Should I ever be desperate enough to go to Olive Garden again, there are a few points it would behoove me to remember.
While the vegetarian minestrone soup sounds good, and it tastes good, it is salt water, beans, tomato pieces and pasta shells. In general, a better choice than anything else on the menu but it is mostly salt so be aware.
Getting soup, salad and breadsticks may seem like a brilliant solution to a menu with a limited vegetarian selection (especially veggie and low fat). It isn’t. Stick to the soup. And avoid the bread. Sweet, oily, garlicky, salty bread. It tastes good but you’ll regret it shortly.
As for sanity sake (and maintaining osmotic balance), if you have to get the salad, go ahead: be a restaurant princess and order the dressing on the side. They won’t mix it very well anyway. And they put 1:1 iceberg lettuce:dressing. The dressing is salty, thick, oily, sweet and garlicky. Sensing a theme?
Ok, now for drinks. Stick with water. Seriously. The wine list is frighteningly focused toward soda pop wines flavored with gumballs. That should indicate something important about their cocktails. I sent one back as too sweet (take Sprite, add sugar and heavily sweetened strawberry syrup). Plus, it had no discernible kick. I was guided to a new, less sweet cocktail. It tasted like cheap, sparkling 70s lambrusco mixed with Sprite. (Yes, I know what that lambrusco tastes like, parental influence, ok?)
So, that covers it. Let me sum up:
Everything is very sweet. And everything is salty, oily and garlicky. Nothing is alcoholic.
Best bet: go to McDonalds and get a soft serve cone.
