You Need to Try This Hack When Ordering from Olive Garden’s Summer Menu

• What It Is: Bucatini pasta, sirloin tips, shrimp, spinach and tomatoes all covered in Calabrian cream sauce
• Price: $24.29

When lunch was served, I thought this would be my top pick. It ranks third, and that’s not because I was disappointed; it’s because the other dishes were that good. Here, the steak had a light sear, leaving it tender, not chewy, and the shrimp was equally well-cooked—juicy and plump, complementing the toothsome pasta nicely. The Calabrian cream sauce was surprisingly mellow. It’s more like a lightly seasoned alfredo or pink sauce, offering a gentle peppery flavor that’s mild overall. It keeps the dish from tasting bland, but it isn’t as strong as, say, blackened chicken alfredo.

If you prefer seasoning to spice—and you want a fun twist on surf and turf, this is the way to go.

• What It Is: Rigatoni pasta, bell peppers and sausage tossed with Calabrian cream sauce and a blend of Italian cheeses
• Price:  $12.99

Technically, you can order this dish with sausage or grilled chicken, but the sausage adds such a nice, peppery kick that I had to go with it. This is a spice-based menu, after all. Those bites burst with flavor, and the bell peppers are served crisp, offering a nice textural contrast. This also lets their herbaceous notes cut through the cheese and cream sauce; if they were sautéed more, it’d blend in with the rigatoni, and each bite would feel a bit one-note. Overall, even with the sausage, it still registers on a mild-maybe-bordering-on-medium heat. You won’t need a glass of milk or break out in a sweat mid-meal.

• What It Is: crispy chicken nuggets tossed in Calabrian hot honey sauce and served with ranch on the side
• Price:  $11.50

At first glance, this may look like a pile of calamari, but it is shockingly succulent white meat chicken, with a thick, crispy breading that doesn’t get soggy mid-meal—despite its generous coating of Calabrian hot honey sauce. In the realm of hot honey, the sauce is comparable to Mike’s, veering more sweet than hot, with a gentle spice and a subtle smokiness. (To be honest, it reminded me a bit of the glaze on Chili’s Honey-Chipotle Chicken Crispers.) Each bite-size morsel is delectable on its own, though ranch adds a creamy touch. Still, for those craving more of a true medium heat, my server offered this hack: Ask for the housemade spicy ranch instead. It kicks things up a bit, with a gradually compounding heat that’s lively without ever getting so spicy that it’s punishing.

It’s easy to turn this app into a meal: One manager shared that she often orders these chicken bites with a salad, tossing the two together. There’s enough hot honey sauce to glaze the greens nicely, though a drizzle of ranch would add a decadently creamy touch. Could we have unlocked the new girl dinner? At least while it’s on menus, I think so. (Oh, and dear Olive Garden: Please consider this my formal plea to extend the offering just a few weeks more. Please.)