In my opinion Olive Garden, Macaroni Grill and Carabbas are just fast-food Italian. Each has it’s own thing but most of the food is rather bland, pre-frozen and quickly thrown together, most of the time under a heavy sause that is overly salty. BUT they are convient and I have eaten there and would again with my small kids. To them it’s a fun night out, on the same level as an Applebees. If I am looking to go out to a nice meal without the kids, I would never choose any of these places. In NJ there are so many really, really good, small intimate Italian resturants.