NEVER again!

So we had a gift card to use at one of the national Italian themed restaurants. I wont say the name but will refer to it as the Garden of Olives restaurant. This one happens to be located in NW Arkansas along a prominent highway. Now let me say except for a few fast food chains like White Castle (yum), I never visit chain restaurants. Chilies, Applebees, Fridays and such are not my style of food. However a gift card is usually a terrible thing to waste so we went.

To the point of the matter; how can food be made so bad? I have to say it was undoubtedly the worst food of my life. It was really not edible. I had the Chianti braised short ribs with risotto. Okay so maybe I should not have been swayed by the seductive "Specialties inspired by the Culinary Institute of Tuscany, our cooking school in Italy" tag line but I am a sucker for good marketing. The dish ssounded great and would have been if the meat wasn't black and overcooked, the risotto a pile of much and then having the whole mess topped with an overly strong sauce and way too al dente matchstick carrots and green beans piled on top of everything. They were so crunchy and bland I had to scrape them off to the side, and I do like vegetables Not only did it look like crap but it tasted terrible. I liked our server who was having a bad night but if I was a server I would have never brought that meal to the table. My wife had some form of stuffed chicken that also had an off taste that made us leave most of it on the plate. daughter had seafood Alfredo which she just picked out the seafood because she said the sauce tasted funny. daughter friend had the spaghettios or what the restaurant calls their four cheese pasta blah blah blah. I do admit the Italian sodas in lemon and cream sods versions were tasty but the food was an embarrassment. Close the place down and make it something useful like a White Castle or a parking lot.
For the record we did tip the server the full ticket price and not the ticket minus the gift card. Fair is fair and even if she should not have served it, she didnt make it.