Craving carnitas, I decided to make my way over to La Michoacana on South Virginia and Kietzke. With 99-cent tacos and burritos weighing in at over a pound for just $3.75, it's a popular place with good reason.
So when I pulled into the strip mall, it wasn't that surprising to find it packed all the way to Big 5 at the south end. But when I went into Michi I was only third in line and the restaurant was only about a quarter full. What gives, I thought?
The answer, as I would soon find out, truly boggles the culinary mind. All those cars were there for the Olive Garden! Yes, the McDonald's of linguine had about 30 people waiting outside for seats at 4:55 p.m. on a Saturday!
Does that mean the king of Italian food in the Biggest Little City is a chain restaurant owned by the same company as Red Lobster? Are the bread sticks really that good?
Here's MAD TV's take on this culinary institution.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Is Reno That Hard Up For Decent Italian Food?
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2 comments:
I've had nearly the same experience...except it was lunch on a Saturday. I was going to the battery store, and couldn't find a place to park. When I finally got into the store, I asked the guy why the parking lot was so full. He said that particular Olive Garden was one of the best performing in the nation. Pathetic.
That is sad. I've been by there before and always figured all the cars were split among the other businesses. Silly me.
I remember years ago when I worked in Northridge, CA, there was an Olive Garden within walking distance from our company. So sometimes a few of us would order something to go for lunch (we had just 30 minutes). But, inevitably, the order wasn't ready or was wrong. The service was horrible. There would always be three people at the door to greet you but nobody at the counter to ring you up or get your to-go order.
I got pissed once so I wrote their company headquarters and complained. A week or so letter I received the usual apology and a gift certificate. I tried it again and it was screwed up even more. I wrote them and more gift certificates arrived. After a month or so I decided to tempt fate again. Same story.
So I wrote them a third time saying don't even bother apologizing or sending more gift certificates because my shadow would never darken an Olive Garden doorway ever again. They actually wrote back saying "Per your instructions, no gift certificate is enclosed."
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