More fallout from Marilyn Hagerty's Olive Garden review

The WSJ's James Hagerty is Marilyn's son, and he offers an up-close-and-personal look at the Grand Forks, N.D. newspaper columnist who has become an Internet sensation for her review last week of a new Olive Garden restaurant. To her credit, Marilyn is taking the attention in stride - and as could be expected, there's been a backlash against the initial snarky comments.

On Thursday, bloggers happened on her review of the Olive Garden, where she found the portions generous and the décor "impressive." Some wrote clever notes suggesting there might be some sort of irony in writing an unironic review about a chain restaurant like Olive Garden. Others, including media and news websites Gawker and Huffington Post, chimed in. Soon news hounds from Minneapolis, New York and even Fargo were calling Mom and demanding interviews. Basically, they wanted to know whether she was for real and how she felt about being mocked all over the Internet.

She felt fine about it. But she didn't care to scroll through the thousands of Twitter and Facebook comments on her writing style. "I'm working on my Sunday column and I'm going to play bridge this afternoon," she explained, "so I don't have time to read all this crap." She didn't apologize for writing about a restaurant where many people like to eat. Her poise under fire endeared her to people who do read all that. Strangers started sending me emails about how much they loved my mom.

[CUT]

My mom has her own style of reviewing restaurants: She doesn't like to say anything bad about the food. Her regular readers read between the lines. If she writes more about the décor than the food, you might want to eat somewhere else. Her Olive Garden review was actually mixed. She said the "chicken Alfredo ($10.95) was warm and comforting on a cold day." She also noted that the restaurant is "fashioned in Tuscan farmhouse style with a welcoming entryway." "As I ate," Mom wrote, "I noticed the vases and planters with permanent flower displays on the ledges. There are several dining areas with arched doorways. And there is a fireplace that adds warmth to the décor."

By the way, Jonathan Gold did a joke review of an Olive Garden last year.- or at least he must have thought it was funny.