The Worst Appetizer You Can Order At Olive Garden Is Anything But Tasty

Olive Garden is a standby for many when it comes to Italian American food — after all, everyone loves endless breadsticks. But with a menu of that size, not every item can be a favorite, and in the case of one particular appetizer, our taste tester was not a fan. In fact, he placed the fried calamari dead last in our ranking of every Olive Garden appetizer.

The problems trace back to the basics. Our taster noted, "The calamari at Olive Garden is undercooked, rubbery, and overseasoned. The salt levels here are just way too high (a nagging problem with a lot of chain restaurants), concentrated in the breading. There's also a snap to this calamari that I found alarming. I can't say that I've had squid this springy before." 

Aside from the salt overload and the strange textural issues, what's also unusual about the calamari is that it's served with two types of dipping sauce, which are marinara and spicy ranch. While the marinara is a standard accompaniment for calamari, our tester thought that the ranch was an unusual decision that made the dish even worse.

One other glaring issue about Olive Garden's fried calamari appetizer is that it only features calamari rings, as in, the cross-section pieces of the body portion of the squid. While those are obviously an important part of any plate of fried calamari, our taste tester noted that the decision to omit the tentacles was a strange one.

Calamari plates typically include pieces of the entire squid, and munching on a mix of shatteringly crisp tentacles and tender, meaty rings is an integral part of the dish's enjoyment. Ultimately, whether or not the presence of tentacles would have helped is anyone's guess. There were still such fundamental issues with seasoning and texture, but their absence was still certainly notable. 

Many of the other appetizers that ranked poorly also had seasoning issues, and we're not the only people who have some serious opinions about Olive Garden; customers have their own strongly held opinions when it comes to the best and worst Olive Garden menu items, according to reviews. But there's one thing we'd like to impress upon you: Any appetizer is better than the fried calamari.