Every Olive Garden Dessert, Ranked Worst To Best

Olive Garden may be well-known for its pasta, soup, and salad combinations, but I wanted to get a feel for the brand's desserts. I used to work at the establishment many years ago — first as a host, then a server — so it's always a bit jolting to visit as a paying patron to see how much has changed. To familiarize myself with the latest prospects, I went on a mission to try all the desserts to see how they fared. With only six dessert options on the menu, the flavor profiles seemed strawberry or chocolate-forward, with the donuts and tiramisu as outliers. 

I want to preface that they were all pretty good. Just because something ranked last on my list does not mean it's bad — they can't all be in first place. My last-place ranking may be your favorite, and we can both be right. I based my ratings on the overall taste, consistency, and appearance of each dessert; I'll explain why I ranked it in a certain position and what made it better than the preceding one. Let's dig into the world of Olive Garden desserts. 

This Sicilian cheesecake is made with ricotta cheese, a shortbread cookie crust, and a strawberry sauce for the topping. I like the ingredients in theory but didn't taste them, so I found this cheesecake a little lackluster compared to others I've had. Plus, the slice looked plain. 

When comparing the Olive Garden dessert to online pictures of other Sicilian cheesecakes, I noticed other Sicilian iterations seem more airy, fluffy, and whipped, whereas this one appeared dense and totally smooth, like the frozen cheesecakes at grocery stores. It lacked the usual golden coloring on the top to indicate that it was baked, save for some hue variation on the edge. The flavor, however, was rich and creamy. 

Shortbread cookies are usually firm, but the crust could've used some more texture — more bite and crunch — and flavor. The strawberries seemed like they were one day too ripe because of their softened exterior. Meanwhile, the sauce was sweet and brought some excitement to the dessert. Get the sauce and strawberries served on the side, and the cheesecake would be good for carryout. Otherwise, the moisture will make the crust soggy. 

As I prefaced in the introduction, this cheesecake was perfectly tasty — minus the strawberries — even though it ranked last. It's just the other Olive Garden desserts were more flavorful and enticing. My server, however, said this would rank as their third favorite dessert of the bunch.

The Chocolate Lasagna is new to the dessert menu, swapping out the Chocolate Brownie Lasagna. While the Lasagna Classico is among the best dishes at Olive Garden, naming the dessert a lasagna seemed gimmicky — but I have a marketing background, so I understand the idea. It is a layered chocolate cake with chocolate mousse, crushed wafers, and chocolate sauce topping. 

My server asked if I wanted grated white chocolate on top, to which I said, "Why yes, of course." They then proceeded to grate it onto my dessert. The description on the website doesn't include white chocolate, nor does it show on the photo, but I appreciated it. I love how the white chocolate offers a striking contrast and the way the chocolate sauce drips. I can easily say this is a very beautiful dessert.

The chocolate cake part seemed a little bland, if not dry, but I enjoyed the richness of the mousse, which offered a creamy mouthfeel. I couldn't identify where the layer of crushed wafers was specifically, but it did bring a slightly crunchy texture to the otherwise soft cake. The chocolate sauce added a lot of sweetness, but I prefer a more cocoa-forward chocolate sauce with slightly bittersweet qualities. The main reason for the low ranking is it wasn't my preferred flavor of chocolate, and the taste wasn't especially memorable. It might have been better without the globs of chocolate sauce. This is also a suitable dessert to bring home because the layers hold up well. Just get the sauce on the side.

I like classic tiramisu, and I thought the Olive Garden version fared pretty well. It's a layered dessert with custard, espresso-soaked ladyfingers, and cocoa powder. The treat was creamy, soft, and buttery but not too sweet. Compared to the pile of chocolate sauce in the Chocolate Lasagna, this is ideal when you don't want something overly cloying. Although it's still rich, it doesn't seem as heavy as the aforementioned desserts. 

The main flavor notes come from the espresso, the rich custard, and some bittersweet flavors from the cocoa on top. Some tiramisu contain a pungent and strong alcoholic or liqueur component, such as rum, but the manager at the Olive Garden I visited confirmed there was no alcohol. Also, some tiramisus have a more even amount of cream and ladyfingers, but the Olive Garden one had a lot of cream.

The consistency was soft and moist, particularly at the bottom as the liquid pools. A drop or two of the espresso would come out as I sliced my fork through it — you can spot it pooling around the edge of the plate in this photo. This is pretty standard for tiramisu, and for that reason, you should eat it right away. I wouldn't recommend taking it home as it begins to lose its structure after coming to room temperature. Although they are totally different types of desserts, I preferred the cream and coffee notes the tiramisu brought more than the Chocolate Lasagna.

The strawberry cream cake is a vanilla sponge cake with layers of sweet vanilla cream and strawberry topping. The fruits appeared to be the same as the cheesecake's and, therefore, had the same too-ripe issue. The sauce was perfectly tasty, sweet, and fruity. Again, I liked the freshness and vibrancy the berries and sauce brought to the dessert — without them, the dessert would have been pretty drab in its flavor. Like the tiramisu, the cream cake is a delicate dessert, except this one had an airy sponge cake base. The cake was soft and light, so it didn't feel heavy, unlike Olive Garden's chocolate-based desserts.

I was intrigued to find the cake's moistness level similar to a tres leches cake; my server also agreed that it was comparable to it. If you like tres leches, this would be a great option, although not identical. I liked the mild taste and the way the strawberry sauce absorbed into it, offering added fruitiness. Because of the cake's fragility, I didn't think it would hold up well after taking it home, but surprisingly, it didn't become overly soft or fall apart when I tried it again the next day. 

The strawberry cream cake seems like a fantastic summer dessert when you don't want to be bogged down by a dense treat. The cake's fluffy texture, paired with the velvety sweet cream and colorful sauce, made a fun blend that helped it rank just above the tiramisu, which is particularly good news if you don't want a coffee-based dessert.

The Black Tie Mousse Cake was decadence on a plate. If you don't want a chocolate-loaded heavy dessert, then you probably won't appreciate the layers of chocolate cake, dark chocolate cheesecake, and custard mousse. The cake was creamy and melted in your mouth, save for the crunch of the chocolate chips loaded on the back side of the slice. I enjoyed the luscious taste and mouthfeel of the mousse and what appeared to be a chocolate ganache topping. I vastly preferred the chocolate in this cake over the Chocolate Lasagna because of the rich, darker chocolate, so it scored high in the ranking. My server mentioned this would be their number two choice as well.

Similar to the Chocolate Lasagna, the least exciting element was the actual chocolate cake portion on the bottom. I liked that the chocolate sauce on the plate wasn't drizzled on top because I didn't want it to take away from the cake. If you desire something rich and luxurious, this is your best bet among all the Olive Garden treats. 

The Black Tie Mousse Cake most definitely holds up well if you order it to go; the layers were thick and sturdy. I was very happy to dig into this again after bringing it home, considering it has everything going for it. It's visually captivating, the flavor is all there, and the texture is balanced. But the next item topped it.

The Warm Italian Doughnuts ranked first because they were warm, fresh, and not overly sweet. My server said these were their number one dessert as well. This treat was fluffy, doughy, and pillowy — a beautiful mesh of soft textures. The doughnuts were enrobed in vanilla sugar, which gave them the sweet lift and a fine, barely there texture. I'd say this type of donut is somewhat similar to a plain long John. They were golden brown like your average long john, but they had a more rectangular shape and were considerably smaller. The exterior texture of a long john is a tad crisp from frying, but these were softer.

You can pick between a chocolate sauce or raspberry sauce. My server was very nice and brought out both for me to try. The chocolate had a pudding taste to it, whereas the raspberry sauce brought a certain lift and pizzazz to the mix. You could attempt an Olive Garden secret menu hack and ask for a different type of sauce instead — such as a caramel or strawberry. However, the light tanginess of the raspberry sauce and the soft, warm donuts were an epic, cozy match that felt like a hug.

The key to this finger-licking dessert is to eat them straight away because the warmth is half the appeal. It was pretty good when I tried it later that same day at home, but not nearly as impressive. If you can't devour them immediately, I would advise getting a different dessert, like the Black Tie Mousse Cake or strawberry cream cake.

I've tried all of the desserts from my local Olive Garden in the San Diego area. I ordered everything on the same day at the same time and tried one after the other. I started by taking pictures, taking a bite, writing my thoughts, and working my way through all the treats. I did this a couple of times until I'd had two or three bites of each. I then brought home the leftovers and tried them again later, but this ultimately did not end up impacting the rating. It was more of trying it again to get the overall flavor profiles. This at-home step also helped me know when something is at its best fresh or if it can travel well to go. 

I based my thoughts on the overall flavor, texture, and presentation. The prices are pretty similar (less than a dollar difference from the most to least expensive), so this wasn't a deciding factor. I didn't find any of the desserts unpalatable, which is why I mentioned that they're all quite good.