7 Olive Garden Myths To Stop Believing

Olive Garden is a firm favorite for many Americans. In fact, while many claim to dislike it, this chain restaurant is actually very popular across the U.S. It has nearly 1,000 locations and over 99,000 employees, so it must be doing something right. 

But before your next trip to Olive Garden, there are a few things you need to know. Firstly, despite some of the decor, this restaurant chain is not entirely as it seems. More on that later, but if you were hoping to transport yourself to Tuscany for the evening, we're sorry to say that's probably not going to happen. However, if you were hoping to eat scratch-made sauce in a clean environment, you're likely going to be pretty happy.

If you're now thinking "scratch-made? Olive Garden? Really?" You've come to the right place. Here, we unpack some of the Olive Garden myths you need to stop believing, and unpack questions around its food preparation techniques, its food deals (are the breadsticks truly never-ending?), and even its kitchen hygiene practices.

If you're thinking of making a reservation at Olive Garden because you're craving some hearty Italian-American food and unlimited breadsticks, then good news: You're unlikely to be disappointed. However, if you're going there because you think it'll give you a true Italian experience, then we have some bad news. There isn't much about this popular chain restaurant that's authentic. 

Let's start with the origin story. Nope, Olive Garden wasn't created by a humble Italian entrepreneur, perhaps with Neapolitan grandparents, Tuscan roots, or a Florentine family tree. It was created in Florida by General Mills. Yes, the American food giant — that General Mills, so no authenticity there. As for the menu, we're sorry to tell you that dishes like Steak Gorgonzola Alfredo, spaghetti and meatballs, and chicken parmigiana weren't actually invented in Italy, so it loses marks there, too. 

For proof that Olive Garden isn't the real deal, just ask the Italians, many of whom are more than slightly bemused by the company's menu. "Since in Italy we don't have it I had to google some Olive Garden menu and no, it is not 90% authentic at all," said one Redditor. "Things like '[chicken] alfredo', 'chicken and shrimp carbonara', 'fettuccine alfredo', 'garlic bread', 'chicken parm' etc. are definitely not Italian." That said, some dishes like lasagna are genuinely Italian.

Sure, Olive Garden doesn't offer an authentic Italian experience, but that doesn't mean it has no standards. While many assume that most of the menu is prepackaged and reheated from frozen, many workers say that's not actually the case. In fact, several of Olive Garden's kitchen employees have confirmed that many of the sauces and soups are made in-house, and the pasta is (usually) cooked daily. "Majority of the sauces have a 3 day shelf life and are made from scratch," said one Olive Garden worker in the r/olivegarden subreddit. "No frozen meals."

Others have confirmed that most of the produce is fresh, like the tomatoes, for example, but it's not all good news. Some say the salad is usually pre-cut and mixed, while the bread is also pre-baked and fish and meat ingredients are usually shipped to restaurants frozen. If you don't like the sound of that, you won't like this either: Some employees are concerned that fewer things will be made in-house in the future. "Especially the scampi sauce [used] to be made in house now it's just a bag we get in frozen," claimed one Redditor. "Alot of items are still made inhouse, but they've been working towards cutting corners."

Sometimes, Olive Garden meals get to the table really fast. Like, suspiciously fast. But be assured, if this happens, most workers say it's not because your dinner has been microwaved, despite what you might have heard. Many employees say this is nothing but a rumor, but this might not be the case everywhere. In a viral TikTok in 2021, one former Olive Garden employee claimed that they had seen chefs occasionally microwaving certain items, including vegetables, meat, and sauces, before serving them to customers.

The use of a microwave might sound alarming, but it's not necessarily a red flag. In fact, some of the world's leading chefs use microwaves. David Chang even once told TastingTable that he swears by microwaved mashed potatoes. But another reason why kitchen workers might sometimes break out the microwave is to avoid cross-contamination. "[Because] all of the pasta is cooked in the same [water,] therefore to protect people with gluten allergies we microwave it," said a person claiming to be an Olive Garden employee in the r/olivegarden subreddit.

If your steak arrives in front of you quickly after ordering, you might not think it was microwaved, but you could suspect the chefs cut some corners. Some customers believe that Olive Garden's kitchen employees pre-boil steaks to speed up the cooking process.

And look, this is not actually that wild of an idea. In fact, there is an actual technique called sous vide, which isn't quite boiling, but it involves cooking bagged and vacuum-sealed steak in a water bath for a few hours. After this, the steaks are transferred to a griddle to sear in butter or oil before serving.

Olive Garden doesn't use this method to cook its steaks, and it doesn't pre-boil either. At least, not everywhere. "At my Olive Garden, at least, the chefs don't do that," confirmed one Olive Garden employee on r/AMA. "The steak is cooked properly," they added, before explaining that steaks are usually grilled or pan-seared.

When you're choosing a restaurant, you're probably not just looking for good-quality food, but also a clean environment. There are some major red flags you just shouldn't ignore, like undercooked food and dirty tables. Fortunately, many employees say that Olive Garden restaurants have very high standards when it comes to cleanliness.

"OG is the cleanest restaurant I've worked in," said one Redditor in the r/AMA subreddit. "Hands down. They DO NOT play around (at least my location) with sanitation and cleanliness of the kitchen and food." They added that food is checked regularly to ensure that everything is as fresh as possible, and temperatures are regularly monitored. Another employee added: "Each ingredient comes in its own bag, and servers wear gloves or use tongs when assembling it!"

That said, there are always a few horror stories. Many employees have claimed the problems usually involve things like customers leaving bathrooms in a mess or servers scooping ice out with their bare hands. But the kitchens are squeaky clean, according to an employee in r/olivegarden. "I really never saw anything disgusting," they said.

If you're prone to skepticism, you might eyeball Olive Garden's Never-Ending Soup, Salad, and Breadsticks deal with a healthy dose of distrust. Surely, there is a limit, right? Well, to quote Cady Haron of "Mean Girls" fame, according to employees, "the limit does not exist." Yes, really. Well, there are some caveats (we knew it).

"You can have as many [breadsticks] as you like from when you arrive to when the restaurant closes, but if you hog the table the whole day the manager may ask you to leave," said one employee in the r/AMA subreddit. However, they explained that this rarely happens with breadsticks. Soup, however, is a different story. And people also love to feast on pasta when an unlimited pasta deal rolls around.

"I'm more concerned about people who eat 6 bowls of soup, or 8 plates of pasta during never ending pasta," they added. "We have had MANY huge groups hog tables all day and not tip, which sucks." Note that they said it sucks, not that it was banned. Do with that what you will (but maybe do your server a solid and leave a tip).

In the past, Olive Garden claimed that it sent some chefs to Tuscany to train at a cooking school, and while that undeniably sounds fake, it's actually true. Well, it's kind of true. Some former employees say that they were, indeed, sent to Tuscany by the chain, and they did learn some cooking while they were there. That's a win for authenticity (that's us throwing you a bone, Olive Garden, you're welcome).

However, it was not quite a culinary institute. Some say it was actually more of a hotel, where Olive Garden laid on a few classes about ingredients. The rest of the time was spent at leisure soaking up the culture, which, we have to admit, sounds pretty cool. "They paid for everything from meals, sightseeing, flight, everything except souvenirs," said one former Olive Garden employee in the r/IAmA subreddit. "But in return, they sent pre-written articles to [our] local newspaper with fake quotes from me and a group photo."

Not much has been said about the Tuscan cooking school for several years, so it's likely that Olive Garden retired the whole concept. Probably, and we're just spitballing here, because it stopped running the controversial and arguably deceiving commercials promoting its Italian-trained chefs as a benefit of going to Olive Garden.