Diners share the top Italian chains serving rich, slow-simmered house-made meat sauce.
Sunday sauce is a beautifully rich, slow-simmered tomato meat sauce bursting with unbelievably delicious flavors thanks to the low and slow preparation. This classic Italian sauce is used as the base for everything from pasta dishes to homemade lasagna, called Sunday sauce because of the traditional hours-long cooking method that results in a true classic. Making this sauce at home is a true labor of love but many restaurants have options so good diners can’t get enough: Here are four Italian chains with delicious Sunday gravy, according to fans.
Maggiano’s Little Italy

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Diners at Maggiano’s Little Italy love the rich and flavorful sauce made in house every day, used for dishes like the Spaghetti & Meatballs and Fettuccine Bolognese. “The food was excellent,” one diner said. “My friend ordered the chicken Parmesan, I ordered the pasta Diablo, which had a multitude of seafood and a spicy red sauce. We started with the fried mozzarella. Everything was cooked to perfection and the taste was out of this world.”
Olive Garden

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Olive Garden’s house-made meat sauce is made with pan-seared beef and Italian sausage for dishes including Spaghetti with Meat Sauce and Lasagna Classico. “There are tons of different pastas and sauces to choose from, and you can go big with an endless all-you-can-eat pasta or keep it lighter with a smaller dish. The options really do feel endless,” one fan said.
Carrabba’s Italian Grill

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The pomodoro and meat sauce at Carrabba’s Italian Grill are made from scratch every day. “For dinner, I had the Rigatoni Martino, which had sauteed mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and cheese in a tomato sauce. It was quite delicious,” one diner said.
Biaggi’s Ristorante Italiano

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The delicious sauce at Biaggi’s Ristorante Italiano is made in-house every day. “The food was very good. I had the chicken Parmesan and my sister had a shrimp dish. I have to admit that I was quite surprised by the flavor of the chicken Parmesan. The chicken was very moist and very lightly breaded. The sauce was very good,” one diner said.
