We read:
"80-year-old Marti Warren thought she was doing a good thing a little over a month ago when she booked a local Olive Garden restaurant in Oxford, Alabama, to host a Kiwanis club awards banquet. The chapter president got a rude awakening the night of the gathering, however, when restaurant staff refused to allow her to bring an American flag inside the restaurant.
Warren, who lived through World War II and was later part of her local desegregation movement, said, “This is not my country. This is not my country I grew up with.” The justly outraged Warren told WBRC-TV, “I was so angry. I felt like I had been slapped in the face”
In response, Olive Garden’s parent company, Orlando-based Darden Restaurants, said in a statement:
"To be fair to everyone and avoid disrupting the dining experience for all other guests, they’re unable to accommodate flags or banners of any type in the dining room.”
It is probably worth noting that just last month, Darden Restaurants agreed to partner with Michelle Obama’s “Partnership for a Healthier America” by cutting the calorie and sodium levels of menu items by 10 percent within the next five years and 20 percent within the next 10 years.
Source
12 comments:
And the restaurant will get what it asked for in fewer bookings and reduced revenues as organizations hear about this and cross them off their list of places to try to host their events.
What's really odd is that most of the places that take bookings have a dining area that can be partitioned off from the rest of the diners so their "explanation" of why they wouldn't allow the flag wouldn't hold any water. The noise and other activities generated by such groups would disturb other diners in an open seating area anyway.
What if an Italian culinary group wanted to similarly meet at Olive Garden, and they wanted to display an Italian flag? Would olive Garden prevent them from doing so?
(I know, I know, bad example. No self-respecting Italian cuisine organization would meet in an olive Garden.)
Go to the Olive Garden website; go to the Darden website,; find the contact us link and let them know that this is unacceptable. As a veteran, I also sent the info to the VFW and American Legion.
Did you ever eat in one of their places? You won't need a flag, just a barf-bag!
sig..... no real Italian would be caught dead in an Olive Garden. BTW, Italians have nothing to do with the ownership, management, or operation of these places.
If you want truly great Italian food, go to Carrabba's.
Here is a listing of Darden's restaurants:
Seasons 52
Red Lobster
Olive Garden
Bahama Breeze
The Old Grist Mill Tavern
LongHorn Steakhouse
The Capital Grille
Where each one of us chooses to eat (or not to eat) is up each of us.
What if an Italian culinary group wanted to similarly meet at Olive Garden, and they wanted to display an Italian flag? Would olive Garden prevent them from doing so?
YES.
This happened in my neck of the woods, at a restaurant I've eaten at, and plan to eat at Sunday.
First off, this restaurant doesn't have a separate room for functions. There is one dining area, and it is wall-to-wall with tables.
Second, the group had a flag and a large banner they wanted to display, and needed to have a table removed to make room for them.
Third, The restaurant doesn't allow any large flags, banners, etc. to be brought in.
Finally, the group hadn't booked the restaurant, they simply showed up expecting the folks to turn cartwheels for them.
I'm the first one to yell when a wingnut tries to deny service for patriotic or religious groups, but this time that's not the case.
Since when dose a american flag disrupt dinning experiance? Maybe if your a illegal alien or are from SAN FRANCISCO or some other liberal stinkhole
@Dale, so the "when she booked a local Olive Garden restaurant in Oxford, Alabama, to host a Kiwanis club awards banquet. " is a lie?
NEWS FLASH GOOD NEWS THEY HAVE REVERSED THEIR DECISION AND HAVE APPOLOGISED I UNDERSTAND
Yes, they have apologized. They were afraid all this attention would cause people to find out how disgusting their food is.
Where or how was this flag intended to be displayed? Does size count? Was it just little flags on the table. I'm sure the restaurant would'nt have objected to that. Just exactly was this intended display of a "flag"????
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