My family of 4 ate at Olive Garden for the first time, and our $150 meal felt like an excellent value

A lot of Americans are looking for value when they dine out — and Olive Garden left my family impressed.Terri Peters

• My family of four ate at Italian-American chain restaurant Olive Garden for the first time.
• Our $150 meal included an appetizer, entreés, desserts, soup, salad, breadsticks, and wine.

Since my family started visiting chain restaurants for the first time about a year ago, we've dined everywhere, from Ruth's Chris Steak House to Bahama Breeze.

I've never seen customers lined up just to get a table at any of them until we visited Olive Garden on a Friday night.

But I guess I shouldn't have been surprised — Americans are spending more of their income on going out to eat than ever before, and diners are searching for value.

And, after a great meal, my husband, our two teens, and I found it at Olive Garden.