Olive Garden Accused Lying About Tuscan-trained Chefs
It should come as a shock to very few that Italian restaurant chain Olive Garden does not employ chefs trained in the hills of Tuscany, but that is exactly why the American franchise is facing criticism.
A new marketing ploy advertised that the restaurant sent cooks to Italy to learn how to prepare authentic dishes. Now, a former employee is cooking up trouble by claiming that Olive Garden’s Tuscan cooking school in Chianti is merely a ploy to sell more breadsticks.
Olive Garden claims on their website that: "More than 1,100 Olive Garden chefs and managers have traveled to Italy and learned the essential skills for creating traditional Italian cuisine and popular Italian great dishes."
The ex-employee, who attended the Olive Garden’s Tuscan cooking school in 2007, explained that there wasn’t much learning involved. The annual trip turns out to be more of an off-season Italian holiday than a training experience.
Instead of true Tuscan cooking, Olive Garden will remain a company that is best known for serving sangria to a toddler.
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There are no more Olive
There are no more Olive Gardens in Toronto and that's a good thing. Now if we could only get rid of East Side Mario. The terminology "Italian food" does definitley not apply to these two venues. I think that when Berlusconi got rid of the garbage in Naples he sent it to the states and these restaurants are using it.
Olive Garde = Glorified Fast Food
Come on! Olive Garden is geared for the masses. They do not employ "chefs", they employ line cooks. There's nothing wrong with a respectable line cook, but to promote the fallacy that they actual "train" some of their "chefs" in Italy is beyond belief. This article isn't new. There are other articles out there that speak of the partying, the tours they take "while learning" and the so-called training they supposedly receive. The food that OG serves is an Americanized "low-brid" of Italian sounding cuisine. You will not find their food in any Tuscan/Italian restaurant. True Italian food is fresh, clean and not heavily sauced up (read that "glopped up") with cheese and glistening with grease. Having lived in the Tuscany region for 20+ years, I have never seen what they portray as "authentic Italian", never. They are two steps above a Mickey D's. And at least with Mickey's you know that they are just being themselves, not some put-on fake Italian hash house. Breadsticks like that don't exist. All you can eat Soup and Salad doesn't exist. I could go on and on, but there are those that will always go to places like this and subsist on mediocrity and those of us who expect more from the food we put into our bodies and won't fall for the fake "authentic Italian" that Olive Garden purveys. They are owned by Darden, one of the largest food chain companies in the world. They also own Red Lobster, the "All you can eat Shrimp" (from Thailand, China) fame. Heaven forbid they should buy from anywhere near the United States! Enough said.
Olive Garden
No self-respecting Italian would ever eat there, let alone call it "Italian cuisine"!
Olive Garden
All I can say is that if they trained in Italy, they forgot everything by the time they got back to their restaurant. If because of a group get together or something like that I eat only the plain tomato sauce on pasta. It isn't as bogus as most of what they serve.
Actual Italian Cuisine
While Olive Garden is busy boiling pre-made food in bags, Carrabba's actually does teach their cooks all the recipes and makes them from scratch. A friend of mine went through the process, is a cook (not really "chef", but I call him that sometimes) at Carrabba's, and he can cook ANYTHING on their menu (except the brick-oven pizza) in his own kitchen...and does, all the time. Is it Italian? I don't know. But it's AWESOME!
"Chefs" sent to Tuscany...puh-leeze
I worked at an OG for more years than I wish to remember. "Chef School" consisted of watching videos of how to make the dishes and that's it. And by 'Chef School' of course I mean "people who applied for a cook's job" -- if you think there's an actual "Chef" at an OG...you're in for an expensive let-down: there isn't one. The closest you get is when it gets very busy and the back-of-house manager pitches in.
If you win some reward or get super lucky or sleep with the right person you MIGHT win one of the trips out there, which I think they do just for marketing purposes. Think about it: if you're selling their "authentic food" and are *learning something about how to cook the food the OG way" after you've been there long enough to in the Tuscan Lottery... doesn't that mean that their quality control is exceptionally poor?
In all the years I was there, not a single *cough* 'chef' won said holiday-lottery.
I met one
I was in Sorrento Italy in 2008 and Met an Olive Garden Manager who said he was there for the School, and was on a weekend break. We Met on a tour of the Amalfi Coast. He was originally from a restaurant Texas, and said he had learned some tricks at the school that he hadn't been aware of previously.
What we don't know is if that knowledge gets passed on to the actual staff that prepare the food. So the fact is - no matter what you think of Olive Garden as a place to go, they do send their staff to the School in Tuscany. As with any school, college, or training, each student will get out of it what they want and apply what they want. I rarely eat at Olive Garden, but I have eaten there, and I've never chosen a meal I didn't eat - and when I was In Italy (Rome/Sorrento Coast) I tried some new things I wouldn't order again. I'm heading Back Italy this fall and will undboubetly try some more Italian dishes that I won't order again - but I'm sure I'll have some that I will totally love.
I think we should give credit to Olive Garden for at least having the school and sending their staff - Very few restaurants can claim they do this.
Of course you did
So what your story boils [sic] down to is this:
You don't like authentic Italian food, as served in Italy. You do like Olive Garden.
And yet, somehow, you think that this is a testament to Olive Garden's quality and authenticity?
Can't read?
Perhaps you shoud actually read what I said.
i like mexican food, and when
i like mexican food, and when i went to mexico, i tried many authentic mexican dishes. I did not like all of them. see how easy that was? so when you make a smartass comment, think about how much of a dick its going to make you sound before you hit "reply"
I thought this was common
I thought this was common knowledge. I mean, come on! Do people expect the Applebee's of Italian food to genuinely be concerned about quality? It'd be like being told that Taco Bell sends their fryers to Mexico to attend a "Mexican cuisine" school.
Herpes
Herpes isn't passed through fluids. It's from skin on skin contact. Go re-take eighth grade health class.
Nobody thinks of Olive Garden
Nobody thinks of Olive Garden as Italian food.
I haven't been to an Olive Garden in 6 years or more.
Legend
Supposedly a woman went to olive garden and wound up with sores on her mouth. Had her leftovers tested which showed sperm with herpes in pasta. Cooks were dna tested and one was matched and went to jail. Thats what they learn in italy I guess.
Fact Check
This article is rather thin on actual facts, and heavy on generalities. Add to that the fact that one of the actual facts to appear is incorrect: All Olive Garden stores are corporate, not franchised. Oh, if only they were franchised, I'd get real rich off of peoples' lack of taste.
Great article. I'd say 90%+
Great article. I'd say 90%+ of the US Italian restaurants don't do the cuisine justice by a long shot. Some places are good, though it is hit or miss. The chains, of any variety, are better tasting, but still far from true Italian food. Luckily family run, true Italian restaurants do exist. Though if you want to fill up on carbs and some lettuce, there is always Olive Garden!
A dopo.
I just quit olive garden over
I just quit olive garden over the fact you can only have 3 tables at a time. It limits the amount of money you can make. Anyway.... we had one server at work who was sent to italy and he said all they did was drink wine and party. When i asked him about the trip the only thing he did that was work related was to visit the cooking school for about an hour then it was off to some wine tasting. The place is a joke.
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