"TBH I don't really do chain restaurants, but my BF's family wanted to come since it was down the street. I was surprised to see it was actually pretty busy on a Wednesday evening, but service was still fairly fast. All pasta dishes come with never ending soup or salad, and breadsticks. They have 4 soup options: zuppa toscana, chicken and gnocchi, minestrone, and pasta e fagioli, but just stick with the zuppa and gnocchi ones. They actually have a really fresh salad but they ruin it by drowning it in dressing!! Next time, I'll definitely ask for dressing on the side so we can mix it all in ourselves, otherwise it's a fantastic side/app before your main meal. PS. They have never ending dipping sauces for your bread sticks now to add on for $6! Kinda pricey in my opinion, esp since you can only get 1 sauce at a time. They have 3 options alfredo, cheesy marinara, or marinara. Not worth it because the alfredo was the only good one. Just get a saucy pasta and dip your bread there! We shared the toasted ravioli and shrimp fritto misto. They were good but heavy as both are fried and then served with marinara. The shrimp was succulent and juicy, and served with fried bell pepper strips which were a little over done but I'm not complaining! This one comes with a spicy ranch that was pretty dang good. The raviolis were meh. They had a spinach beef filling and each ravioli was large, but it wasn't anything special. I would absolutely reorder the fried shrimp. If you're a fried calamari person like me, then this one is right up your alley. I ordered the shrimp and chicken carbonara. It was the least carbonara tasting carbonara I've ever had, however it wasn't bad lol It just wasn't carbonara. It had a good amount of chicken, shrimp and bell peppers mixed in, and a ton of sauce! I like sauce, and it was creamy but it was a little thin. I would have preferred a thicker sauce to coat my pasta. The pasta was like a fatter spaghetti but not bucatini. Maybe for future I'd ask to sub for fettucine or a thicker pasta of some sort. The flavor has a strong bacon taste but there weren't any bacon bits : I didn't eat much of it at the resto since I was so full from apps but when I brought it home, I added chili flakes and more parm and black pepper! Much better! My BF opted for the shrimp scampi and I think he made the better choice. His pasta was angel hair so it was nice and light in a buttery lemon garlic sauce. They added chopped asparagus and tomatoes which were so fresh, and the asparagus was nice and crisp! I will be replicating this in the future at home! All in all, it wasn't a bad dining experience. You go in with expectations that you'll get americanized pasta with XL portions, and you won't be disappointed. I think the staff knows how to handle big crowds as they probably see this a lot so if you're with a large family, this is a plus! Service was attentive and quick, especially with any requests we may have had. Back in the day they used to give Andes mints at the end of the meal but we didn't get any! IDK if this policy changed or if it was just our bad luck, but I hope they bring this tradition back because it was a little disappointing as the mint chocolate is one of the highlights at Olive Garden!"
Grilled Chicken Piadina
