DS
Dana Sullivan
Feb 1, 2026
I'm giving 2 stars, but Fazoli's is fine if you just know what you're getting into. I've seen it called "the McDonald's of Italian food" and I don't think that's fair because it's significantly nicer than McD's, the food is doing the bare minimum. The menu looks large, but it's all just slightly different configurations of carbs + cheese + tomatoes + meat. But if that's all you want, Fazoli's will get the job done.
I have tried different things and had somewhat different experiences despite the similarities between the menu items:
Garlic shrimp stuffed shells: First few bites were great, but it was kind of greasy and got too heavy fast. No complaints about the quality of the shrimp.
Spicy baked ziti: This tasted good; the issue here was that, instead of having the pasta tossed in the sauce, the sauce was seemingly dolloped in the middle before baking, so you had dry pieces of pasta around the edges stuck together. This normally comes with chicken or sausage. I took away the chicken (doesn't matter which base you start with; they're the same price) to make it vegetarian and added sauteed mushrooms to bulk it up (which was a nice addition). The annoying thing is they don't discount the price when you take away the meat and the added vegetables are extra, so you end up paying more for a vegetarian version. Also... they use penne, not ziti.
Ravioli with marinara: This was advertised as a limited time menu and available in-store only. This was probably my favourite entree that I tried, although I have questions about why the pasta was yellow. The marinara sauce was a little on the sweet side but adequately seasoned, and I thought it was good.
Breadsticks: The first time I came here, I got takeout, and I thought these were awful. They were significantly better when I dined in. I think they're fine when you get them fresh out of the oven/warmer, because fresh bread, but after steaming the takeout bag they were just soggy and greasy. If you are doing takeout, I would recommend removing them from the bag and giving them a few minutes in a hot oven if you have the patience just to get them crisp again.
Italian lemon ice: Did not like this. Both too sweet and too sour.
Cheesecake: It's Cheesecake Factory, so you know it's reliably okay cheesecake. I liked the NY cheesecake with strawberries more than the triple chocolate. The triple chocolate was a bit too much mid chocolate. I really liked the strawberry sauce on the NY style.
2 out of the 3 times I've visited, the staff has been very friendly (and it wasn't bad the other time, just not outstanding). Even when you order off the kiosk, they still bring the food to your table (and will freshly grate parmesan over your dish if you so desire), and they seem diligent about cleaning tables after use, so the place is very clean. The seating area is comfortable and in good condition. Food is served on actual plates with real cutlery when dining in.
Having given them a few tries, I will confidently say that the quality here is not great, but passable if you just want pasta. I'm not actively interested in trying more, but maybe I'd come here again under the same circumstances, where it's kind of late and I just want dinner fast. And did I mention it's pretty cheap? You can get a pasta dish, dessert, and drink for about $15 max, and if you sign up for the rewards program they're pretty generous with discounts.