Olive Garden - more good stuff

It was Friday evening in Brookfield. Trying to get a seat in a restaurant on Bluemound is like trying to get one at Lambeau on a Sunday afternoon. So the minute The Man came home from work, we hit Olive Garden at 5:15. That’s early even for Wisconsinites. The parking lot was almost empty. There were tables and more tables available. Still, when I stopped in the ladies room on the way in, though it has gorgeous tiles and nice fixtures, what do you suppose I found? Yep. An overflowing waste container, paper everywhere. Even George Webb’s has a policy that the waiters must clean up the bathrooms when their shift is done. So what’s with the Olive Garden? I mentioned it to a manager on our way out; she assured me she’d deal with it. But by then, I’d gone home.

Olive Garden is light and spacious, lots of room between tables. It is all tables; no booths. The Man Whose Legs Are Somewhat Shorter Than Kareem Abdul Jabar’s prefers a table. I prefer it when dining with four people (which we weren’t this evening – who else would eat so early?) because you aren’t bumping butts (and squashing purses) with anyone.

I glanced at the wine list, though this brightly lit restaurant does not seem the kind of place in which you'd lounge about with a glass of wine. There wasn’t a wine that was tempting, except for the bottle of Barolo for $65, which The Man Who Drinks Only White Wine And Actually Prefers Diet Pepsi would not have shared with me – and it would have been exceedingly unlikely that I could have talked him into oiling up The Over-Exercised Wallet so it would open that far without creaking. Olive Garden pushes an unknown house wine. I can’t judge it without trying it, and I wouldn’t waste The Man’s wallet on a glass of totally unknown, cheap wine.

The food, on the other hand, is very good. The Man Who Prefers Italian To Any Cuisine But Mine Or My Mother’s (you notice, I didn’t say His Mother’s) ordered spaghetti with meat sauce ($9.75). He said it was very comparable to his absolute favorite spaghetti, which is from Venice Club. I chose Grilled Shrimp Caprese ($15.50). It was a delicious pile of angel hair pasta with 10 large grilled shrimp piled on it and some tomatoes and mozzerella cheese in a garlic butter sauce. I ate half. There’s a good lunch for tomorrow. We shared a bowl of Olive Garden’s famous salad, though in my opinion (and that's what you get here) their tasty vinaigrette seems a waste on boring iceberg lettuce.

Though I drooled over the luscious looking dessert menu, I could hear my mother’s voice from the grave agreeing with The Tightwad that if I couldn’t clean my plate, I had no business blowing "good money" on dessert. So much for Black Tie Mousse Cake – Jeanne, it had your name on it – chocolate cheesecake with chocolate cake and chocolate mousse and oh, yum.

I’ve been forgetting to check out the bars in our last few establishments. Bonefish was the one I noticed. It had an attractive bar area with a TV for rooting for the Brewers-now-Badgers/Packers, and maybe Monsoon did too. But Olive Garden’s bar did not have TV and seemed to be just a dining area for smokers.

The restaurant manager stopped at our table to ask if all was well -- a gesture that I appreciate. She also gave us a survey to fill out and a four dollar coupon. The Man pocketed that puppy in a hurry, just in case I might ever insist on dining out again after the kitchen is done. Ever.

So I’m enjoying it while it lasts...
Kitchenless in Brookfield