Italian Gardens To Go

The idea of Italian Fast Food is a good idea, however, compared to Fazoli’s, which happens to be right across the street, this place is unfortunately sub-​par. For a local restaurant it is not terrible by any means, however the drive thru approach to Italian Food is hard to get right.
I understand that they are new to the area though and maybe just need some time to perfect their craft. I will probably give it another try in the future if it stays open in the Overland Park area. Also supposedly there downtown KC location is alot better.

This review is for a lunch we got for around 25 people in our office. I called a day ahead of time to order, and the food was ready and hot when we got there. It’s kind of awkward picking it up, because it’s can’t be handled through the window, so we ended up having to go in and pay and carry it out. John was extremely nice and gave us a box of Italian cookies to share with our order.
The food was great, and everyone enjoyed it. We had chicken spiedini, spaghetti with meat sauce, toasted ravioli, salad and garlic bread. The garlic bread dipped in the meat sauce could be a delicious meal on its own. John thanked us numerous times for coming in, and even called me later to make sure everyone had enjoyed their meal.
My co-​workers have gone back several times for lunch and everyone raves about it. As long as you have somewhere to eat it after you get it, it’s a good, reasonable place to grab some red sauce Italian.

I’ll love this place! They are always friendly and food is delicious. I eat here at least once a week.

A well-​known Italian family (at least in the Italian circles). I grew up on this stuff and was excited when this location opened in Joco. Portion sizes are big, and the price is perfect. Taste is authentic. As an Italian, I wouldn’t say it’s better than mine, but it does the trick when I don’t want to heat up the kitchen.
Love the Italian cookies. Just like my family’s. And they get extra points for having «rongini» on the menu. A classic.

I really like Italian Gardens to Go, for a variety of reasons. Firstly, the concept is a good one. Another place that serves up fast hot Italian food is a great thing in life. Secondly, from the moment you approach the drive-​thru, the friendly voices from the menu box greet you, and call attention to their awesome specials. Finally, it is clear that the proprietors of this establishment, who have a storied history on the Kansas City restaurant scene, want to offer a quality product at a reasonable and fair price. That is the most impressing thing about this operation. I have met and talked with the owner, and the sincerity he possesses comes shining through.
I have had the lasagna, spaghetti with meatballs and sausage, and the mini grinders, which for $ 1 are an excellent value! Give these folks a try anytime you are in the Overland Park area.

Cheap. Cheerful. What else could you want? Love their sausage, which is made from scratch and the meatball grinder is tasty. Looking forward to trying some other stuff. Their cookies are bomb too.

SO SAD THEY LEFT THE NORTHLAND. I absolutely love this place. Friendliest workers and they always offer you deals on the spot like adding a slice of pizza for $ 1 or something. Everything comes with breadsticks and salad. The chicken in the chicken Alfredo is breaded like spedini. Really good sized portions. You get your moneys worth. Amazing.

With just a few days left on our groupon, we piled our kids in the car to head over and pick up dinner here the other night. It was definitely a unique drive-​thru, more with how it was designed (I never went to the location in it’s former life).
The person helping us was very friendly and assured us we were getting her favorite entrée (we both got the chicken spedini). She also catered to my toddler and had the chef put his meatball directly on his pizza (it’s his favorite pizza topping).
Then we took the 15-​minute drive home to enjoy our food, which had to be reheated a little by the time we sat down to eat. I think I was expecting more take-​out Italian than fast food-​quality, but then again it did equal the taste of many «family style» Italian restaurants I’ve been to in the past.
We both enjoyed our chicken and the pasta was fine. The salad was really weak! — iceberg lettuce with a small cup of flavorless dressing and the garlic bread was okay.
I would try a sandwich if I returned, but I wouldn’t order a dinner again.

Garlic bread was very good! Had the Alfredo. could have used a bit more salt, but tasted pretty good. Salad was okay. Pretty much what you would expect for a fast food Italian place. Maybe I’ll try something else the next time I go here.

I was SO excited to come and get fast Italian food. We only ordered a few things, but had a TON of things in our bag, so I was pumped. We ordered Toasted Ravioli, Italian Sausage and Pepperoni pizza, Cheese Ravioli with meat sauce, salad, and bread. I just think they are lacking flavor because everything had good potential, but was just bland (even the dressing). The only thing I would order again was the pizza, and the girl at the window said this was the best piece of pizza she had seen since she started working there (which scares me on the pizza normally).

Mmmmmkay, why would you go to another place that rhymes with canolis when you could go to Italian gardens to go!
I love this place, lasagna is good, spaghetti and meat sauce is good, my favorite is the toasted ravioli with marinara sauce! Yummy! Each meal comes with garlic bread (lots of garlic) and a salad!
You can order things family style as well. They have specials throughout the week and I just love these gals that work there! So cute and sweet and friendly and they talk like they are from Italy :) it’s fun and it brightens my day: D
When I have a craving for some pasta and am on the run… This is the place!

Good food and lots of it. The counter service was very helpful and friendly.
I ordered lunch for three co-​workers and myself and we all were in agreement that it was an awesome meal. We got the Family Style Pasta by the Bucket​. My only issue was the «pricechopper» type garlic bread. It came with a nice salad. The pasta was good and the sauce was nice too. We also got ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ meatballs and sausage with the meal. They were both very good.
I will surely be thinking about this next time I want to feed a group of people.

5 stars for a drive-​thru!
The deep dish pizza is very good! Thick, soft crust with lots of cheesy crispy edges! Sauce is well flavored (if you like garlic, and I do!) and the toppings were fresh and plentiful. A great deal for the price and the time involved! I’d prefer to eat food from here than many other places.

As a child, I remember a Sunday evening in early fall. Our parents took us downtown to Italian Gardens. While dining, my dad’s jaw dropped, he had seen the legendary Coach Hank Stram. As Coach Stram passed our table, my dad stopped him and asked, «Are you Hank Stram?» Forty-​five minutes later and Coach Stram and dad were still talking. He wished us a good night and left my dad with his jaw still dropped.
While driving to work a few weeks ago, my jaw dropped to see Italian Gardens To Go right down the street from my office. Gone is the glory days of the restaurant where John Q. Public and celebrities would rub elbows together, but the great food remains. My first time through, the young lady who took my order was a true doll. Very personable, enthusiastic about the place and the food (that is a HUGE plus in an eatery for me). She offered me a complimentary Italian Lemonade. I was bad an accepted. It was perfect, not to sweet and just the right hit of tartness. Now I have been back a few times since that first visit and will review several items:
Spaghetti and sausage: One of the things I always loved about Italian Gardens was their base marinara. It wasn’t overly herby or spicy and let the tomatoes really shine through which I love in a sauce. The pasta was cooked perfectly al dente which also rarely happens with restaurant Italian. The sausage was ok, but when put together with all the other components was very satisfying.
Mini Meatball Sliders: The meatballs were a little softer than I prefer ad didn’t have that punch I like with meatballs, but the sliders were a nice snack size and not bad.
Fettucini Alfredo: Again, perfect al dente pasta. The Alfredo was nice and creamy and stuck to the pasta (I hate when the Alfredo is so runny or overly buttered it slides off the pasta. It was also very well seasoned and didn’t over power the pasta.
Chicken Vesuvius: I LOVED this appetizer. When I saw the chicken was breaded and then sauced, I was waiting for the typical little hockey pucks of breaded chicken to be the case. Not so. The chicken was moist and juicy and the sauce was nice and garlicky with a nice kick to it.
Now you may be saying «C’mon?! Four stars?» Yes, four stars because the staff is awesome and friendly and the pasta cooking. It is extremely rare to find perfect al dente pasta in the eat out realm and they have nailed it. True the glory of the restaurant is gone, but the traditions of the DiCapo family sauce still remains.

Pretty good for fast food Italian. There were only two things that I would say weren’t up to my expectations. The first being that the food needed salt, salt brings out the flavors and the second being that I ordered a cannoli and it was watery and old looking so I didn’t even bother to try it.

They’re cute, but they didn’t wow me. I think this is going to be an easy go-​to for a quick lunch, but not for taking a friend that you want to impress. It’s drive-​thru only, no seating. Service was quick & friendly, and the fettuccine alfredo was good, but the salad was quite boring. They apparently are proud enough of the dressing to bottle it & sell it on the side, but it’s a bland & unexciting Italian dressing, too oily for my taste. The sandwiches are a pretty good deal, though.

I was bummed out when Italian Gardens left the Northland a few years ago. I’ve moved to the Kansas side of state line and so has Italian Gardens and I couldn’t be happier. This location is much like their NKC venue — small, drive thru only, and always tasty. 6.99 nets you a healthy portion of pasta, breadsticks, and salad. Employees are always friendly, quick, and willing to make special requests.
A really quick meal for a great price that tastes good? IG is the way to go.

I was driving past and noticed the big sign saying $ 1 meatball and Italian sausage sandwiches. Although I have been burnt many times on, «WOW! That is a really great deal,» I still decided to stop.
When I first moved here over a decade ago, one of my favorite restaurants was Italian Gardens downtown. When I drove by this place that crossed my mind. I was really excited after finding out that this is the same owner.
I tried one of the dollar Italian sausage sandwiches. It was the size of a large dinner roll. Italian bread with a slice in the side and then stuffed with homemade Italian sausage. I was extremely impressed. The sausage has such great flavor and a nice heat to it. The bread was a little too much, but this is a win!
I also tried the fettuccine Alfredo with chicken. The chicken was really disappointing. It was breaded, fried chicken and the breading had nice flavor, but the chicken was a little fatty and tough. The Alfredo sauce was good. Nice creamy goodness. It comes with a simple lettuce salad and Italian dressing. Nothing too exciting, just a typical iceburg salad.
The garlic bread that comes with the meal is amazing! This is like the french bread in a tin foil bag stuff mom use to make. It is packed with garlic and you won’t have any sparkling vampires stopping by after eating it.
Finally I had to get a cannoli. This was one of the things I really loved from the old Italian Gardens, but today’s selection was not up to par at all. The shells appear to be homemade and they were nice and crispy, but the filling was not good. It wasn’t sweet at all. I don’t know if today was a fluke, but just not a good cannoli.
This is a newer place and may still be working out some kinks. Although I feel you need to be ready to open when you open, the pros edge out the cons and I will try other items.
The service was great. You can tell how friendly they are over the drive thru speaker. Added things like, «excellent choice», «those are great», etc. really make them a step above any other drive thru. At the window they loved up on the pug, including giving him a bunch of little dog treats. As I always say, love for the pug is always a plus!
They are drive thru only, but there are some tables outside if you want to eat there. Prices are good at less than $ 10 for a meal.

My family and I had this yesterday and we were all like. wth? I’m sorry but the meatballs tasted exactly like what is in canned spaghettios. Like something so full of processed: something” all 3 of us couldn’t even eat them. I’ve had better from the freezer section at the Price Chopper across the street. The pasta needed a lot more sauce and it was pretty good, just not enough.
The entrees come in a hard paper BOX with flaps that you open. You have to either tear off one or two flaps to eat or dump it out on a plate. We chose a plate.
With that said, don’t think for a million years that I don’t know what I’m talking about. I’ve been to the original restaurant many, many times, before they closed. Everything THERE was to die for.
The side salad.yuck. Please add at least some croutons to it. We had to doctor ours up here at home, added cheese, croutons, and MORE dressing, after we got rid of the inedible old hard parts of the lettuce.
My final ad to this review: WTH kind of «meat» is in your meat?

Had a chat with (I assume) one of the owners while leaving Unforked. We liked what we heard and I determined I would pop thru the drive thru (only option hend the «To Go» part of the name) the next time I was in the area. It sounded really good and that could be heightened when one is in the mood for italian. I was! Now they just need to follow through.
Well you know how it went. So-​so. I think I’ll give it another go but I wasn’t blown away. At sit down pricing for Italian food I want it to be really good.
What wasn’t: The salad. It might as well have stayed there. A plastic clam shell of iceberg lettuce emphasis on chunks from near the core. Two carrot strands and a small container of some decent Italian dressing. A big let down.
The spaghetti that accompanied my chicken parmesan. Noodle were done well but there was too little sauce with too little flavor.
What almost was; the chocolate cannoli. A cherry stuffed in each end covered in chocolate. Big hint of cinnamon, tasted OK but wasn’t worthy of $ 4.00.
What was; The garlic bread. Oh my, this was tasty and plentiful. It didn’t include cheese and it was still awesome. I ate two slices for breakfast the next morning and they were still awesome.
The lasagna was very tasty and was a sizable portion. Nice layers of ricotta and meat sauce. Here the red sauce or meat sauce was very good!
The chicken parmesan was very thin, but big, round. Seemed to be cooked just right with a thick drizzle of what I assume is the parmesan sauce on top. This is a winner.
Try it you might love it. For me the little things added up which may not have if the prices were not where they were, which is by no means high. I haven’t been to a Fazoli’s in forever so I can’t compare their prices. Italian Gardens To Go is in a WAY DIFFERENT league. It is early and I’m sure some kinks are still being worked out.
It is worth a drive by (thru).