What's "good" to eat at the Olive Garden?

Howdy all,

Taking my family out to dinner tonight at the Olive Garden.  Does anyone have any recommendations?  I haven't been there in years, and wasn't impressed back then.  But my daughter and wife like it.

Any suggestions or items to avoid, both taste-wise and nutrition-wise?

Tanks!

The minestrone soup only has 164 calories per bowl! It's usually what I go for :) It's a little high in sodium though (it has around 610 mg per bowl)

I would just avoid anything with alfredo sauce. The calories in that darn good white sauce just add up!

Also, just something to know: Each breadstick is 140. Whenever I go, I limit myself to one breadstick, the soup, and I get the salad with fat free italian dressing...It tastes pretty much the same! :)

Good luck!

Olive Garden has a garden fare menu with healthier options...the capellini pomodoro, shrimp primavera, or venetian apricot are good choices.

Of course the salad is healthy...they have lowfat italian dressing (most people don't know this), or you could go without dressing altogether.  And the minestrone soup is only about 100 calories per serving.

You can substitute most noodle dishes for their whole wheat noodles...however, some things come pre-made...

Limit or stay away from the breadsticks, cream based sauces, the potato soup, cheesy dishes, etc.

Unfortunately I was once an OG server ;)  Good luck!

They have a website that has nutritional info.. Most of the food is pretty high cal.,  but they have a few healthy options.  I went there a few weeks ago and had the talapia  with ministrone instead of salad.  (they douse the salad with dressing!Blech!) The soup was really good. Have fun with your family!

Oh nice, all you can eat salad!!!! So far so good... The Grilled Salmon also looks pretty yummy... And if you can ask for some of those entrees without the butter sauce, then they would be good options too.