Will Olive Garden Really Let You Customize Your Ravioli Order?

When you dine at Olive Garden, you don't always have to get something directly off the menu. The restaurant chain makes it possible to order discontinued items, and there are also plenty of secret menu hacks customers often take advantage of. When it comes to the ravioli, however, you might not be able to get exactly what you want.

Though you can customize Olive Garden's ravioli in many different ways, the customizations are limited to the sauce and the toppings. Contrary to rumors circulating online that claim that at certain locations you can choose a different filling, an Olive Garden guest relations representative confirmed to Daily Meal via email that there isn't any truth to this.

Olive Garden's pasta is pre-cooked in the morning. So, before you order your ravioli, it's already been made, making it impossible to customize the filling. Even during the Never Ending Stuffed Pasta promotion that Olive Garden has run in the past, customers could only pick the sauce and toppings.

Olive Garden has three types of ravioli you can customize, but you won't see the options on the menu if you're dining in, because they're only displayed on the Olive Garden website. If you order the cheese ravioli, you're able to ask for Alfredo sauce instead of marinara or meat, and you can add five different toppings, including meatballs, grilled chicken, sautéed shrimp, Italian sausage, and crispy chicken fritta. The ravioli Carbonara can also be customized, though you can only choose the toppings, which are limited to grilled chicken, sautéed shrimp, and crispy chicken fritta.

The only ravioli you can't officially customize is the toasted ravioli. However, since the marinara is served on the side, customers have successfully requested different dipping sauces. Just keep in mind that whenever you make modifications to your ravioli, it will typically incur an extra fee that ranges from $2.29 to $4.99.

You can always order the ravioli entrees as they come, but judging by posts across social media, the add-ons are worth the extra fee, especially if you're a fan of ravioli. The cheese ravioli seems to be the most popular of the three varieties to customize, likely because it offers the most flexibility. Many ask for it with Alfredo instead of marinara sauce, a pairing that customers say goes well with shrimp or extra grated cheese.

With so many other combination possibilities, you'd think that making lots of customizations to the ravioli might get burdensome for Olive Garden employees. However, as long as you stick to the sauces and toppings that are published on the website, it won't be considered rude. The restaurant encourages you to do so and has even recommended adding chicken to the ravioli Carbonara on its Facebook account. The only constraint you'll encounter is customizing the filling.