Olive Garden's Most Popular Menu Items Ranked From Worst To Best, According To Customer Reviews

Olive Garden is known for its never-ending breadsticks, bottomless soup and salad, as well as its pasta. The Italian restaurant chain has a decent sized menu with a variety of options and is fairly popular in the United States at the time of writing. The chain even saw an uptick in visitors in 2024.

Just like any other restaurant, Olive Garden's menu has some food items that are more popular with customers than others. In order to help you determine which of these dishes are customer favorites for a reason and which ones might be better to skip, we decided to rank Olive Garden's most popular menu items from worst to best. To determine what the most ordered items are, we looked at which dishes diners recommended and said are their go-tos that they order again and again. Then, to rank those menu items, we evaluated customer reviews from independent sources. To learn more about our evaluation process, visit the methodology slide at the end of this article.

Lasagna Classico is not a hit with customers. The food item is said to be made fresh daily on the chain's website and has layers of pasta, Parmesan, mozzarella, Pecorino Romano, and our homemade meat sauce. A writer with Business Insider labeled the lasagna as mediocre due to how small of a portion it was and its lack of flavor in spite of the fact that it was smothered in meat sauce.

A diner on Rate My Food ordered it off a recommendation and gave the classic Italian dish a rating of 1.6 out of 10, decreeing it the worst lasagna they've ever eaten and explaining that it was dry, lacked sauce, and was somewhat burnt. A user on Yelp agreed that the lasagna was small but called it tasty. Reviewers on YouTube reviewed the lasagna and said it was serviceable with a good amount of cheese, sauce, and quality meat but was unremarkable.

The Tour of Italy is one menu item that multiple people on Reddit and even an employee recommended ordering because of the variety it provides which is supposed guarantee you'll at least like something. However, that didn't work out for some customers. The dish comes with the chicken parmigiana, lasagna classico, and fettuccine Alfredo which all come with sauces that are made fresh every morning.

A diner on Reddit gave the three-part dish a rating of 7.5 out of 10, which isn't bad but also isn't great. The commenters under the post, however, were not as kind criticizing the presentation stating that the amalgamation of fettuccine Alfredo looked as if it had been sitting then had sauce thrown over it and was undercooked. A TikToker who reviewed the menu item stated that it looked unappetizing and lacked flavor, giving an extremely low score of 9 out of 100. Meanwhile, a YouTuber compared the chicken parmigiana to a McChicken patty with Ragu on top of it, they ended up giving it a rating 2 out of 5 and the lasagna a 3 out of 5. There were some customers on Yelp who liked the Tour of Italy describing it as amazing with distinct flavors.

The chicken Parmigiana is two Parmesan-breaded chicken breasts that are lightly fried then topped with in-house marinara sauce as well as melted Italian cheeses and served with a side of spaghetti. The dish has fairly middling reviews receiving equally positive and negative responses from customers.

Multiple users on Reddit stated it was delicious, with one adding, "I told my violently Italian uncle this one time and I thought he was (going to) drown me in his pool." Another Redditor even said that for them the quality of the chicken in the dish had improved recently. A customer on Yelp described the chicken in the dish as crispy, the marinara sauce as having a delightful zesty flavor, and the perfect amount of melted cheese. Others on Yelp, however, were not as impressed, stating that the chicken Parmigiana was dry and overcooked as well as lacking enough sauce and cheese.

As we stated above, something that Olive Garden is known for is its bottomless salad. The chain only offers one salad, its house salad, which has tomatoes, olives, onions, and pepperoncinis covered in Italian dressing and is popular just not with everyone.

Most diners on Reddit talked positively of the salad describing the ingredients as fresh and the salad as tasty, attributing that to the Italian dressing which you can purchase a bottle of. But both employees and customers say that it doesn't taste the same — we also wouldn't add Olive Garden's bottled light Italian dressing to our cart. There were Yelpers who agreed, stating that the salad is tasty and refreshing, although there were also complaints from other users about being served smaller portions — which isn't a huge deal since it is bottomless — and one about the dressing being overly pungent and the ingredients tasting canned. Customers on Reddit also called the salad basic and subpar. A writer for Three Penny Press even gave the salad a low rating of 2 out of 10, explaining that the dressing was a tad sour, the lettuce was bitter, and the overall flavor combination was extremely unpleasant.

The steak gorgonzola Alfredo recently made a return to Olive Garden's menu towards the end of 2024 after being removed during the COVID-19 pandemic and has been met with mixed reactions from diners. The dish is made with grilled sirloin tips cooked to medium, gorgonzola blue cheese, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, and fettuccine Alfredo topped with balsamic drizzle.

Some employees on Reddit stated that customers at their locations have not enjoyed the dish and even sending it back, while other employees say it's been performing well. A few attributed the negative reactions to the gorgonzola as it is a strong cheese. However, a customer in the thread said that for them it was the steak that ruined it as it had a foamy texture and felt unsettlingly soft. Other Redditors said the pasta dish lacks balance and made them sick after just a bite. Diners who took to Facebook had differing reviews, as well, with one declaring it was still as good as they remembered, and another calling it horrible due to too many flavors that don't go well with one another.

The chicken Alfredo is another dish that was recommended by Redditors and is listed as one of the chain's more popular dishes that got somewhat mixed reviews. On its website, the chain states the sauce for the classic pasta dish is made from scratch with Parmesan, cream, garlic, and butter.

A user on Reddit visited Olive Garden for their birthday, got the chicken Alfredo, and stated that it was a very good meal. Commenters under the post agreed that the chicken Alfredo is one of their favorites, with one even adding that it is top-notch and they prefer it over more high-end, expensive Italian restaurants. There were diners on Yelp who said they enjoy the menu item calling it tasty, creamy, and comforting. However, other patrons on Yelp have had issues with the chicken being rubber-like and the dish overall being dry, as well as having an inconsistent taste with it either being overly salty or lacking flavor completely.

The stuffed chicken marsala is another dish that was discontinued during the COVID-19 pandemic and was brought back at the end of 2024. It has somewhat varied feedback but is still one of the best things to order at Olive Garden if you don't like pasta. The chicken breast in the dish is stuffed with Italian cheeses and sun-dried tomatoes then covered in a creamy marsala mushroom sauce and served with mashed potatoes.

Users on Reddit were excited about the return of the dish and enjoyed it, with one user even referring to it as a slam dunk meal. A diner on Facebook seemed to agree, calling it delicious. However, there were other Redditors who said the dish was overly salty and different than the original — employees in one Reddit discussion admitted that due to the directions they have been provided on how to cook it the chicken often comes out burnt.

The eggplant Parmigiana has received fairly positive reviews, although it does have some complaints. It still is a great option for diners who are looking for a meat-free dish. According to the restaurant's website, the eggplant is hand-breaded then lightly fried, topped with marinara and melted mozzarella and served with a side of spaghetti.

Customers on Yelp described the menu item as crispy, filling, and enjoyable — with one even calling it their favorite dish. However, other yelpers called it adequate but not something they would have again, and that it didn't live up to the raviolis or the zuppa toscana. A patron on Tripadvisor stated that the eggplant Parmigiana was cooked perfectly and flavorful. However, a Redditor shared the eggplant Parmigiana they received that had very little breading and was mushy. They were still kind enough to say it wasn't bad, but a commenter was not as forgiving, comparing the dish to a T.V. dinner.

Olive Garden's shrimp scampi is another good option for those who don't eat meat or for seafood lovers in general that has, for the most part, received positive responses from customers. The restaurant advertises the dish as a lighter version of the classic, as the shrimp is sautéed in a garlic sauce and then tossed with asparagus, tomatoes, and angel hair pasta.

A diner took to Reddit to share how excited they were to learn that they could still have the shrimp scampi without breaking their diet. Others in the comments said that the dish looked phenomenal, that they loved it, and is something that some of them always get. A customer on Tripadvisor noted the seafood pasta as light but still filling. Yelp is where reviews on the shrimp scampi became mixed. There were a couple of customers who complained about having issues with the pasta being bland, stating that they had to dig to the bottom of the dish for any actual flavor. One Yelper even gave it a rating of 4 out of 10. Although, there were others who described the shrimp scampi as flavorful, light, and packed with fresh tomatoes and asparagus.

The chicken and gnocchi soup is one of four soups that Olive Garden offers and is a creamy soup that consists of roasted chicken, gnocchi — or the Italian version of a dumpling — spinach, and carrot. When a writer for the Takeout visited Olive Garden to try its soups and rank them, they put the chicken and gnocchi soup at the bottom of the pack due to the broth being overpowering and not having much of the actual ingredients. They did note, however, that it was the best soup for dipping breadsticks in.

A former Olive Garden employee on Reddit felt differently, going as far as saying they are addicted to the soup, which they claim to have craved daily since leaving and asking if any cooks would be willing to share the recipe so they can make it at home and save money. Multiple other Redditors recommended the soup, stating that it is delicious and a menu item they order regularly, one poster even compared it to a "hug in a bowl." Yelp reviewers also seemed to enjoy it for the most part. Although, there was one customer on Yelp who said that the soup was inedible, and another on Reddit who questioned if the recipe had changed after the soup was thicker than usual on multiple visits to the restaurant. However, others in the thread noted that is probably due to which employee is prepping the soup as each one makes the soup differently.

The never-ending breadsticks are an Olive Garden staple. Despite the adoration for them, people have still discovered that Walmart breadsticks are dupe for the Olive Garden ones that they can have at home.

Customers on Reddit have shared that they especially love the breadsticks with sauces like the Alfredo and the salad dressing. They also explain that they use them to soak up the rest of their soup or pasta sauce. One Redditor even took to the site to ask if it is possible to go to Olive Garden and only eat the breadsticks, and a different Reddit user who claims to be from the bread capital of the world said that they would devour a basket of the restaurant's breadsticks. An employee on Reddit even stated that during a rush, there will consistently be four to six trays of 30 breadsticks each in the oven for two to three hours. Yelpers also enjoy the breadsticks, although a couple of them did have off experiences with them being moldy or hard.

The Zuppa Toscana has received overwhelmingly positive reviews from diners who have had it. It was even dubbed the best Olive Garden soup to choose for your soup and salad combo when visiting the Italian restaurant. The soup is gluten-free and made with spicy Italian sausage, fresh kale, and russet potatoes that are swimming in a creamy broth.

Quite a few Redditors recommended the soup to others, describing it as delicious, and dubbing it one of their favorite items from the Italian restaurant. One Reddit user even recommended dipping breadsticks in it. A diner on Yelp stated that soup hit the spot during lower temperatures, but another complained that the Zuppa Toscana tasted significantly watered down. There are even recipes that have attempted to recreate it for fans who want to make the soup for themselves at home.

The chicken and shrimp carbonara is a dish that has received a lot of recommendations and not a lot of complaints. The pasta dish is spaghetti that has sautéed seasoned chicken and shrimp tossed in a creamy sauce that consists of bacon and roasted red peppers.

There were a few diners on Yelp listed the chicken and shrimp carbonara as their favorite menu item. There was a Yelper who said that the dish was above average with copious amounts of shrimp, chicken, peppers, and bacon pieces, but they found it was not as flavorful as they would have hoped and needed seasoning. There were multiple patrons and even employees on Reddit who recommended it, called the dish their favorite or even going as far as declaring it the best dish in the menu at Olive Garden. One commenter on a Reddit post with the picture of the pasta was even left shocked after finding out that something that looked so mouthwatering came from the chain restaurant.

The lasagna fritta, despite being an appetizer, from what we found has only received glowing reviews from those who have tried it which is why it earned the top spot of our list. The lasagna is Parmesan-breaded, then fried, placed on top of creamy Alfredo sauce, and finished with meat sauce and Parmesan cheese.

When a writer from the Takeout visited Olive Garden to try and rank all of its appetizers, they described the fried starter as having a nice variation in textures, as the exterior was pleasantly crisp and crunchy and the inside was filled with creamy ricotta. TikTokers who had the lasagna fritta enjoyed it, with one stating that it was better than the fried ravioli from the restaurant, and another got caught up in eating it for a minute before describing the dish as amazing and giving it a rating of 9.3 out of 10, adding that they've never had anything like it before and don't know what could top it. There were commenters on these TikToks that backed up the reviews, calling the appetizer their favorite giving a 10 out of 10. Some commenters on one of the TikToks, as well as Quora, even said that they will order it as their main entrée — which has earned them weird looks from staff, but who cares about that when you're eating tasty fried lasagna?

In order to determine the most popular menu items, we researched which dishes diners said that they consistently ordered at the restaurant as well as the ones that they recommended to others visiting the chain. Then to rank them from worst to best we analyzed customer reviews that discussed the taste, quality, and preparation on independent sources such as Yelp, Reddit, and Tripadvisor. In addition to those, we examined reviews from TikTok and YouTube as well as local and national publications.