OLIVE GARDEN, MOREHEAD CITY

Though I'm not much a fan of chain restaurants, the Olive Garden in Greenville is not bad.  We've been there a few times and had decent meals each time, and good service.  So when we found ourselves in Morehead City recently, we decided to give the new Olive Garden a try.

We are not fans of the Morehead City restaurant.  First off, our table was beset with pesky flies.  When I mentioned it to the server, her comment was, "I don't know why that booth always has flies."  We finally asked if we could have another table.  She made no effort to help us move there.  The new table had no flies and I am wondering why she would let patrons sit in a booth with flies and not offer them another table right from the start.

Our meal started with a salad, served family style.  It was supposedly dressed, but the amount of dressing must have been minimal, because I couldn't taste it.

The warm bread was also nothing special.  No noteworthy flavor or texture.  I passed, because it just wasn't worth the calories.

Guy ordered the chicken parmesan.  A good choice, because it's pretty hard to ruin.  It was run-of-the-mill chicken parm.  The sauce was very forgettable and pretty much tasted like tomatoes out of a can with not much else added.

I ordered the Venetian Apricot Chicken (chicken with an apricot sauce, served with tomatoes, asparagus and broccoli).  I asked for all asparagus, no broccoli.  The chicken was a very small portion and was overcooked, dry and almost hard.  The apricot sauce was just okay.  The asparagus was cooked nicely, then placed on the plate with chopped tomatoes, but there was no seasoning that I could taste, not even salt.  This was the most tasteless, unappetizing lunch I've had in a long time.

I'd like to say that the prices were reasonable at least, but in fact the lunch cost us $23.76 plus tip.  My chicken was $9.95 and Guy's was $9.75.  1 Iced tea was $2.35.  You can bet we won't be going back.  This is one "family" we don't want to be a part of.