Flavorless chicken, mushy lasagna, and spaghetti that's just... blah. Olive Garden may try to tempt you with mouth-watering Italian dishes — but plenty of their menu items are just plain awful.
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00:00Flavorless chicken, mushy lasagna, and spaghetti that's just blah. Olive Garden may try to tempt
00:06you with mouth-watering Italian dishes, but plenty of their menu items are just plain awful.
00:12Eggplant parmigiana should be a slam dunk for a restaurant like Olive Garden.
00:17Drop it on a plate, add a side of pasta, and you've got a very tasty dinner.
00:20What could possibly go wrong? Pretty much everything. We were expecting the eggplant
00:25to have an al dente texture, but it came out mushy instead. The breading was also
00:30rough as sandpaper. It was tough to chew at first, but eventually it just became
00:34gross. After this experience, we decided to never order the eggplant parmigiana ever again.
00:40A proper fettuccine alfredo consists of al dente pasta that's tossed with a parmesan
00:45and butter cream sauce. Olive Garden, however, doesn't quite deliver on this dish.
00:50Oh my God. Alfredo sauce.
00:54It should be noted that the aroma of their fettuccine alfredo is a real teaser,
00:57with a bit of black pepper tossed in to spice it up. The cling factor of the sauce is a charmer,
01:02too, making us think that we were in for a good time. But with either too much cream or butter,
01:07the dish ultimately turned out to be a greasy mess.
01:11In the mid-2000s, Olive Garden began offering lighter fare for the more health-minded eater.
01:16One such offering was capellini pomodoro, a promising platter of skimmy spaghetti
01:20topped with juicy diced tomatoes. It looked beautiful on the menu,
01:24and even dazzled when it arrived at the table. But that was before we found out how flavorless,
01:28healthy Italian dining could be. Capellini pomodoro doesn't appear to be on Olive Garden's
01:34current menu, which we can assume means it wasn't very popular with other diners, either.
01:38Maybe if it ever makes a comeback, it will have the right concentration of
01:41peppy flavors to give meat-free diners something special. And if it never returns, that's fine, too.
01:48If you're looking to punish your stomach while eating at Olive Garden,
01:51few selections will get the job done as thoroughly as the Tour of Italy.
01:55This sampler platter pretends to provide small takes on three popular options for one low price.
02:00What no one tells you is that these reduced-size versions are just as hard to digest as their
02:05larger counterparts. Considering the plate holds lasagna, chicken parmigiana, and fettuccine
02:10alfredo, it's clear that even small portions of these heavy hitters can wreak havoc on a
02:15perfectly good digestive system. We ordered the platter with the best expectations,
02:19but after two bites of each, we were done.
02:22One of the tastiest dishes to come from the Mediterranean is chicken parmigiana.
02:26When done well, it features a juicy chicken cutlet that's been breaded and lightly fried.
02:31We'll take two chicken parmigianas, extra crispy.
02:34Marinara and parmigiano-reggiano are also added, making this a signature Italian dish.
02:39But the way Olive Garden serves its chicken parmigiana, you'd think there was no template
02:44for the recipe, just a poke-it-and-see approach. This is why the texture is so off.
02:49So how does a standard like chicken parmigiana miss the mark so badly at Olive Garden?
02:53We have to rule out the possibility of getting a bad batch, seeing as we've ordered it more
02:57than once and experienced the same texture issues each time. So perhaps the kitchen could use
03:02upgraded appliances or a new standard for cooking the chicken. Until then, we're swearing off their
03:08chicken parmigiana. We all know how comforting eating a plate of spaghetti can be, especially
03:14when it's made from a tried-and-true recipe and is made with care. However, the spaghetti
03:18at Olive Garden tastes like a hollow version of the classic, with all the heart and soul
03:23stripped away. That said, you've probably eaten better spaghetti at other restaurants.
03:27Olive Garden may present itself as a family restaurant that knows classic Italian food,
03:32but you're better off skipping their spaghetti with marinara.
03:36Ah, minestrone — that spicy, tomato-based broth filled with beans and veggies.
03:41When made well, minestrone is a perfect complement to a slice of rustic garlic
03:46bread or, in the case of Olive Garden, a basket of their famous breadsticks.
03:50Ordering a bowl always seems like a safe choice at a place like Olive Garden.
03:53So was it the overzealous spicing or the watery broth that turned us off?
03:58Or was it the fact that the beans-to-veggie ratio was completely off-balance?
04:02The best we can say about Olive Garden's minestrone is that if you dip your breadsticks
04:06into it, they're a little easier to chew. But standing on its own as a soup, it's best to avoid.
04:12Look, we get it. The fettuccine alfredo was already a failure,
04:15so how could we assume the chicken alfredo would be any better?
04:18Well, sometimes hunger causes you to eat foods you know you'll regret later.
04:22Needless to say, ordering the chicken alfredo was, predictably, the wrong move.
04:26Our biggest issue was the strips of chicken, which came out way too rubbery.
04:30To be fair, maybe the extra heat from the pasta and sauce caused the chicken to overcook.
04:35Whatever the cause, we immediately wished we went with a different order after the first bite.
04:40It was that bad.
04:42How many layers of disappointment can you pack into one Olive Garden dish?
04:46The possibilities seem endless when the item in question is lasagna classico.
04:50Every component is present here, including wide pasta, gooey cheeses, ground beef,
04:55and hearty sauce. Yet after taking the first bite, we quickly realized how unpleasant it tastes.
05:01Lasagna! Just get the lasagna!
05:03There's a finesse required for making a truly balanced lasagna — one where the
05:07noodles aren't floppy, the ricotta isn't mushy, and the sauce isn't too bland. The cheese on
05:12top should bubble and brown, and the edge pieces should be crispy without being dry.
05:16Unfortunately, that wasn't the case for us. If you're in the mood for lasagna,
05:20you're better off skipping Olive Garden and finding a place that knows how to do it right.