http://www.morguentoole.com/
Type: Unique American Fare
Serves Beer/ Alcohol
Restaurant/ Hotel
Contact: 130 Center Street
Meyersdale, PA 15552
814.634.9900
Price Range: $10 & Up
Rating: 1/5
My mom ordered a steak...it was cold...enough said.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Morguen Toole Company, Myersdale, PA
The Morguen Toole Company
http://www.morguentoole.com/
Type: Unique American Fare
Serves Beer/ Alcohol
Restaurant/ Hotel
Contact: 130 Center Street
Meyersdale, PA 15552
814.634.9900
Price Range: $10 & Up
Rating: 1/5
My mom ordered a steak...it was cold...enough said.
http://www.morguentoole.com/
Type: Unique American Fare
Serves Beer/ Alcohol
Restaurant/ Hotel
Contact: 130 Center Street
Meyersdale, PA 15552
814.634.9900
Price Range: $10 & Up
Rating: 1/5
My mom ordered a steak...it was cold...enough said.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
The Olive Garden, Greensburg, PA
Olive Garden
Type: Italian "Family Style"
Severs a variety of alcohol
Contact:1085 E. Pittsburgh St.
Greensburg, PA 15601
724-832-9262
Price Range: $15-$25/ person
Rating: 1/ 5
I'd been really hungry for Italian food, and specifically went for a shopping trip to nearby Greensburg, PA (in Westmoreland County) to eat at the Olive Garden. It had been quite a bit of time since I'd been there, but I held on to fond memories of their soup and bread sticks.
As with every visit to The Olive Garden, we were gifted with a pager and told our wait would only be about 15 minutes. At least there wasn't a huge crowd this time, but our wait extended for the entire 15 minutes. It's like some sort of uncomfortable dance as people get one of the seven available seats in the lobby, and even more opted for standing outside in the ninety-degree heat.
Our seats were comfortable and we got a decent table. Our server, Nate, was super friendly and introduced another server (Jake?) who was to assist him. We never saw Jake again, but Nate proved to do a great job for the first half of the visit.
We chose items to eat, then we spotted the 2 for $25 deal and decided to order off of that menu since I really wanted to try the smoked mozzarella chicken and it's not on the regular menu.
Nate was knowledgeable about the menu and smoothly navigated me through my twenty questions about exactly what was in the entree. I was with my mother, and her choice was an easy pasta Alfredo. She got the salad, I ordered the zuppa toscana (sausage and potato soup). We opted for the two appetizers and were warned the portions would be small. Since my mother eats very little meat, the fried zucchini and fried mozzarella were the obvious choices.
First, it was nice that Nate generously grated cheese on everything...the salad, the soup, the entrees...but it's a shtick, and I realized that.
The salad looked great, but it came with dressing already on it, an Italian sort of dressing, so I'm glad I didn't order it. I'd have sent it back. It took my mom a few moments of poking around in the salad before she could answer my question, "Err...is there dressing on that?" I seriously think this is something that should have been disclosed during the ordering as I can't be the only one out there that dislikes Italian dressing.
Oh, yeah...bread sticks...warm from the oven, but not overly fresh, so I was disappointed. They tasted kind of stale, which surprised me. When I was a teenager, I worked at a large buffet-style restaurant and the bread sticks reminded me of the exact same ones that sat on our steamer table all day long. I'm not sure where my fond memory of bread sticks had come from.
Now, the soup...I order this soup on every visit to the Olive Garden. I love sausage and potatoes, and their soup has a good flavor. This was no different, except there were 2 tiny quartered chunks of sausage, and one slice of potato in the entire soup! It was so barren, I was thankful that a stray mini-shell noodle had found its way into my bowl. It was NOTHING like the advertised picture, as all I got was broth. ...a MAJOR disappointment.
Around this time, Nate had disappeared. Some bus-woman was clearing the adjacent table and she seriously piled so many plates and glasses on her tray, I closed my eyes when she walked past us, as I expected her to drop the whole damn thing. Having been well trained as a waitress, I realize that clearing plates is a crucial part of providing a great dining experience.
Our fried zucchini and mozzarella came. Yes, the portions were small, but with the bread sticks, soup, and salad in our bellies, who would notice? We also ordered the fried lasagna appetizer. They were completely bland. I salted the hell out of mine and they were still just 'meh'. I have had exceptionally tasty versions of both of these appetizers and realize they aren't hard to make, so they were pretty much a failure...to the extent in which we didn't finish them.
Nate appeared with our food, ready with his little cheese grinder. But...after a few seconds, we realized it wasn't our food. A few more moments later, it clicked with him that he had indeed brought the wrong dinners to us, so he left.
After a few minutes, he reappeared with our entrees and cheesed them up for us. My smoked mozzarella chicken was visually unappealing as there were red pepper rings just thrown in one big chunk in one area. Even though I like red peppers, I chucked them aside because they looked so damn unappetizing.
Probably most disturbing was that even though our plates were hot, the food was only lukewarm.
My chicken was tenderized and lightly breaded, juicy and succulent. I only had to spit gristle into my napkin twice, but I overlooked that.
Even though Nate had told me the sauce was a reduced white sauce, I never expected the dish to be so sauceless. The joy of slopping up the sauce with a bread stick would not be happening for either myself or my mother. Even with her 'saucy' dish, there was an absence of it. Worse yet was the flavor. Three bites into my dish, I realized I was eating the equivalent of buttered noodles. There was virtually NO flavor. None. I salt and peppered the hell out of it...still, nothing more than a plain noodle flavor could be squeezed out of the majority of this dish. I looked at my mother and said, "This is so bland, even if they gave me a gift certificate for this place, I'd never come back."
I pushed my dish aside, and even though I hate lasagna, I decided to eat the fried lasagna pieces. Again, these were as tasteless as the other appetizers. For $8.99, I had better expectations of this fried lasagna.
At this point, Nate was 'missing'. On his behalf, there was a large table of nearly 20 next to us, but his buddy Josh was busy with them.
I was dying for a refill. I'd never get one. Total refills: zero So, I paid $2.45 for an unsweetened iced tea that was lukewarm with zero refills.
Nate reappeared in time to ask me if I wanted more soup. I responded with a, "Huh?" (because we were done eating) and he dropped the check off and left.
I looked at my mother and said, "I guess we aren't getting dessert." Even though I was A) Still hungry because most of our food went uneaten and B) Specifically came for Tiramisu. I figured I'd just snag Nate and ask him for Tiramisu, but he vanished. I put the money into the black folder with the check and perched it on the edge of the table. At least FIFTEEN minutes later, Nate dropped off two take-out containers (since we obviously weren't eating our food) and took the check. This was a long, uncomfortable wait as we weren't eating, and we didn't have drinks, and we weren't being waited on. I was unhappy. Please note: No manager or other staff visited our table the entire time, so...what to do...
After a bit of time, Nate came back and told us he'd given us the wrong check and needed more money. I examined the check closely (which I hadn't done before in my parched wait), and tossed even more money in and waited for Nate to return...then he took the money...then we waited another ten minutes before he brought our change.
Against my better judgement, I left a very nice tip, and we left with our future dog food in a brown bag.
So, The Olive Garden is a typical chain restaurant. You can expect the continuity, but that's only a good thing if they made decent food. The service, although greatly lacking, varies from day to day, location to location, just as any other place would.
My recommendation would be to first, just skip The Olive Garden and its over-priced food. If you decide to go there, I'd advise you stuck with the unlimited soup-salad-bread sticks deal, as I've never had untasty soup there (just barren), and with the refill option, you're sure to get more than just broth as I had.
As I left, I said to my mother, "I'd have gotten better food at Eat N' Park." Seriously, if you find yourself in Greensburg, there are other great places to eat, and with so many options, skip The Olive Garden.
Bill: $40.97 for two people (2 iced teas, the 2 for $25 deal, and one additional appetizer.)
Later that night: Intestinal Distress
Dog: Happy With Leftovers
Type: Italian "Family Style"
Severs a variety of alcohol
Contact:1085 E. Pittsburgh St.
Greensburg, PA 15601
724-832-9262
Price Range: $15-$25/ person
Rating: 1/ 5
I'd been really hungry for Italian food, and specifically went for a shopping trip to nearby Greensburg, PA (in Westmoreland County) to eat at the Olive Garden. It had been quite a bit of time since I'd been there, but I held on to fond memories of their soup and bread sticks.
As with every visit to The Olive Garden, we were gifted with a pager and told our wait would only be about 15 minutes. At least there wasn't a huge crowd this time, but our wait extended for the entire 15 minutes. It's like some sort of uncomfortable dance as people get one of the seven available seats in the lobby, and even more opted for standing outside in the ninety-degree heat.
Our seats were comfortable and we got a decent table. Our server, Nate, was super friendly and introduced another server (Jake?) who was to assist him. We never saw Jake again, but Nate proved to do a great job for the first half of the visit.
We chose items to eat, then we spotted the 2 for $25 deal and decided to order off of that menu since I really wanted to try the smoked mozzarella chicken and it's not on the regular menu.
Nate was knowledgeable about the menu and smoothly navigated me through my twenty questions about exactly what was in the entree. I was with my mother, and her choice was an easy pasta Alfredo. She got the salad, I ordered the zuppa toscana (sausage and potato soup). We opted for the two appetizers and were warned the portions would be small. Since my mother eats very little meat, the fried zucchini and fried mozzarella were the obvious choices.
First, it was nice that Nate generously grated cheese on everything...the salad, the soup, the entrees...but it's a shtick, and I realized that.
The salad looked great, but it came with dressing already on it, an Italian sort of dressing, so I'm glad I didn't order it. I'd have sent it back. It took my mom a few moments of poking around in the salad before she could answer my question, "Err...is there dressing on that?" I seriously think this is something that should have been disclosed during the ordering as I can't be the only one out there that dislikes Italian dressing.
Oh, yeah...bread sticks...warm from the oven, but not overly fresh, so I was disappointed. They tasted kind of stale, which surprised me. When I was a teenager, I worked at a large buffet-style restaurant and the bread sticks reminded me of the exact same ones that sat on our steamer table all day long. I'm not sure where my fond memory of bread sticks had come from.
Now, the soup...I order this soup on every visit to the Olive Garden. I love sausage and potatoes, and their soup has a good flavor. This was no different, except there were 2 tiny quartered chunks of sausage, and one slice of potato in the entire soup! It was so barren, I was thankful that a stray mini-shell noodle had found its way into my bowl. It was NOTHING like the advertised picture, as all I got was broth. ...a MAJOR disappointment.
Around this time, Nate had disappeared. Some bus-woman was clearing the adjacent table and she seriously piled so many plates and glasses on her tray, I closed my eyes when she walked past us, as I expected her to drop the whole damn thing. Having been well trained as a waitress, I realize that clearing plates is a crucial part of providing a great dining experience.
Our fried zucchini and mozzarella came. Yes, the portions were small, but with the bread sticks, soup, and salad in our bellies, who would notice? We also ordered the fried lasagna appetizer. They were completely bland. I salted the hell out of mine and they were still just 'meh'. I have had exceptionally tasty versions of both of these appetizers and realize they aren't hard to make, so they were pretty much a failure...to the extent in which we didn't finish them.
Nate appeared with our food, ready with his little cheese grinder. But...after a few seconds, we realized it wasn't our food. A few more moments later, it clicked with him that he had indeed brought the wrong dinners to us, so he left.
After a few minutes, he reappeared with our entrees and cheesed them up for us. My smoked mozzarella chicken was visually unappealing as there were red pepper rings just thrown in one big chunk in one area. Even though I like red peppers, I chucked them aside because they looked so damn unappetizing.
Probably most disturbing was that even though our plates were hot, the food was only lukewarm.
My chicken was tenderized and lightly breaded, juicy and succulent. I only had to spit gristle into my napkin twice, but I overlooked that.
Even though Nate had told me the sauce was a reduced white sauce, I never expected the dish to be so sauceless. The joy of slopping up the sauce with a bread stick would not be happening for either myself or my mother. Even with her 'saucy' dish, there was an absence of it. Worse yet was the flavor. Three bites into my dish, I realized I was eating the equivalent of buttered noodles. There was virtually NO flavor. None. I salt and peppered the hell out of it...still, nothing more than a plain noodle flavor could be squeezed out of the majority of this dish. I looked at my mother and said, "This is so bland, even if they gave me a gift certificate for this place, I'd never come back."
I pushed my dish aside, and even though I hate lasagna, I decided to eat the fried lasagna pieces. Again, these were as tasteless as the other appetizers. For $8.99, I had better expectations of this fried lasagna.
At this point, Nate was 'missing'. On his behalf, there was a large table of nearly 20 next to us, but his buddy Josh was busy with them.
I was dying for a refill. I'd never get one. Total refills: zero So, I paid $2.45 for an unsweetened iced tea that was lukewarm with zero refills.
Nate reappeared in time to ask me if I wanted more soup. I responded with a, "Huh?" (because we were done eating) and he dropped the check off and left.
I looked at my mother and said, "I guess we aren't getting dessert." Even though I was A) Still hungry because most of our food went uneaten and B) Specifically came for Tiramisu. I figured I'd just snag Nate and ask him for Tiramisu, but he vanished. I put the money into the black folder with the check and perched it on the edge of the table. At least FIFTEEN minutes later, Nate dropped off two take-out containers (since we obviously weren't eating our food) and took the check. This was a long, uncomfortable wait as we weren't eating, and we didn't have drinks, and we weren't being waited on. I was unhappy. Please note: No manager or other staff visited our table the entire time, so...what to do...
After a bit of time, Nate came back and told us he'd given us the wrong check and needed more money. I examined the check closely (which I hadn't done before in my parched wait), and tossed even more money in and waited for Nate to return...then he took the money...then we waited another ten minutes before he brought our change.
Against my better judgement, I left a very nice tip, and we left with our future dog food in a brown bag.
So, The Olive Garden is a typical chain restaurant. You can expect the continuity, but that's only a good thing if they made decent food. The service, although greatly lacking, varies from day to day, location to location, just as any other place would.
My recommendation would be to first, just skip The Olive Garden and its over-priced food. If you decide to go there, I'd advise you stuck with the unlimited soup-salad-bread sticks deal, as I've never had untasty soup there (just barren), and with the refill option, you're sure to get more than just broth as I had.
As I left, I said to my mother, "I'd have gotten better food at Eat N' Park." Seriously, if you find yourself in Greensburg, there are other great places to eat, and with so many options, skip The Olive Garden.
Bill: $40.97 for two people (2 iced teas, the 2 for $25 deal, and one additional appetizer.)
Later that night: Intestinal Distress
Dog: Happy With Leftovers
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