The Unfortunate Olive Garden Soup We Wouldn't Order Again

If you're into chain restaurant deals, there might be none better than Olive Garden's endless breadstick, salad, and soup. Some people simply love Olive Garden for what it is; namely, large portions, easy to-go ordering, and an overall middle-ground appeal. If you're looking to dive into bowl after bowl of Olive Garden's soup, you're going to want to prioritize your favorite so you're not wasting stomach space. We stand by our top pick of the Zuppa Toscana, which came in first in our ranking of all four of Olive Garden's soups, but inevitably there has to be one that just isn't worth an order. For us, it's the chicken and gnocchi.

It was the only soup our taste tester wouldn't choose to order a second time, partly because it's a very rich soup with a buttery flavor that, unfortunately, wasn't as loaded with the namesake ingredients as we'd have hoped. Our taste tester noted, "There was not as much chicken as we expected and not many gnocchi in our bowl either. We were really looking forward to the plump potato-based dumplings but there were only a few. This might be luck of the ladle, but the lack of actual ingredients beyond the thick, super rich broth made it hard to get through even half a bowl." It wasn't all negative. We found that the spinach and carrots included helped the dish feel a little less monotonous, but in the end it was just too heavy.

We did find one positive way to spin it, however. The chicken gnocchi soup from Olive Garden may not have been our cup of soup, but it did end up being a great breadstick dip. The fact that it's so rich is exactly where it actually shines here. If you think about it, Olive Garden sells its Alfredo sauce as a side for its breadsticks and the chicken gnocchi soup is rich enough to serve a similar purpose; making it a fairly decent replacement for an appetizer.

I am going to note that our opinion at The Takeout might be in the minority. An unofficial poll that someone started on Reddit a few years back about the best soup on Olive Garden's menu ended with the chicken gnocchi in first place (Zuppa Toscana came in second). There weren't many comments to support just how those numbers came to be and only 100 people participated, but some people do love cream-heavy soups like lobster bisque, so it's not entirely surprising the chicken gnocchi has a fan base. We stand by what we say, though; the chicken gnocchi is way too rich, it barely features its namesake ingredients, and every other soup Olive Garden serves is simply better.