Al Dente's is an Italian restaurant chain featured in the HD Universe of the Grand Theft Auto series.
Description[]
Grand Theft Auto IV[]
Advertisement poster.
The restaurant operates multiple locations in Liberty City, with most of its outlets concentrated primarily in Algonquin. The game manual details that Al Dente's serves heavily processed food that is deep-frozen in large warehouses. A radio commercial further describes Al Dente’s as providing reasonably priced, American-themed Italian cuisine, with large portions characterized as "tasteless and unhealthy". The commercial also highlights that Al Dente’s locations are conveniently situated near strip malls, much like many real-life casual dining chains. Although not a strip mall, the presence of a location at Big Willis Mall in Willis, Dukes, lends some support to this assertion.
Al Dente's is one of only a handful of businesses advertised on the radio that appears in-game. They are one of the official sponsors of the CNT program I'm Rich.
Grand Theft Auto V[]
In Grand Theft Auto V, the restaurant reappears with four branches located throughout Los Santos. WorldWide FM can be heard playing from inside the Vespucci Canals and Vespucci Beach branches of the chain, while Non-Stop-Pop FM can be heard playing from inside the Burton and Del Perro branches.
Influence[]
The restaurant appears to be a spoof of Olive Garden, with its logo bearing a prominent resemblance to that used by Olive Garden between 1998 and 2014.
Al Dente's was also the name of a real-life pizzeria that once existed in Forest Hills, Queens, functioning as a front for the Italian-American mafia, which operated through numerous pizzerias to traffic over one and a half billion dollars worth of heroin.[1][2]
Locations[]
Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars[]
Grand Theft Auto IV[]
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars[]
Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online[]
Trivia[]
- The term "al dente" refers to pasta cooked so as to be firm but not hard.
- Furthermore, the restaurant's name could be a nod to al fresco dining, which involves dining outdoors. At the Columbus Avenue and Garnet Street location in The Triangle, there is outdoor seating available.
- In Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, the Columbus Avenue and Amethyst Street location at The Exchange is replaced by a Pill-Pharm branch.[3]
- L.C.H.C DJ Jimmy Gestapo rants about how Al Dente's made him puke on his guitar player's foot and goes on to say "Why do we fuck up other countries' foods?"
