Why Ordering Meatballs To-Go At Olive Garden Can Be A Letdown, According To Customers

Olive Garden's side dishes usually take a backseat to the main meals, and when you consider that most entrées come with a certain side by default, customers are even less likely to peruse that section of the menu. But if do you decide to take a look, you'll discover something exciting: You can order three of the chain's meatballs as a side dish for around $4. The only catch is that when ordered to-go, the dish might be missing a rather crucial component: The sauce. 

A customer complained on Reddit that they ordered the side of meatballs on three separate occasions, from various Olive Garden locations, and the dish sadly arrived un-sauced each time. The Redditor also pointed out that the photo on the online menu shows the meatballs slathered in marinara, which seems misleading as a result. Several commenters in the thread, including a few self-proclaimed OG employees, claimed to have witnessed the same thing on multiple occasions. 

And, while one purported former staff member professed that extra meatballs are always sauce-less by default, others countered that the side dish is definitely supposed to get a scoop of marinara on top. If you order a saucy Olive Garden pasta — or a non-pasta Olive Garden entrée that comes with a side of spaghetti marinara — you might not be all that disappointed with some plain meatballs. But, for customers who want the tomato-laden side dish seen in the attractive menu photo, this Olive Garden hidden gem might turn out to be a lump of coal instead. 

Luckily, you might be able to save yourself some grief by ordering your meatballs to go more wisely. Olive Garden's juicy meatballs are a far cry from the kind of leaden, dry lumps that need to be drowned in sauce to cover up their faults, but let's face it, marinara makes any meatball better. If you're afraid of your to-go order arriving without any sauce, type your request into the special instructions section before you check out online. To be even more direct, call to order it instead, so you know your request will be heard directly by a staff member. One Reddit user who requests sauce on their meatballs shared that their Olive Garden always calls to confirm, so it's definitely worth a try.

If you want even more marinara, or perhaps you'd prefer a different Olive Garden sauce, you can order a large side of sauce with your to-go meal for around $10 extra. However, you can't order all of Olive Garden's sauces in this manner — only the marinara, Alfredo, five cheese marinara, and meat sauce. If your favorite sauce isn't on the list, many Olive Garden locations will reportedly give you a small side cup of sauce for free or a small fee, so long as you order a pasta dish as your entrée. However, be forewarned that you might only be able to get a side of the specific sauce that goes with it. For instance, if you order a chicken Alfredo and want a cup of marinara for your meatballs, you can ask, but don't be shocked if there's a small charge for it or they simply refuse your request.