9 Olive Garden Dishes You May Never See On The Menu Again

After more than 40 years of serving hungry customers, Olive Garden has seen its share of menu items come and go. Some creations may seem like winners right off the bat but lose the interest of the public over time, while others may sound like a good idea on the drawing board or in the test kitchen but fail miserably when they make it to market. Even if its one of your favorite feasts that doesn't make the cut, discontinued items at Olive Garden happen all the time. It's the decision-making process of what goes and what stays that may stand as one of the most shady things about the Olive Garden menu for diners who want their beloved dishes to live on forever.

Though some dishes may reappear years later as limited edition re-releases or even reestablished with a spot on the permanent lineup, there have inevitably been discontinued Olive Garden items that aren't likely to show up on the scene again. Maybe some of the permanent removals are signs that Olive Garden is struggling, or maybe there are so many new prospects that the chain doesn't have room to bring back every fan favorite the public clamors for. But which selections that are destined for the eternal dustbin no matter how much you might hold out hope for their resurrection? Here's a collection of Olive Garden inventions that found their way off the menu and might never find their way back.

Anyone who's experienced the starchy decadence of a spaghetti bake is bound to understand what a loss it is to have spaghetti pie stricken from the Olive Garden menu slate. It was a deep-dish delight that stacked layers of pasta with a variety of traditional savory mix-ins. Three versions hit the menu in 2016 to stop guests in their tracks: Meatball Deep Dish, with a seven-cheese blend and bacon flavoring a pie topped with meatballs and sauce; Chicken Alfredo Deep Dish that replaced the meatballs and red sauce with chicken and alfredo; and Spaghetti Rosso with Chicken and Bacon, in which grilled chicken, tomatoes and red peppers shared the spaghetti base with asparagus and bacon in pesto with robust Parmesan. The descriptions alone inspire strong feelings.

Why would such an inspired creation suddenly go AWOL? The mixed reviews that showed up on Reddit may hold some clues. While some diners said it wasn't as bad as it looked in the photo and others said it reminded them of how their grandmother cooked, the slew of copycat recipes inspired by the never-forgotten Olive Garden Spaghetti Pie shows that even if it never comes back, there are home versions that can fill the gap.

Few appetizers set Olive Garden diners taste buds a light quite as much as smoked mozzarella fonduta. This dazzling little dish piled on the flavor with melted mozzarella served as a premium dipper with slices of herbed garlic bread. It was a starter rich enough to serve as a satisfying lunch or dinner dish, if you were willing to forgo the pasta prospects and stick with salad instead. It was as gooey and decadent as any proper Italian tidbit should be and it made an indelible impression on visitors lucky enough to give it a taste while it was around.

There were conflicting answers to a 2019 Yelp query from a user inquiring if this dish was still a part of the Olive Garden A-team. The company's business customer service account confirmed that Smoked Mozzarella Fonduta had indeed been removed from the menu, while a second answer from the same timeframe reported that the item was still available. Maybe sunsetting the savory selection took a little time. What could cause it to disappear at all? According to a former worker responding to a Redditor's query about what happened to this decadent dip, Smoked Mozzarella Fonduta took a long time to prepare, which may have contributed to its demise. There seems to be little information regarding a real reason for the removal, you'll just have to imagine why Olive Garden did the deed.

In the endless parade of Olive Garden chicken dishes, Venetian Apricot Chicken stood out for its more delicate delivery and unexpectedly fruit-sweetened essence. This more mindful dish took up real estate on restaurant tables in the early 2010s and gave diners a protein-rich 400-calorie entrée that skipped the pasta-based carbs in favor of steamed veggies on the side. The restaurant touted this lighter-than-usual dish as one of its nutritious Olive Garden dishes, listed on the menu in the Garden Fare section at the time of its existence. It was also promoted as part of the 2 for $25 Italian Dinner Deal to entice eaters into trying it out.

But now, Venetian Apricot Chicken has been lost to the mists of time, or maybe the excitement of new items that might be better sellers — who knows how the mind of an Olive Garden menu engineer works? Despite the vanishing, this dish is the subject of a Reddit thread in which Olive Garden guests reminisce about how delicious it was, consoling one another by offering homemade versions that might stand in for the real deal. If you give it a try, turn on gondolier music and light some candles to recreate the romance of Venice — a touch even Olive Garden couldn't provide.

Ravioli stuffed with mushrooms is one thing, but Olive Garden's Ravioli di Portobello is something else entirely. Tender squares of pasta brimming with one of nature's most premium mushroom creations dressed in a sheath of creamy smoked cheese sauce featuring sundried tomatoes — what's not to love about any of that? It reads like a ravishing recipe that takes simple, earthy ingredients and transforms them into magical fare. Unfortunately, the magic in this instance is a disappearing act; these prime pasta pockets headed offstage around 2019 and haven't been seen again.

As opposed to the worst-reviewed Olive Garden menu items, this is a dish that diners still actively dream about tasting again. Suggestions have been made on Reddit that the replacement option still features creamy mushroom ravioli, but portobellos have been subtracted from the formula. It sounds like a possible pricing issue, with the pricier fungi being supplanted by a more cost-effective version. But when you tinker with an enchanting formula, you risk breaking the spell that made it so magical in the first place. Not cool, Olive Garden.

Olive Garden tends to steer clear of beef dishes in general, which made its Braised Beef and Tortellini an attention getter when it hit the menu. It may not have been the success story the restaurant intended, however, and a frank Facebook review points out that the appearance of the dish is frightening and doesn't resemble the same order from other locations. It didn't seem to stop other Olive Garden faithfuls from enjoying strips of braised beef nestled in dumpling-like pasta ... which didn't prevent Olive Garden from doing away with the dish regardless. Restaurants can be so fickle.

Even after this item was deleted from the standard selections, guests were able to ask for it in a secret menu-style situation by requesting a few rearrangements of existing dishes. One Reddit thread from 2019 included suggestions from a helpful former Olive Garden employee, proposing that fans order the restaurant's Tortelloni Asiago topped with creamy mushroom sauce and braised beef — though by now this dish is also off the menu. The closest tortell-anything that can be found at this point is the Chicken Tortelloni Alfredo, which is clearly nothing like braised beef and isn't likely to satisfy the lingering hunger for the original dish in its previous form. This appears to be one instance where memories and copycat recipes will have to suffice ... for now, at least.

One of the most premium pleasures in the world of Italian dining is the stuffed shell, an oversized pasta pocket filled with luscious cheeses, sauces, and meats. Olive Garden went for broke when it introduced Giant Four-Cheese Stuffed Shells to its portfolio on April Fool's Day 2019, though this was no prank. It was part of a colossal collection featuring giant versions of chicken parmigiana and a giant meatball on a bed of spaghetti. Alas, giant shells aren't too big to fail, and the restaurant dropped this order in 2022, with no indication that it would ever be making a reappearance.

However ... if you go searching online for traces of this delicious possibility, you'll find a description of stuffed shells appearing on a link for the restaurant's Never Ending Stuffed Pastas menu, but clicking it pops up a "Sorry, no dice" screen. It's a cruel tease for anyone hoping they'd finally tracked down the elusive order. Even as guests were placing their orders, the ingredients were quickly disappearing from the kitchen; according to a Reddit user, their waitstaff weren't able to fulfill an order for their party and broke the news that the removal would be a permanent change to the menu. These deflated diners were left empty husks at the news. Hopefully, they found suitable replacements for the missing dish.

Why Olive Garden would ever opt to discontinue something as sweet and charming as a celebration cake may never be fully understood. You'd think the chain would want to stand pat with any sweet selection that worked for diners, especially a cake that could be hauled out to make birthdays in the restaurant all the more special. Though the beloved Black Tie Mousse cake and classic Sicilian cheesecake remain, there's no sign of the celebration cake, which was never a true member of the menu but a special order that could be requested especially for an occasion. It would be delivered with a song that the whole clientele ended up singing, erupting in cheers and applause. But now it's gone — maybe because Olive Garden doesn't like joy as much as it used to.

A 2014 photo on the Olive Garden Facebook page shows the luscious treat decked out with lit candles, taunting followers to come in for a celebration, even if there was no special occasion for it. Now, though, the only taunt is for fans to find any trace of the cake among the recent dolci featured on the menu. As many people made the sneaky, speakeasy-like request through the years, the celebration cake couldn't possibly have been among the worst Olive Garden desserts. Though you can easily present your birthday pals with another dessert and sing to them while you're there, it's just not the same.

Lightly breaded and fried whole shrimp served in a peppery sauce, Spicy Shrimp Scampi Fritta offered Olive Garden diners a unique take on Italian seafood dishes. These crispy small bites were accented with zesty lemon and gave the appearance of some of the finest bar food ever created — if photos from the Olive Garden Facebook account offer an accurate record. But a pretty picture only gets a restaurant item so far in the world of fast-casual dining, and Shrimp Scampi Fritta took a long walk off a short pier, never to be heard from again.

Even when announced in 2012 as a limited edition order, this specialty selection seemed to be a featured player more than a permanent member of the Olive Garden cast. Still, the disappearance after a few years made waves with fans who refused to return to the restaurant until it made a comeback. A Reddit conversation from 2022 suggests that the dish was replaced by Shrimp Fritto Misto, which seems to be an improvement on the formula. Only time and the whims of Olive Garden executives will determine whether it lasts or goes the way of its predecessor.

You're not likely to find chicken wings in the Olive Garden lineup anymore, even if Spicy Calabrian Chicken turned out to be a fan favorite circa 2016, when the restaurant pushed it as a summer specialty. It appeared as both boneless tenders and wings, giving fans of fiery Italian seasoning two distinctly different formats to savor. And in typical head-scratching fashion, unlike the array of Olive Garden's best and worst side dishes that somehow keep on keeping on, this zesty morsel was removed from the spotlight and hasn't shown up again since.

The hunt continues among fans who didn't get enough time with Spicy Calabrian Chicken while it was part of their world. With Reddit users providing varying versions of how best to recreate the dish at home, it's a hoot to read the different takes on what made up the flavor of this winning selection. It's too bad this sprightly-seasoned options became a has-been; as mellow as most of Olive Garden's dishes tend to be, it was nice knowing there was a bit of bold spice around to shake things up. So much for keeping the heat on.