Marilyn Hagerty, who went viral reviewing an Olive Garden, dies at 99

When Marilyn Hagerty sat down to a late lunch at an Olive Garden in Grand Forks, North Dakota, on a chilly winter day in 2012, she had no inkling that her $10.95 chicken Alfredo would become one of the most important meals of her life.

The longtime newspaper journalist had been penning features and columns for the Grand Forks Herald for decades, keeping her loyal readers up-to-date with the latest on the local dining scene - a task Ms. Hagerty, then in her mid-80s, balanced with games of bridge. Her columns, called “THE EATBEAT,” were firmly grounded in the Midwest college town - much like Ms. Hagerty herself. For years, they went largely unnoticed outside Grand Forks and its surroundings.

That is, until the Olive Garden piece caught the eye of internet bloggers, who marveled at her un