 |
| Source: www.olivegarden.com |
Click here to check out the Olive Garden gluten free menu
So it doesn't seem like they have very many options, but its certainly something if you are out with a bunch of friends that want to go swing by the Olive Garden for some pasta. They only have one penne gluten free pasta dish available with a tomato sauce, the rest is from the grill like their steaks and salmons. Its a start.
I had the pasta awhile back. It wasn't good let me tell ya. I wouldn't go back. It's not worth the taunting from the breadsticks... oh memories
ReplyDeleteChianti's is by far a better choice if you're looking for pasta, but that's just my opinion :)
I have heard it is not the best, but I guess it is good to know that there is something to eat their if you are stuck having dinner their with some family and friends. We do love Chianti's! Probably our favourite italian restaurant, especially on their half price pasta days.
ReplyDeleteI do like to see gluten-free going mainstream, very helpful for people with celiac. Now, if they could only make pasta low carb for us diabetics!
ReplyDeleteAmanda would agree!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip. I agree that Chianti's in Edmonton is great but I discovered that the menu in Saskatoon was completely different and quite disappointing for a celiac. The thing about Olive Garden is that as a chain it is probably more standardized (if that is grammatically correct) and thus useful as a fallback when travelling.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about their GF menu here in Canada, but I recently had the Olive Garden experience in Florida. The menu indicated their GF meals and in the fine print below, indicated they "try to make every effort possible to accommodate the GF guest", however made no promises whatsoever that the meal would be GF. They mentioned cross contamination and gave me the impression that the care and attention to keep my meal GF depended solely on how busy and concerned the kitchen staff were. Unfortunately I was not aware of this until it was too late. I ordered and ate pasta with marinara sauce. When I was almost done, I discovered a huge piece of NON GF linguini underneath the GF noodles. So, I inquired. It turns out that they only serve one type of GF noodle. Although they would not answer my questions, it was obvious that they either just use the same boiling water for everything, or they use the same collanders. They just pointed to the fine print. BEWARE, ASK and you decide. I have.
ReplyDeleteHi Keith, thanks for the heads up. That is always sound advise. I am not sure any kitchen can 100% guarantee, but it is good to always ask to use clean utensils when preparing your meal. And always trust your gut if you are being served a proper meal for yourself.
ReplyDeleteI had the exact same experience as Keith but in Chicago. I found a huge linguini noodle in my penne, and the manager explained that sometimes the noodles come 'unwrapped.' This clearly wasn't an unwrapped penne noodle. He then explained that sometimes there are gluten free linguini noodles in the gluten free penne noodles from the supplier. My only reaction was to hope they would look at a new supplier with better quality control. I didn't get sick, but I hardly ate any of my meal. I went without dinner that night.
ReplyDelete