Before I continue, allow me to share some important context for this review…read more
I am in my 40s. The first time I ate at Olga's was when I was 2 years old at the St. Clair Square location. My family and I ate there at least a couple times a month my entire childhood. When we moved away for ten years, I still would find any Olga's within at least a day's driving distance to have it for birthdays or whatever. (This was before the internet too, and my parents were the ones driving since I was still a kid, so you know how much we all loved it! The furthest trip was a 5-1/2 hour drive each way. We stayed overnight in town. That trip was solely to eat at the Olga's there.) When the company started shipping its food nationwide, I ordered a kit as soon as humanly possible, and as often as possible, which was not often at all because it was ridiculously expensive at the time. Then, when we moved back to town, the first place I went was that same Olga's at St. Clair Square. I ended up working there as a server for a while, and then I introduced my son to it when *he* was 2 years old. We ate there every week after a standing doctor's appointment and were told by our usual server about the fact it was closing down less than a week later. We continued going to the Alton location as often as we could manage, and two days before that location closed down last year, I ordered almost the entire remaining stock of Olgabread and other food to-go, and didn't find out until I got there to pick it up that I had done that, and only because I heard staff telling the massive line of people that they were out of Olgabread. (Sorry about that, y'all. Kinda.)
When I say I know Olga's, I KNOW Olga's. I have tried, and failed, repeatedly to replicate the Olgabread recipe. It CANNOT be done, at least not at scale and not exact. One can get pretty dang close, but in four decades of searching and trying and experimenting, I've never found a true dupe. I am intimately familiar with the flavors that have remained consistent since Olga Loizon opened her first location in 1970.
What Mac's on Main sold me today, at an inflated price, was absolutely NOT Olga's. ($12.99 for an Olga? A THREE-CHEESE that Olga's sells for $9.79? Are you kidding me?)
The bread was the worst offender. You can't have Olga's without Olgabread. What they served was REGULAR PITA BREAD. Good pita bread, sure, but you can get an 8-pack of that at Schnucks for like $6. And, again - it's just regular bread.
One of the cheeses they used for the "Three-Cheese Olga" was not correct. The real Three-Cheese uses medium cheddar, Swiss, and Monterrey Jack cheese. I suspect they tried to just substitute Colby Jack cheese since Monterrey Jack is more difficult to find these days... and I suspect that, because on my years-long mission to replicate the Three-Cheese Olga, I couldn't find Monterrey Jack either and ALSO tried to substitute Colby Jack. So I know how much it doesn't work through firsthand experience.
The Olga's curly fries were just regular seasoned curly fries like you get at Arby's, Hardee's, Jack-in-the-Box, or your local grocery store's freezer section. Real Olga's curly fries are *un*seasoned curly fries tossed in the same seasoning used for Snackers right after they're taken out of the fryer. I know that because of how many times I made those fries as a server at the Olga's at St. Clair Square. (That same seasoning, as a side note, was just for the fries and shaker containers at the tables for people to use on the Original Olga long before Snackers were ever a thing. Snackers were introduced, in fact, WHILE I was an employee!)
The Snackers I got did use the real seasoning, but that stuff is easy to get shipped, relatively inexpensive in bulk, and near impossible to replicate, much like the Olgabread itself. But the "Snackers" were also just that regular pita bread, cut into the triangle shapes and fried before tossing with the seasoning. Not Olgabread.
If this was just a matter of them not having the food in stock today, they could have just said that. I would have been bummed, but would have understood and happily come back after they got their next shipment! Instead, they sold me cheap imitation food at inflated prices, I'm taking time I don't have to write this extensive review, and I've contacted Olga's corporate to let them know what's going on down here. Judging by another review left in August, I'm not the only one who's been sold this fake "Olga's" food either.
It's such a shame, truly! The staff was very nice, the service was great, the food was otherwise pretty good, and aside from a smell restaurants get when their oil trap is in desperate need of a deep clean, the ambiance was pleasant. I'm also always thrilled when I get the opportunity to support local businesses. But I'm also NOT okay with false advertising, especially in THIS economy, and extra especially when it concerns my all-time favorite food.