Marilyn Hagerty's Olive Garden Review For 'Grand Forks Herald' Goes Viral

An earnest review of the new location of Olive Garden in Grand Forks, N.D. went viral this week -- much to the surprise of the restaurant and its writer, longtime Grand Forks Herald columnist Marilyn Hagerty.

The review has attracted notice for Hagerty's unbridled enthusiasm for the restaurant. She orders just chicken Alfredo ("comforting on a cold day") and a water, but still manages to wax rhapsodic. She's especially struck by the Olive Garden's "impressive" decor. "All in all, it is the largest and most beautiful restaurant now operating in Grand Forks," she writes.

Her piece seems first to have been picked up by The Denver Omelette, a food blog by a North Dakota native. From there, it made its way to Guyism, which described it as "unwittingly hilarious, and City Pages, which called it the "greatest restaurant review ever written." It took a mention on Gawker, though, to bring it to the mass.

According to the Grand Forks Herald, the review has garnered over 100,000 hits since its publication on Monday. That's 20 times as many as its closest competitor at the paper.

Hagerty, for her part, seems relatively unfazed by the ordeal. She told the Village Voice, "I don't get it." She explained, "I don't have time to sit here and twit over whether some self-styled food expert likes, or does not like, my column."

HuffPost Food called the local branch of Olive Garden to gauge workers' reaction to all the attention. The branch's culinary manager, Amanda (who refused to give us her last name), said she hadn't yet gotten a chance to read the review, but was happy to that the location was being noticed.

"I know they've been wanting it for a long time, but that's excellent that we're getting it now," she said.

She also noted, though, that the review hadn't had a noticeable impact on business. The restaurant's been nearly full, she said, since opening at the end of January. Because it's only the fourth location in the state, people have been driving from throughout the region to get a taste of the branch's pasta and unlimited breadsticks.

Not that the Grand Forks Olive Garden is resting on its laurels. When we asked to speak to the location's general manager, Donald Szutenbach, we were told he was in Italy, training at the brand's Culinary Institute of Tuscany.

UPDATE: The Grand Forks Herald posted another article on its website about the Marilyn Hagerty phenomenon this morning, which notes that the review had gotten a whopping 270,000 hits as of 7:30 a.m. on Friday. Don't miss the paper's video report on Hagerty -- it features a brief cameo of this very article! How meta!

Comments

[Chevll]

11:56 PM on 01/02/2013

I'm slightly confused why this gained such popularity?? It sounds like a standard, albeit exhaustive, review of a restaurant given by someone who is obviously in a town without much variety. Am I missing something here?

[LaLibellule]

10:10 PM on 11/15/2012

"Meta" is 2008 hipster slang, let it die!!

[erinbliss]

10:21 AM on 07/23/2012

WOW!! Haute Cuisine in ND! LOL!!! I wouldn't eat at an Olive Garden if you bought me dinner and gave me the corporate profits for a year. YUCK! Worst excuse for Italian food out there. BUT if you're out in the middle of BFN, I guess you'd be happy to get something kind of resembling Italian food.

[retour]

02:24 PM on 07/15/2012

North and South Dakota's are great states...I have nothing but good things to say about all the people I have met and worked with in South Dakota..but..Restaurants?....there is not a lot to choose from and thats a fact

[useitup]

07:25 PM on 07/02/2012

Don't waste your time providing reviews or feedback to Darden headquarters in Orlando, they could care less about their chain stores or your comments. When Oliver Garden opened some 20+ years ago, their food was pretty good for a corporate chain, but it's been in a nose dive for the five years, bland is being polite. And don't get me started on Red Lobster, Darden too, and their overpriced, undersized portions, frozen seafood. On the other hand Smokey Bones, Darden again, is outstanding if you can find one still in business.

[erinbliss]

10:22 AM on 07/23/2012

Isn't it ironic that a Red Lobster in FLORIDA would use frozen seafood? Also ironic that it's hard to find a Smokey Bones if it's as good as you say. Ironic, not surprising.

[ccheselet]

01:10 PM on 07/02/2012

There is a reason as to why Olive Garden is called Microwave Garden in the industry.

[arnlws67]

08:26 PM on 06/01/2012

"The branch's culinary manager, Amanda (who refused to give us her last name)…" What is she on the run from the law? And if Olive Garden is "the largest and most beautiful restaurant now operating in…" the city or town where you live, you need to get the hell out of there.

[erinbliss]

10:23 AM on 07/23/2012

Honey, it's North Dakota. They don't really know any better.

[rtblack]

06:45 PM on 03/21/2012

I read the article and feel she did not really seem all that excited for the restaurant. It sounded like she was just informing people that have never been to an Olive Garden what the experience was like. It is very possible for someone in Grand Forks, ND to have never been to a Olive Garden. I know this because I am from ND and I was 24 years old the first time I went last year in Sioux Falls, SD. Wasn't great but I didn't hate it. Not saying ND has terrible food, but it isn't known for having great food.

[insanedilandauds]

01:30 PM on 03/16/2012

People are always talking about mom and pop restaurants, but you know what, local restaurants aren't always good. We had a little Italian restaurant open up here and I eventually went to eat there. Their pasta was decent (not mind blowing or terrible) but their cash register was broken when I went, so I ended up waiting 20 minutes for my food. They had another cash register open, but they told me that they weren't allowed to use the dining in register for take-out. A few months later, my friend wanted to go grab something from there, so I ordered again. I got garlic bread this time. I went and guess what...the cash register was broken AGAIN and this time we had to wait around 40 minutes. The garlic bread was a joke, it was a sub bun with some garlic salt and butter on top. The pasta was once again ok, but I got sick after the meal and wonder if it wasn't from that restaurant. Never again. Give me the Olive Garden over that horrible little shack any day. Sadly it's our only local Italian restaurant around here.

[erinbliss]

10:25 AM on 07/23/2012

Dude, that's ONE local place. No one says they're ALL better than the Olive Garden. The only thing you KNOW for a fact you'll get from a chain restaurant like that is it's all the same no matter where you go and most of the time it's darned mediocre. OG is over priced and their food is bleh.

[kermtonsmk]

07:47 AM on 03/15/2012

How is this news worthy? Something is wrong with the majority of people in this country when their priorities allow this to be a story of importance over so many other things going on every day in our country/world.

[lamk]

08:25 AM on 06/01/2012

It is in the FOOD section of the news and rightly so. I saw nothing that indicated a "majority" of the people in this country were allowing this to be a story of importance. Perhaps I missed it. Please point it out to me.

[idsign23]

10:20 AM on 03/13/2012

Why shouldn't people review chain restaurants? Just because they may have the same food and decor nationwide, does not mean that they are all at the same level of quality in food or service. I personally love to know if the local restaurant is any good when I'm traveling. I wouldn't want to have a bad experience. Some people nationwide just need to check their egos at the door. Just because you have money, doesn't make you classy, refined or humorous. If you think that making fun of a very sweet and honest person makes you look better, you couldn't be more wrong. You just look like a huge jerk. I bet your narcissistic lives are fairly empty at the end of the day. I think you'd find that most of us could care less what you think as well. Good for her and her attitude towards social media. I don't see her stooping to the levels of those of you that hide behind you monitors. And, to those of you who would have the balls to make the same sheepish comments to a person's face, may you find enlightenment. Keep going around and spreading negativity in life, and see where it gets you in the end. The rest of us will be our cheerful, happy-go-lucky selves eating our generous portions and enjoying our raspberry lemonades.

[carnivaluv]

06:07 PM on 03/12/2012

Olive Garden, no thank you. Each time I've eaten there (three maybe) The main dish is always so flavorless that I've had to add plenty of salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese to make it worth my time. The breadsticks don't even taste very good. The salad has always been tasty though.

[Parkite]

09:30 PM on 03/12/2012

Try the salad without dressing & you'll discover it's not really that fresh...taste the preservatives.

[retour]

02:20 PM on 07/15/2012

uh...I don't think anyone is trying to preserve lettuce and greens...its the dressing that scares the hell out of me

[lotusgirl]

04:12 PM on 03/12/2012

The critic is such a sweet nanna type, that I can't make fun of her...even for her love of OG decor. It's sweet that she can find something to enjoy at OG, and I hope she enjoys eating there often.

[Parkite]

09:32 PM on 03/12/2012

It's the biggest restaurant in town. That should tell you something about the town's offerings.

[kholl1957]

10:55 AM on 07/23/2012

Size means absolutely nothing....I've been to Grand Forks many times and they have many good restaurants, big and small. In fact, one of the smallest, Sanders, is one of the best, and it is not huge. Open your minds and close your mouths (unless you want to try something new and delicious)!

[SlimLovin]

01:49 PM on 03/12/2012

Her review is very, very funny in the way only an earnest piece from a somewhat naive, aged Midwestern woman can be. THAT is what is attracting the attention.

If anyone is really making fun of this sweet woman for professing her love of near-Italian quickserve cuisine and rustic interior design, then you simply have no heart.

On the other hand, you also have no heart if you aren't laughing just a little.

[Parkite]

09:36 PM on 03/12/2012

Her review reminds me of the time I was telling someone about staying in a Motel 6, laughingly telling them it was Sooooooo nice (snark) and an elderly couple standing right next to us said it was their favorite motel. I almost died.

[arnlws67]

08:29 PM on 06/01/2012

What ever possessed you to TELL anyone that you stayed at a Motel 6?

Just kidding, that sort of foot in mouth surprise happens to me at least once a week.

[sbmulqueen]

01:24 PM on 03/12/2012

I haven't eaten at an OG in decades, mostly because after college I moved to NYC and now live in Atlanta (city) with a ton of great local restaurants and I try to only patronize local eateries. That said, how snarky do we have to be that the opening of an OG in a small city (town?), which obviously made her happy, has to be the object of such condescending ridicule? It's exactly some of the comments on this and other boards that makes people hate food snobs (and I worry that some people will point to it as another sign of "liberal elitism"). Sure, it's not fine dining, or local dining, or whatever, but not knowing the food scene of Grand Forks, maybe this is important for them. That is, after all, why a local, community newspaper, ran a review.