Critic Whose Earnest Review of Olive Garden Went Viral Dies

Marilyn Hagerty, a North Dakota newspaper columnist whose earnest review of her local Olive Garden became a social media sensation, died Tuesday. She was 99. Gail Hagerty remembered her mother as a journalist at heart who was more interested in giving readers an honest assessment than in being critical, reports the AP. Her 2012 Olive Garden piece was "unique and authentic, coming from a grandmother in North Dakota," Gail Hagerty said. In the review, she famously praised the chain's chicken Alfredo as "warm and comforting on a cold day." "As I ate, I noticed the vases and planters with permanent flower displays," she wrote. "And there is a fireplace that adds warmth to the decor." The review spread on social media and drew national media attention.

"She loved it and it was a wonderful experience, although she had to ask my brother what does it mean if you go viral," Gail Hagerty said. "She used to say that if you were going to have 15 minutes of fame and if you were 86, you had to do it soon." The attention even drew in Anthony Bourdain, who defended Hagerty on Twitter from those who ridiculed her embrace of Olive Garden's food. He met with her and went on to publish a book of her columns, also writing its foreword.

In a 2014 interview, Hagerty said the response to her review was unbelievable, including countless emails and calls as well as TV interviews and a tour of New York City. "But most of all, it was ... people praising me for the way I write the Eatbeat. And I wrote that Eatbeat column so fast one day that I never expected it to be repeated all over the country, but that's what happened," she said. She later picked up notice for her review of McDonald's.

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Hagerty's newspaper career began while she was in high school, when she assisted the editor of the Pierre Capital Journal and wrote city briefs. She was beloved in Grand Forks, and in 2002 a lift station was dedicated and named in her honor. Hagerty arrived at the ceremony on a restaurant owner's motorcycle, her daughter said. "I'm going to leave some flowers there this evening," Gail Hagerty said. Hagerty was writing at least occasionally for the Grand Forks Herald until last year.