This is my last food post about my Seattle eating adventures and I am quite sad. So much good food in 2 amazing days.
As we were making our way up Seattle, we wanted to stop by Red Lobster but our GPS took us to the middle of a residential area. We didn’t want to use our data or else it would charge us an arm and a leg, so we decided to head up north to the Seattle Premium Outlets to do more shopping. After walking around and buying some great items, the only restaurant in sight was either McDonalds or Olive Garden. We chose Olive Garden. I was not so keen on going since I did not like my past experience but I reluctantly went.
Since we were a party of 5, we were told that would wait would be about 45 mins. Not knowing what to do, the waitress suggested we could go to Walmart to do some shopping. We started driving towards Walmart… ended up in the wrong direction on a one way street… made crazy fast U-turns and ended up at the Casino’s Valet / Taxi line up….dangerously backed up into traffic and as soon as we knew it, we were at Walmart. It was an adventure indeed. As we got out of the car, our electronic beeper thing went off. =(
We really wanted to get some cheap random things from Walmart, but we just ended up driving *safely* back to Olive Garden. As we went back in the restaurant, they already gave away our table =( Lesson learned, never let the waitress tell you to go shopping in Walmart as you wait for a table. Their time estimations are always wrong.
After waiting a few minutes, we got our table and began ordering!
The menu items.
Since the Sampler Italiano ($11.25) looked very good in their menu, we decided to share it with 3 different choices. We chose from calamari, stuffed mushrooms, fried zucchini, chicken fingers, fried mozzarella or toasted beef and pork ravioli.
We chose the chicken fingers, toasted beef + pork ravioli and calamari. This dish also came with tomato sauce and ranch dip.
At first sight, you knew these were frozen and just fried/heated up. The dish was very average and not the most spectacular thing I have ever ate.
M and BusanGirl both ordered the side soup – Pasta e Fagioli. Soup comes complementary with all meals. The waitress described this more of a chili/stew type of soup. It has white and red beans, ground beef, tomatoes and pasta in a savory broth. M remarked that the consistency of the soup was not like chili, rather a watered down tomato soup. It was as Peter Griffin would say, “rather dull and pedantic.”
Fabo and TanGuy ordered the side soup – Zuppa Toscana. It has spicy sausage, russet potatoes and cavolo greens in a creamy broth.
I was the only one to order the Garden-Fresh Salad as my side. I find salads cool! Their salad comes in a large bowl with huge scissor-like tongs. It has the usual lettuce, olives, peppers, croutons, cheese, and onion dressed with a light amount of italian dressing. Simple salad. The best part was the minimal amount of dressing. Thats what I like. I really hate over dressed salads. 
M ordered the Lasagna Classico ($14.75). It has layers of pasta, meat sauce and mozzarella, ricotta, parmesan and romano cheese.
Five Cheese Ziti al Forno ($13.50). It has ziti pasta in a five cheese marinara sauce, baked with a layer of melted Italian cheeses.From looking at the name, you would have no idea what it is. She found this to be quite average and not too spectacular.
She was so funny, it took her a while to figure out her ravioli was stuffed with mushrooms. Perhaps she didn’t look at the description close enough. I don’t think she was too keen on the dish either since she didn’t finish it all.
The amount of spaghetti was very small and pretty average. Nothing very special. It was a bit simple and seemed like something you could make at home quickly. The chicken breasts were a bit on the dry side, so it didn’t impress me much.
After you finish the meal, you are given mint chocolates! Safe to say this was the best part of the meal.
Since Olive Garden is a chain, you can see why its quite average. The service was good at least. Our server was very chipper and quite entertaining at times.
Words of Wisdom:
- Close proximity to Seattle Premium Outlets
- Nothing impressive, Italian words thrown around with no authentic Italian taste.
- Rather Expensive
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We did not like Olive Garden too. Maybe it was just the day we went or the dishes we had. I remember thinking that all the dishes we ordered were pre-processed pre-prepared food which they nuke it before serving. That is why the dishes were hyper hot and all. Ben