My husband and I love to spend time together. We don’t see many movies together anymore, so when the chance arises, I snag it. Our day was a “date night with a movie and dinner”. On this particular day, we went to our local Olive Garden after our movie for an early dinner.

Looking at the menu, I was not interested in the entrees this time. Nothing sounded good. Nothing jumped out and shouted ” try me”. Usually I like either the Chicken or Eggplant Parmigiana or the Chicken Marsala. Occasionally I’ll eat the Salmon. But on this night, none of it sounded appealing. I was hungry, so I kept looking over the menu.

Finding something that looked appetizing.

Looking back over the appetizers, I found the Toasted Ravioli. The descriptor showed it was “lightly fried ravioli filled with seasoned beef. Served with homemade marinara sauce”. It caught my attention and I decided to have the appetizer for part of my dinner.

Instead of being served along with the Never-Ending Soup, Salad and Breadsticks I order, they came out as an appetizer. I was slightly disappointed, but nonetheless enjoyed them anyway. I loved the crunch of the ravioli with each bite, there’s something satisfying with a crunchy food. The seasoned beef and homemade marinara sauce brought a deep tangy richness along with the crunch. These hit the spot.

Never-Ending Soup

The Never-Ending Soup would’ve been more fantastic, had I been able to try each one of them. However, after the ravioli’s, a plate of salad and a few breadsticks, I was only able to try two different soups.

The Pasta E Fagioli was delicious. It reminded me of a rich earthy chili with pasta. I’ll be making this at home for sure. Ground beef, kidney bean, great northern bean, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, fresh herbs and ditalini pasta. Comfort food that hits the spot. I ended up having two bowls and felt like I needed to be rolled out to the car after all the food.

The Chicken & Gnocchi was the second bowl I tried. I didn’t get past 2 spoonfuls. The first, I didn’t care for at all, then tried the second to make sure. I’ve had this soup before and it was creamy and rich with little dumplings (gnocchi). This time, it was doughy, wet dough balls and a thick flour tasting base for soup. It reminded me of my mom’s chicken and dumplings she first attempted, and I did not care for it one bit. I pushed it away and the server replace it with that second bowl of the Pasta E Fagioli.

When the weather gets a little cooler, I’ll make a batch of Pasta E Fagioli and share about it with my readers. In the meantime, my husband and I will enjoy Olive Garden again. For a popular chain restaurant, it’s not too bad.