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Restaurant Comings & Goings

Olive Garden is about as good as East Side Mario's, which means not at all.

Why people willingly pay high prices for shitty food at generic corporate chain restaurants boggles my mind.
 
Towered said:
Olive Garden is about as good as East Side Mario's, which means not at all.

Why people willingly pay high prices for shitty food at generic corporate chain restaurants boggles my mind.
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High prices?

Don't get me wrong, I'm content to agree w/the thrust of your review........but I wouldn't describe any of those places as remotely high priced.

I would contend that their fairly low price is perhaps their leading source of appeal.

I was out for 12km walk w/friends on the weekend, enjoying the weather, we purposefully planned a meal break about 2/3 of the way through......and stopped at lovely Italian place for lunch.

The pasta itself was $21 a portion, at lunch, totally apart from anything else.

I thought it was good value for a nice meal; but many would wince at that, and gladly grab lesser pasta at $13

***

Part of which may be that they've never tried the really good pasta; because they won't (or can't) pay that much.
 
Jonny5 said:
What a waste of prime commercial rental real estate that's going to be. I'm sure they will have a giant two floor "flagship restaurant" at or very near Yonge-Dundas Square. "Come downtown to eat the same crap you could get at the Olive Garden location five minutes away from your house in Vaughan!"
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Vaughan is pretty damn Italian. Which means it won't be a good market for Olive Garden at all.
 
PinkLucy said:
A plate of chicken alfredo is $19 US, cheese ravioli is $15 US, so really, it's not that cheap
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That is cheap! I went to Subway today got a sub combo and it cost me over $15. Higher minimum wages now a days, prices have gone up. My friends bar people are complaning about $9 for pint, well....everyone wants a livable wage but no one wants to pay for it :rolleyes:
 
gabe said:
That is cheap! I went to Subway today got a sub combo and it cost me over $15. Higher minimum wages now a days, prices have gone up. My friends bar people are complaning about $9 for pint, well....everyone wants a livable wage but no one wants to pay for it :rolleyes:
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I'm comparing a plate of yucky, industrial chain chicken alfredo at $25 CDN to Northern Light's fresh $21 CDN plate of pasta. I'd get a lot more nourishment and a bigger meal with your $15 sub although I'd rather eat that fresh, possibly home made pasta.
 
PinkLucy said:
..... although I'd rather eat that fresh, possibly home made pasta.
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Dinner the other night......fettuccine w/morel mushroom reduction w/chianti and cream, and thin slices of beef tenderloin, and leaves of wild leek threaded throughout.
 
Let's not kid ourselves with the whole "Oh, we're much too fussy and demanding to accept low-quality fare like the Olive Garden!" narrative. Far worse chains than Olive Garden have thrived in Ontario, and continue to do so. I remind you all that Pizza Pizza is still the #1 pizza delivery chain here; that's pretty damning if you ask me. And while OG isn't gourmet, or even really Italian for that matter, I rank it parsecs above East Side Mario's. I've only been to ESM about half a dozen times in my life, yet they've managed to serve me two of the very worst restaurant meals I've outside of a Golden Griddle location.

I remember the location at Atrium On Bay always being packed. Always. I couldn't believe they pulled the plug on OG in Ontario, but left Red Lobster open.
 
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Bruno Republic said:
Let's not kid ourselves with the whole "Oh, we're much too fussy and demanding to accept low-quality fare like the Olive Garden!" narrative. Far worse chains than Olive Garden have thrived in Ontario, and continue to do so. I remind you all that Pizza Pizza is still the #1 pizza delivery chain here; that's pretty damning if you ask me. And while OG isn't gourmet, or even really Italian for that matter, I rank it parsecs above East Side Mario's. I've only been to ESM about half a dozen times in my life, yet they've managed to served me two of the very worst restaurant meals I've outside of a Golden Griddle location.

I remember the location at Atrium On Bay always being packed. Always. I couldn't believe they pulled the plug on OG in Ontario, but left Red Lobster open.
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Doesn't Scaddabush do decent business around here? The even have a Woodbridge location.

Haven't most of the GTA East Side Mario's shut down?
 
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