Olive Garden Traverse in City, Michigan

When traveling to or through Traverse City, Michigan stop a while to shop and enjoy dinner. There are a number of great choices for dinner in Traverse City, Michigan. One of those choices is the Olive Garden located at 2800 N. US Highway 31 South. It is located just blocks from the Traverse City Mall as well the Traverse Outlet Mall, Sam's and Best Buy. Its close proximity to so many shopping opportunities makes it a great choice for dinner after a day of shopping.

Olive Garden offers an authentic Italian menu, prepared to perfection in an elegant Tuscan inspired dining room. Upon our entry, we were greeted courteously by the wait staff and led to a table in the dining area. When were seating our server brought to our table a bottle of Rocca delle Macie wine for sampling.

Our meal began with an ample serving of Bruschetta, Roma tomatoes gently tossed in basil and extra-virgin olive oil. The Bruschetta was served with warm ciabatta bread nicely toasted. We also enjoyed Olive Garden's Mussels di Napoli, mussels served in the open shell and simmered in onions, garlic-butter and wine.

Olive Garden's claim to fame is their bread sticks and they did not let me down! Served warm with Alfredo sauce, one could make a meal of these luscious breadsticks.

We enjoy thoroughly, the Parmesan Crusted Bistecca. Ordered and served rare, this was undoubtedly one of the best cuts of sirloin I have ever eaten. Center cut and cooked to perfection the sirloin was covered with a slightly crusty, herb flavored Parmesan breading. This was served with garlic Parmesan mashed potatoes and tender asparagus.

I followed my meal with a glass of Strawberry-Mango Limonata. This was a very refreshing blend of Mango and strawberry in a lemonade. Luscious strawberry slices floating in the mixture not only made for a pretty glass, it added a nice fruity finish to my meal.

The service was excellent. Our server was very polite as well as professional. She was attentive and anticipated our needs in advance so there was no wait for beverages or condiments.

Everything was served hot or cold as was required and the wait was surprisingly short. I expected to wait for our meal, but began with the appetizers quickly. Everything was brought to our table at just the right time, never any waiting.

I was impressed with the quality of the service and the friendliness of the staff. It was very clean and beautifully decorated.

Our meal was approximately $65 bringing it into the moderate category but well worth it. It was an evening enjoyed and worth repeating.

The Traverse City Olive Garden gets thumbs up from this writer.

This writer was in no way compensated by the Olive Garden restaurant for this report.