9 Olive Garden Seafood Dishes, Ranked

Olive Garden is well known for its selection of pastas, many of which are highly popular and much-loved. Dishes like the shrimp scampi have fared quite well in past Tasting Table rankings, and even the shrimp carbonara is considered a top hidden gem from the Italian-American food chain. Now, what do both of these dishes have in common? Shrimp, or seafood, if we're speaking more generally. 

So, I was curious about how Olive Garden's selection of seafood items fared (pastas and others) and decided to head to my nearest restaurant to try every seafood item currently on the menu — that's nine in total. There's a pleasant amount of variety among the nine, too — a couple are appetizers, the rest are entrees, some have added proteins, while others have creamy or tomato-y sauces. I tasted them all and ranked them by their overall flavor and texture to tell you which is my top pick.

Some recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.

This entree doesn't rank last for lack of flavor. In fact, the depth of flavor is the Calabrian Steak & Shrimp Bucatini's strength. It has spicy Calabrian cream sauce, as well as spinach and tomatoes mixed into the pasta to differentiate it from other seafood dishes I tried. The sauce brings a splash of creamy heat, while the veggies offer some compelling textures. 

The reason it ranks last is purely because of the texture of the steak. It's too chewy for me to enjoy, and unfortunately for me, meat textures play a huge part in my sensory enjoyment experience — I'm sure others can relate. I just couldn't get into the steak. After eating a couple of pieces to get a baseline, I avoided the rest of the steak bits. I appreciate the sear marks, but this dish didn't do it for me.

This meal also has bucatini pasta, which is a bit thicker than spaghetti. This in itself creates a different textural adventure, with a larger, slightly chewy and starchy mouthful of pasta. I quite like the flavors, but would prefer just the shrimp next time. Since the steak is an essential component of the dish and seemed a tad overcooked and chewy, this entree gets last place.

Now that we've got the steak out of the way, the rest of the dishes have no glaring issues, and it boils down to my personal experience and preferences on the flavors and texture. To be fair, the Shrimp Fritto Misto is a good appetizer. It comes with half a pound of shrimp, onions, and bell peppers, all of which are battered and fried. I am a big fan of the fried bell peppers here. I haven't had this appetizer before, so the veggie element surprised me. The peppers retain some of their initial crunch, along with the slight crisp of the breading, so it's a winning combination when you want a salty, fried mouthful.

That said, the batter of this seems oversalted. I couldn't help but need a gulp of water every couple of bites. These reheat pretty nicely in the toaster oven, too, if you can't finish the whole appetizer. The marinara and spicy ranch are perfect additions; the former is slightly acidic with the classic tomato umami twist, and the spicy ranch has creamy heat. Both offer a lot of dimension to the appetizer to distract from the salt. The flavors and textures give it a solid lead over the bucatini, but the saltiness keeps it low in the rankings.

I'm a big Alfredo fan, so there's nothing wrong with the sauce, pasta, or even the shrimp in this Olive Garden dish. It's just that the upcoming dishes are a little more captivating with added flavors and textures to give them a boost in the ranking. As it is, though, the shrimp Alfredo is nicely creamy and salty. The Alfredo is decadent and slightly nutty with the Parmesan addition. I wouldn't mind a smidge of black pepper, like in this Alfredo recipe, but that's a personal preference. 

Some of the uncovered pasta seemed a smidge dry, purely from lack of sauce, but nothing egregious. The shrimp portion is generous and cooked well. I like fettuccine, but since the pasta is wider (and some was totally unsauced), it needed more Alfredo to give it flavor. I'd like to see more char on the shrimp from the saute process (the shrimp on the website look perfect), which would add more flavor. If you're seeking familiar flavors, then the shrimp Alfredo is a good entree to order. While the Shrimp Fritto Misto was too salty, the shrimp Alfredo didn't have any major issues to solidify its higher spot in the ranking.

The shrimp carbonara has a little more going for it than the Alfredo, which is why I placed it above. There's a burst of color from the bell peppers, which also supply a mild sweet taste and welcome touch of textural mouthfeel to the creamy pasta. Again, we have the shrimp, but this time they have an appealing color on them from their time in the saute pan. The creamy sauce has tiny bacon pieces, which bring a smoky profile that I can taste in every bite.

It's surprisingly flavorful considering how small and scarce the bacon is in the actual dish. The sauce, while creamy, isn't nearly as luscious as an Alfredo, so it feels lighter in that sense. I prefer the smaller shape of the spaghetti, which is easier to cover in the sauce. The shrimp Alfredo's sauce is much thicker, while the shrimp carbonara is looser and more liquidy to better coat the pasta.

The seafood Alfredo has all the same add-ins as the shrimp version, except here we see scallops added into the mix. The scallops are small but wonderfully cooked, without getting chewy or rubbery.  In fact, I prefer them to the actual shrimp in this dish. I enjoy the smaller pieces of scallops so they're more dispersed throughout the dish, rather than getting one or two larger ones and having to bite through the entire thing.

The shrimp and scallops are pleasantly sauteed with sear marks that bring depth of flavor, so everything comes together to create a rich and comforting meal. If I had to pick between scallops or bell peppers in the shrimp carbonara, I'd go for the scallops to give this meal a higher position. The shrimp and scallop pairing looks and tastes elevated, making it perfect for an Olive Garden date night or special occasion. The Alfredo's thickness clings to the pasta to make every bite creamy and captivating. The parsley doesn't impart much flavor, but it brings a welcome dose of greenery into the otherwise beige dish.

In a previous Olive Garden appetizer ranking, the calamari didn't fare well because it was too salty and overly breaded. I didn't find those to be too problematic here. While the breading is indeed pretty salty, I like the lightness — the texture seems airy and crunchy, which pairs perfectly with the calamari. Another issue the writer noted was that the calamari seemed overcooked; my dish, however, was appropriately cooked, allowing it to remain soft and slightly springy rather than rubbery and chewy. 

The generous amount of marinara and spicy ranch is a perfect pairing. I like the traditional marinara to offer an acidic uplift, but the spicy ranch is kind of fun too. Olive Garden doesn't skimp on the calamari either — look how much there is! As long as it's not overcooked, it's the perfect appetizer to share with family. I brought leftovers home to my family, and it was still tasty after a quick reheat in the oven.

My top three items are dynamic and a perfect blend of flavors and textures, as opposed to the lower-ranking ones, which certainly seem dull in comparison. For my third-place pick, the chicken and shrimp carbonara offers a couple of tasty proteins to give it high marks. As I mentioned at the start, meat textures can make or break my dining experience, and the chicken is marvelously cooked in this dish. It's tender and easy to eat without the fibrous woody bits the poultry often has; it also has tasty sear marks to further enhance the flavor. 

The creamy, smoky sauce is rich yet not overwhelming, while the bell peppers offer a bit of fresh relief from any heaviness. Like the previous carbonara, the sauce has very small bacon pieces that impart a surprising amount of smoky flavor to create a more complex dish. I like the shrimp, chicken, and peppers combination, which is the most interesting out of any of the dishes so far. I also favor the spaghetti here, since each morsel is fully coated in the thin sauce. The chicken is the star of this dish, but the peppers bring some life and color into the fold. There's a good reason why the chicken and shrimp carbonara is one of the best Olive Garden dishes.

I've never had shrimp scampi like this Olive Garden iteration. As OG puts it, the company opts for a lighter spin on scampi. Shrimp scampi typically may have butter, olive oil, garlic, and lemon juice as the main ingredients, which offer a rich, oily mouthfeel with a tangy uplift and garlic to offer its sharpness. It might not have anything colorful other than a sprinkle of parsley. Olive Garden, however, switches things up with chopped asparagus and bits of tomato, which bring incredible vibrancy to the dish. This Olive Garden meal even has some copycat recipes, which lets you know people really love this dish.

The garlic sauce is much lighter than the standard oily-butter blend. Plus, the sauce has a loose, liquidy consistency that coats every nook and cranny of the shrimp, veggies, and angel hair pasta. It's definitely one of the lighter dishes of the ones I tried in terms of calories, but it doesn't lack in flavor. If you'd like, get a generous amount of the fresh Parmesan to offer added creaminess — it doesn't bog down the entire entree like a heavy Alfredo sauce might. I prefer the sauce, al dente asparagus, and the thin angel hair over the richer carbonara. 

I'm a salmon fan, so if you don't tend to like the fish, stick with my No. 2 pick instead. This Olive Garden dish is wonderfully cooked, where the fish retains its juiciness and structure. I've had this dish before, and it's one of the better restaurant salmon dishes out there. Sometimes salmon can get overcooked at restaurants, and therefore, it can have a dry, firm texture that I don't like. But OG nails it here. Plus, it has a fantastic sear that provides a slightly crisp outer edge — that, dare I say, looks better than the photos. 

I kind of wish it came with at least a small amount of pasta, but it's a scrumptious, lighter fare if you're looking for something satiating but not tapped out. Plus, you can always have some breadsticks. The herb garlic butter offers a lot of flavor, and I ended up dunking some broccoli pieces into it, too. This herby salmon stands out from the rest, seeing as this is the only fish dish and the only entree without pasta. But it gets the top marks because it's well-cooked and perfectly seasoned.

I visited my nearest Olive Garden to eat my way through the nine seafood menu items. I sampled everything in one afternoon. They brought out two dishes at a time, which allowed me to take photos, taste, and take notes. I tried a few bites of each before the next batch came out; this process repeated until I tried all nine products. I took the items home in boxes to try them again later, but my thoughts were solely based on the fresh experience. 

I mainly based my rankings on the overall taste of the dish; interesting and balanced items ranked higher than those that seemed more one-note. Lower-ranking items tended to have textural issues like chewy meat. I was looking for something with strong flavors that brought some well-rounded textures into the fold.