Damage ContrLOLz

full disclosure i do dine at macaroni grill on occasion

My town is four times the size of Grand Forks and there was a line out the door when Chipotle finally moved in.

Dunkin Donuts is slated to open in 2013 and they're probably going to have to get off-duty cops to direct traffic.

it is probably because there is something wrong with me, but i loathe these places. the local olive garden, where certain family members like to dine occasionally, is in the parking lot of this giant fucking strip mall that also houses a bunch of other competing chain restaurants: shari's (famous for pie), red lobster, applebees, some weird fake "barbecue shack", a mongolian grill, etc. we don't rate a cheesecake factory, i guess.

anyway, these awful, suprisingly expensive flavor troughs are fucking constantly MOBBED with with with with people, with awful, grinning, doggie-bag-toting, human-type people. they make you take a little plastic beeper and stand around with the moon-eyed, slack-jawed yard stock for an hour or so before being allowed the pleasure of sitting and eating in the food hangar area. dngi. dnwtgi.

[/twominuteshate]

some weird fake "barbecue shack"

is it a famous dave's?

haha, I was about to ask if it was famous dave's

I don't know if it's true but supposedly Cheesecake Factory and PF Chang's have some sort of property development expansion deal where you only get PF Chang's if there is a Cheesecake Factory. Doesn't make all that much sense, but Fleming's Steakhouse has the same owners as PF Chang's and you do see those together

yeah i kinda figured they were two arms of the same octopus

just quality social commentary from dr. contenderizer

Not the thread for it even though it could be considered lolz but the newspaper I work for recently published the top restaurants in the state by gross receipts.

Top four were Golden Corral, Red Lobster, the cafeteria at Walmart headquarters and Olive Garden.

These are for individual locations, not for the chains as a whole.

The state liquor commission here publishes a sales chart for the previous year/period and it's always pretty enlightening. People drink a looooot of Black Velvet.

it is a famous daves! i have never been there.

just quality social commentary from dr. contenderizer

i even took out the mean parts on behalf of the dearly beloved. "doggie-bag-toting" is such a total euphemism for like axes through skulls, the shadow of futility, endless...revolt...

lol i watched an old episode of COPS last nite and as they were loading this handcuffed perp in to the back of a cruiser for stealing a shitty car, you could see he was wearing a Black Velvet t-shirt

way 2 go

for me, red lobster was a 'reward' dinner growing up

that Flavor Flav dating show included him explaining that they were going out to eat at restaurant he thought was pretty great and it ended up being Red Lobster

oh, Flav

On Jim Rome's first television show The Last Word, Rome interviewed former NBA player Chucky Brown, also a former CBA player, on the differences between the NBA and CBA. Brown would often say that players got very little meal money in the CBA and would often eat at fast food restaurants, while in the NBA players could afford to "go to Red Lobster, get you a nice meal."

Then, Isiah Thomas came on the next segment, and following Rome's greeting, said, "My pleasure. I just got back from Red Lobster."

red lobster is some 'i was once poor' people shit, it's true
it was the destination of great moments for everybody i knew growing up

circa 1986 Olive Garden was the second best Italian restaurant known to me after Spaghetti Warehouse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?=Y6rE0EakhG8

gahhhhhhhhhhhh

1986 Olive Garden

-------- 1986 Olive Garden

"malformed video"

that's a new one

I see you pondering that, ZS. It was in Mobile, Ala. (We didn't yet have one in Jackson, Miss.) We ate there on vacation to the Gulf of Mexico and stayed at a brand spanking new Hampton Inn and I thought we were living the high life that I'd heard so much about. Well you know what, we were.*

*Read all this with Wilf. Brimley voice

stand around with the moon-eyed, slack-jawed yard stock

Those are my people you're talking about. Also no Spaghetti Factory, no credibility.

The Spaghetti Factory in downtown Toronto is one of the oldest and most authentic restaurant's in the city.

TS: Spaghetti Warehouse vs Spaghetti Factory

ANSWER: There are no sides to be taken because everyone wins.

1986 Olive Garden = perfect title for an MFA poetry thesis

There's an establishment that's probably similar called "The Spaghetti Works" in Nebraska/Iowa. My friend's sister worked there... and also at a Macaroni Grill.

You can sit in a restored train car and eat your dinner, at the Spaghetti Factory.

AND I HAVE.

Don't make fun of our city's TREASURE, Laurel!

I guess I've been there a couple of times. Nothing too special*, but it has been there since the 80s at least as far as I know. I'd rather go to East Side Mario's (about as close as we've got to the Olive Garden).

*I've no memory of this train car thing. Now I kind of want to go!

one of the oldest and most authentic restaurant's in the city.

lol. it's a REAL restaurant! and old too!

1986 Olive Garden. I mean...thing thing is...I feel that. I feel that.

Z S were you born in 1986

in an olive garden

I ate at a Maggiano's recently. They actually do a fairly good job of creating a kind of Godfather-esque movie Italian restaurant atmosphere as subtly re-imagineered by Disney.

"When the moon hits your eye like a big, et al"

And tbf the food was probably about as good as the average NJ/NY old style red sauce Italian place, which is not terrible.

I do mean average though.

I think working at a chain Italian eatery must be just about the worst.

"Fresh Parmesan on that?"

"What's tiramisu?"

"Your people killed my grampapa."

i was born in 1983. but i sense a lot of visits to olive garden in 1983, though i can't remember them explicitly. but that olive garden vibe is part of that early childhood primordial ooze that shaped me.

Dudes from Baltimore should know the Olive Grove, a one-off copy of the Olive Garden chain that, through the addition of really good local seafood, is a good place to mock ironically and still have a good meal. http://www.olivegroverestaurant.com/

I think working at a chain Italian eatery must be just about the worst.

A lot must suck about it, but Olive Garden (and Red Lobster and Ruby Tuesday) offer Day One health insurance, which is the actual name of their insurance plan which employees benefit from starting on their very first day of employment. It's as good as the health insurance I have now at my office job, which is decent.

Actually they may use a different plan or a different name now, but those chains still offer full insurance coverage starting on your first day of employment.

lotta lolz today

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-MNznaalZTI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MNznaalZTI

i don't even have to press play i'm already loling