Olive Garden is an Italian-themed casual dining restaurant chain. The term “Olive Gardener” has applied both to the Oliver Garden’s employees and its customers. “Olive Gardeners” was cited in print in 2006 (when it referred to employees) and in 2007 (when it referred to people who eat at the restaurant).
   
 
Wikipedia: Olive Garden
Olive Garden is an American casual dining restaurant chain specializing in Italian-American cuisine. It is a subsidiary of Darden Restaurants, Inc., which is headquartered in unincorporated Orange County, Florida, near Orlando. As of 2012, Olive Garden restaurants account for 45% of the sales generated by Darden. Olive Garden operates more than 800 locations globally.
       
fifteenkey   
Day 5,478
November 12, 2006 / fifteenkey posted in Uncategorized
“I usually stuff the squid-head with breadcrumbs and put it right on the grill. It’s my own recipe.” Somehow our waiter at the Times Square Olive Garden thought we’d be interested in knowing that as he placed the calamari on our third floor table overlooking Broadway. That was the second grossest thing during dinner, just edged out by a hair in Jessica’s Shrimp Scampi. We were in too much of a hurry to make a stink about it, but the Olive Gardeners threw us a $20 gift certificate for our hairy situation.
 
Democratic Underground
Nevernose 
Mon Jan-15-07 08:27 PM  
17. Did you warn the Olive Gardeners about obesity?
Did you warn them that eating anything other than a small garden salad (no dressing, of course), would surely doom them to a life of crippling obesity caused by their own weak wills and sheer worthlessness? If you didn’t, I’m sure you gestured obviously just to let THEM know that YOU know that they’re fat.
 
Hungry Girl
04.08.10
Weekly Weigh-In
Calling all Olive Gardeners! (By that we mean “people who frequent the Olive Garden,” not “people who harvest olives.”) We’ve got a round-up of what to eat at OG… and what to avoid like the Parmesan-topped plague!
 
The Bitchy Waiter
Could I Work at Olive Garden?
Posted on December 22, 2010 by The Bitchy Waiter
(...)
Would it be so bad working for a chain restaurant? It’s not like I haven’t done it before; Houlihan’s, Pizzeria Uno, The Black Eyed Pea and Bennigan’s were all heavy on the corporate. I bet Olive Gardeners get meal breaks with free pasta and salad. They can probably eat all the bread sticks they want.
 
Google Books
Comfort Me with Offal:
Ruth Bourdain’s Guide to Gastronomy
By Ruth Bourdain (Josh Friedland)
Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel Publishing
2012
Pg. ?:
Olive Gardeners: A lost tribe of Americans who erroneously believe that they have discovered authentic Italian cuisine at the national restaurant chain Olive Garden.