Olive Garden is one step closer to serving its first batch of unlimited breadsticks in southern Brooklyn.
A job posting for the chain’s location within the Ceasar’s Bay Shopping Center in Gravesend says the restaurant will open this March at 1684 Shore Parkway, where the storied Strauss auto store once stood.
Most recently, the space had been used as a seasonal Halloween shop.
News of the franchise’s coming had sparked debate on neighborhood Facebook pages, primarily about the eatery’s Italian-style menu, which a number residents argued would be a shame to line up next to the borough’s plentiful picking of pizzerias and trattorias.
Others, however, welcomed word of a nearby Olive Garden, citing such pros as the chain’s history of catering to families and its creation of new jobs in the area.
Olive Garden, a subsidiary of the Florida-headquartered Darden Restaurants, Inc., currently operates over 850 locations globally.
The new location will be the chain’s second in the borough. Its Brooklyn flagship is at home in East New York’s Gateway Center.
The restaurant will be a full-fledged table-service eatery, the likes of which Ceasar’s Bay hasn’t seen much of in recent years, with just a nearby Wendy’s, Five Guys and a pizza place, Pizza D’Amore, to assuage shoppers’ hunger pangs.
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