Olive Garden shutters in Palo Alto

It was a decent establishment.

Always got good service and good food.

Thank you Olive Garden for serving us.

The problem that I see it is that Olive Garden served a local demographic which will really suffer through losing a favorite watering hole.

The idea of going out to dinner at a restaurant that has its own parking lot, with disabled parking right outside the door, is something that many seniors really value. Seniors, particularly if they need to have a walking frame to help them, value being seated to read the menu, seated to place their order, seated to get their check, seated to have refills for their drinks, seated to check that they have all they need, seated to pay their check and put their wallet away.

Many of the newer reasonably priced restaurants do not offer this service. Seniors in particular will suffer as these types of establishments change to counter service. With minimum wage raises, which are good for those that have the jobs and earn the increased wage if they can get enough hours, we are going to see less and less affordable restaurants that offer table service. Staffing restaurants will get more expensive and the numbers of staff will have to be reduced or prices will have to escalate beyond what many can afford.

This is the reality of life in Palo Alto.

Soaring rents in Palo Alto are really hurting full-service low-to-moderate-price restaurants. Part of the problem is that these single story buildings take up a lot of real estate, which of course costs a fortune in Palo Alto. Can the city rezone our commercial districts to allow large-sized moderate-priced retail on the first 2 floors than corporate offices on the upper floors of mid-rise buildings? Replacing all the moderate-priced retail businesses with high-end boutique retail just puts more cars on the road as residents drive to cheaper out-of-town businesses (like Mountain View and Sunnyvale).

I'll miss the soup, salad and bread sticks lunch! Thank you, Olive Garden!

I drove by just last night and noticed the closure. Too bad. We have many choices of dining establishments in the area, but I always enjoyed my meals at this Olive Garden location. Very friendly staff and reasonably-priced food. The mixed-use development going in will be very expensive condos, etc that will not attract the same demographic of this nice Olive Garden restaurant. Palo Alto... only for the wealthy.

I watched my father-in-law put on about 50 lbs eating regularly at an Olive Garden. Sure it offers a parking lot, and reasonably priced food and a lot of it. But the salt, sugar and fat that went into making it all so tasty is part of the obesity and poor-health epidemic which is so wide-spread and which fast food chains and the ones a step or two up like Olive Garden bank on. So I can't join you in the post-mortem reminiscing for good old OG. Would love to see good old Jack in the Box on El Camino join it.

The food sucks. To call it "Italian" is a joke. Imitation italian is more like it. Surprised they lasted this long.

Awwww, too bad. The Olive Garden had its problems, but it was a nice place
to go, relax and get some good food that was not too expensive or too far away.
Though I did not go there a lot I will miss it. It was a great place for family or
group dinners.

OK, you know about the Olive Garden ... but is there any news what happened to the Palo Alto Breakfast House in Midtown?

Although there are many Olive Gardens nationally, checking how far the nearest OG's are from Palo Alto is an indication that it is not economically feasible for the local demographic.

Were they losing money? Or did they figure they could make a killing selling the real estate? My guess is the latter ... I haven't been there for a decade.

Went occasionally. Food meh.

I feel sorry for those that were employed there!

I like to eat at Gail's Ganja Garden. Very creative cooking. That lady has mastered the use of exotic herbs and spices in her meal preparation. A true gastronomical delight.

Sad, and as others have noted - a reflection of the rising cost of maintaining a small-medium size establishment renting commercial space in Palo Alto. The Olive Garden chain is now managed by a PE, and I'm certain EBIDTA meant more to it than reputation and service to the local community.
We've enjoyed many family dinners here throughout the years. We used to joke about the fact that we sat at every room and table over time. Loved the salad and breadsticks, and the kids' favorite Zappolies. We'll miss it.

When I was at Stanford it was Stickney's Golden Chicken [Never went. Couldn't afford it.}, then later The Shirt Tail restaurant. {Had the massive illuminated sign re-done from a chicken to a white sheet looking thing. Never went. Couldn't afford it.} Now, more than fifty years later we have what is called "Highest and best use" in action. Why grazing becomes the corner of El Camino and Page Mill. In the same fifty years.

You want a shocker? In twenty years Town and Country will be gone. Mixed use commercial-residential. That's the future. Such things are stopped only by war, famine, pestilence or plague.

EDITOR ... can you place delete the nonsense words and dangerous un-named links ( for those with PCs ) I reported them twice, and it is nonsense and could be a problem for someone. If you search the same post is in several unrelated stories ... it is SPAM at best.

I'm really sorry to see another long-time place to eat go the way of every other affordable thing to do in my hometown. I'm in my early '60's and I was born in Palo Alto and I just feel so sad that another place will be leveled to add more of what we don't need. More concrete office buildings, more unaffordable shops and condos with ridiculous rents. It's been a long time since I have been able to recognize the lovely, friendly town I grew up in. This closure is just another nail in the coffin.