A lot of you know that I’ve been a mall walker for over two years now. The other day, my friend and fellow mall walker, Mark Burdess told me a horrifying story about a cook at Olive Garden who committed suicide at the restaurant by putting his head directly into a deep-fryer! You can read the story right here, but what a way to go! I wonder if they buried him in a large to-go bag?
I’ve never been inside of an Olive Garden because, well…because it’s Olive Garden! They claim to be an Italian restaurant just like Chef Boy-Ar-Dee claims to be Italian food. I’m sure it’s an Americanized, bland version of Italian food. So I’ve never had the desire to enter an Olive Garden restaurant.
But after Mark told me that story, I wondered if they had a bar in there. Well, I checked with our old friend, Google and here’s what I found out.
Yes, Virginia, there is a bar in Olive Garden. Now I’m curious about it, so the Olive Garden bar will become bar number 46 on our 365 bar tour! Off to the Garden we go!
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Bar Number 46: Olive Garden, Tuesday, February 24, 2026
Here we are at the Olive Garden near the Grand Prairie Shopping Center. Let’s go in for our first and maybe last visit in here.
The bar is right here as you first walk in, let’s go snag a seat and get settled in.
I didn’t ask to take photos in here, because sometimes chain places are weird about photos. So I took some sneaky peeky photos.
I ordered a bottle of Corona Beer and the bartender brought it along with this check for $7.54. Wow, that’s a little steep for a bottle of beer, especially in this place, which is about as boring of a bar as you can imagine.
There’s absolutely nothing happening in here and it’s about exciting as an empty doctor’s waiting room.
Here’s two shots of the back of the bar and it’s adorned with a suggestion of “Salute!”
Okay, Olive Garden, here’s a one finger salute, just for you, courtesy of Mr. Rogers.
There’s the selection of bottled beers available in here.
And here’s the six draft beers you can choose in this boring-ass bar.
Here’s a long shot of the bar I took to break up the boring-ass feeling in here. It didn’t work
Here’s a shot of the room behind the bar. It’s empty in here. You want to know why?
Because it’s boring as fifteen unstringed fiddlers in here!
This picture of a young fellow eating an ice cream cone makes no sense and only adds to the boring feeling in here.
When you find yourself staring at salt and pepper shakers it can only mean one thing: Boredom has taken over and it’s time to get the fuck out of here.
Here’s a shot of the most boring bar in Central Illinois. I kind of understand why that fellow wanted to dunk his head in the deep fryer in an Olive Garden moment!
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The Drink
I only had one beer in here. I know I’m supposed to have two drinks at a minimum, but I left before I got so bored and depressed that I tried to become a member of the Olive Garden deep-friers club!
I’ll have three beers tomorrow to make up for it. I have to get out of here!
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3915 W. War Memorial Drive
Peoria
309-691-5975
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Bar List, Rules, Banner Art & Donation Link.
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