My experience was really good! When I ordered the gluten free pasta our waiter asked if there was an allergy or if I just like gluten free pasta, once we told him I had an allergy he made sure there was no cross contamination and even had the manager come over to assure us that there was no cross contamination. It was a great experience!
I took a chance despite some of the terrible reviews. I ordered the pasta with marinara as I figured that has the lowest potential to get screwed up. The waitress seemed knowledgeable. She knew which soups were gf, though I declined to get any. The pasta came out and clearly looked like corn pasta. It was ok tasting. Would not recommend going out of your way to go here, but if you end up here with a group, you can survive, or at least I did.
I ordered the shish-keb-bobs since I know the pasta is usually not very good. Half way through my dinner I noticed what looked to be pieces of "breading" in my potatoes. I asked the waitress about it-she got the manager and they apologized for giving me deep friend potatoes - thee breading was from calamari. This staff needs more training about what's exactly "gluten free" before I will eat there again!
They do have a separate gf menu which is great but I definitely had a reaction from my meal. Ordered their salad without croutons and their grilled salmon meal with steamed veggies. My guess is the grill was not clean from other breaded items. Tasted great but my stomach sure was in knots later on.
It's hit or miss here. One time had a very knowledgeable waiter and a nice gf meal. The next time, we had to send the salad back twice for croutons, they almost served hubby regular pasta, and when the gf pasta came out, it wasn't thoroughly cooked. It is nice that they try to offer gf, but I'm not sure they have the hang of it yet.
Mixed feelings…. After we ordered manager came to table explained the process on how they ensure the safety of the allergen risk/cross contamination. They take it seriously from training in the kitchen, New bag of salad just for us, new gloves and cleaned areas before cooking etc. The manager said she would hand deliver it separately to ensure it was done safely and correctly. I was impressed at first…..Until 5 Min later a different server tried to give us bread sticks which we declined, then when it came time for food coming out it all came out together, manager never came back to table like promised and my husband who also ordered a GF meal was served breaded verse grilled chicken. I feel It was a fake waste of the managers time to come give us this amazing spiel and then it never happened.
Gave me gluten noodles TWICE! I ordered online and got gluten free pasta and stated it was for an allergy. I took it to my hotel and began eating, found shells mixed in the pasta. I called over- they said only gf pasta is rotini and that the shells were gluten. They made me a new order and assured me it was gluten free. I picked it up and looked through it before I ate. Good thing I did because there were 5+ more gluten shells in the pasta. I called again, got a refund but they wanted to make me another one. I said no, clearly I do not trust them. I am celiac with severe symptoms, I hope I don’t have a reaction tonight.
I appreciate effort made here. I find Olive Garden to be one of the better chains at dealing with gluten free. After ordering the waitress notified the manager that we had an “allergy” at the table. He came over and reviewed everything with me. Salad was made in a clean bowl and to go dressing was served on the side because they worry about croutons falling in the dressing. The manager then followed up with us to make sure everything was satisfactory. I didn’t have pasta but the first time he came over he did assure me they take every possible precaution to prevent gluten contamination if I wanted to try the pasta. Rotini is the only GF pasta they serve and it is only used for GF so there is no confusion along with separate pits for boiling, etc.
I would give it 5 stars but it is just average Italian food at best. I appreciate all they do as it is not the first time I have been treated so well at this or any other Olive Garden.
I went to Olive Garden and was very pleased with the 7 options (plus 3 options for kids) on the gluten sensitive menu. They told me the precautions they were taking and even gave me my own salad bowl without croutons so there would be no cross contamination. I would definitely go back.