Olive Garden Launches The Most Comprehensive Menu Evolution In Its History

ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading Italian restaurant Olive Garden unveiled this week the most significant menu evolution in the restaurant's history, including more than 20 new menu items that broaden the choice, variety and value it offers guests, prepared with new cooking techniques that accentuate new flavors. Olive Garden's new menu is designed to appeal to the evolving palettes and preferences of casual dining guests, while providing guests with more options to customize their meal experience at both lunch and dinner.

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New Dinner Menu Highlights

• "Cucina Mia" Section: Introducing a new menu section that gives guests the ability to create their own entree from a variety of six pastas and five made-from-scratch sauces—for only $9.99 every day.
• Small Plates: Expanding the Tastes of Italy section to include eight small plate dishes for guests who want to explore different flavors.
• Lighter Italian Fare: Enhancing variety within the under-575-calories menu section by introducing additional dishes for calorie-counting guests.
• Specialty Entrees: Bringing new culinary-forward entrees to the chicken and seafood sections of the menu, enhanced by preparation on a new Piastra flat-top grill for a more evenly cooked, tender and juicy taste.
• Antipasti and Caprese Salads: Creating new ways for guests to enjoy Olive Garden's popular signature salad through the addition of antipasti or caprese toppings.

New Lunch Menu Highlights

• Lunch Experience: Recognizing the busy schedules of lunch guests, Olive Garden is debuting a new lunch menu and enhanced service steps that provide busy guests with a variety of choices for a quick and satisfying meal.
• Tuscan Trio Combinations: Enhancing the popular soup, salad and breadsticks lunch by offering guests an additional pasta side, Small Plate or new salad topping.
• Sandwich & Flatbread Combinations: Giving guests more handheld options with sandwich and flatbread combinations served with unlimited soup or salad and breadsticks.

With this evolution, guests will continue to find their Olive Garden favorites on the menu — including Fettucine Alfredo and Lasagna Classico — and all entrees are served with choice of homemade soup or garden-fresh salad and unlimited garlic breadsticks, which are baked fresh every 15 minutes. 

"Our new menu is designed to give our guests an enhanced experience by giving them new flavors, more variety and everyday value," said Jay Spenchian, executive vice president of marketing for Olive Garden. "We're staying true to the fresh, simple Italian food, while creating more ways to delight our guests."

New Menu Details

New Cucina Mia ("My Kitchen") for $9.99

• Choose your pasta: New Large Paccheri, New Tri-Colored Vegetable Penne, Bucatini, New Cavatappi, Whole Wheat Linguine, New Gluten-Free Rotini
• Choose your made-from-scratch sauce: New Creamy Garlic Asiago, New Primavera, New Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato, New Spicy Diavolo, Fresh Tomato Pomodoro
• Add a topping (additional cost): New Chicken Meatballs, New Sausage Meatballs, Meatballs, Sauteed Shrimp

New Small Plates

• Parmesan Olive Fritta – A bite-sized blend of olives and Italian cheeses, rolled together and lightly fried. Served with your choice of a citrus aioli or gorgonzola cream dipping sauce.
• Polenta Shrimp alla Greca – Sauteed shrimp served on creamy polenta and topped with a fresh blend of olives, capers and tomato sauce.

New Appetizer

• Spicy Calabrian Wings – Chicken wings tossed with garlic and chili peppers from the Italian region of Calabria, served with gorgonzola dipping sauce. Increase the heat by adding our signature Calabrian chili paste. Available for a limited time.

New Lighter Italian Fare

• Center Cut Filet Mignon – 6 oz. premium cut filet, seasoned with Italian herbs and grilled. Served with sauteed Italian vegetables and roasted garlic.
• Chicken Abruzzi (Olive Garden Specialty) – Grilled chicken breast in a savory broth simmered with cannellini beans, kale and garden vegetables.

New Olive Garden Specialties

• Crab Topped Chicken – Pan-seared chicken breasts topped with crab meat in a lemon cream sauce. Served with fresh spinach and garlic parmesan mashed potatoes.
• Salmon Bruschetta – Grilled salmon filet topped with bruschetta tomatoes and basil pesto, served on freshly prepared seafood risotto with crab meat.
• Pappardelle Pescatore – Sauteed shrimp, bay scallops and clams tossed with pappardelle pasta, fresh asparagus and tomatoes in a creamy red pepper seafood sauce.
• Mediterranean Grilled Trout – 10 oz. filet seasoned with basil and extra-virgin olive oil. Served with pappardelle pasta tossed with garlic, broccoli and fresh tomato sauce.

New Carne/Beef

• Parmesan Crusted Filet – 6 oz. premium center cut filet, grilled to perfection and topped with a creamy parmesan-alfredo crust. Served with sauteed Italian vegetables and roasted garlic.

New Antipasti and Caprese Salads
Choose a new topping for Olive Garden's signature garden-fresh salad:

• Antipasti Italian Meats & Cheese – Hard salami, genoa salami, pepperoni and mozzarella.
• Roasted Tomato Caprese – Fresh mozzarella bites, roasted tomato, bell pepper, basil, kale and an extra-virgin olive oil drizzle.

New Lunch Combinations & Sandwiches

• Tuscan Trio Combinations: Start with Soup, Salad & Breadsticks and add a new salad topping, a pasta side or a Small Plate.
• New Smashed Chicken Meatball Sandwich – Smashed chicken meatballs with roasted bell peppers and mozzarella on a focaccia bun.

New Dessert

• Salted Caramel Tiramisu – Layers of creamy caramel mousse and vanilla-soaked ladyfingers, topped with salted caramel crumble and chocolate shavings. Available for a limited time.

Connect with Olive Garden at Facebook.com/OliveGarden, Twitter.com/OliveGarden and Instagram.com/OfficialOliveGarden.

For more information and to find your nearest Olive Garden restaurant, visit OliveGarden.com.

ABOUT OLIVE GARDEN

Olive Garden is the leading restaurant in the Italian dining segment with more than 800 restaurants, more than 96,000 employees and more than $3.6 billion in annual sales. Olive Garden is a division of Darden Restaurants, Inc., (NYSE: DRI), which owns and operates more than 2,100 restaurants that generate over $8.5 billion in annual sales.  Headquartered in Orlando, Fla., and employing more than 200,000 people, Darden is recognized for a culture that rewards caring for and responding to people.  In 2014, Darden was named to the FORTUNE "100 Best Companies to Work For" list for the fourth year in a row.  Our restaurant brands – Red Lobster, Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, The Capital Grille, Eddie V's and Yard House – reflect the rich diversity of those who dine with us.  Our brands are built on deep insights into what our guests want.  For more information, please visit www.darden.com.

SOURCE Darden Restaurants, Inc.: General