Tired of run-of-the-mill Italian chain restaurants? Us, too. After all, why go somewhere with frozen, premade meals when you can get fresh, in-house dinners and desserts somewhere else? Homemade is always best. If you’re craving family-style Italian fare that’s fresh, don’t go to Olive Garden. Go to Maggiano’s Little Italy, a popular Italian-American chain.
Sure, Olive Garden is tasty, but its desserts are shipped frozen from other bakeries and suppliers. Maggiano’s, on the other hand, claims to bake its desserts in the restaurant, including its tiramisu, New York Style Cheesecake, Gigi’s Butter Cake, Warm Apple Crostada, Crème Brûlée, Chocolate Layered Cake, and Vera’s Lemon Cookies. The only dessert up for debate is the cookies — Facebook posts from 2018 say they’re made from scratch, but comments from a few years ago suggest they’re made offsite. But this might depend on location; the restaurant still says all of its desserts are made in-house.
Maggiano’s employees have even confirmed. “Honestly, [the] majority of everything is made fresh in-house when you order it,” one wrote on Reddit. While the restaurant still gets its ingredients from Sysco, a wholesale supplier for several restaurants, it preps and cooks its delicacies right in the kitchen. So rest assured that when you tuck into a luxurious tiramisu slice, it’s handmade, familial, and comes from recipes Nonna used to make in generations past.
Read more: 12 Chain Restaurants Diners Say Aren’t Worth It Anymore
The desserts reviewers say are worth the visit
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Reviewers think this upscale Italian restaurant has gone downhill due to inflated prices and possible recipe changes to certain dishes, including its bread. But according to our trusty taste testers, there are dishes that are still absolutely worth ordering at Maggiano’s, desserts included. At the top of the list is Gigi’s Butter Cake and the New York Style Cheesecake — two of the biggest reasons why customers return to the chain time and time again.
Thankfully, Gigi’s Butter Cake is back on the menu after an unexpected, brief hiatus last year. And Maggiano’s fans say it still tastes as delicious as they remember. It’s a house-made, gooey butter cake with brown-butter glaze, fresh strawberries, and whipped cream on top — the perfect high note to end a hearty meal. The New York Style Cheesecake is also light, soft, baked with a chewy graham crust, and topped with fresh berries and berry sauce. In our humble opinion, Olive Garden just can’t compare.
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Read the original article on Tasting Table.
