It’s hard for me to explain to people the unique tier that Olive Garden (and separately Pizza Hut) existed in.
There were many nicer Italian places than Olive Garden. It wasn’t pretentious at all, but it was nice and ubiquitous. Maybe a little better than PF Changs today? (Not that I’m very familiar with PF Changs). No one would laugh at you for taking a date there.
Pizza Hut was more casual by far, largely because you’d have kids playing arcade games and whatnot. Pizza Hut was more family oriented, but still more classy than most things we have today.
Maybe Texas Roadhouse is closer to accurate.
…in its prime, olive garden was very similar to red lobster: upscale suburban is perhaps a good description…
…these days they’re both well past their prime and i’m not sure a similar national chain comes to mind; it seems like only regional chains are playing in that space…
