The Olive Garden Dish Most Customers Don't Know Is Customizable

Olive Garden customers love it for its menu full of traditional Italian-American comfort food favorites, as well as for how it uses those classic flavors and ingredients to create its own new dishes, too (hello, Lasagna Fritta!). The casual dining chain also draws people in with perks like its never-ending soups, salads, and famously delicious breadsticks, along with the unlimited cheese offered by servers. But what most patrons don't know is that they can customize one of its most well-known dishes, the Tour of Italy, to sample other entree choices.

The Tour of Italy includes Chicken Parmigiana, made with a parmesan-breaded chicken breast and marinara sauce; Lasagna Classico, with parmesan, mozzarella, and Pecorino Romano cheeses, along with Olive Garden's beef and Italian sausage meat sauce; and Fettuccine Alfredo. People who've worked there have claimed on social media that you can replace any of the three with another entree. You could also double up on one of its components and leave off another, such as getting two lasagnas and dropping the fettuccine, or swap sauces, like asking for the Alfredo on the chicken parm. Just be aware that there might be an extra charge, presumably if the new choice is more expensive than what it's replacing.

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Olive Garden doesn't publicize that it allows Tour of Italy swaps, possibly because it would cause too much kitchen disruption if many people were doing it. However, it has run limited-time promotions in the past that let customers create their own version of the dish, so it's worth politely asking your server.

Shaking up the Tour of Italy isn't the only way customers can make changes to Olive Garden's menu. In fact, the chain already gives patrons opportunities to build their meal how they want it. For instance, you can ask to exclude any ingredients from the salad, which is easy to do since it's made when you place your order. You can also ask for toppings on some dishes, like meatballs or sausage on the Lasagna Classico, or those same two options, as well as mushrooms or broccoli, on the Fettuccine Alfredo. There's even a Create Your Own option that lets you choose from five pastas, four sauces (Marinara, Meat Sauce, Five Cheese Marinara, and Creamy Mushroom), and six optional toppings, including sauteed shrimp and grilled or fried chicken strips.

But there are also some secret menu customization hacks. Creamy minestrone soup is a blend of the regular Minestrone and Zuppa Toscana — made with spicy Italian sausage, kale, and potatoes — that you can order. Instead of the grilled chicken or shrimp option for your salad, you can request fried chicken from the Chicken Parmigiana or the fried shrimp from the Fritto Misto. Breadsticks are offered with Marinara, Alfredo, or Five Cheese Marinara for dipping, but you could ask for other options, like the Creamy Mushroom or the meat sauce. Drinks can be tweaked, too, so you might want to try ordering an off-menu Italian soda on your next Olive Garden visit.