Olive Garden - Tulalip

Leaving early morning from Bellingham, our group made our way to the
Seattle Premium Outlets in Tulalip. The cold breakfast buffet at La Quinta was
hardly enough to satisfy me, so the whole time we were shopping I had lunch
on my mind. New jeans? .. maybe .. Food? Yes please!

2pm rolled around and I was going crazy. Besides fast food, we had two choices in the area.
The buffet at the Casino, or Olive Garden. Without really deciding we headed into the casino
The line-up for the buffet was massive, and we realized that a buffet wasn't the best options since

we had a person in our party confined to a wheelchair.

Second option..Olive Garden.

I know chain restaurants get a lot of hate on being "average" but I had never been here before so I could care less if it was a chain, it was new to me. We have a location in Langley but I rarely venture  over that way. I thought the exterior looked nice..not sure what other ones look like.
We settled in and I started pouring over the menu, not sure what to get, not sure what was good...oh decisions decisions.



I chose a soup to go with my meal. The waitress listed off the different ones and the one that caught my attention was the Zuppa Tuscana - Spicy sausage, russet potatoes and cavalo greens in a creamy broth. I think I picked the right soup because it was very good. I was very tempted to get another bowl, but I kept forgetting that sometimes portion sizes in the States can surprise you, and I wanted to reach a comfortable full. I of course had to use the complimentary bread sticks to sop up the remaining soup.

I decided to go with the Braised Beef & Tortellini - Tender sliced short ribs and portobello mushrooms tossed with asiago-filled tortelloni in a basil-marsala sauce.
This dish did not disappoint. So far Olive Garden had been getting a thumbs up just from the soup, but this dish was fantastic. The beef was super tender and flavorful, and the rest of the ingredients went very well together. I'd probably get this again.

My girlfriend ordered the Cheese Ravioli. Wow talk about booooring! Just kidding, but seriously she could have gotten something a little more interesting.

My girlfriend`s mother ordered the Chicken Marsala - Sautéed chicken breasts in a savoury sauce of mushrooms, garlic and marsala wine. Served with Tuscan potatoes and bell peppers. I was on leftover duty so I ate a plate of this to help finish it off. I was not very impressed with the chicken portion of this, I found it too dry. The veggies and potatoes however were very good.

Lastly a little chocolate mint to end things off.

I enjoyed Olive Garden and may just have to try it again if I get the chance.