Originally Posted By mawnck >>Since when is a restaurant chain closing a WOrld Event<< The other shoe may not have dropped yet.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< OLive Garden ... run these commercials about how their chefs train in Italy >>> Ha! Yea, maybe their 3 head chefs at HQ but I think there's a subtle implication that the person actually preparing your food has that sort of training. This reminds me of a conversation I overheard a couple of years ago in Hong Kong: at the next table was seated an off-duty flight attendant and her date. She was going on and on about this great Italian restaurant she found in Dubai. It was called the "Olive Garden!" she explained with much excitement. It took my full willpower to not make an audible outburst.
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 Granted this is Milwaukee but the OG near me and the Red Lobster are always packed. Doesn't matter the day or time.
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 <<The have some lighter Weight Watchers offerings, but like all restaurants, they are lawfully now required to list the calorie content of their meals. >> Since I started Weight Watchers that's been a conundrum to find something manageable on the menu. Red Lobster did have some of the better options than say a TGI-Fridays or the Olive Garden. We do have a place called Carrabas around here, not sure how far reaching they are, but the food there is far superior to the OG.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan DDMAN, have you seen this site? Converts menu items at various restaurants into WW points: <a href="http://www.dwlz.com/restaurants.html" target="_blank">http://www.dwlz.com/restaurants.html</a>
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 Yeah I have. I do check it quite often. Though when I do eat out, I make sure that I followed the plan during the week.
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 I don't want to sound like a shill for them but if you want do a weight loss plan, I highly recommend WW.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<We do have a place called Carrabas around here, not sure how far reaching they are, but the food there is far superior to the OG.>> They're not even in the same league! I used to take my mom to the one in Scottsdale (near the TPC golf course) when I'd drive her to the Mayo Clinic twice a year for her check-ups. For a chain restaurant, their food is really good. The minestrone soup doesn't taste like it came out of a can, and the salads/antipasto are also excellent. I typically stay away from pasta dishes, but their lasagne is very good. I would recommend Carrabba's Italian Grill to anyone. Unfortunately, they don't exist on the west coast. Arizona and Nevada are the closest states to CA where they can be found. If OG could become more like Carrabba's, then they'd probably survive
Originally Posted By DyGDisney I did WW after having my second child. It is an awesome program that actually works! I lost 20 pounds more than I gained during my pregnancy and I've kept (almost all) of it off for 9 years. I do the points when I'm trying to lose a couple of pounds here and there; before vacations, after holidays and such.
Originally Posted By DyGDisney I'm up about 5 pounds from my WW low, but that's not bad for 9 years! Genetics is the main culprit so I plan to use WW points for many years to come.
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 It's why I'm not around as often, sort have gotten up off the computer and become a little more active.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Well done on the Weight loss guys. Sadly, once you are used to ww, the habits stay with you, but you have to find new techniques. I was not very impressed with Olive Garden, but I am an American Sicilian. But in defeence of chain restaurants, they are great when you are on the road as you know what you are going to get. I like discovering new local places, but chains are good if pushed for time.
Originally Posted By mele Good job, DDMAN! I bet you feel so much better! I don't hate the Olive Garden but I don't love it. My mom does, however, so we sometimes go for lunch. (I don't care about their breadsticks much but the zuppa toscana is really good.) I think they've gotten extremely stingy with the breadsticks and salad. Once my mom requested extra olives with her salad. When the bowl came there was exactly ONE olive in the entire bowl. Talk about saying "screw you" to your customer. We like Macaroni Grill (my daughter LOVES it). I could just eat the olives and bread all day. I don't really give a crap if the Olive Garden or any of their restaurants close, except it means people will lose their jobs and there will be more people in the places I eat.
Originally Posted By mele When the economy started to go south, the Claim Jumper by my house was always empty (after being packed most of the time). It recovered slightly...but then lost a lot of customers (like my family) once they had to post their calorie count. I swear, they find ways to add extra fat into things that don't even need it. A serving of chicken pot pie should have have 2100 calories. I've heard that they've lightened some items (and their menu does show it...slightly) but it just doesn't appeal to us anymore.
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 Thanks Mele I really do. When I started I was 235 now I'm 209, I definitely want to get below 200 about 185 that would mean 50lbs. And I even have more incentive. My company is doing a promotion where you would weigh in between now and February 4(?) and then you would weigh out sometime in November. If you are able to lose 10% of your body weight, you're going to be eligible to have your medical premiums paid for 2013. They're going to draw names. Trust me the way things are these days, I'm very fortunate to work for a company that can do that.
Originally Posted By Princessjenn5795 The Zuppa Toscana, breadsticks and calamari are the only things I ever order from Olive Garden. I eat there maybe once a year, so I would not be heart broken if they closed. The reason that Claim Jumper food is so high in calories is not really because of the food itself- it is because of the portion sizes. Since that same chicken pot pie that was mentioned above could easily feed two or even three people, 2100 calories for the whole thing is not too terrible. I only eat there about once a year or so too, and only because my dad loves it. My husband took a picture of me the last time we were there... the plate in front of me was literally twice as wide as I am, and it was full. It looks ridiculous! I think I only managed to get through about a 1/4 of the food.
