Olive Garden Appetizers, Ranked Worst To Best - Tasting Table

"Many Olive Garden meals start off the exact same way. Soon after settling in and putting in your order, you're met with a basket of steaming hot, garlicky breadsticks. Not long after that, a family-sized salad-drenched in Italian dressing and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese until you say when, or cups of the restaurant's Tuscany-inspired soups, fill the table. If you happened to take advantage of its never-ending deal, these starters just keep coming. Or they lead to a hearty pasta meal."

"There's no denying that this is a great way to begin the dining experience. But the popularity of this combo of soup, salad, and breadsticks means that some of the restaurant's other antipasto dishes often get overlooked. Well, not today. I'm finally giving all of Olive Garden's classic Italian-inspired appetizers a chance to shine (or not shine, depending on how they fare)."

"Olive Garden attempts to recreate this straight-from-Italy delicacy, yet fails to capture its briny yet simple seaside charm. My own shoal of calamari offered all rings (very teeny rings, at that) and no tentacles. Personally, I was disappointed by this. The wild tentacle pieces reaching in every direction may be off-putting to some people, but I love the intense crunch they always seem to provide. Without them, I was left only with a helping of rubbery calamari rings."

Many Olive Garden meals begin with steaming hot, garlicky breadsticks, a family-sized salad drenched in Italian dressing and sprinkled with Parmesan, or cups of Tuscany-inspired soup. The never-ending starter deal often keeps those items coming or leads into a hearty pasta meal. Several other antipasto dishes receive less attention despite being classic Italian-inspired starters. Every starter except the breadstick-and-sauce trio was sampled, including fried pastas, fried seafood, and several meat-based offerings. The dishes were ranked from worst to best based on taste, quality, texture, and sauce pairings. Calamari arrived as very small rings without tentacles and displayed a rubbery, slightly overcooked texture that lacked briny seaside charm.

Read at Tasting Table