New Tulsa Olive Garden in Utica Square offers some surprises

Ms. Hagerty, at the time an 85-year-old journalist who had been working at her trade for more than 30 years, shared her observations about the newest restaurant to open in this city of some 55,000 people.

She commented on the fact that her entree, a plate of chicken Alfredo, was “warm and comforting on a cold day,” adding that the new place was easily “the largest and most beautiful restaurant now operating in Grand Forks.”

If any of this sounds familiar, it is because Ms. Hagerty was reviewing the first Olive Garden to open in Grand Forks. And her straightforward review of this outlet of the popular Italian-American chain caught the attention of thousands, maybe even millions, of food-obsessed Internet denizens, who turned Ms. Hagerty’s opinion of Olive Garden into a viral sensation.

Many commenters poked fun at the very idea of reviewing a Olive Garden outlet, much less finding anything praiseworthy to say about the place. Others, such as the late chef and author Anthony Bourdain, took up for Ms. Hagerty, pointing out that she was simply, and faithfully, covering the restaurant scene in her community.

Bourdain would go on to edit and publish a collection of Ms. Hargerty’s food journalism, saying “Marilyn Hagerty’s years of reviews (are) a history of dining in the America too few of us from the coasts have seen,” adding that the big-city “snarkologists (myself included)” need to understand how the rest of the country eats.

We bring all this up because, just about two weeks ago, the new standalone Olive Garden restaurant in Utica Square opened.

It supersedes the restaurant that originally opened in 1991, which actually was the second Olive Garden to open in Tulsa. The location at 71st Street and Memorial Drive, also still in operation, was the first Tulsa Olive Garden.

But the Utica Square venue was the one that made the biggest splash, in part because it was in Utica Square, and also because it was displacing a Furr’s cafeteria that had been a popular spot for many years.

It was reviewed by both the Tulsa World and the Tulsa Tribune, who marveled at the seemingly gargantuan portion sizes of the pasta dishes, praised the eager and attentive wait staff and commented on the relatively subdued atmosphere of the place, especially in contrast to another Italian-themed eatery that had opened in Tulsa around the same time — the now long-gone Spaghetti Warehouse.

So, in 1991, the opening of a new Olive Garden restaurant in “Tulsa’s Fashionable Utica Square” was big news. And such an event continues to be big news some 32 years later, to judge by the amount of interest this topic generates on the Tulsa World’s website.

I am not a stranger to Olive Garden — when I’m there, I’m always with family — so I had a fair idea of what to expect when my partner and I paid the new Olive Garden in Utica Square a visit on a recent Thursday night.

Although the new restaurant is a standalone building and surrounded by parking, finding an open space near the place was something of a challenge (we lucked out when a spot in front of the Utica Square post office opened up).

The restaurant’s interior is far removed from the creamy stucco palette of the old Olive Garden. This one is togged out in warm woods, with carpet that mimics the wood grain of the floor around the bar area immediately behind the hostess stand at the entrance. Accents include the seafoam, butterscotch and rust colored chair and banquette cushions, and framed, colorful serving dishes.

The place was packed this particular evening, in addition to doing what appeared to be brisk business at its to-go desk. We were told to expect at least a 20-minute wait for our party of two, but it took only about half that time for a table to open in the bar area.

Our server, Daisia, lived up to the eager and attentive tradition my predecessors extolled in reviews past, getting our appetizer order for toasted ravioli ($9.49) with dispatch.

All entrees come with a basket of breadsticks (one for each person at the table, plus one over which to fight) and a choice of either soup or salad. My partner chose the salad, which, regardless of the number of people ordering it, comes in a large, table-filling bowl. I requested the Zuppa Tuscana, described on the menu as containing “spicy Italian sausage, kale and potatoes in a creamy broth.”

Potatoes and kale it certainly contained; the granules of sausage added more texture than taste, and the broth was watery. The salad, while looking as if its ingredients had been prepped by being tossed into the air and whacked at with machetes, was fresh and crisp, and the signature dressing was its tasty self.

My partner had never tried toasted ravioli, but quickly took a liking to these beef-filled, deep-fried pasta packets. I’ve had better, but these were perfectly acceptable.

For our entrees, she chose the Tour of Italy ($20.79), which I think has been on the Olive Garden menu since year dot. Think of it as the restaurant’s greatest hits package, with reasonably sized portions of lasagna, fettuccine Alfredo and chicken parmigiana. I went with the chicken Marsala ($19.99), with mushrooms and spinach.

That eager service had one drawback: namely, just about everything we ordered arrived at our somewhat postage stamp-sized table almost simultaneously. It took a bit of shuffling to find room for everything (although I happily surrendered the unfinished soup).

I’ve never been a fan of thick, gloppy Alfredo sauce, but if that’s the sort of thing you like, then you’ll like the Olive Garden version. Neither was I impressed by my bite of the lasagna, but the chicken of the chicken parmigiana was surprisingly tender and moist within its light, crisp coating.

I was equally impressed by the chicken in the chicken Marsala, with was fork-tender and very tasty; I have had chicken dishes at high-end restaurants that were nowhere near as good as this. The sauce bore only the faintest trace of marsala’s distinctive flavor. The large slices of mushrooms were just slightly underdone, as they should be, while the spinach seemed tossed in as an afterthought.

As in the case with many national chains, each table at Olive Garden has a small computer screen device, which can entertain youngsters (of which there were many when we were there) during the meals, and by which one can pay one’s check without troubling another human being.