Books of Italy and white Christmas lights draped from high ceilings welcome the lines of people extending out the door who are waiting to try the new Olive Garden, 1945 Waddle Rd.

For some students, the food and the atmosphere make the trek from downtown, and the long wait, worth their wait.

"When I walked in, I was shocked," Sarah Pearce (freshman-division of undergraduate studies) said. "It definitely has the Italian flavor."

The wait outside the door has been a bigger factor than the Italian ambiance for a few customers. Eric Yuen (sophomore-business logistics) decided to order take out instead of sitting down to a meal.

"The wait was an hour long," he said.

Economics professor David Schlow did not compromise with take-out. The wait turned him away from the restaurant completely.

"We went during break. It was early January. We got there before five o'clock and they told us it was an hour and a half wait," he said. "I'm thinking most people aren't even eating dinner by then."

He attributes the lengthy wait to the fact that the restaurant is brand new. "I think there is a novelty factor because it just opened," Schlow said.

Some restaurant goers have turned to other eating establishments after learning about the lengthy delay at Olive Garden.

"Outback gets the overflow. Their business has picked up," said Christopher Smith, Olive Garden's general manager.

Paige Harbaugh, manager of Outback Steak House, 1905 Waddle Rd., said her restaurant has benefited from the Olive Garden moving in next door. It has affected Outback "in a very positive way. It's brought a lot of business to Patton Township," she said.

The crowd that makes up the long wait is mixed evenly between students and local residents. "Some nights it's all students. Some nights it's all locals," Smith said.

Brad Miller (junior-operations and information systems management) and Amber Bossart (freshman-secondary education) decided that the hour-long wait was worthwhile.

Their explanation: "It's so long because everyone loves it," Miller said.

To work at Olive Garden, servers must first go through an intense training session.

There were 100 workers training for 45 hours, Jonathan Dezzutti, a Penn State graduate and waiter at the restaurant, said.

"We got to sample everything on the menu -- appetizers, entrees, and even the children's menu," he said. "We got to sample 16 of the 38 wines and it was all in one day. I had a nice little buzz -- and I got paid."

Sixty-percent of all of the waiters at the Olive Garden are Penn State students, Smith said. It is convenient to have students work there because they know their schedules ahead of time, he said.