? Parmesan (USA) is a different cheese from Parmigiano Reggiano (Italy). They are two different products. Pay more attention in the videos.
Parmesan is a generic term in the US to refer to "Parmigiano," which in recent years has mostly narrowed to "Parmigiano Reggiano DOP" (as to differentiate from other similar cheese such as Grana. This difference in the US by those that know (most serious foodies) is differentiated in English simply be denoting "Reggiano" and "Grana" - but the generic cheese is still referred to as "Parmesan" in general, then narrowed down to various types. As such, using "Parmesan" jn this context was appropriate. Naturally, if we were doing a cooking video, we would say something to the effect of "make sure your Parmesan cheese is actually Parmigiano Reggiano".
Michael, Paola... I am the one to give you the first thumbs down... I had to... I was laughing so hard I not only spit my tea out on my monitor and keyboard, I pee'd my pants! My heavens.. Carla & Sergio, are so funny! What a pair! :-D I am going to forward this video to a couple of folks I work with. I tease them about the "Olive Garden".
Okay, gave you a thumbs up!
I hope you are back in Florida at the end of September, as I will be in Orlando for my daughter's "makeup" covid wedding at the Wedding Chapel at Epcot. But do know my thumbs down is really 10 thumbs up. I have seen your FB photos of your place in Soriano... It is an absolute slice of heaven!
Hey Richard :-). You can always make it a thumbs up :-). Turns out we will be in Italy end of September. Get back in mid October. Soooo sorry we will miss you :-(
@@travelcdv - Okay.. if you insist! I made it a Thumbs Up!
😀Way to go!
As an American with zero Italian heritage, my first memory of Olive Garden was eating there with a friend's family. I shared fettuccine alfredo with my friend and I thought it was absolutely disgusting. I ate it anyway because we were poor and I was taught to eat anything. I felt sick while eating it, and after. I've eaten there a few times as an adult and I still think it's very bad. I think it's given fettuccine alfredo a bad reputation. I make fettuccine alfredo at home for my family and it's amazing! It's so rich that it's a "holiday food" for us, but it's so good. I know it's not "Italian," but I think it deserves a place as Italian American. I only use butter, flour, garlic, cream, and parmigiana reggiano. It tastes like heaven. The Olive Garden version tastes like plastic. When I have to eat at Olive Garden, I eat only the soup, salad, and breadsticks. Those aren't great, but I can eat them without feeling like they're not food.
I’m the same way I can only eat the 🥗 salad and bread 🥖 sticks. I’ve never been to Olive Garden by choice but my job places orders with them now and then. I couldn’t eat the food all I got was terrible heartburn of the small portions I ate only because I was going to working all day that day. Italian food is best cooked at home specially those favorite dishes the family enjoys.
Actually, Fettucine Alfredo is from Italy, but not so famous. In Italy it's just butter, parmigiano cheese and pasta. Stop, nothing else.
@@ginger942 To get technical, what you are describing is "pasta in bianco" - It is a base dish usually eaten when your stomach is bothering you. Fettucine Alfredo came to be ages ago when some Amnerican actors were at a restaurant in Rome and saw a woman eating it. They asked the owner what she was eating, and he explained that she was his wife, was pregnant, and couldn;t hold anything else down. They tried it and loved it, then asked him for the "recipe" (For an Italian that is like asking for the receipe of buttered toast). Those same actors had it served at parties and hyped up the place in Rome where they had it. Before long, American tourists visiting Rome started frequenting that restaurant, and the owner (Alfredo) saw lots of dollar signs in his eyes. The only place in Italy you can get it is still at the same place, which exists exclusively for Americans. Youcan go there and pay $50 for a dish of pasta that most places ould feel bad charging you for. You just need to know in other places to ask for pasta in bianco, not "Alfredo"
@@travelcdv nope, the original fettuccine Alfredo made by Alfredo La Scrofa is pasta with burro and parmigiano. The original restaurant in Rome where the reciepe come from does like that. Became popular in America but not in Italy, I'm from there and I know what I'm talking about.
@@ginger942 Sorry to pop the bubble, but if I hop in my car right now, I can be there in 40 minutes, have been here for 38 years, and am literally in the business of knowing the history of all regional Italian food, as well as the Italian immigrant implementations of them. In Italy, pasta with burro and parmigiano is called pasta in bianco, and would NEVER be found on a menu in a restaurant, because it is the most basic of basic -- that is except the Alfrredo restaurant in Rome, which is there specifically for American tourists only. Every Italian grows up being served this by their mothers when their stomach is unsettled -- such that if I ask for pasta in bianco in a restaurant, they will ask me if I am not feeling well -- (similar to chicken soup for Americans). It is not a recipe that can be claimed by anyone -- the same that nobody can say they invented chicken soup or buttered toast. That said, you are talking about a restaiurant called "Alfredo alla Scrofa". The person you are refering to is Alfredo Di Lelio. Some Americans had it back in the 1920's at HIS place (as the story goes, his wife was having morning sickness and they saw her eating it... but it was not on the menu since it is just pasta in bianco), and it became known as such when they spread the word and more Americans came for it. He turned it into a marketing scheme for tourists, and good for him for creating a market, and obviously embellished on the story as part of the show for tourists. But truth is truth. The pasta there is made speficially for Americans, as that is who it is marketed to. The pasta is insanely overcooked by Italian standards, they put an insane amount of butter on the pasta in bianco, and you pay 22 Euro for a plate of their famous "dish" becauase of the fame in America. Walk down the road, and ask for pasta in bianco anywhere, and you will get better for 1/3 of the price The simple reality is that if you serve "Alfredo" to ANY Italian, and call it "Alfredo Sauce," they will either laugh or get very confused, and ask you why you are trying to pass pasta in bianco off as a "recipe".
As an italian american olive garden makesme sad. Please take these poor people to a good itaian restaurant in brooklyn or bring them to my house where i will cook them real italian food. Please people dont think olive garden hsd anything to do with real italian food. Its like taking these people to McDonald's and temming them its great steak😢
It was all in good fun. We took them because they had heard of it, since we do so many cooking classes in Italy, and she is one of the chef instructors. The reality is that to have what WE consider as decent Italian in the US, we need to cook at home, and that is mostly because in the US we don't have the same quality of ingredients (even in Brooklyn). That said, there were LOTS of other things they loved here :-)
fun fact, italians like mcdonald, i eat there 2 to 4 times a year. By the looks of these "dishes" mcdonald has not only a better taste, it's also healtier 😂
Well I tried once when they first opened and that was the last time. I’m from Newark nj. Ya got it? Lived I Italy 20 years. His ladies funny, love her.
Thank-You for the video. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. I hope you took them out for a good ol' greasy American Cheeseburger.
Absolutely!!! They loved Five Guys :-). But over the years when we lived in L.A. we would take Italians to In n Out, and that is ALWAYS a hit!
@@travelcdv Take them to a soul food restaurant, they'd get a kick out of that, for sure!
Food is food...if it taste good, eat it...if not, spit it out...they didn't spit it out, then you know the food is good! End of story!!
...and they don't die of food poisoning, at least directly, so it must be good. Basta! Fine della storia!
I never ever eat pasta at Olive Garden. Only salad and breadsticks. 😳
Comparing Olive Garden to tasty Italian food is like comparing McDonalds to The Palm
There was a little Italian place in Ocean beach (San Diego) it was actually good. They always served a knife and fork with their pizza.
5:03 this would be a hit in the hospital 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Very funny. BTW, did they try a good Italian restaurant in the US too?
Yep, our home
The only thing at Olive Garden that isn’t frozen is the salad but they would freeze it if they could.
They might think Alfredo must be the most famous person in that restaurant hahaha
Last time I ate at OG was in around 1987. My entree was still frozen in the middle. I NEVER went back.
To be fair, most American are quite aware that The Olive Garden has poor quality food.
A very fun video though!
It used to be good, but now it's just meh!😑
We’ve already seen a ton of these videos where real Italians rate OG and it’s always the same type of reviews. We GET it. OG isn’t real Italian food but it still tastes good to me
have you ever had home cooked italian food or gone to an authentic gourmet italian restaurant?
@@jonathanswift2251 yes. But we already know that Olive Garden isn’t real Italian food. Have you had REAL Chinese food and not Panda Express ? We all know Panda Express isn’t real Chinese food nor is Taco Bell real Mexican food but it’s still taste good so we can always expect to have REAL Chinese people and REAL Mexican people saying it’s not authentic. WE ALREADY KNOW we don’t need them telling us all that
@@baepple i hate Taco Bell (but I pretty much hate ALL Mexican fast food Ugh) I have to admit I like Panda Express. It's just all sooo sweet sugary tasting...
Who else loves dipping the bread sticks in pasta soup
*"This would be a hit in the hospital!"*
Damn, that's a burn ☠️
5:14 this would be a hit in the hospital 🤣🤣
All my Hispanic students here in Texas think Olive Garden is such a great authentic Italian restaurant and they keep telling me to go to eat it and I keep explaining to them that I have lived 4 years of my life in Italy and there's no way I'm going to go into that restaurant and touch that stuff
What I am learning about these cooking shows is that everybody thinks there’s is the best. I am glad I know how to appreciate food that taste good regardless to who or how it was made. I like Olive Garden and I have been blessed to eat in Italy. Like I said, I like good food period.
Exactly. America has been called the great melting pot, and when people come here, they need to expect that. That things will be a blended version of what was in the home country.
Absolutely. and if I go to a place that says they have Italian Fusion, I expect that. If I go to a place that says "Authentic Italian" I expect THAT. If I go to a place that says "Immigrant Italian" I would expect that. If Olive Garden called themselves an "Italian Inspired" restaurant, that would make sense. But when they say they are bringing their recipes directly from a Nonna in Tuscany, ummmm, no.
Olive Garden is pretty good but it's not authentic... They are trying to compare it to authentic Italian food and it's way different..
Olive Garden Italian food is like taking a rack of pork ribs at Chili’s and comparing them to some great ribs smoked in Texas or Tennessee… Olive Garden is there for women to gather for a nice luncheon and get soup, salad and breadsticks and think they ate a light meal, not realizing it was likely 1,250 calories.
I was taught how to make pasta from scratch when I was ten. My mom told me someday she's going to be too old to cook so I need to learn how. Was my pleasure when she became frail to cook for her. She did get cravings for KFC when she had dementia. We both gained weight would get it three times a week for her.
As a globetrotter, it's always a bad sign if you order on a computer. If there is a waiter, you can ask them questions about the food, how it's prepared, if they think you will like it. The computer is a way to save money on actual, professional waiters. I think tipping as a primary way of making money for wait staff is terrible, but at least it gets your experience personalized.
Even Kua Aina Hawaiian sandwich shop in the Tokyo area, I go to the counter and can fairly customize my order, how I want it cooked, I can tell them I don't want lettuce for example, and that I want it well done, I want more of this topping or side and none of that one. If I go for sushi I can tell them I can't eat 'hikarimono' because it makes me gag rather than having to leave it on the plate and getting less than the full meal.
What a snooty couple. Nothing good to say visiting Florida. Try this in Italy.
this is pretty much spot on. The only decent thing I've had here is the bottomless salad bowl but even that is mostly iceberg lettuce. Oh yes, the house wine is good too.
I love them. Can I adopt them.
These two Italians make me laugh, my mother is from Calabria and my father is Sicilian, I traveled to Italy many times, I traveled to Florence, Rome, Naples, Palermo and the truth is that for example in Rome in many restaurants the pasta is undercooked, It's one thing to be al dente and another thing to be undercooked. Just like pizza, for example, I ate much tastier pizza in San Francisco than in Italy at Tony's Pizza, in Argentina a place called Guerrin was delicious. Olive Garden is Americanized Italian food but it's not that bad, let's say 6 points. Well greetings to all!
I'm a European and have never experienced one of these Olive Gardens - only heard people joke about them for decades. Now, watching this, I can understand why it's so notorious. This is an italian restaurant like a chinese restaurant in the west "totally" serves chinese food. They should add the Scottish deep-fried Mars bar.
Their first clue should have been the menu was all pictures lmaooo! I get a few photos but when the menu has photos as large as a serving, bells go off making me question why???
Olive Garden got horked on the whole time lmfao
There is a Restaurant in Rome, Italy where the Alfredo sauce was invented. It's name is Alfredo's
It wasn't actually invented. It was originally called "Pasta in bianco", which is the most basic of pastas. Some American tourists (actors) went to a place owned by a guy named Alfredo, and his wife was having a dish of this because she was pregnant and could't hold anything down -- This is a pasta one eats when their stomach is unsettled. They asked to try it, and then asked for the recipe. Later, word got around in Hollywood circles, and Alfredo had a bunch of tourists stopping in, asking for that pasta. He saw the opportunity, and put it on his menu as "Fettuccine Alfredo", and catered to tourists seeking this dish that had become famous in America. Even today, you will only see American tourists in the Alfredo restaurant in Rome. It is a tourist trap. No other place serves "Alfredo" sauce (or even knows what it is), because it is just pasta in bianco 🙂
Nice and yummy👍🔔
I’m totally entranced by her and completely amused by her husband! When you have someone of her expertise, telling you everything that’s wrong with the food it’s best to listen.
But it does make me wonder what have I been eating?
*I speak Spanish and I understood most of what they was saying*
My mother was Italian. Her parents, godparents, and most of her aunts and uncles were from Italy. Subsequently, I grew up eating homemade everything - marinara sauce, pizza, pasta of all kinds, soups, etc. She never made Alfredo sauce - in her opinion this sauce was non-existent (that's how she was raised, and taught to cook). She never made bolognese sauce. She referred to it as, "dirty sauce." A reagional thing, I suspect. Nevertheless, she was an excellent cook. Everything was homemade. My brother and I would beg her to buy us Spagetti-O's - no way. She'd look at us and say, "Who eats spaghetti out of a can?" As an adult, I finally bought a can and heated then up. I took one mouthful and threw the rest in the garbage. Lol. I've never had a t.v. dinner. We begged for those, as well. The Olive Garden is awful. The couple in this video are hysterical, and their critiques of the food are on point. The food this restaurant tries to pass off as Italian cuisine is laughable. If you want Italian, Mexican, French, Greek, food, etc., go to a privately owned "mom and pop" restaurant and you'll most likely get a more authentic meal. If you want bland fast food, hit up a chain restaurant. I'm going to Italy, again, this September, I can't wait. To me, it's the most beautiful place in the world. I'd like to run into the couple in this video. They'd be a blast to hang out with. Lol.
Yep, she never heard of Alfredo sauce, because there is actually no such thing, except for a tourist trap for Americans in Rome. "Dirty sauce". Nice, I have never heard that, but it is super common for local areas to have their own ways of naming lots of common things. It always amazes me how many regional words there are for a simple loaf of bread :-). As for Spagetti-O's, we had an almost identical thing with our daughter. She wanted Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Ravili, so one day my wife made home-made ravioli for us, and served her Chef Boy-ar-dee. She had one bit and spit it out. Of course, we had some of the real stuff for her, but that ended it! If you happen to get to our area in September (about an hour north of Rome) when you are in Italy, send me a message! We'll have you over for dinner one night!
Did they serious walk into Olive Garden and expect real Italian food? It is good to see real Italians saying how horrible and watered-down American food is in reality. Also, they're hilarious!
As an Italian having been tortured by eating at The Spaghetti Factory and Olive Garden, I fully sympathize with the bad digestion they suffered!!
Oh yeah! At least the spaghetti factory doesn't claim to bring authentic recipes from Italy :-)
Try to get American bbq or Tex Mex in Italy. You will die of starvation. Are they trying to prove a point? When dining while traveling, don’t look for what you eat at home!!
I think you missed the point of the video.
And what point was that?
Give it up on the coffee! It is sewer water in Olive Garden
The problem with restaurants like the Olive Garden is the clientele. Their customers are cheap, they’re not willing to pay what you’d really have to pay to get quality ingredients.
There’s a reason their cream sauces taste like that. Restaurants like Olive Garden, have to use flour to thicken up their sauces. It’s cheaper than adding the amount of cheese you need to get that consistency. Basically they have to use tricks like that with all their food.
I make real soup every weekend. From scratch, broth and all the rest of it, and it ain’t cheap, but you can taste the difference. Places like the Olive Garden use water and throw in a few bullion cubes loaded with salt.