Olive Garden: American flag...

[Will E Worm]

Olive Garden: American flag display would disrupt dining experience

Officials with the parent company of Olive Garden restaurants say they're sorry if a decision regarding an Alabama Kiwanis club's desire to display the American flag caused any concern.

The comments come after 80-year-old Marti Warren of Anniston said she wasn't allowed to bring an American flag into an Olive Garden for a planned Kiwanis Club banquet in the east Alabama town of Oxford.

Warren learned the night of the banquet that she wouldn't be allowed to display the flag or the Kiwanis banner in the restaurant, she said.

"I was so angry," she told WBRC-TV. "I felt like I had been slapped in the face."

Orlando-based parent firm Darden restaurants said in a statement that "like all Americans we have nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for the American flag and everything it symbolizes."

The Oxford Olive Garden lacks a private dining area, which led to the decision, company officials said.

"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," according to the statement.

Without a flag at the Kiwanis banquet, Warren said she asked club members to close their eyes and picture the flag waving in the wind as they said the pledge of allegiance.

Article


Eating at Olive Garden would disrupt my dining experience. :eeew:

 

[meesterperfect]

Another ban the american flag incident, whats this world coming to?

I'm going to bomb that fuckin place.

 

[Neutron66]

This banquet was not in a private room but the main dining area.

No issue here whatsoever.

 

[L3ggy]

Do you know who has worked at The Olive Garden? Psycho Mantis.

 

[ShikokuKichiguy]

That's BS!
Understandable if it were a religious icon, but the cuntry's flag?

Not like I'd ever eat at that joint anyway.

 

[Galactic]

This banquet was not in a private room but the main dining area.

No issue here whatsoever.

:wtf: But...this particular restaurant is IN AMERICA. I think there very much IS an issue here.

 

[Neutron66]

Dude, you can't just walk into a restaurant and say "I'm gonna' fly a flag here while we eat."

I know...I know. They didn't just walk in, it was a scheduled banquet. Still, if they'd been in a seperate room I'm sure they would've been allowed to fly their flags but this was in the main area so they said no flags.

No issue here.

 

[Jagger69]

Dude, you can't just walk into a restaurant and say "I'm gonna' fly a flag here while we eat."

I know...I know. They didn't just walk in, it was a scheduled banquet. Still, if they'd been in a seperate room I'm sure they would've been allowed to fly their flags but this was in the main area so they said no flags.

No issue here.

This is the only reasonable and correct position to take on this. It was irresponsible for the Kiwanis club to have failed to ensure that there was a private dining room available where the flag could be flown. Their mistake, not the restaurant's.

 

[meesterperfect]

This is the only reasonable and correct position to take on this. It was irresponsible for the Kiwanis club to have failed to ensure that there was a private dining room available where the flag could be flown. Their mistake, not the restaurant's.

So now I don't have to bomb that fucking place?

 

[Will E Worm]

:wtf: But...this particular restaurant is IN AMERICA. I think there very much IS an issue here.

:clap:

So now I don't have to bomb that fucking place?

Go ahead.

 

[Ulysses31]

Someone should get waterboarded over this

 

[Jagger69]

^
Don't be dumb like these Kiwanis morons. Check with the restaurant to see what their 'bomb" policy is first. :1orglaugh

 

[Ulysses31]

^
Don't be dumb like these Kiwanis morons. Check with the restaurant to see what their 'bomb" policy is first. :1orglaugh

Apparently this was the flag they tried to take in

 

[meesterperfect]

Those Kiwanis, I heard they're real bad asses.

 

[brodkill]

olive garden is ****, i preffer red lobster

 

[Ulysses31]

Those Kiwanis, I heard they're real bad asses.

You have to be living next door to the Aussies

 

[averageJoe]

Fuck Olive Garden. They are to Italian food what McDonald's is too a hamburger... CRAPPY FOOD!

 

[Jack Davenport]

Olive Garden does suck. Carrabba's is much better. That said, I do not fault OG for this. They don't need American flags cluttering up the area where they keep all of the breadsticks.

 

[CunningStunts]

It's their company, they can decorate it as they wish. But this is a weak argument because this will probably **** off some of their clientele.

And yes, OG does suck donkey balls and I would never willingly eat there anyway. This appears to be a shitty policy from a shitty chain that serves shitty food. :2 cents:

 

[Mr. Hyde]

I'm as patriotic as the next guy, but come on....you can't do whatever you want just because you're claiming it's patriotic. What if they wanted to play the star-spangled banner at the beginning of their dinner and weren't allowed? Sounds great, but what about everyone else in the place that just wants to eat a quiet dinner?

Complaining about this demeans REALL instances where someone isn't allowed to fly the flag.