I don't believe it's true. I like Olive Garden. Their salads and bread sticks.
Leslie

I refuse to go to an Italian restaurant that does not use capers!

Jodi-

I'm with you wildchild... Italian, really, is that what it is?

Yeah, it's like the WalMart of Italian restaurants, IMHO.

Yeah, it's like the WalMart of Italian restaurants, IMHO.

Good one! ROTFLMAO

I have to remember that line. Can apply to many faux ethnic chains. Chevy's is another I abhor.

I don't believe the story, but I dislike Olive Garden because the food is inedible....as others have said - it's NOT Italian.

Adding tomatoes and olive oil doesn't make mediocre food "Italian".

Please don't pass on these ridiculous rumors! It's not fair to the restaurant chain.

That said, I don't eat at Olive Garden. It's not Italian (I am), and I cook better. But many, many people enjoy their food, and it is just wrong to badmouth them.

I love Olive Garden. I wish we had one here in Ames. I don't really care for Red Lobster. If I am going to eat lobster, I want to be in a fancy place.

We love Olive Garden....it's one of our favorite places.

I like their Italian sausage soup and salad.

Hey Leslie...wana meet there some time for lunch?

Sometime when you plan on being in Omaha.

On another note Leslie...I'd still like to buy one of your Mother's note card of the chair with the denim shirt hanging on the back. It goes so well with my little old looking chairs I collect. I'd like to frame it and hang it in a grouping. I still wish I could take lessons from her.

patti

I like Olive Garden salads and bread sticks, the other stuff is ok. I've had real Italian food in Italy and didn't really care for it, guess it's what you grew up on.

Sure Patti, I'm in Omaha a lot. Taking my sister in tomorrow for an MRI. Her surgery is on the 10th. My car may be done on Friday. I'll let you know for sure, and we'll meet up at Olive Garden. I'll bring one of those cards for you.
Leslie

I thought it must be a hoax the minute I read it. I can't imagine getting a rash that fast, esp. if it was gonorrhea.

It had the "feel" of a hoax. But having said that, it reminded me of an true incident that happened with one of my clients years ago.....

It's easy to check out any of the goofy stories that float around our emails. Just go to snopes.com and search for the topic. It will only take a couple minutes to do it and it's well worth the time before you pass on a falsehood. These stories are so unfair to the businesses and people involved! You can even sign up for weekly updates from snopes on the current hot stories.

Here is a link that might be useful: Snopes

Oh, PLEASE, people!
Snopes has discredited this. This story has been running around the internet for years, right up there with Bill Gates is going to send you money.

If someone with an STD contaminated any food, it would take days or weeks to show up in the victim's blood. There would be no immediate reaction, no matter what the disease is.

Food poisoning doesn't count. That can show up within a few hours, but no one's semen will cause it, it is purely a reaction to spoiled food.

It is a HOAX. Quit passing it on.

Never been there!
I love Carrabas!

I ate there once, and never went back. I can't believe what they charged me for about 12 pieces of noodles with 8 little shrimps (and I mean cocktail sized shrimp!)with a little sauce on it. I could've fed my whole family and had leftovers with the money I paid. I've never understood the lineups going outside the door at the Olive Garden near my place. People must just not know what real Italian food tastes like.

Yes, I know what real Italian food taste like, but I still love Olive Garden. I also love Red Lobster too and glad we have both of them here in town. Not very many restaurants that I don't like. :o)

Good lord. Why do people believe these stupid things??? When did any one ever go to an emergency room and have a doctor ask "if by any chance do you have a doggy bag?" Gonorrhea does not give a rash and it takes weeks to get symptoms. You can't get it on your face either. There is no need to go to Snopes.........just use your noggin.

I was told Olive Garden and Red Lobster are owned by the same companies. Hence the noodles at Red Lobster. Noodles are big moneymakers. Cheap to cook.
I do like the soup and salad at OG though. It's about the only thing there that is not way overpriced.

I'm not a fan of chain "restaurants" and avoid them. I would rather go to a locally owned restaurant any day.

Now, if Olive Garden goes under, you know everyone will blame the economy.

Instead it is stupid things like this that people pass along...

Same with Talbots, JJill, etc... all just stories made up by bored people!

Oh... Darden owns both Red Lobster and Olive Garden, along with Bahama Breeze and Smokey Bones.

If you have a gift card for one, you can use it at any of the restaurants.!

What dilly dally said!! LOL There are urban legends that have been around forever. Remember the one about the snake in the sleeve of a coat at K-Mart? That one went around for a long time. Yeah, what doc asks about a doggie bag? Give me a break. I personally love the salad at O G. It's so popular here you can count on waiting when you go there.

They have a lunch special for all the salad, soup and bread sticks .

That is the only time we go there.

Love the salad and the pasta fazoul soup. and the bread....

Matter of fact, I ate there last Friday, enjoyed it too. I'm sure I don't know what authentic Italian food tastes like, since I've never been to Italy. The plate I had, Chicken Herb con Broccoli, had enough food on it to feed three people easily.

No--this Italian girl from New Jersey does not eat in the Olive Garden, unless it's salad and bread. LOL!!! Same goes for The Macaroni Grill. I'm very picky about these things. JMHO

Our family can NOT stand their food. If they just had quality products, it'd be a different story. We just went there the other night after years of ignoring it, LOL. I don't know why we thought it would be different! The chicken was dry, the seafood in the pasta tasted like it just came out of a warmer, and there was a rotten potato in my soup! Plus our server was new and that just added to the fray. How ironic that this post came up! We'll stick to DH's gramma's food (she's 100% Italian).

Blessings!
Haley

I HATE Olive Garden. Last time we ate there (years ago) I ordered vegetarian lasagna and the waitress brought me one with meat sauce. I noticed right away and told her, she said "Well, can't you just eat around the meat?". :o)

We love both the Olive Garden and Red Lobster. Love the salad at the Olive Garden and I always order Tour of Italy.

Doreen

I'm not a fan of Olive Garden either. We usually stay away from chain restaurants. Do like Carrabba's, though.

While this particular email is unfair to Olive Garden, I think some have been a little hard on the OP. A lot of trusting people tend to believe things until they have caught on to how much misinformation is out there. While it was appropriate to explain to her that this email is a hoax, the piling on served no useful purpose, IMO.

And while we're on the subject, does anyone else wonder how we know we can trust Snopes?? LOL. I actually did read awhile back that they and another fact-finding site do indeed have political leanings and even agendas that would, in my eyes, affect their objectivity. So while I might trust them for some types of information, I'm not so sure I would look to them for any political information. So hard to know, these days, how to get true, impartial news.

I read an interesting thing a while back that said that Snopes themselves start these emails. They create the stir and then "prove" it to be incorrect. Sounds like a good gig.

I always had had my suspicions about that. It would seem that all these emails always had the exact same writing style. The same format. The same goal. I would think........these things can't all be written by the same person?? Who would waste all their time starting these things and why? I guess it is to drive people to the Snopes site to increase their revenue.

Now that is an interesting theory, Dilly Dally. Should we ask snopes if it is true or false?? LOL. And a good point about the writing style.

Now that is an interesting theory, Dilly Dally. Should we ask snopes if it is true or false?? LOL. And a good point about the writing style.

i never said it was an email my daughter works in a hospital she heard it at work when she told my daughternlaw she knew it her sisters are nurses.

I'm flabberghasted.

I'm shocked a nurse would believe such an implausible tale.

I see they didnt post my last message.Im done here Im tired of comming on and everybody jump you when ever they feel like it. Do you remember my email about being in a recession a few months ago and I was jumped Where are we
????Im done here you arent jumpin my butt again .........
have your fun on someone else..

Thanks a lot all you Butt jumpers...you have chased one of our good ones away....

Bull...I hope you reconsider...I'm sorry

patti

I'm sorry when someone feels they have to leave too. When I first posted something on this forum I was jumped on and didn't come back for a long time. But having said that, I also have to say that if something is posted that's wrong, then it's irresponsible NOT to say something about it. We can and should always be polite, but that doesn't mean we can't disagree.

I like Olive Garden just fine. Ate there the other night with friends.

Is it REAL Italian? Beats me, I've never been to Italy, but I like it, so I'm not complaining.

But, I understand they use pasta made with semen-ola flour, thought...

I've been wondering where you've been Kframe! Glad to see some humor to this post. It's about time!

Bulldinkie is right. I'm getting afraid to post because people always jump on each other. There was a post about self-cleaning ovens where I said I hated mine because of the smoke and I once set a potholder on fire. I was told I am filthy dirty and stupid. Remember what Thumper said in "Bambi". If you can't say something good, don't say anything.

hey, I've had people disagree with me here over and over again for years. I don't take a single thing personally anymore. I believe what I believe and I'm not going to let anyone stop me from posting here.

I do believe there is a right way and a wrong way to let someone know what they've read in an email, or what a friend of a friend of a friend heard someone say. I usually try to grin and bear(bare?) it, as you can see in my post above. Things don't have to be in an email to be a hoax.......... There was a similar story going around years ago about McDonalds chicken burgers. To this day, even though I know it's not true, I can't bring myself to try a McChicken sandwich! LOL Oh, and btw, it must be true! It happened to my youngest son's ex-girlfriend! When she told me the story about how she bit into a chicken burger and tasted mayo, and threw the burger in the backseat of her car, I thought the story was familiar. Then a few hours after eating that burger she just happened to end up in the ER and the doctor asked her if she had a McChicken sandwich. And she just happened to have it in the backseat of her car! And there just happened to be a cyst in the meat. ALL FALSE! LOL I knew right there and then, this girl had to go........ Thank goodness she did! LOL

Been BRUTALLY busy at the office. Haven't had much time for anything other than work lately.

But, I have the whole week off. I'm at Mom's right now. We're looking at getting snow tonight.

Unfortunately, we don't have an Olive Garden in town.

Oh, and if any of you lovely ladies feel the need to jump on my butt?

Be my guest. I haven't had much time for dating lately, either. ;-)

BTW... I had two McChicken's on the way up here today.

I'M MUTATING INTO A KILLER ZOMBIE FROM VENUS! YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE INTERNET! IT'S TRUE!

I'll have some Snopes with my Marinara Sauce, please!
I'm not a big Olive Garden fan, but this kind of side-dish-smashing is just disgusting!

It would be fun to investigate "home practices" in the kitchen! Do you always wash the spoon after you lick it? Do you throw out an entire recipe if the dog eats a bit of it? Do you throw away everything that hits the floor?

Hmmmmmm!

A few yrs. ago, I found a katydid in my bagged salad I bought at our chain grocery store. I was washing the bagged salad when I found it. I'd have eaten it, I think, if I had not washed the salad. Not a lot of people do because it's supposedly pretty clean already. Well, not very long ago, I found a small katydid in OG's salad. They are easy to miss because they are just as green as the salad! I check out my foods before I dig into them. I showed them the little bug (I wasn't too bothered by it...) and they were apologetic. I'm sure a lot of this happens in restaurants and we eat a lot of stuff we normally wouldn't choose to eat! We used to love OG only to eat their soup, salad and breadsticks. They would continue to bring you baskets of breadsticks and refill your salad quickly without asking. Now, they don't do that. The salad is barely enough for 2 of us and they only bring you like 3 breadsticks. We run out of breadsticks immediately and then good luck in trying to get the waiters/waitresses to hurry back w/ more before your soup cools off! When we order, we always ask to bring extra so we don't have to wait for them to return and they tell us they are not allowed to do that. Not as good as it used to be.

Years ago I was told your stomach contains hydrochloric acid. So I figure anything I eat gets well "sanitized" by that acid. The worst part of fast food is not the rumor somebody spit on your food, it's the excess sodium, fat, calories. Not to mention the cost! I can make an excellent hamburger on my backyard barbecue for a LOT LESS THAN $3, which is what BigMacs cost around here. As for Olive Garden, I never eat Italian food in restaurants. My DH is an excellent gourmet cook of Italian descent, he learned how to cook from his mother, who came here straight from Rome!

It is true your stomach acid can kill a few things but bacteria and amoebas are not it.

There is an old saying - you have to eat a peck of dirt before you die.

I was just on their website tonight and noticed they have a recipe section. The alfredo sauce recipe had egg yolks in it! EWWW, i love thier alfredo but can't imagine it with egg yolks in it..not sure this is the recipe they use or not..but i found that interesting. I am anxious to try their pizza crust recipe. I have been trying to make restaurant quality crust now for years.