FRAUD: Olive Garden’s ‘Culinary Institute’ in Tuscany ?! – MUST READ

I know I know — ANOTHER Budget Savvy Diva Opinion Time — I call them opinion posts, the hubby calls them complaining posts… Either way – I would love if you read them – plus let me know what YOU think :)

Being a Diva I have a lot of opinions — and I love to tell you my horror stories of shopping and dealing with companies — because I feel your pain

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I have been super excited to write this opinion post… while on our trip to Phoenix, Mr.Savvy and I made a stop to the Olive Garden because we had a gift card PLUS they have a great gluten free menu. Boy – what a disappointment from overcharging us for items we did not receive to bland and mushy food – let’s just say if we were part of that family then we want an emancipation. When we got to the hotel room and turned on the t.v. a olive garden commerical came on – about how they send chefs to a exclusive school in Tuscany to learn from the best chefs about how to cook ( I am assuming dry chicken…jk). So I decided to do research on this school – because they use it as a form of advertising – and many of us go there because we think that we are paying for REAL Italian food. The prices are not that great – there are coupons at times. But I have talked to many people who claim to pay the prices because of this claim of cooking school in Italy.
THE TRUTH: There is NO SCHOOL
( TIME confirms this)

So HERE is the Low Down:
Olive Garden’s “cooking school” is located in Riserva di Fizzano – which is actually a hotel which has a restaurant in it – but NO SCHOOL. A Olive Garden chef who went this so-called school said that it is pretty much a paid vacation where  the only time she saw the”‘chef” was when she made a bolognese sauce so that pictures could be taken for a local newspaper. That was all the cooking she did or learning. These are not the only claims. A spokesperson for the hotel confirmed an agreement does exist between them and Olive Garden and that about a dozen people each week visit in the off-season between November and March. The chef spends some time with them, but there is no school. The house and kitchen belong to a local wine label. Personally I think this is shocking!!! They so heavly market this institute in their marketing – I guess they figure that they can keep their chefs happy with a free trip to Italy and get marketing out of it as well.
Are you surprised by this? Love to hear your thoughts?

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Comments

  • Tara

    I am so glad you posted about this! I just happened to see this commercial the other day and wondered if this could possibly be true for a Chain restaurant like Olive Garden lol Thanks for clearing this up!

  • Gianna

    I could have said that LOL. It is not Italian food.. i’m Italian and have never made anything that tastes as bad as the so called food they serve there. Last time I ate there was well over 10 years ago and have never been back.

  • Whooo!

    Are you kidding me?!
    Though I enter to win, I have to say we went because we won a small $10 gift card. I have to say the food was not very good. My salad was just cut-up bagged, I am sure, iceberg, and just eh. I have been to Italy and we ate salad at a winery and it was fantastico!
    I couldn’t understand how their food was so poor because the food in Italy is not. I guess I know now.
    Aren’t they, and Red Lobster, owned by the same group? Well, Red Lobster is just awful now.
    The prices are not low, either. I find small little local places have better food, and prices, too.
    Thanks for letting us know.

  • Unknown

    Im a waiter at Olive Garden, and i do agree that the food is not all that. My fathers side of the family that are Italian made Italian dishes all the time and Olive Garden would never come close in this life time. As far as the school goes, I had a friend tell me that on TV they were talking about the School being a FRUAD. Prices should be reduced, for food that does not meet up to the right expectations.