Eh. It's Olive Garden. I probably haven't eaten at one in years. We had a gift card to use up so we figured now was a good time as any to dine here.
I had the spinach-ricotta ravioli with shrimp scampi and tried some of the grilled herb salmon and garlic rosemary chicken. The nice thing about Olive Garden is that your entrees will come with unlimited breadsticks, and soup or salad. Unfortunately the breadsticks we had tasted like they were a little old and had been reheated, with a hard, chewy crust at the ends. The salad tasted like it had also been made way ahead of time then spruced up a bit. The lettuce tasted wilted by the time we got it. I tried a bit of the pasta fagioli soup which was well seasoned and enjoyable so if I were to go here again I'd get soup instead of salad.
The entree I had was a generous portion of shrimp and ravioli. The shrimp was well cooked and very tender. The pasta was al dente but I wasn't a big fan of the filling. The whole thing was swimming in a puddle of yellow sauce. The salmon I tried was slightly overcooked for my tastes but I liked the grilled flavor of the chicken I had a bite of with the fresh rosemary it came with.
We used the tablet on our table to put in an order of zeppoli with raspberry sauce. They were kind of like a cross between a beignet and sopapilla. They had a lightly crisp outer layer, soft pillowy dough on the inside and were coated with a special type of very finely ground sugar. I didn't care too much for the raspberry sauce. It tasted like I was dipping my dessert in Smucker's jam.
You can also pay for your meal using the tablet with credit card and leave tip which makes it convenient.
Service was impeccable. Chris provided friendly, warm, and engaging service and was very attentive to our table.
Since there are a lot of options for Italian dining in the East Valley, Olive Garden isn't really my #1 pick, especially when Rigatony's is so close by to me. But if I do get another gift card, this location is A-OK.