Great Orders to Complement Your Main Dishes at Olive Garden
Admittedly, this is a highly subjective and biased list. After all, each person’s taste buds will be different. And even an individual may have a different craving at different days and different times.
But this is a list we’ve come up with whenever we’ve been asked by people as to what they should order at Olive Garden. We’re presuming that it will be their first time to visit an Olive Garden, hard as that may be to fathom. Or, perhaps you’ve been visiting the Olive Garden for a while, and you want to try out something new.
Our advice is always that you get what appeals to you, at least for your main dishes. But then complement that dish with the following:
The Breadsticks
When these breadsticks first came out, it became an absolute online sensation. Lots of fans waxed poetic about it through social media. Today, it’s still regarded as the star of the Olive Garden menu. It doesn’t hurt that Olive Garden bakes a fresh batch every 15 minutes.
You can use the breadsticks to create your sandwich, if you want. Or you can just order the breadsticks along side any type of meal you might have at the place. It will always complement whatever else you’re having. The breadsticks are always warm and perfectly salted. You have a great amount of crunch on the outside and terrific softness on the inside, while each bite gives you that excellent butter-garlic taste.
Or you can just try the breadsticks with a dipping sauce. Try dipping the breadsticks in the fresh marinara sauce, the 5-cheese marinara, or the homemade alfredo. Each bite is just right.
Chicken & Gnocchi Soup
Sure, it doesn’t really look like a masterpiece. But the flavor is just terrific, derived from the roasted chicken, traditional Italian dumplings, and spinach.
The soup is quite creamy, but it’s not too thick at all. The consistency is just right, which lets you enjoy the soft dumplings and the super-tender chicken. No matter what you else you get when you visit Olive Garden, adding this soup is always a good idea.
House Salad
Actually, quite a lot of people (especially the longtime fans) recommend that you should always get the breadsticks, Chicken & Gnocchi Soup, and the House Salad. This is basically the holy trinity of the OG menu. In fact, there are folks here who only come just for these 3 items.
The house salad is actually complementary with each meal, and you can probably just eat as much of it as you can. The presentation includes a huge bowl and a giant serving utensil, with toppings that include olives, tomatoes, pepperoncini, and onions.
This is one terrific salad that can compare with any other chain restaurant salad. Even the lettuce is perfectly crisp.
Sicilian Cheesecake
This is not the New York cheesecake you may be used to. That NY cheesecake uses cream cheese, but the Italian version uses ricotta cheese. That gives this Sicilian cheesecake a more delicate texture. Because to the ricotta, the body of the cheesecake is super light.
Then you have the shortbread cookie crust, which pairs nicely with the ricotta while giving this cheesecake a nice crunch and a subtle sweet taste. You also get the very fresh strawberry sauce, which uses large chunks of strawberries. All in all, this will truly enhance your meal, even if you somehow ordered a rather mediocre main dish!
Why Olive Garden’s Breadsticks Are So Darn Delicious
