Olive Garden, an Italian-inspired restaurant chain in the United States, serves a variety of dishes. The restaurant separates the dishes into different categories, including appetizers, classic pasta dishes, chicken and seafood dishes, and beef and pork dishes. Each category has some menu items that are relatively low in calories and others that are relatively high in calories.
Appetizers
The calorie content of the appetizers at Olive Garden restaurants range from 120 calories to 1,180 calories. Low calorie options include the Breadsticks, the Garden Salad without dressing, the Minestrone soup, the Zuppa Toscana soup, the Pasta e Fagioli and the Mussels di Napoli. All of these contain between 100 and 200 calories. High calorie appetizers include the Smoked Mozzarella Fonduta, the Lasagna Fritta, the Grilled Chicken Caesar salad, the pizza and the calamari. These high calorie appetizers contain between 800 and 1,180 calories.
Pasta
Olive Garden allows customers to order either a lunch-sized portion or dinner-sized portion of many of the classic pasta dishes. Lunch size portions typically have about 50 to 75 percent the number of calories in a dinner-sized portion. The calorie content of the lunch portions ranges between 450 and 840 calories, while the calorie content of the dinner portions range between 660 and 1,450 calories. The pasta dishes that contain the fewest calories are the Cheese Ravioli, the Ravioli di Portobello and the Spaghetti with Meat Sauce. The pasta dishes with the most calories are the Lasagna Rollata al Forno, the Five Cheese Ziti al Forna, the Fettuccine Alfredo, the Braised Beef and Tortelloni and the Tour of Italy. These meals contain more than 1,000 calories.
Chicken and Seafood
Some of the chicken and seafood dishes also are available in both lunch- and dinner-sized portions. The calorie content of the lunch-sized portions range from 280 calories to 910 calories, while the calorie content of the dinner-sized portions range from 380 to 1,440 calories. The meals containing the fewest calories are the Venetian Apricot Chicken, the Herb-Grilled Salmon, the Seafood Brodetto and the Parmesan Crusted Tilapia. These meals contain less than 600 calories. The meals containing the most calories are the Chicken Scampi, Chicken Parmigiana, Chicken Alfredo and the Chicken and Shrimp Carbonara. These meals contain more than 1,000 calories.
Beef and Pork
The beef and pork meals contain between 690 to 1,510 calories. The meals containing the fewest calories include the Parmesan Crusted Bistecca, the Mixed Grill and the Steak Toscano. These meals contain 830 calories or less. The Chianti Braised Short Ribs, the Steak Gorgonzola Alfredo and the Pork Milanese contain the most calories, over 1,000 calories each.
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