Olive Garden same-store sales are up over 2019 levels.
Casual dining is having a resurgence, benefitting chains like Olive Garden and Texas Roadhouse.
On a recent visit, I found a Rochester, New York location to be as comforting and delicious as ever.
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Olive Garden and casual chain dining are having a resurgence right now as customers return.
Olive Garden in Rochester, NY.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
I visited a location in Rochester, New York for the first time in years to see why the chain is having such a moment.
Olive Garden parking lot in Rochester, NY.
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A huge banner outside advertising open positions showed that Olive Garden is dealing with the same tight labor market as the rest of the restaurant industry.
A sign on the door advertised to-go options, which became key to restaurants' survival in 2020 and now make up 27% of sales, parent company Darden said in a September earnings call.
Olive Garden is promoting online orders.
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Inside, Olive Garden looked exactly as a remembered it, in what the chain calls a "Tuscan Farmhouse" style.
Olive Garden interior in Rochester, NY.
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The instantly recognizable style consists of stone facades, wood details, columns, and archways.
Olive Garden is decorated in a signature style.
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Ceiling beams and doorways throughout the restaurant make it feel more intimate and cozy, breaking up the large building into smaller, quieter spaces.
The Tuscan-inspired design is instantly recognizable.
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I've never been to Italy, so I can't say the design reminds me of any particular region, but it instantly feels like Olive Garden when I walk inside.
The walls are stone facades.
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A huge part of the middle of the restaurant is taken up by the bar, which was mostly empty when I visited, while seating areas were more full.
Olive Garden bar.
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The bar area seemed to be serving as a makeshift bussing station.
Walls are decorate with paintings of pastoral scenes.
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Wine plays a huge part in the restaurant's decor, with a wall decorated with bottles.
Dozens of bottles of wine on display.
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Walls are also decorated throughout with prints of Italian scenes.
Paintings and photos cover the walls.
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Taking the theme extremely literally, tables are divided by faux olive trees.
Olive tree decor.
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We walked past all the Olive Garden-core stone facades and walls of wine to get to a table in the back of the restaurant. Even though it was fairly busy for a weeknight, we were seated right away.
Paper and virtual menus.
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Olive Garden's menus got smaller in the last year, like at many other chains to reduce complexity and make preparation faster.
Olive Garden's shorter, COVID-19-era menu.
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Darden CEO Gene Lee called it a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to cut menus across the board.
Despite cuts, all the classics you'd expect from Olive Garden were still there: chicken parm, fettuccine alfredo, unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks, and create your own pasta.
Classics still on the menu.
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Almost immediately after sitting down, the waitress brought over the real star: breadsticks.
Olive Garden's breadsticks.
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They're greasy, warm, and soft on the inside — just as good as I remembered them, and immediately made the visit worthwhile.
Olive Garden's breadsticks.
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They only came in baskets of three at a time, but that didn't stop us. We polished off the first basket quickly, maybe embarrassingly so.
Breadsticks came in sets of three at a time.
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For an appetizer, we decided to lean into the breadsticks with the $4.99 unlimited dipping sauces.
Marinara sauce.
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We started out with a classic marinara, which was a great complement to the breadsticks.
Dipping Olive Garden breadsticks into marinara sauce.
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I wanted to test out the drink menu, too, so I ordered a berry sangria.
Olive Garden berry sangria.
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I thought it was delicious and fairly large for the $6.50 price tag.
Olive Garden berry sangria.
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My fiance ordered a glass of wine, which was inexpensive and "fine" in his review.
Olive Garden red wine.
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Drinks were served from this station near our table, which had a few dozen bottles of wine and a wine fridge.
Drink station.
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Both entrees came with the option of a soup or salad. My fiance went with the house salad, which came in this gigantic serving bowl.
Salad serving bowl
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Olive Garden servers will also grate cheese on just about anything you order, which we took full advantage of.
Olive Garden house salad.
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I opted for the chicken gnocchi soup, with extra cheese.
Olive Garden chicken gnocchi soup.
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The soup was so creamy and satisfying that I almost regretted not choosing the unlimited soup and salad for my entree.
With extra cheese.
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While we ate our soups and salads, the breadsticks kept coming.
More breadsticks.
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We chose the alfredo dipping sauce for the next round.
Breadsticks in Alfredo sauce.
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By this point, we were both starting to slow down after several rounds of breadsticks, plus heavy sauces and soup.
Breadsticks get Joe's approval.
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We powered through, though, because our entrees came out a few minutes later.
Entrees are served.
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I ordered the create your own pasta with rigatoni, five-cheese marinara, and topped with meatballs.
Create your own pasta with rigatoni and marinara.
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Of course, I topped it with more grated cheese.
Topped with meatballs.
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Once I started eating it, I was glad I got the pasta. It was hearty and familiar, perfect for a cool, rainy fall day.
Rigatoni and sauce.
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My fiance went for the peak Olive Garden experience with the Tour of Italy, which includes chicken parmesan, fettuccine Alfredo, and lasagna.
Tour of Italy entree.
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A plate full of cheesy carbs, it was exactly what you expect when you walk into Olive Garden.
Fettuccine Alfredo.
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Predictably, we soon had to give up our aspirations of finishing this huge meal.
Half-eaten entrees.
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It's nearly impossible to pace yourself with breadsticks and save room for your meal, but why would you need to? You can always bring it home with you.
Left-over breadsticks.
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The large servings, particularly the Tour of Italy, don't even seem intended to be eaten in one sitting.
We couldn't quite finish.
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Our waitress brought us to-go boxes to pack up our food, including the remaining breadsticks.
Create your own pasta in a to-go box.
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They reheated great for lunch the next day.
To-go boxes.
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When it was time to pay, the server directed us to the small tablet on the table which had an itemized bill and the option to split the check, call over the server, or order more food.
Digital payment screen on tablet.
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The entire meal came out to $59 before tip.
Olive Garden sales are up.Digital payment screen on tablet.
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Business has picked for Olive Garden after a slow down earlier in the pandemic.
Olive Garden wine glasses.
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Same-store sales are up over 37% at Olive Garden, Darden reported in its most recent earnings call, and monthly visits have been hovering around 2019 levels and even surpassing them, Placer.ai found.
Now, with a pared down one-page menu and a focus on the things that made it popular — huge, reasonably priced servings of pasta and breadsticks — Olive Garden feels relevant again.
Olive Garden wall decor.
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Though there are shortages of foods, materials, and just about everything else right now, you'd never know it inside Olive Garden, where you'll see mountains of pasta and endless breadsticks. It feels indulgent and comforting, ideal for this moment.