15 Mistakes To Avoid When Ordering Italian Food

Yes, words in Italian can be hard to pronounce sometimes, especially if they are super unfamiliar to you. But other times, the word simply doesn't sound like the letters in it exist at all. This is the case with gnocchi. If you read that just now in your head as "g-knock-ee," we're sorry to report that's just dead wrong. Apologizing on behalf of Italians everywhere, we're here to tell you that it is pronounced nothing like the way it is spelled. Isn't that fun?

You should be pronouncing this potato-based pasta type as "en-yolk-ee" rather than any other way of saying it. The faster you say it, the more Italian you sound. And if the moment comes, and the waiter is looking at you waiting for you to order, and you're staring at that darn menu item with contempt, just take the L and point at the item on the menu to show them what you want to eat. But to avoid that stressful ordering moment, take a second to practice saying gnocchi out loud, or even practice with an Italian friend. It's a simple word to say once you get the hang of it.

This next tip isn't about an Italian food item you should or shouldn't order, but rather a strategy you may not have thought of before. If you adore vodka sauce, but the one item featuring it on the menu is a penne alla vodka, and you detest penne pasta, there is no harm in switching it up. Ask the waiter if it's possible to get another pasta done in the vodka sauce. Be sure to actually choose another pasta type that's already featured on the menu, like spaghetti, rigatoni, or ravioli, and then the chances are pretty high that the kitchen will be able to accommodate your request.

The worst that can happen is that they aren't able to do it for you, in which case means that they're probably pre-making and mixing the pasta and sauce together, which we think is a bit of a red flag (it can make the pasta mushy and less fresh if it sits in the sauce for hours). A nice-quality Italian place will be able to customize your pasta and sauce combination ask, as long as those items are on the menu. Similarly to adding chicken to the top of a dish, it's an easy, non-time-consuming task for the chefs to do, and we promise they won't hate you for it. And if you're too shy to ask the waitress yourself about your request, have a bolder friend at the table do it for you.

Ordering the calamari at an Italian place is an easy win. You know it should be good at pretty much any authentic place you go, and we think it's one of the most perfect appetizers you can get. It's crispy, has a great sauce to dip it in, is easy finger food but can also be classed up by picking it up with a fork, the pieces are already bite-sized, and the squeeze of lemon overtop adds just a touch of zing, and calamari is overall the perfect Italian restaurant appetizer to order.

Unfortunately, it is not the perfect Italian restaurant appetizer to take home with you. Whether you're sitting down at the restaurant and you (somehow) didn't finish your calamari so you're considering taking it to-go, or if you're ordering some Italian food for a night-in at home, skip the calamari in a to-go box. This goes for most fried foods, but calamari gets so soggy once it's put in that box. You're better off trying to finish eating it at the restaurant, or if you're ordering pickup or delivery, just save the calamari ordering for when you're there in person. Trust us, you'll save your money and your appetite for items that transport better.

We've spent an awful lot of time talking about pasta so far, so let's switch gears a bit to another incredibly popular Italian food you'll see on most menus: pizza. The Italian's form of bread and cheese in a dish, pizza is so easy to get right, yet also so easy to get wrong. If you're at a place known for its pizza, and the margherita is a highly-regarded, crowd favorite there, we don't see any harm in ordering it. But at your average Italian place where pizza maybe isn't the main focus of the menu, or the margherita pizza seems like a menu afterthought more than the star, you could probably benefit from ordering something else.

We'll let you in on a little secret: Margherita pizza is in the same camp as Alfredo sauce, meaning that it's so easy to make that chefs often don't spend the time or energy on making it excellent. This means that you're more likely to get a high-quality meal by ordering another type of pizza, instead of the one they can throw mozzarella slices and chopped tomatoes on in the oven and then put cold, dry basil leaves on top. It's just disappointing, and you can avoid that disappointment by ordering something else.

Are you dreaming of your mom's homemade lasagna recipe fresh out of the oven? If you are craving that nostalgia and quality in a dish, we think your best bet is to skip ordering it at a restaurant. This isn't to say that most Italian restaurants make a bad lasagna — it's actually probably decent. It's just that the circumstances surrounding lasagna in a restaurant prevent it from being the best it can be.

If you've ever had a days-old, sitting in the refrigerator, piece of lasagna heated up in the microwave, you'll know that it just doesn't hit the same as it does right when it's out of the oven. The sauce is pretty dry, the noodles aren't as fresh, and the cheese isn't as melty. It's an all-around mediocre, if not unpleasant, experience that is not comparable to what fresh lasagna tastes like. Getting the lasagna at a restaurant is a similar deal: Who knows how long it's been sitting out on the counter for since it's been baked, especially since you're only getting one piece of it. You're better off ordering something else that you know is fresher.

Whether your meal comes with a side salad or if you're at a place that automatically brings you a big salad for the table before your main meal (we love those kinds of places) you're probably going to be asked what kind of dressing you want for it. In our humble opinion, you can have ranch, Caesar, French, or any generic dressing any day of the week. You can buy those easily from your local grocery store and make that salad at home. Do you know what you can't easily make at home? The restaurant's house dressing.

Especially if you're at an Italian place, the house dressing is bound to be good for several reasons. First of all, the place is making it in a large batch and serving it to lots of people, and if the dressing is bad, the restaurant would be losing money on it, so it's bound to be good. Second, it's probably (definitely) homemade, which means it's bound to be delicious and likely a secret recipe. If the spot doesn't happen to have a house dressing (red flag), then you can order whatever dressing you want to your heart's content, but before reflex-ordering the ranch, ask if there's a house dressing; you won't be disappointed.

This next tip goes for any type of cuisine, but it's especially important to keep in mind regarding Italian food. When the flavors are as bold as most Italian ingredients like prosciutto, sharp cheeses, and homemade pasta, the last thing you want is your wine (literally) putting a damper on your meal. If your dish is a light, airy, lemony seafood pasta, ordering a dry red will kill your vibe (and your tastebuds).

To avoid mishaps like these, you have to make a game-time decision in one of two ways. The first strategy you could employ is having your meal already chosen in your head when you're ordering your wine. That way, you'll be picking your wine based on your main dish, with no tastebud catastrophes awaiting you. The second strategy you can try is just ordering the wine you want to get, and then consulting our Italian comfort food and wine pairing guide (or your own knowledge) to choose the correct dish to pair it with. Whichever item you choose first, wine or meal, will depend on your preference, so let your cravings decide which one is leading the way.

Angel hair pasta is one of our absolute favorite types of pasta, so this tip pains us to tell you about it. We think angel hair pasta should, in general, be even more popular than its rival spaghetti, but we understand why it's not. The reason it's probably not as popular is the same reason you may want to avoid ordering it at an Italian restaurant: It can easily become mushy after being cooked. It's called angel hair for a reason, and that's because it's so delicate.

We love how delicate the pasta is, but its beauty is also its downfall in a restaurant setting. Especially in places that are making food as fast as they can serve it, it's very easy for a delicate pasta such as angel hair to become soggy under the weight of too much sauce, sitting too long in the water, and/or sitting out too long in the kitchen. If you're an angel hair pasta diehard fan and are willing to take the chance to order it, we say go for it. But if you can live without it, you'll have better chances with a more durable type, like rigatoni or spaghetti.