Why is there no Olive Garden OR Jack In The Box in Anchorage?? (coupons, lease)

[arodrigues88]

No Olive Garden.

No Jack In The Box.

WHY???!!!!!!

Anyone else craving these?

[roadfamily6now]

not really.

[roadfamily6now]

Have you tried Villa Nova for Italian? Or Luigi's?

[arodrigues88]

We're (obviously) new to the are. So no, we haven't heard or tried those place. Can you point us in the right direction? THANK YOU!

[gobrien]

I do miss Olive Garden's soup and salad all you can eat and Jack In the Box's Southwestern pita's-try Carl's Jr maybe.

[arodrigues88]

I miss Olive Garden's three cheese penne along with their breadsticks.

JITB - chicken sandwich with curly fries and cheesecake!!!

For the people who aren't craving these two places, I guess you're just missing out. Or maybe you've never tried them before. haha

[roadfamily6now]

I've had Olive Garden and they are good, but we don't have one here so I try not to think about what I am missing and focus on what I can get. As for J in the B, I'm not a fan. sorry.

Villa Nova is a high-end restaurant on Arctic/International. It's really yummy though and the atmosphere is totally date friendly! I have eaten at Romano's and it was good but not amazing. And Nino's is decent but all their food has the same flavor. They have nice garlic rolls though.

I really love Luigi's (which happens to be in the same strip mall as Villa Nova) They have HUGE food for a good price and it's really really good! If you can get a hold of a Northern Lights Coupon Book they usually have some buy one, get one coupons in there.

You can check out my food blog for more ideas. Food Lover~The Good, Bad & Ugly on Alaska Eateries

[arodrigues88]

Yeah I guess I shouldn't think about it because it's not even worth it since we won't be getting one here. haha

Well not too sure if we'll be able to do the high end place only because we have an 8-month old and no babysitter. But I'll try the other places and see how they are.

Nice blog, BTW. I'll have to check out a lot of places I see. Thanks for the information.

[puff5655]

Nope, never crave Olive Garden or JITB.

I AM always craving Nino's strombolis, Moose's Tooth cider ale, Peanut Farm's pizza, Great Harvest Bread Company's white cherry chip bread, and everything at La Mex!

There's great food in Anchorage, break away from the chains buddy!

[Chilkoot]

From the January 16, 2011 Alaska Journal of Commerce:

"David Irwin, president of Irwin Development Group, said to expect only small retailers and restaurant users to move into Anchorage in the coming years. Among them, Olive Garden parent company Darden has looked at two sites for a possible restaurant location, Irwin said.
"Their lease has run into problems of late, but I think that at least one of those will be worked out before the end of the year," Irwin said.
After the presentation, Irwin suggested Anchorage may see a new restaurant opened sometime during the third or fourth quarter this year, at the earliest. However, Darden spokesman Rich Jeffers said the company has no plans to open either an Olive Garden or Red Lobster restaurant this year. "