Olive Garden
$$ • Italian Restaurant
Most Recent Reviews
Love the 5 cheese ziti made with gf noodles. Really good.
Waitress and chief were great about explaining GF options. The problem was that there was barely anything I could eat. Ended up with GF rigatoni, plain marinara and 2 Italian sausage. I could have made that at home. No appetizers were GF or any of the meat dishes. Even the shrimp scampi uses the water from the regular pasta to make the broth. Never again.
I am gluten free and did seafood with gluten free pasta it made me sick!
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Yikes. Do not go here. They have GF steak with fettucine on the menu, and that is a lie...they brought a plate of steak, mashed potatoes, and 100% glutenous fettucine alfredo. We were so nice about asking "hey, really, are you sure this is GF...? Cuz it looks too good to be true, and wife who can eat gluten says it tastes and feels like regular wheat fettucine...." .... waitress said it must be, since it is on GF menu.... we had her double check anyway...and of course, we were told OOPS, yeah, that is indeed regular fettucine. We tried so hard to let them gracefully make it better, but they offered to just bring an additional side of broccoli, leaving hubby the cross-contaminated steak and potatoes.... we said nah, we will just take food to go and pay for it and wife will eat it and we'll leave and call it a day if that is okay.... waitress tried to take steak and fettucine off bill and manager wouldnt let her! We were like "uh, really...? After we were so nice about this near poisoning....?" And she said manager said we had to pay for all food we were taking home...so we were like ok, then we dont have to take steak and fettucine home cuz we sure can't pay for food you mistakenly brought that wouldve made him really really ill if he had eaten it..." and waitress took that to manager, and it came off bill and we left steak&fettucine behind. We still tipped waitress on both meals bc she was nice despite being foiled repeatedlt by menu and manager. When she saw that, she came back and warmly thanked us AND OFFERED TO SEND US HOME WITH A BAG OF BREADSTICKS.... so....moral of the story: if you are on this app bc you need to eat GF, you CANNOT trust this place.
They gave me a separate salad. I had GF pasta with Parmesan pesto sauce and grilled chicken. It was surprisingly good!
2 very good experiences with waiting staff responsive to multiple food allergies. My meal was tasty and excellent, alternatives were suggested by the waiters who checked with the chef on some items to ensure I was not getting into anything that might cause symptoms. Croutons were not put on my salad which happens often in other places despite announcing my sensitivities. Fortunately, I do not have Celiac.
I would give no stars but the app won't let me. Just like Dominos, Olive Garden offer GF just to say they offer it. The pasta is terrible and the "Steamed" veggies are dipped in the pasta water. Not a good place to go if you are intolerant or Celiac.
I've always enjoyed Olive Garden in the past (recently diagnosed with celiac) but their gluten free menu, as of when we tried to go there a couple of nights ago, is a gluten-sensitive menu only and does not guarantee against cross-contamination. Not suitable for celiacs yet. Very sad for me.
Reviews of this Chain
This Olive Garden is NOT safe. I used to work here, the cooks don’t understand what a gluten allergy is, or the extent of it. I have tried many different options and have gotten sick every time. The zuppa toscana? It is right next to the 3 other soups, all of the lids get switched around between the soups, the spoons get switched around, and food falls into the soup all of the time. (Tried to once tell a manager there was a gluten fry in the toscana and I was ignored. It was served to many many people before being discarded and remade.) The only safe food is the salad, IF your server prepares it correctly. The dressing is right next to the croutons, meaning the cross contamination is high. Often crumbs get into the dressing. You have to get “to-go” dressing for it to be safe. NOT CELIAC FRIENDLY
Absolutely the best service for a person with a gluten allergy from the host, server and manager! Their gluten sensitive menu is limited but the excellent service made it worth it. The manager came to talk to me twice to answer any questions and explain menu options. I had the chicken parmigiana which was very good and a large serving. Wish all restaurants trained their staff as well.
I will admit... I was sooo nervous to try this, but this is one of my families favorite places.
When the waiter came to the table I greeted and explained that I have Celiac like I always do and he was so attentive and sweet about it. (Definitely ask for Thomas if you go in)
The manager delivers your food and it always comes out separate from everyone else at the table.
I had all you can eat soup and salad with the Zuppa Tuscana soup. Everything was amazing and I didn't get sick.
I will definitely be going again.
I am celiac. I told waiter I was allergic to gluten and sensitive to cross-contact. I had salmon and broccoli. The manager brought out my dish. The server brought the remaining dishes for my companions who had no food allergies.
I didn’t have the greatest experience at Olive Garden. A manager came out and told me he would make sure my food was safely made and far away from any gluten. When my meal came out, gluten free noodles were mixed in with my meal. The manager apologized and gave us our meal for free but I was unimpressed with the fact that he promised there would be no cross contamination and there indeed was.
On top of that there are very limited gluten free options and none of them tasted very good or fresh.
